# Tucker Smallwood

Tucker Smallwood (born February 22, 1944) is an American actor, author, and vocalist.

## Early life

From 1967 to 1970, Smallwood, who is of African American heritage, served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army's Airborne Infantry. Commanding a Mobile Advisory Team during the Vietnam War, he was critically wounded in action and pronounced dead, in 1969, but survived. After recovering from the injuries, Smallwood moved to New York City where he studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse and established a career as a performer in Broadway productions (Mahalia), films and television.

## Career

His films include The Cotton Club (1984), Contact (1997), Deep Impact (1998), Larry David's Sour Grapes, Traffic (2000), The One (2001), Quigley (2003), Spectres (2004) and Embers (2015). On television, he has been a regular and made guest appearances on many series, including Space: Above and Beyond, Millennium, Babylon 5, The X-Files, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Friends and The Sarah Silverman Program.
He often plays military characters, and as a science fiction fan, he always longed to play a Star Trek alien. He came close on Voyager when he played the human form of a disguised alien, but it was not until Enterprise that he played a fully alien character, a sympathetic Xindi, for several episodes.
Smallwood sometimes sings in his acting roles. He plays his guitar on several occasions on Space: Above and Beyond, as Commodore Ross. His character on Millennium sang to people before euthanizing them. He is the vocalist in the blues band Incarnation led by bassist Jerry Jemmott. Their self-titled first album, produced in 1994 at Clark Dimond's Dimond Studio in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, is a tribute to the music of Delta Blues King Robert Johnson with 15 tracks written by or associated with Johnson. It was actually recorded in 1981 at Greene St. Recording featuring guitarist Arlen Roth. They were joined by Pat Conte on Guitar and T C James on piano with Herb Lovelle on drums.
Smallwood was one of the two actors in Bruce Nauman's video installation, "Good Boy Bad Boy" (1985).
He is the author of Return to Eden, anthology of 33 personal essays describing his tour of duty in the Vietnam War, his life as performer and his return to Vietnam in 2004. Some of these essays previously appeared in magazines. In 2006, the mp3 version of Return to Eden was first runner-up in the audio/spoken word category at the Fifth Annual DIY Book Festival, which celebrates independent authors and publishers. In 2009, he hosted the hybrid television radio horror anthology series As Darkness Falls.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1984 | The Cotton Club | Kid Griffin | |
| 1985 | Turk 182 | Reporter at Bridge | |
| 1987 | The Secret of My Success | Executive | Uncredited |
| 1990 | Presumed Innocent | Detective Harold Greer | |
| 1995 | Aurora: Operation Intercept | Agent #1 | |
| 1996 | Bio-Dome | Cmdr. Gates | |
| 1996 | Black Sheep | Election Analyst | |
| 1997 | Contact | Mission Director | |
| 1997 | Most Wanted | Police Chief William Watson | |
| 1998 | Sour Grapes | Anesthesiologist #2 | |
| 1998 | Deep Impact | Ivan Brodsky | |
| 1998 | Strangeland | Capt. Churchill Robbins | |
| 2000 | Traffic | Partygoer #4 | |
| 2001 | The One | Prison Warden | |
| 2001 | Air Panic | Keller | |
| 2002 | Like Mike | Mr. Reynolds | |
| 2003 | Melvin Goes to Dinner | Passenger | |
| 2003 | Quigley | Angel #2 | |
| 2004 | Spectres | Will Franklin | |
| 2004 | The Eavesdropper | Gen. Humes | |
| 2005 | Heads N TailZ | Hobo | |
| 2006 | Final Move | Myron | |
| 2006 | False Prophets | Isaiah | |
| 2006 | Hood of Horror | Stevens | |
| 2007 | Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane | Col. Wolff | |
| 2007 | Fighting Words | Franklin | |
| 2007 | Evan Almighty | Committee Member | |
| 2007 | Dark Mirror | Detective Williams | |
| 2009 | Black Dynamite | Congressman Monroe James | |
| 2015 | Forgiveness | Captain Kittridge | |
| 2015 | Pixels | CIA Chief | |
| 2015 | Embers | Teacher | |
| 2017 | Girlfriend's Day | Governor Speakman | |
| 2017 | The Lady Killers | William | |
| 2018 | Another Time | TV show host | |
| 2019 | Loners | Father Monty | |
| 2020 | Sylvie's Love | Dr. Parker | |
| 2020 | Izzy Lyon: The Unspun Truth | Mordecai Fredericksonton III | |
