# Grand L. Bush

Grand Lee Bush (born December 24, 1955) is an American former actor of stage, television and film.

## Early life and education

Bush was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actor Robert Bush and his wife Essie Bush. Shakespearean-trained, Bush studied film and theatre at the Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy, University of Southern California and the Strasberg Academy in Hollywood. He continued his education by performing at the historic Globe Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and the annual Shakespeare Festival in Garden Grove, California.

## Career

In 1977, he landed a recurring role on the CBS sitcom Good Times. Bush later acted in other television episodics and miniseries, including Roots, before joining the cast of the rock musical Hair in 1979, in which he performed a solo. Bush also performed in other musical dramas, including the TV series Fame and the feature film Streets of Fire.
In 1983, Bush won a nomination for a Canadian Genie Award in the category of "Best Performance by a Foreign Actor" for his role in the feature film Hard Feelings.
Bush appeared in such blockbusters as Lethal Weapon, Hollywood Shuffle, Die Hard, and Colors, the latter of which sparked a friendship between Bush and director Dennis Hopper and Hopper directed Bush in a total of three feature films: Colors, Chasers, and Catchfire. Bush was cast in the 1989 James Bond feature film Licence to Kill. He portrayed a lieutenant in the horror film The Exorcist III and had a small role in Demolition Man. Bush also played actor Todd Bridges' father in Building Bridges, an autobiographical short film about the rise and fall of the child star of Diff'rent Strokes.
In 1994, Bush was cast in the role of Balrog in the action/comedy Street Fighter, directed by Steven E. de Souza. The ensemble cast also included Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kylie Minogue, Ming-Na and Raúl Juliá. To prepare for his role, Bush trained with kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez in Bangkok, Thailand, and Brisbane, Australia.
More than 35 feature films in which Bush has appeared have been archived as Turner Classic Movies.

## Personal life

In 1991, Bush met his future wife, Sharon Crews, on the set of Freejack, a science fiction feature that stars Emilio Estevez, Rene Russo and Mick Jagger. Crews was on assignment for Black Entertainment Television (BET) to interview Bush, et al., during the Atlanta, Georgia, location filming. They married in 1994.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1979 | Hair | Ensemble Dancer / Solo Artist: Flesh Failures | |
| 1979 | Sunnyside | Teddy | |
| 1980 | Stir Crazy | Slowpoke | |
| 1980 | The Night the City Screamed | Herbert Lee | |
| 1982 | Vice Squad | Black Pimp | |
| 1982 | Night Shift | Mustafa | (as Grand Bush) |
| 1982 | Hard Feelings | Latham Lockhart | |
| 1984 | Weekend Pass | Bertram | |
| 1984 | Streets of Fire | Reggie / The Sorels | |
| 1985 | Brewster's Millions | Rudy | |
| 1985 | The Color Purple | Randy | |
| 1987 | Lethal Weapon | Detective Dan Boyette | |
| 1987 | Hollywood Shuffle | Mandingo / Ricky Taylor / Hood #5 | |
| 1988 | Colors | Larry "Looney Tunes" Sylvester | |
| 1988 | Die Hard | FBI Agent Johnson | |
| 1989 | Licence to Kill | DEA Agent Hawkins | |
| 1989 | Lethal Weapon 2 | Detective Jerry Collins | |
| 1990 | Bad Influence | Club Bartender | |
| 1990 | Catchfire | Bank Teller | |
| 1990 | The First Power | Reservoir Worker | |
| 1990 | The Exorcist III | Sergeant Mel Atkins | |
| 1990 | Secret Agent 00 Soul | Ben Douglas | |
| 1991 | Wedlock | Jasper | |
| 1992 | Freejack | Boone | |
| 1993 | Maniac Cop III: Badge of Silence | Willie | |
| 1993 | Demolition Man | Young Officer Zachary Lamb | |
| 1994 | Chasers | Vance Dooley | |
| 1994 | Street Fighter | Balrog | |
| 1994 | Forrest Gump | Black Panther Leader | |
| 1997 | Turbulence | US Marshal Al Arquette | |
| 1997 | Favorite Son | Reverend Ross | |
| 2000 | Building Bridges | Todd Bridges' Dad / Jim | |
| 2001 | Shark Hunter | Rob Harrington | |
| 2002 | New Alcatraz | Sergeant Quinn | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1976 | Good Times | Leon | 2 episodes |
| 1977 | Barnaby Jones | Doc Evans | Episode: "Gang War" |
| 1978 | Lou Grant | Henry Spence | Episode: "Sports" |
| 1978 | The Incredible Hulk | Mike | Episode: "Never Give a Trucker an Even Break" |
| 1978 | CHiPS | Paul | Episode: "High Flyer" |
| 1980 | B.J. and the Bear | Cameraman | Episode: "Siege" |
| 1981 | Trapper John, M.D. | Treetop | Episode: "Finders Keepers" |
| 1982 | Police Squad | The Champ | Episode: "Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)" |
| 1982 | The Jeffersons | George Nylund | Episode: "Appointment in 8B" |
| 1983 | The Renegades | Jewel | Episode: "Back to School" |
| 1984 | Airwolf | General Ali Butami | Episode: "And They Are Us" |
| 1986–1993 | Hunter | Officer Meyers/Billy/Blade | 5 episodes |
| 1986 | Outlaws | Lt. Albert Ross | 2 episodes |
| 1987 | Hard Copy | Cash Conover | 2 episodes |
| 1987 | Simon & Simon | Doug Raney | Episode: "Deep Water Death" |
| 1987 | Werewolf | Seaman | Episode: "Nightwatch" |
| 1989 | China Beach | Mac | Episode: "The World: Part 2" |
| 1989 | Murder, She Wrote | George Gordon | "Night of the Tarantula" |
| 1992–1993 | Renegade | Harry Wells | 3 episodes |
| 1996 | Nash Bridges | Alex Peyton | Episode: "Til Death Do Us Part" |
| 1997–1998 | The Visitor | FBI Agent Douglas Wilcox | |
| 1998–1999 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Andros/Simon Trivette | 2 episodes |
| 1999 | The Pretender | Detective Rusk | Episode: "Murder 101" |
| 1999 | Chicago Hope | Colonel Oswald Morton | Episode: "White Rabbit" |
| 2000 | Any Day Now | Officer Royce | Episode: "It's A Good Thing I'm Not Black" |
| 2000 | 18 Wheels of Justice | Eric Hodges | Episode: "Con Truck" |
| 2001 | Sheena | Kiptalami Chief | Episode: "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" |

### Video games

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1995 | Street Fighter: The Movie | Balrog | |
| 1995 | Street Fighter: The Movie | Balrog | |