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Ving Rhames

Irving "Ving" Rhames (born May 12, 1959 in New York City, New York) is an American actor.

Rhames grew up in Harlem, Manhattan. A good student, Ving entered the New York High School of Performing Arts, where he discovered his love of acting. After high school he studied at the Juilliard Drama School, and began his career in New York theater. At Juilliard, he was a roommate of fellow actor Stanley Tucci.

He first appeared on Broadway in the play "The Winter Boys" in 1984. Ving continued his rise to fame through his work in soap operas. He found work as a supporting actor, and came to the attention of the general public in Pulp Fiction (1994) as Marsellus Wallace. Not long after, Rhames was cast alongside Tom Cruise as the ace computer hacker Luther Stickell in Brian de Palma's Mission: Impossible (1996). With solid performances in both these highly popular productions, his face was now well known to moviegoers, and the work offers began rolling in more frequently.

Rhames won a Golden Globe in 1998 for best actor in a TV miniseries for his performance in HBO's Don King: Only in America. At the ceremony Rhames gave his award to the late Jack Lemmon, saying "I feel that being an artist is about giving, and I'd like to give this to you." Lemmon was clearly touched by the gesture as was the celebrity audience who gave Lemmon a standing ovation. Lemmon, who tried unsuccessfully to give the award back to Rhames said it was "...one of the sweetest moments I've ever known in my life." The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced later that they would have a duplicate award prepared for Rhames.

The talented actor then contributed attention-grabbing performances in Bringing Out the Dead (1999), reprised his Luther Stickell role for Mission: Impossible II (2000), contributed his deep bass voice for the character of Cobra Bubbles in Lilo & Stitch (2002), and played a burly cop fighting cannibal zombie hordes in Dawn of the Dead (2004). Rhames has also appeared in a series of television commercials for Radio Shack, usually performing with Vanessa Lynn Williams. A keen fitness and weight-lifting enthusiast, Rhames is also well known for his strong spiritual beliefs and benevolent attitude toward other people.

Rhames currently stars as the title detective in the USA Network's 2005 TV series Kojak, loosely based on the '70s show of the same name. During a press conference in Hollywood for the new series, American critics criticized Rhames (who is Black) for playing a role which orginally portrayed by the late Telly Savalas, a Greek-American character. The actor was reportedly brought to tears by the harsh criticism.