Mr T

About

Toughest dude of the toughest team on TV. Former wrestler. Possibly hardest man ever. Loves gold chains. Doesn’t like flying.

Early Life

Mr. T was born Lawrence Tureaud in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest son in a family with twelve children. Tureaud attended Dunbar Vocational High School, where he played football, wrestled, and studied martial arts. While at Dunbar he became the city-wide wrestling champion two years in a row.

He then enlisted in the United States Army and served in the Military Police Corps. In November 1975, Tureaud got a letter of recommendation by his drill sergeant, and in a cycle of six thousand troops Tureaud was “Top Trainee of the Cycle” and also promoted to squad leader.

Bodyguard

For about ten years he was a bodyguard to the stars, protecting such well-known personalities as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

Rocky III

In 1980, Sylvester Stallone spotted Mr T while taking part in NBC’s “America’s Toughest Bouncer” competition. Although his role in Rocky III was originally intended as just a few lines, Mr. T landed the role as Clubber Lang, the primary antagonist.

In the 2009 movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Mr. T provided the voice for Officer Earl Devereaux, the town’s athletic cop who loves his son very much.

Endorsements & TV Commercials

Mr. T did a video campaign for Hitachi’s Data Systems, created and posted on consumer video sites including YouTube and Yahoo! Video. Then, in 2007, he appeared in a television commercial for the online role playing game World of Warcraft with the phrase “I’m Mr. T and I’m a Night Elf Mohawk”. A follow-up to this commercial appeared in November 2009 where he appeared promoting the “mohawk grenade” item, which appears in game and turns other players into Mr. T’s likeness.

Mr. T is now famous for his African Mandinka warrior hairstyle which he adopted as a powerful statement about his African origins.