Reginald VelJohnson

Reginald VelJohnson (born Reginald Vel Johnson, August 16, 1952) is an American actor. He is best known for playing policemancharacters such as Carl Winslow on the sitcom Family Matters, which ran from 1989 to 1998, and LAPD Sgt. Al Powell in the films Die Hard and Die Hard 2.
== Early life ==
VelJohnson was born Reginald Vel Johnson on August 16, 1952, in Queens, New York, the son of Eve, a nurse, and Reginald Johnson, Sr., a hospital attendant.[1]His father left the family, which included Reginald's brother Barry,[2] when Johnson was 13 years old. Their mother subsequently married John Reilly.[3] Johnson attended Benjamin N. Cardozo High School where he was classmates with George Tenet.[4] He later obtained a Master of Fine Arts from New York University.[5] Before embarking on an acting career, he changed his name from Reginald Vel Johnson (his birth name) to Reginald VelJohnson. He later said he changed the spelling, "because I wanted a name people would remember."
=== Reported death ===
VelJohnson was the subject of an internet hoax when, on February 13, 2017, a website reported that the actor had died as a result of a heart attack.[7] The fact checking website Snopes.com proved the claim to be false and VelJohnson took to Twitter to show he was still alive and doing well.
== Career ==
VelJohnson is known for playing police officers in films and on television. His early career included a brief appearance in Ghostbusters (1984) as a Municipal Corrections Officer and an appearance in Crocodile Dundee (1986) as a limo driver. VelJohnson played a police officer alongside Tom Hanks in Turner & Hooch (1989).
VelJohnson had two breakout roles in the late 1980s.[9] He played Sgt. Al Powell in the 1988 film Die Hard and later reprised the character in the 1990 sequel Die Hard 2, for which he still received fourth billing. VelJohnson again portrayed Sgt. Powell in the GameCube video game title, Die Hard: Vendetta, also in 2002.
In 1989, VelJohnson was cast as police officer and family patriarch Carl Winslow in the ABC (later CBS) sitcom Family Matters,alongside Jo Marie Payton, who played his wife Harriette Winslow. He starred on the show until it ended in 1998.
Since the end of Family Matters, VelJohnson has done mostly theater work. In 2004, he took the title role in the off-Broadway show She all Dat! (playing "she"). He also wrote a critically acclaimed series of short stories called Division Street. One of them, called Sunday Evening Haircut, was made into a short film in 2005, which starred VelJohnson himself, alongside Kiki Shepard. VelJohnson has also made guest appearances in several TV shows, including The Equalizer, Diagnosis: Murder, Twice in a Lifetime, Will & Grace, Monk, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Eve, Crossing Jordan, The Parkers, That's So Raven, and Bones. He also had a minor role in the 2002 film Like Mike.
In 2007, he appeared in the short films Reverse, Nerve Endings, and Time Upon A Once which were made during the reality show On the Lot.[10] The following year he appeared as the "Sgt. Al Powell" character from the Die Hard series in an episode of NBC's Chuckentitled "Chuck Versus the Santa Claus", as the cousin of Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence).[11] In 2010, VelJohnson started a recurring role as the principal on the Disney sitcom I'm in the Band and also Funnyordie.com's short HBO film entitled Just 3 Boyz starring Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, and Zack Galifianakis. He has also appeared in the comedy film, The Formula, starring alongside Brandon Baker and Sasha Jackson.
