Lance Gross

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## Biography

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## Behind the scenes

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## Lance Gross

**John Doe** plays Lead character in TV Series.

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## See also

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* Wikipedia page about John Doe**Lance Darnell Gross** (born July 8, 1981) is an American actor, model and photographer of Ghanaian descent best known for his role as Calvin Payne on the TBS sitcom *Tyler Perry's House of Payne* and OWN sitcom *Tyler Perry's The Paynes*., as well as appearing in other Tyler Perry productions such as the *Meet the Browns* (2008) film and *Tyler Perry's Temptations: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor* (2013). He also co-starred in 2010's *Our Family Wedding* alongside Forest Whitaker, Carlos Mencia, America Ferrera, and Regina King. He also starred as Secret Service Agent Marcus Finley in NBC's political drama *Crisis*.

## Early life and career

Gross was born in Oakland, California, the child of a Ghanaian father and African American mother, and later moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, to attend and graduate from Bonanza High School.[*citation needed*] He went on to attend Howard University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in theater.[*citation needed*] He then trained at The Ivanna Chubbuck Studio as well as the Tasha Smith Acting Studio.[2][*dead link*]

Gross began his career by modeling for Karl Kani and appearing in music videos for artists such as Mary J. Blige, Rihanna and Mariah Carey.[3] In 2006, he had minor roles in *Eve* and *The Bernie Mac Show*.[4] It was while he was performing in the Tasha Smith Acting Studio that he was discovered by Tyler Perry.[*citation needed*] He was consequently cast as Calvin Payne on Perry's new sitcom *House of Payne*. In the show Gross plays Calvin, a young professional who has attended college for seven years. He has been awarded four NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for this role.[5]

2008 saw Gross make his film debut in the romantic comedy *Meet the Browns*.[*citation needed*] His next big screen appearance was in *Our Family Wedding* in 2010 alongside America Ferrera, in which they portrayed a recently engaged young couple whose wedding preparations are disrupted by their families.[6] In 2012 he starred in the independent film *The Last Fall*, the story of a retired NFL player dealing with financial and family difficulties.[7] Currently Gross plays a major role on the Fox musical drama Star(TV series).

In 2018, OWN's he is back to make a appear as a recurring characters in the episode "A Surprise for the Paynes", "Revelations of Payne" and "A Confrontation of Payne", along with Allen Payne, Demetria McKinney, Doc Shaw and China Anne McClain.