Ving Rhames

Ving Rhames was born and raised in Harlem, New York. His thespian career began at the New York High School of Performing Arts followed by the prestigious Julliard School of Drama. His training quickly landed the talented actor his first role on Broadway in "The Winter Boys." After the play he made the transition to television, making his first appearance on "Go Tell It On the Mountain" in 1985 followed by "Miami Vice." He then effortlessly segued to feature films such as "Jacob's Ladder" and "Homicide."

A few years after his on screen debut, Rhames was cast as a merciless drug dealer opposite Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." His performance in the film helped land him the role of Luther Stickell in Brian De Palma's "Mission: Impossible" opposite Tom Cruise and Jon Voight. Rhames' notable performances in the above-mentioned films led him towards the long path of starring in many other blockbuster hits such as John Singleton's "Rosewood" with Jon Voight and Simon West's "Con Air" with Nicolas Cage, John Malkovich and John Cusack. In 1997 the busy actor played the role of Don King in HBO's "Don King: Only in America." His portrayal earned him a Golden Globe in 1998 for Best Actor in a Mini-series. From this award-winning performance he went on to star in Steven Soderbergh's "Out of Sight" with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, Jon Amiel's "Entrapment" with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Martin Scorsese's "Bringing Out The Dead" with Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette and Tom Sizemore.

In 2000 Rhames returned as Luther Stickell in John Woo's "Mission: Impossible II" with Tom Cruise, Thandie Newton and Dougray Scott. Following "Mission: Impossible II" he starred in John Singleton's "Baby Boy" with Tyrese Gibson, Walter Hill's "Undisputed" with Wesley Snipes, Ron Shelton's "Dark Blue" with Kurt Russell, Zack Snyder's "Dawn Of The Dead" with Sarah Polley and Mekhi Phifer and "Mission: Impossible III" with Tom Cruise and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

Rhames ventured behind the camera in 2005 as a producer for the USA series "Kojak." His producer credits also include: "Back In The Day," "Animal" and "Shooting Gallery." Rhames has starred in "I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry" with Adam Sandler and Kevin James, "Surrogates" with Bruce Willis and Radha Mitchell, "The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard" with Jeremy Piven and "Piranha: 3D" with Elisabeth Shue and Christopher Lloyd.

Rhames was also seen in the TNT series "Monday Mornings" from writer-producer David E. Kelley and Sanjay Gupta, on whose book the project is based.

Paramount Pictures