Yaphet Kotto

Yaphet Kotto was born on Nov 15, 1939 in USA. Yaphet Kotto's big-screen debut came with Nothing But a Man directed by Michael Roemer in 1964, strarring Jocko. Yaphet Kotto is known for Homicide: The Movie directed by Jean de Segonzac, Daniel Baldwin stars as Beau Felton and Ned Beatty as Det. Stanley 'The Big Man' Bolander. Yaphet Kotto has got 1 awards and 5 nominations so far. The most recent award Yaphet Kotto achieved is Western Heritage Awards. The upcoming new movie Yaphet Kotto plays is Witless Protection which will be released on Feb 22, 2008.

Physically imposing, intense Yaphet Kotto was one of the few actors of his generation to succeed in breaking racial stereotypes in Hollywood. He was born in Harlem, New York, the son of Gladys, a nurse and army officer, and Yaphet Kotto, a businessman-turned-construction worker. His father was a Cameroonian immigrant, of royal ancestry (his great -grandfather had been a king in pre-colonial days), and his mother's family was from Antigua and Panama. Yaphet, whose first name means "beautiful" in Hebrew, was raised in the Jewish faith. After his parents divorced, he was brought up by his grandparents in the tough Bronx district of New York. He also had an aunt in showbiz who ran a dance academy. Among her alumni were Marlon Brando and James Dean. In fact, it was Brando's performance in Sur les quais... (1954) which inspired Kotto to go into acting.He began acting on stage in 1958 with little theatrical experience, making his debut in the title role of Othello, a role he eventually reprised on screen in 1980. He also appeared on Broadway as understudy to James Earl Jones in The Great White Hope. After joining the Actor's Studio, Kotto commenced his screen career and soon gathered critical recognition with several edgy performances across diverse genres. From playing a barkeeper in 5 cartes à abattre (1968) and a thief in L'affaire Thomas Crown (1968), he moved on to juicier supporting roles as the evil Kananga/Mr. Big in the James Bond thriller Vivre et laisser mourir (1973), Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the telemovie Raid sur Entebbe (1976) and the ill-fated Nostromo engineer Parker in Alien - Le 8ème passager (1979). Kotto also starred as a street-smart Detroit car worker in Blue Collar (1978) and had a recurring role as a senior detective on television's long-running crime series Homicide (1993) (in addition to penning several scripts for the show). He was even on a Paramount shortlist for the coveted role of Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek: La nouvelle génération (1987), alongside Mitchell Ryan and Roy Thinnes). He apparently spurned the role for fear of being typecast, but came to rueing that decision in later years. For the same reason Kotto had also turned down the part of Lando Calrissian in the Star Wars franchise (which went to Billy Dee Williams).Kotto died on March 15 2021 in Manila, Phillipines at the age of 81.