Reginald Veljohnson Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Professions Actor , Screenwriter
Nationality American
Birth August 16, 1952 (Queens, New York, United States)

BIOGRAPHY
Reginald VelJohnson is the son of a nurse and a hospital worker (his father left his family when he was 13 and his mother remarried). He attended Benjamin N. Cardozo High School and then, passionate about theater, attended New York University, which allowed him to act in numerous plays and obtain a diploma in dramatic arts.

Reginald found his first role in Ghostbusters (1984), that of a prison guard. He continued with Crocodile Dundee (1987), where he played a limousine driver, but especially with Crystal Trap (1988). In this action film with Bruce Willis , he slips into the skin of the friendly police officer Al Powell, with whom the hero communicates via walkie-talkie.

At the same time, Reginald VelJohnson plays the main character of the successful sitcom Family Life (1989 – 1998), that of a policeman and father whose life is turned upside down by the arrival of a neighbor in love with his daughter. He hasn’t forgotten the cinema with Turner & Hooch , a canine police comedy where he plays Inspector David Sutton alongside Tom Hanks .

If, in 1990, Reginald reprized his role in 58 Minutes to Live , the second part of the cult Die Hard franchise, it was mainly in the series side that he was active. This is evidenced by his short (but very numerous) performances in Tales from the Crypt , Dream On , Diagnosis: Murder , CSI , The Fugitive – 2000 , Crossed Destinies , Will & Grace , Ghost Whisperer and Monk .

On the cinema side, we often see him as a supporting role (mostly as benevolent and sympathetic characters) in comedies and other family films unknown in France (Magic Baskets, Le Noël des petits Terrors, Marriage Retreat , Les Princesses des neiges , We must save the Christmas dogs , Immediate boarding for Christmas , etc.).

In the 2010s, Reginald VelJohnson obtained more important roles on the series side, notably in Hart of Dixie , where a brilliant doctor inherits a medical practice in a small town. Also note his performances in Clipped and Hitting the Breaks, as well as his dubbing work on The Trio from Elsewhere: Tales of Arcadia and Lazor Wulf .

In 2021, the Queens native reprises his character of David Sutton in the series Turner & Hooch on Disney+ (and with a new rank since he was elected mayor of Cypress Beach!). More than thirty years later, it is the turn of the son of Tom Hanks’ character, played by Josh Peck , to let himself be touched by a particularly unruly Dogue de Bordeaux.