Occupation: Actor.
Birthday: April 11. I`m not going to tell you what year. People never believe how old I am.
Birthplace: I was born in Boston and raised in New Orleans.
Current home: Altadena, Calif.
Marital status: Married for seven years to Bianca Ferguson.
Children: Tamar, 22; Yasmine, 6; Esme, 2; and Tariq, 9 weeks.
Working on: Playing Anthony Bouvier on ”Designing Women,” Monday nights on CBS-TV; filming a new movie, ”Homicide”; and ”Mannequin II” will be out in February.
The book I`ve been recommending lately is: ”Kaffir Boy,” by Mark Mathabane.
Favorite pigout food: New Orleans seafood, anything fixed in Creole or Cajun style.
Nickname: Shack.
Favorite performer: Rhythm-and-blues singer Al Green.
Favorite childhood memory: Lying under the trees in New Orleans, looking up at the Spanish moss. It looks like lace against the sky.
Prized possession: My motorcycle. It`s a Honda 1000 cc.
Personal hero: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I grew up when the South was still segregated. He changed things in my life.
Nobody knows I`m: A fan of classical music.
I`d give anything to meet: Sidney Poitier.
The worst part of my job is: You have so little power.
I want to teach my children: That hard work pays off.
My fantasy is: I`m in the Caribbean, in the water.
The worst advice my father ever gave me was: ”Television is just a fad.”
If I could change one thing about myself, I would: Have an extra octave in range when I sing.
People who knew me in high school thought I was: Very silly. Because I was very silly.
Nobody would believe it if they saw me: Dance. I`m that good.
The best time of my life: My years at the Organic Theater in Chicago, from 1971 to 1978.
If I couldn`t be an actor, I`d love to be: A psychiatrist-because I do a lot of it, anyway-or a judge-because when I watch Judge Wapner, I invariably come up with at least as good a decision as he does.