== Filmography ==
Film
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
1981	Wolfen 	Morgue Attendant 	Credited as Reginald Vel Johnson
1984	Ghostbusters 	Corrections Officer 	Credited as Reggie Vel Johnson
1985	Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins	Ambulance Driver 	
1986	Crocodile Dundee 	Gus 	
1988	Plain Clothes 	Captain Graff 	
1988	Die Hard 	Sgt. Al Powell 	
1989	Turner & Hooch 	Detective David "Dave" Sutton 	
1990	Die Hard 2 	Sgt. Al Powell 	
1991	A Fond Little Memory 	 	Short film
1993	Posse 	Preston 	
2000	Ground Zero 	Burt Green 	
2002	Like Mike 	Mr. Boyd 	
2005	Sunday Evening Haircut 	O.C. 	Short film
Producer, writer
2005	Suits on the Loose 	Brother Steedman 	
2005	Death to the Supermodels 	Tom 	Direct-to-video release
2006	Hidden Secrets 	Norman Wexler 	
2007	Three Days to Vegas 	Johnny 	
 	Out at the Wedding 	Dexter 	
2009	Steppin: The Movie 	Mr. Shavers 	
2010	Jelly (film) 	Joe Woods 	
2010	You Again 	Mason Dunlevy 	
2012	Brother White 	Hill 	
2012	Air Collision 	Bob Abbot 	
2013	The Formula 	Professor Millan 	
2014	12 Dog Days Till Christmas'[13] 	Probation Officer Art Stephenson	
2018	Funny Story 	Hank 	
2018	The Prayer Box 	Billy 	Made for TV movie
== TelevisionEdit ==
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1985–1988	The Equalizer 	N/A (1985)
Harmon Hunter (1986)
Arthur Williams (1988)	Episode: "Lady Cop"
Episode: "Dead Drop"
Episode: "Sea of Fire"
1988 	227 	The Santa Thief 	Episode: "The Night They Arrested Santa Claus"
1989 	Perfect Strangers 	Carl Winslow 	Episode: "Crimebusters"
1989–1998	Family Matters 	Carl Winslow 	215 episodes
1992 	Tales from the Crypt 	Hotel Guest 	Episode: "Werewolf Concerto"
1993 	Dream On 	Santa 	Episode: "Silent Night, Holy Cow:
1994 	A Cool Like That Christmas 	Dad (Voice) 	Television movie
1994 	One of Her Own 	Det. Bob Hymes 	Television movie
1996 	Deadly Pursuits 	Ed Conroy 	Television movie
1998 	Diagnosis: Murder 	Dr. David Sinclair 	Episode: "The Last Resort"
1999 	The Hughleys 	Rev. Bennett 	Episode: "Daddy's Going to Hell"
2000 	Twice in a Lifetime 	Dr. David Bryant 	Episode: "Whistle Blower"
2001 	The Fugitive 	Maurice Beaumont 	Episode: "Lagniappe"
2002 	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 	Dr. Phillip Kane 	Episodes: "Face Lift" and "Gentle, Gentle"
2002 	Crossing Jordan 	Mr. Holden 	Episode: "Someone to Count On"
2002 	Will & Grace 	Dr. Kaplan 	Episode: "It's the Gay Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
2003 	The Parkers 	Sterling Oglevee 	Episode: "A Sterling Relationship"
2005 	That’s So Raven 	Dikembe, The Ambassador 	Episode: "The Royal Treatment"
2005 	Ghost Whisperer 	Danny Small 	Episode: "Undead Comic"
2006 	Eve 	Rev. Everett 	Episode: "Oh, Brother"
2006 	Monk 	Todd 	Episode: "Mr. Monk and the Class Reunion"
2007 	On the Lot 	Neighbor in 'Time Upon a Once' 	Episode: "11 Cut to 10 & 10 Directors Complete"
2007 	Bones 	Dale Owens 	Episode: "The Santa in the Slush"
2008 	Chuck 	Sgt. Al Powell 	Episode: "Chuck Versus Santa Claus"
2009 	The Three Gifts 	Rodney Smith 	Television movie
2009–2011	I'm in the Band 	Principal/Superintendent Cornelius Strickland	Recurring role
2010 	Funny or Die Presents 	Christopher 	Episode: "Just 3 Boyz"
2010 	The Bold and the Beautiful 	Ed 	2 episodes
2010 	Meet the Browns 	Ernie Wilson 	Episode: "Meet the Baby Daddy"
2011–2015	Hart of Dixie 	Dash DeWitt 	Recurring role
2011–2013	Mike & Molly 	Brother Heywood 	5 episodes
2012–2013	Tron: Uprising 	Able 	Recurring role
2012 	General Hospital 	Reverend Love 	
2012 	The Mistle-Tones 	Holly's dad 	Television movie
2013 	Real Husbands of Hollywood (Season 2)	Himself 	Tisha and Duane
2014 	Strike One 	Judge Morris 	
2015 	Clipped 	Tommy (Buzzy's Husband) 	
2015 	The Flight Before Christmas 	Joe 	Played husband of "Marie" (Jo Marie Payton, who also played Reginald's wife on Family Matters)
2016 	It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 	Judge Melvoy 	Episode: "McPoyle vs. Ponderosa: The Trial of the Century"
2016 	Girl Meets World 	Officer James 	Episode: "Girl Meets True Maya"
2016 	Ray Donovan 	Sherman Radley 	Episode: "Norman Saves the World"
2017 	Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero 	Mr. Flannigan (voice) 	Episode: "My Mischievous Son"
2018 	Brooklyn Nine-Nine 	Himself 	Episode: "Bachelor/ette Party"
Video games
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2002	Die Hard: Vendetta	Sgt. Al Powell	Voice and likeness only