Glynn Turman
Glynn Turman
Glynn Russell Turmanis an American stage, television, and film actor as well as a writer, director, and producer. He is known for his roles as high school student Leroy "Preach" Jackson in the 1975 coming-of-age film Cooley High, math professor and retired Army colonel Bradford Taylor on the NBC sitcom A Different World, and fictional Baltimore mayor Clarence Royce on the HBO drama series The Wire. Glynn is recently playing Jeremiah Kaan on the Showtime series House of Lies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth31 January 1947
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
We do have a black president, and that means a lot. People ask, 'What has he done?' What he's done is change the color up, which you see on the screen. When the head of the free world is black, there's got to be some sort of spin-off from it.
I'm a stage actor. You know, I was - I cut my teeth on stage, you know. So I've always had a love affair with the stage, first off, what I was raised in, you know.
Seems like everybody has seen 'Cooley High.' That's what put me on the map. Garrett Morris and I go way back, even before the movie. Great guy. We've done theater and stage plays together, Lincoln Center and all kinds of things.
If you take the '70s with Blaxploitation pictures, there was a proliferation of black-content films and motion pictures, television, stage plays and so forth at a time when Hollywood was in trouble financially, and it was cheaper to do black films to keep the lights on until they could reestablish themselves.
My wife and I have our date nights. We love the Showtime shows like 'Shameless,' 'Homeland' and 'House of Lies.' And of course, 'Scandal' is high on the list; you've got to do 'Scandal.'
I started with Sidney Poitier and Ruby Dee and Lou Gossett, Jr. and the rest of the wonderful cast of 'A Raisin In The Sun.' We were directed by the great Lloyd Richards. The play was written by the wonderful Lorraine Hansberry, and it was produced by Phil Rose. That's where my start was, so... not a bad way to start.
Enrollment in colleges, especially black colleges, across the country increased tremendously during the five-year run of 'A Different World,' and I don't think you could have a better legacy than that.
Truths are a result of knowing yourself.