Louis Gossett Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. (born May 27 1936) is an Academy Award winning American actor.
He was born in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn and attended Abraham Lincoln High School, where he was class president and an academic and athletic achiever. A sports injury left him with no choice but to take an acting class, and at 16 he made his stage debut in the school's production of You Can't Take It With You. After high school, he attended New York University, where he was a star basketball player.
Professional career
Gossett was chosen to play for the New York Knicks, but he decided his true vocation was acting. He took a big step into the world of cinema in the Sidney Poitier vehicle A Raisin in the Sun in 1961.
Gossett made several TV guest appearances early in his career, including a role as a bounty hunter on the western comedy Alias Smith and Jones. Gossett has starred in numerous film productions such as The Deep, An Officer and a Gentleman, Jaws 3-D (as SeaWorld manager Calvin Bouchard), Enemy Mine, the Iron Eagle series, Toy Soldiers and The Punisher. His role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman (playing opposite Richard Gere) showcased his talent and garnered him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
While filming "An Officer and a Gentleman," Gossett was also starring in the 1982–1983 science fiction series, "The Powers of Matthew Star."
Gossett also has performed in other media, including television productions. In fact, it was his Emmy award-winning role of "Fiddler" in the 1977 groundbreaking television miniseries Roots that first brought Gossett great notice. In 1983, Gossett was cast in the title role in Sadat, a miniseries which chronicled the life and assassination of Anwar Sadat. Egypt's government, often criticized by blacks and others as Afrophobic, objected to the casting choice and banned the production, which was critically acclaimed. The network stood by its casting decision.
Gossett is the voice of the Vortigaunts in the video game Half-Life 2 and is also the Free Jaffa Leader (Gerak) in Season 9 of Stargate SG-1.
Trivia
- His role in Enemy Mine resulted in a first: portraying a member of a single-gendered alien species, he was the first male to be shown giving birth on screen.
- Played title role in the pilot of "Black Bart", the proposed TV adaptation of the Mel Brooks hit Blazing Saddles. Cleavon Little having played the role of "Bart" in the movie.
- According to the development journal and behind-the-scenes book Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar, when casting directors asked the development team what sort of voice talent they wanted for the Half-Life 2 alien characters called "Vortigaunts," the team explained that they wanted someone who could create an intelligible voice that was still alien. As an example, they told the casting group to look for someone "like Louis Gossett, Jr. in 'Enemy Mine.'" Reportedly, the development team was shocked when they were told that Gossett was interested in taking the role.