Robert Townsend
Encyclopedia
Robert Townsend is an American
actor, comedian, film director, and writer.
, the son of Shirley (née
Jenkins) and Robert Townsend. Raised by a single mom of four children on welfare, Townsend overcame his adversities to be at the top of the entertainment business. He is a revered and talented actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and network programming CEO. He has two daughters: Sierra and Skylar, both following in his footsteps as an entertainer. He also has a son named Isiah and spending quality time with family is important, despite his demanding schedule. As a pioneer in the 1980s, he is often described as "'Godfathers of the Independent Film World.'”
In his younger years, Robert was fascinated with television. He watched it and studied it tirelessly. He also practiced impersonation characters on television and possess remarkable talent to act out scenes. During a reading of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex at school, Robert captured the class and effortlessly transformed into a character which captured the attention of Chicago’s X Bag Theatre. The Experimental Black Actors Guild.
His start began at the ImprovisationA renowned comedy club. and launched his career as a comedian. Soon after the transition from being a comedian to an actor in movies was a smooth and easy one.
He was able to respond to the gossip about the financing for his film Hollywood Shuffle
in the interview to clear the air. Townsend admits that he did pay for the production with credit cards. He took a chance by signing up for credit cards to pay all the expenses of the film with credit card and it paid off. Samuel Goldwyn Company saw the film and loved it. The story of the credit was later published and helped him become legendary. (Alexander, 121)
As a director, Townsend says that he wants to make the movie sets as creative as possible for the actors to express the art freely. "I listen to actors...I always leave room for magic on the set." (Alexander 123) He feels that actors should be able to do what they want and that they should go above and beyond to reach their fullest potential. Working with actress like Alfre Woodard
, who was nominated for a Golden Globe is one example. He says that part of a director's job is to listen to the actress or actor. "The worst thing a director can do is force an actor to do something they don't believe in..." (Alexander, 124)
On the set of a movie when Townsend is directing, he prefers doing what he calls movement patterns to envision how the scene will take place. He creates a storyboard and foundation for the acting to grow, which he calls, leaving room for magic. Since there is not much rehearsal time, Townsend asks that actors/actresses are rushed through hair and make-up. Time, according to Townsend, is always the enemy. For him, having the wardrobe description and set location and style is done in advance. Though he believes that rehearsal time is the most important, Townsend is able to direct and be apart of every detail down to the colors of the set and the wardrobe of the performers. (Alexander, 127)
Talk to Alexander, Townsend says that Elia Kazan, who directed On the Waterfront, East of Eden, A Face in the Crowd, and A Streetcar Named Desire is his favorite. Additionally, Steven Spielberg is the other of his favorite because he is versatile and talented. Townsend says that Spielberg is able to be a businessman and a director, and "That's what I want to be when I grow up." (Alexander, 130)
Townsend feels that he is still a student and will be for the rest of his life. Technology has been changing rapidly and he has to adapt to it. (130)
For Townsend, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa was a life changing experience. It took him six days to climb it, and he struggled the whole way. He relates his experience in the mountains to life and its obstacles saying, "You've gotta take your time, you've gotta pace yourself, you've gotta stop, you've gotta sleep. I'd never climbed a mountain before in my life, but I made it." (Alexander 131)
Townsend left the film industry as an Black actor, struggling to find a role in Hollywood to go behind the scenes and become an independent filmmaker. He wrote, directed and produced Hollywood Shuffle
a satire based on the hardships and obstacles that black actors undergo in film industry. The success of his first project helped him establish credit in the industry and he gained notoriety, which helped him continue to succeed in other films.
One of his career winners was the popular soul musical The Five Heartbeats
based on the 1960s R&B male groups and the tribulations of the music industry. Townsend made history through being nominated for more than 30 NAACP Image Awards for film and television. He continues to make films for MTV such as Carmen: A Hip Hopera
, starring Beyonce Knowles
. It became one of the highest rated TV programs for MTV. Townsend is also the responsible for discovering many of the top talents in Hollywood and has worked with Hollywood’s biggest names like Halle Berry
, Morgan Freeman
, Chris Tucker
, and Denzel Washington
.
