Mr. T Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Profession Actor
Birth name Laurence Tureaud
Nationality American
Birth May 21, 1952 (Chicago – Illinois, United States)

BIOGRAPHY
Raised by his mother in a particularly disadvantaged environment, Lawrence Tureaud did not shine through his academic results but through his sporting exploits, which allowed him to obtain a scholarship and join the football team of the University of Texas. However, dismissed after a year, the young man retrained as a military policeman, then a bouncer. It was at this time that he created his alter-ego, named “Mr. T”, whose T-shaped hairstyle and the accumulation of gold necklaces around his neck became his distinctive features. His reputation then allowed him to work for ten years as a bodyguard, protecting personalities such as Michael Jackson , Steve McQueen , Mohamed Ali , and Diana Ross . In 1980, Sylvester Stallone spotted him in a TV show and chose him to play a boxer in Rocky 3, The Eye of the Tiger . Considered as a minor character, the latter ultimately becomes the main antagonist of the film and imposes Mr. T in the eyes of the general public. Following his momentum, the budding actor then played his own role in The Tiger Challenge , still in the world of boxing. Becoming an emblematic figure, he made numerous guest appearances in Ricky or the Good Life , Alvin and the Chipmunks , Arnold and Willy , and has his own animated series, Mister T , combining sports training and solving criminal investigations. Hailed by critics for his performance in the comedy DC Cab which remains a major failure, the actor however gained more notoriety thanks to The All Risks Agency . Alongside George Peppard , Dwight Schultz and Dirk Benedict , he plays Barracuda, the tough guy with a soft heart from the group of former soldiers wrongly convicted and wanted by the army. Aired on NBC for five seasons, the series resonates with the particular context of Vietnam veterans, experiencing difficulties reintegrating into American society. In France, The All Risks Agency remains one of the emblematic series of the 80s.

Distinguished in various registers, Mr. T notably participated in the video for Michael Jackson’s hit, “Beat It” , then became a professional wrestler between 1985 and 1986. The athlete finally returned to the forefront of the television scene with Un Duo explosive , in which he lends his features to boxer TS Turner. A few years later, the public found him again, this time as a bearded woman in the science fiction comedy City of Monsters . Diagnosed with cancer in 1995, Mr. T did not abandon the screens: after appearing as a helicopter pilot in the pastiche of spy films Agent Zero Zero , he made a series of TV appearances ( Martin , Susan , Malcolm & Eddie , Sabrina ). At the same time, the actor does not forget his origins and releases two albums as well as a comic strip in favor of the education of young people in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Once cured, Mr. T lends his features to the janitor of Sex Academy and regularly plays his own role in animated series, including an essential appearance in The Simpsons . In 2006, he hosted an interior renovation show, called I Pity the Tool , in reference to his now cult line in Rocky III . Subsequently, Mr. T took part in the advertising campaign for the game World of Warcraft in 2009, before lending his voice to police officer Earl Devereaux in Storm of Giant Meatballs . The following year, unlike his former partners, the artist declined the cameo offered to him in the film adaptation The All Risk Agency and disappeared from the screens until 2017, where he participated in the 24th season of the US edition of Dancing with the Stars .