Actors - Louis Gossett, Jr.

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	Actors - Louis Gossett, Jr.

Louis Gossett Jr. (born May 27 1936) is an 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 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
, Iron Eagle
, 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 enormous talent and garnered him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Gossett also has performed in other media, including television productions. In fact, it was the 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 Arab government, often criticized by blacks 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.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Louis Gossett, Jr. ]

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