For his film, The Five Heartbeats, he was inspired by the success of The Dells
and the breakup of the Temptations because he was curious why they broke up. The movie was a drama and comedy and he learned about how the music industry and how much money the singers received. He interviewed The Dells themselves to get information for the movie. (Alexander, 122)
(1975). His career hit mainstream in the early 1980s. This included stand-up comedy
routines which appeared on cable television. Townsend auditioned to be part of Saturday Night Live
s 1980-1981 cast, but was rejected when Eddie Murphy
was chosen instead. During the 1980s and early 1990s Townsend gained national exposure through his many appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
. Townsend established himself when he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the comedy Hollywood Shuffle
his 1987 film about struggling black actors in Hollywood. Prior to Shuffle, he appeared in small parts in films like A Soldier's Story
(1984), directed by Norman Jewison
, and after its success garnered much more substantial parts in films like The Mighty Quinn (1989) with Denzel Washington
. He created and produced two television variety shows—the CableACE award
–winning Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime for HBO, and the Fox Television Variety Show Townsend Television
(1993). He also created and starred in the WB Network's sitcom The Parent 'Hood
(1995).
in Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987); Halle Berry
and Martin Landau
in B*A*P*S (1997); James Earl Jones
and Bill Cosby
in The Meteor Man
(1993), which Townsend also wrote and in which he starred. Other credits include The Five Heartbeats
(1991); Love Songs
(1999), a TV movie starring Louis Gossett, Jr.
, and Andre Braugher
; the Disney family film Up, Up, and Away
(2000); and the LGBT
TV movie Holiday Heart, starring Ving Rhames
.Co-starring opposite of Denzel Washington, he landed a role in A Soldier's Story and appeared in Streets of Fire with Diane Lane.
, Townsend had directed three actors nominated in the best actor/actress category in three different films: Leon Robinson
, for his role in Little Richard, which Townsend directed for NBC; Alfre Woodard
, for her role in the Showtime Movie Holiday Heart
(2000), which also garnered her a Golden Globe nomination; and Natalie Cole
as herself in Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000), for which she won the Image Award for best actress. Townsend also produced the television films Carmen: A Hip Hopera
(2001) and 10,000 Black Men Named George.
Black Family Channel
Townsend was most recently director of programming at the Black Family Channel
, but the network folded in 2007. To give back to the community and make an impact in the film industry, Townsend created The Robert Townsend Foundation, to inspire and create funds for novel film content.The mission of the non-profit organization is to aid introduce new unsigned filmmakers to the business.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor, comedian, film director, and writer.
Biography
Townsend was born in Chicago, IllinoisIllinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, the son of Shirley (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Jenkins) and Robert Townsend. Raised by a single mom of four children on welfare, Townsend overcame his adversities to be at the top of the entertainment business. He is a revered and talented actor, comedian, writer, producer, director, and network programming CEO. He has two daughters: Sierra and Skylar, both following in his footsteps as an entertainer. He also has a son named Isiah and spending quality time with family is important, despite his demanding schedule. As a pioneer in the 1980s, he is often described as "'Godfathers of the Independent Film World.'”
In his younger years, Robert was fascinated with television. He watched it and studied it tirelessly. He also practiced impersonation characters on television and possess remarkable talent to act out scenes. During a reading of Sophocles' Oedipus Rex at school, Robert captured the class and effortlessly transformed into a character which captured the attention of Chicago’s X Bag Theatre. The Experimental Black Actors Guild.
His start began at the ImprovisationA renowned comedy club. and launched his career as a comedian. Soon after the transition from being a comedian to an actor in movies was a smooth and easy one.
Interviews
In an interview with George Alexander, Robert Townsend talks about his childhood and his climb to fame. He grew up in a rough neighborhood on the west side of Chicago. Because he spent a great deal of time watching television, his nickname was "TV Guide." A few of his favorite television shows were I Spy with Bill Cosby, Mr. McGoo, and Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons. His mother is one his biggest supporters of art.He was able to respond to the gossip about the financing for his film Hollywood Shuffle
Hollywood Shuffle
Hollywood Shuffle is a 1987 comedy film that satirizes the racial stereotypes of African Americans in film and television. The film tracks the attempts of Bobby Taylor to become a successful actor and the mental and external roadblocks he encounters, represented through a series of interspersed...
in the interview to clear the air. Townsend admits that he did pay for the production with credit cards. He took a chance by signing up for credit cards to pay all the expenses of the film with credit card and it paid off. Samuel Goldwyn Company saw the film and loved it. The story of the credit was later published and helped him become legendary. (Alexander, 121)
As a director, Townsend says that he wants to make the movie sets as creative as possible for the actors to express the art freely. "I listen to actors...I always leave room for magic on the set." (Alexander 123) He feels that actors should be able to do what they want and that they should go above and beyond to reach their fullest potential. Working with actress like Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard
Alfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss...