| 2021 | Together Together | Carson | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1977 | Contract on Cherry Street | Bus Driver | Television film |
| 1988 | Guiding Light | Security Guard | Episode #1.8319 |
| 1981 | Cagney & Lacey | Ace Truck Driver | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 1981 | For Ladies Only | Tornado | Television film |
| 1981 | Texas | Lou | 5 episodes |
| 1983 | One Life to Live | Airport Page | 2 episodes |
| 1983 | As the World Turns | Detective | 2 episodes |
| 1985 | ABC Weekend Special | Harry | Episode: "The Adventures of a Two-Minute Werewolf" |
| 1991–1993 | Reasonable Doubts | Michaels / Briggs | 3 episodes |
| 1991, 1997 | Seinfeld | Various roles | Episodes: "The Pen", "The Parking Garage", "The Summer of George" |
| 1992 | Jake and the Fatman | Lawyer | Episode: "Stormy Weather: Part 1" |
| 1994 | Martin | Darrell | Episode: "Arms Are for Hugging" |
| 1994 | Murphy Brown | Bartender | Episode: "Reporters Make Strange Bedfellows" |
| 1994 | Silk Stalkings | Hotel Manager | Episode: "Vengeance" |
| 1995 | Me and the Boys | Rev. Watkins | Episode: "Money to Burn" |
| 1995 | Get Smart | President Mazabuka | Episode: "Goodbye Ms. Chip" |
| 1995 | Sister, Sister | Preacher | Episode: "I Do" |
| 1995 | Wings | Agent Stark | Episode: "The Person Formerly Known as Lowell" |
| 1995 | Babylon 5 | David Endawi | Episode: "Matters of Honor" |
| 1995–1996 | Space: Above and Beyond | Commodore Ross | 16 episodes |
| 1996 | The X-Files | Sheriff Andy Taylor | Episode: "Home" |
| 1996 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | Mr. X | Episode: "The Impossible Mission Episode" |
| 1997 | Flipper | Mo James | Episode: "Beach Music" |
| 1997 | Diagnosis: Murder | District Attorney Ferris | Episode: "Open and Shut" |
| 1998 | Blackout Effect | Harold | Television film |
| 1998 | Millennium | Various roles | Episode: "Goodbye Charlie" |
| 1998 | Pensacola: Wings of Gold | Col. Gibson | Episode: "Trials and Tribulations" |
| 1998 | Frasier | Detective | Episode: "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" |
| 1998 | The Wayans Bros. | Lionel Cooper | Episode: "The Rich Girl" |
| 1998 | Night Man | General Nordoff | Episode: "Hitchhiker" |
| 1998 | Inferno | Police Chief | Television film |
| 1998 | Star Trek: Voyager | Adm. Bullock | Episode: "In the Flesh" |
| 1998 | Seven Days | Mr. Donovan | Episode: "Sleepers" |
| 1998–1999 | Malcolm & Eddie | T.R. Hawkins | 7 episodes |
| 1999, 2003 | The Practice | Various roles | 2 episodes |
| 2000 | The Others | Col. Montgomery | Episode: "Till Then" |
| 2000 | The Invisible Man | Anders | Episode: "Ralph" |
| 2000 | Opposite Sex | Military Officer | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2000 | Bull | Priest | Episode: "Amen" |
| 2000 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Restaurant Owner | Episode: "The Pants Tent" |
| 2000 | Level 9 | Pilot | Episode: "Through the Looking Glass" |
| 2001 | JAG | Capt. Baxter | Episode: "The Iron Coffin" |
| 2001 | Kate Brasher | Mr. Parks | Episode: "Jeff" |
| 2001 | Titus | Sgt. Gordon | Episode: "Private Dave" |
| 2002 | The Chronicle | Alonso Freewald | Episode: "Touched by an Alien" |
| 2002 | Friends | Mr. Tyler | Episode: "The One with the Cooking Class" |
| 2002 | For the People | Judge | Episode: "Come Blow Your Whistle" |
| 2003 | Malcolm in the Middle | Baffert | Episode: "Academic Octathalon" |
| 2003–2004 | Star Trek: Enterprise | Xindi-Primate Councilor | 9 episodes |
| 2005 | All of Us | Mr. Ashton | Episode: "Movin' on Up" |
| 2006 | The Loop | Dr. Evangelatos | Episode: "Trouble in the Saddle" |
| 2006 | My Name Is Earl | Hostage Negotiator | Episode: "Boogeyman" |
| 2007–2010 | The Sarah Silverman Program | God | 4 episodes |
| 2008 | Chocolate News | Dr. Hubert Sunland | Episode #1.3 |
| 2012 | The First Family | Admiral Masini | Episode: "Pilot" |
| 2014 | Suspense | John Carnby | Episode: "The Return of the Sorcerer" |
| 2014 | Modern Family | Judge | Episode: "Halloween 3: AwesomeLand" |
| 2016 | Send Me: An Original Web Series | Michael | 2 episodes |
| 2017 | Workaholics | Pastor | Episode: "Tactona 420" |
| 2018 | Dream Corp LLC | General Jim Joynose Sr. | Episode: "Accordion Jim" |
| 2019 | Will & Grace | Professor Henry Rice | Episode: "Dead Man Texting" |
| 2019 | The Baxters | Arthur | 2 episodes |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1996 | Tom Clancy's SSN | Adm. Jeb Thomas |
| 2004 | Men of Valor | Dandridge |
| 2005 | Ultimate Spider-Man | Beetle |