, who was nominated for a Golden Globe is one example. He says that part of a director's job is to listen to the actress or actor. "The worst thing a director can do is force an actor to do something they don't believe in..." (Alexander, 124)
On the set of a movie when Townsend is directing, he prefers doing what he calls movement patterns to envision how the scene will take place. He creates a storyboard and foundation for the acting to grow, which he calls, leaving room for magic. Since there is not much rehearsal time, Townsend asks that actors/actresses are rushed through hair and make-up. Time, according to Townsend, is always the enemy. For him, having the wardrobe description and set location and style is done in advance. Though he believes that rehearsal time is the most important, Townsend is able to direct and be apart of every detail down to the colors of the set and the wardrobe of the performers. (Alexander, 127)
Talk to Alexander, Townsend says that Elia Kazan, who directed On the Waterfront, East of Eden, A Face in the Crowd, and A Streetcar Named Desire is his favorite. Additionally, Steven Spielberg is the other of his favorite because he is versatile and talented. Townsend says that Spielberg is able to be a businessman and a director, and "That's what I want to be when I grow up." (Alexander, 130)
Townsend feels that he is still a student and will be for the rest of his life. Technology has been changing rapidly and he has to adapt to it. (130)
For Townsend, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa was a life changing experience. It took him six days to climb it, and he struggled the whole way. He relates his experience in the mountains to life and its obstacles saying, "You've gotta take your time, you've gotta pace yourself, you've gotta stop, you've gotta sleep. I'd never climbed a mountain before in my life, but I made it." (Alexander 131)
Career
In 1974, Townsend auditioned for parts at Chicago's Experimental Black Actors' Guild and performed in local plays studying at the famed Second City comedy workshop for improvisation. He enrolled at Illinois State University to get a degree to fall back on. However, he studied a year and later moved to New York to study at the Negro Ensemble Company. Although his mother believed that college was something for him just in case the entertainment business did not work out, he felt college took time away from his passion for acting. He soon dropped out of school to perform and do commercials. (Ebony)Townsend left the film industry as an Black actor, struggling to find a role in Hollywood to go behind the scenes and become an independent filmmaker. He wrote, directed and produced Hollywood Shuffle
Hollywood Shuffle
Hollywood Shuffle is a 1987 comedy film that satirizes the racial stereotypes of African Americans in film and television. The film tracks the attempts of Bobby Taylor to become a successful actor and the mental and external roadblocks he encounters, represented through a series of interspersed...
a satire based on the hardships and obstacles that black actors undergo in film industry. The success of his first project helped him establish credit in the industry and he gained notoriety, which helped him continue to succeed in other films.
One of his career winners was the popular soul musical The Five Heartbeats
The Five Heartbeats
The Five Heartbeats is a 1991 musical drama film directed by Robert Townsend, who co-wrote the script with Keenan Ivory Wayans. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film's main cast includes Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon Robinson, Harry J. Lennix, Tico Wells, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas...
based on the 1960s R&B male groups and the tribulations of the music industry. Townsend made history through being nominated for more than 30 NAACP Image Awards for film and television. He continues to make films for MTV such as Carmen: A Hip Hopera
Carmen: A Hip Hopera
Carmen: A Hip Hopera is a 2001 musical film produced for television by MTV and directed by Robert Townsend. The film stars Beyoncé Knowles in her debut acting role, Mos Def, Rah Digga, Wyclef Jean, Mekhi Phifer, Da Brat, Joy Bryant, Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow...
, starring Beyonce Knowles
Beyoncé Knowles
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child...
. It became one of the highest rated TV programs for MTV. Townsend is also the responsible for discovering many of the top talents in Hollywood and has worked with Hollywood’s biggest names like Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, Chris Tucker
Chris Tucker
Christopher "Chris" Tucker is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing the role of Detective James Carter in the Rush Hour film series.-Early life:...
, and Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
.
For his film, The Five Heartbeats, he was inspired by the success of The Dells
The Dells
The Dells are an R&B and crossover musical group. Their successful recordings spanned more than four decades. Formed in 1952 after attending high school together, the Dells' repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul, disco and contemporary rhythm and blues...
and the breakup of the Temptations because he was curious why they broke up. The movie was a drama and comedy and he learned about how the music industry and how much money the singers received. He interviewed The Dells themselves to get information for the movie. (Alexander, 122)
Television credits
Townsend had a brief uncredited role in the movie Cooley HighCooley High
Cooley High is a 1975 American film based upon the real high school located on the near north side of Chicago produced and released by American International Pictures and written by Eric Monte...
(1975). His career hit mainstream in the early 1980s. This included stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
routines which appeared on cable television. Townsend auditioned to be part of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
s 1980-1981 cast, but was rejected when Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
was chosen instead. During the 1980s and early 1990s Townsend gained national exposure through his many appearances on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....
. Townsend established himself when he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the comedy Hollywood Shuffle
Hollywood Shuffle
Hollywood Shuffle is a 1987 comedy film that satirizes the racial stereotypes of African Americans in film and television. The film tracks the attempts of Bobby Taylor to become a successful actor and the mental and external roadblocks he encounters, represented through a series of interspersed...
his 1987 film about struggling black actors in Hollywood. Prior to Shuffle, he appeared in small parts in films like A Soldier's Story
A Soldier's Story
A Soldier's Story is a 1984 drama film directed by Norman Jewison, based upon Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning Off Broadway production A Soldier's Play. A black officer is sent to investigate the murder of a black sergeant in Louisiana near the end of World War II...
(1984), directed by Norman Jewison
Norman Jewison
Norman Frederick Jewison, CC, O.Ont is a Canadian film director, producer, actor and founder of the Canadian Film Centre. Highlights of his directing career include In the Heat of the Night , The Thomas Crown Affair , Fiddler on the Roof , Jesus Christ Superstar , Moonstruck , The Hurricane and The...
, and after its success garnered much more substantial parts in films like The Mighty Quinn (1989) with Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
. He created and produced two television variety shows—the CableACE award
CableACE Award
The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming...
–winning Robert Townsend and His Partners in Crime for HBO, and the Fox Television Variety Show Townsend Television
Townsend Television
Townsend Television is an American sketch comedy television show that aired on Fox on Sunday nights from September 12, 1993 to December 26, 1993.-Overview:Each episode featured stand up comedy from star Robert Townsend...
(1993). He also created and starred in the WB Network's sitcom The Parent 'Hood
The Parent 'Hood
The Parent 'Hood is an American sitcom that aired on The WB airing from January 18, 1995 to July 25, 1999. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas....
(1995).
Film credits
On the big screen, he has directed Eddie MurphyEddie Murphy
Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
in Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987); Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
and Martin Landau
Martin Landau
Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
in B*A*P*S (1997); James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
and Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
in The Meteor Man
The Meteor Man (film)
The Meteor Man is a 1993 superhero film written, directed, and starring Robert Townsend, and featuring an ensemble cast. Townsend stars as a mild-mannered schoolteacher, who becomes a superhero after his neighborhood in Washington, D.C. is terrorized by street gangs.Although the film is set in...
(1993), which Townsend also wrote and in which he starred. Other credits include The Five Heartbeats
The Five Heartbeats
The Five Heartbeats is a 1991 musical drama film directed by Robert Townsend, who co-wrote the script with Keenan Ivory Wayans. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film's main cast includes Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon Robinson, Harry J. Lennix, Tico Wells, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas...
(1991); Love Songs
Love Songs (film)
Love Songs is a 2007 French musical film directed by Christophe Honoré, starring Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier and Chiara Mastroianni. It was one of the 20 films selected for the main competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
(1999), a TV movie starring Louis Gossett, Jr.
Louis Gossett, Jr.
Louis Cameron Gossett, Jr. is an American actor best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman and Fiddler in the 1970s television miniseries Roots...
, and Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
; the Disney family film Up, Up, and Away
Up, Up, and Away (2000 film)
-Plot:The movie tells the story of Scott Marshall , the son of two great superheroes, Bronze Eagle and Warrior Woman. All of his family members are gifted with superpowers. His father, Bronze Eagle , has the gift of flight. His mother, Warrior Woman , has the power of superhuman strength and...
(2000); and the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
TV movie Holiday Heart, starring Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...
.Co-starring opposite of Denzel Washington, he landed a role in A Soldier's Story and appeared in Streets of Fire with Diane Lane.
Awards and other credits
At the 2001 Image Awards of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
, Townsend had directed three actors nominated in the best actor/actress category in three different films: Leon Robinson
Leon Robinson
Leon Preston Robinson IV usually credited as simply Leon, is an American actor and singer, who began his professional career as an actor in 1981.-Personal life:...
, for his role in Little Richard, which Townsend directed for NBC; Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard
Alfre Ette Woodard is an American film, stage, and television actress. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Grammy Awards, 17 times for Emmy Awards , and has also won a Golden Globe and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.She is known for her role in films such as Cross Creek, Miss...
, for her role in the Showtime Movie Holiday Heart
Holiday Heart
castHoliday Heart is a 2000 TV movie starring Ving Rhames, Alfre Woodard, and Mykelti Williamson. It was directed by Robert Townsend, aired on the cable TV channel Showtime, and was distributed on DVD by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was based on a play by Cheryl L...
(2000), which also garnered her a Golden Globe nomination; and Natalie Cole
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole , is an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of jazz legend Nat King Cole, Cole rode to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be ", "Inseparable" and "Our Love"...
as herself in Livin' for Love: The Natalie Cole Story (2000), for which she won the Image Award for best actress. Townsend also produced the television films Carmen: A Hip Hopera
Carmen: A Hip Hopera
Carmen: A Hip Hopera is a 2001 musical film produced for television by MTV and directed by Robert Townsend. The film stars Beyoncé Knowles in her debut acting role, Mos Def, Rah Digga, Wyclef Jean, Mekhi Phifer, Da Brat, Joy Bryant, Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Bow Wow...
(2001) and 10,000 Black Men Named George.
Black Family Channel
Townsend was most recently director of programming at the Black Family Channel
Black Family Channel
Black Family Channel was a network for African American families and the only black-owned and operated cable television network...
, but the network folded in 2007. To give back to the community and make an impact in the film industry, Townsend created The Robert Townsend Foundation, to inspire and create funds for novel film content.The mission of the non-profit organization is to aid introduce new unsigned filmmakers to the business.
Filmography
- Cooley HighCooley HighCooley High is a 1975 American film based upon the real high school located on the near north side of Chicago produced and released by American International Pictures and written by Eric Monte...
(1975) - A Soldier's StoryA Soldier's StoryA Soldier's Story is a 1984 drama film directed by Norman Jewison, based upon Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning Off Broadway production A Soldier's Play. A black officer is sent to investigate the murder of a black sergeant in Louisiana near the end of World War II...
(1984) - American FlyersAmerican FlyersAmerican Flyers is a 1985 film starring Kevin Costner, David Marshall Grant, Rae Dawn Chong, Alexandra Paul and Janice Rule about bicycle racing....
(1985) - RatboyRatboyRatboy is a film released in 1986 and directed by and starring Sondra Locke. Though the film had a troubled production and was both a critical and commercial failure , it has maintained somewhat of a cult status throughout the years due to its make-up effects designed by Rick Baker.Ratboy did...
(1986) - Hollywood ShuffleHollywood ShuffleHollywood Shuffle is a 1987 comedy film that satirizes the racial stereotypes of African Americans in film and television. The film tracks the attempts of Bobby Taylor to become a successful actor and the mental and external roadblocks he encounters, represented through a series of interspersed...
(1987) - The Mighty Quinn (1989)
- The Five HeartbeatsThe Five HeartbeatsThe Five Heartbeats is a 1991 musical drama film directed by Robert Townsend, who co-wrote the script with Keenan Ivory Wayans. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, the film's main cast includes Townsend, Michael Wright, Leon Robinson, Harry J. Lennix, Tico Wells, Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas...
(1991) - The Meteor ManThe Meteor Man (film)The Meteor Man is a 1993 superhero film written, directed, and starring Robert Townsend, and featuring an ensemble cast. Townsend stars as a mild-mannered schoolteacher, who becomes a superhero after his neighborhood in Washington, D.C. is terrorized by street gangs.Although the film is set in...
(1993) - The Parent 'HoodThe Parent 'HoodThe Parent 'Hood is an American sitcom that aired on The WB airing from January 18, 1995 to July 25, 1999. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas....
(1995–1999) - Up, Up, and AwayUp, Up, and Away (2000 film)-Plot:The movie tells the story of Scott Marshall , the son of two great superheroes, Bronze Eagle and Warrior Woman. All of his family members are gifted with superpowers. His father, Bronze Eagle , has the gift of flight. His mother, Warrior Woman , has the power of superhuman strength and...
(2000) - Black Listed (2003)
- Phantom PunchPhantom Punch (film)Phantom Punch is a 2009 film directed by Robert Townsend. The film is a biopic of Sonny Liston, with Ving Rhames in the lead role. The film also stars Stacey Dash, Nicholas Turturro, Alan van Sprang, David Proval, and Bridgette Wilson....
(2009)