JOHN AMOS BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

John Amos was born on December 27th, 1939 in Newark, New Jersey.  After high school he went on to play football at Colorado State University and he first found work as an advertising copywriter and later doing social work at New York's Vera Institute of Justice.
 
Soon he began to break into the entertainment industry doing work as a stand up comedian which lead to working as a stage, television and film actor.  In 1971 he began with his stage debut in a production of, "Norman, Is That You?".  He debuted on Broadway in, "Tough To Get Help" in 1972.
 
While gaining experience as a stage actor he also began appearing on such television shows as, "Mary Tyler Moore" (1970), "The Bill Cosby Show" (1970), "The Funny Side" (1971) and "Love, American Style" (1971-1972).   

His first really big hit television series was on, "Good Times" (1974) which was a spin-off of "Maude", which was itself a spin-off of "All in the Family" along with "The Jeffersons", however he was discouraged with the scripts on the series and after two years, he chose to leave the role.  Not allowing himself to show distaste with Hollywood he continued working and soon received another role on the miniseries, "Roots" (1977) as the older Kunta Kinte with an ensemble cast including LeVar Burton, Olivia Cole, Ben Vereen, Louis Gossett Jr., Vic Morrow, Edward Asner, Lynda Day George, Robert Reed, Georg Stanford Brown, Sandy Duncan, Leslie Uggams, Chuck Connors, Ralph Waite, Hari Rhodes, Moses Gunn, Cicely Tyson, Lorne Greene, George Hamilton, Lillian Randolph, Maya Angelou, Scatman Crothers, Doug McClure, Burl Ives, Macdonald Carey, Gary Collins and Yvonne De Carlo among many others.

Along with working in television, he also added a number of film roles to his resume such as, Walt Disney's "The World's Greatest Athlete" (1973) alongside Roscoe Lee Browne, Tim Conway, Dayle Haddon and Jan-Michael Vincent, "The Beastmaster" (1982) co-starring Marc Singer, Tanya Roberts and Rip Torn, "Coming to America" (1988) starring Eddie Murphy, Arsenie Hall, James Earl Jones, Shari Headley and Madge Sinclair, "Lock Up" (1989) starring Sylvester Stallone and Donald Sutherland, "Die Hard 2" (1990) starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, William Atherton, Art Evans, Franco Nero, Dennis Franz, Fred Thompson and Reginald VelJohnson, "Night Trap" (1993) also starring Robert Davi, Michael Ironside, Mike Starr, Lesley-Anne Down and Mickey Jones, "For Better or Worse" (1995) starring Jason Alexander, Lolita Davidovich and James Woods, "A Woman Like That" (1997) co-starring Shannon Amos, Tyra Banks and Morris Day, "The Players Club" (1998) starring Bernie Mac, LisaRaye, Monica Calhoun, Jamie Foxx and Ice Cube, "All Over Again" (2001) starring Ean Mering, Robert Loggia and Craig T. Nelson and "My Baby's Daddy" (2004) starring Eddie Griffin, Michael Imperioli and Anthony Anderson. 

He continued to alternate between stage, film and television roles.  Some of his other stage credits included the productions, "The Boys Next Door", "The Emperor Jones" and "Master Harold…and The Boys". 

Amos has also made appearances on other television series such as, "One Life to Live", "The Love Boat", "Murder, She Wrote", "The A-Team", "Sting Ray", "Hunter", "Touched by an Angel", "All About the Andersons", "The West Wing", "Men in Trees" and "My Name is Earl". 

He has also worked on the other side of the industry as a director on the stage productions, "Miss Reardon Drinks a Little" and "Twelve Angry Men".  More recently, Amos has appeared on the television series, "Lie to Me" (2010), "NYC 22" (2012) and the films, "Zombie Hamlet" (2012) with A.J. Buckley and K. C. Clyde and "Madea's Witness Protection" (2012) with Tyler Perry, Eugene Levy, Denise Richards, Doris Roberts and Romero Miller.
 
John Amos has married a total of three times.  First in 1965 to Noel J. Mickelson and they had two children together before the marriage came to an end in 1975.  He then married Lillian Lehman in 1978 and they also had two children before divorcing in 1979.  His current wife is Elisabete De Sousa-Amos and together they also have two children. 

Filmography

2012         NYC 22 
2012         Madea's Witness Protection
2012         Zombie Hamlet
2012         Untitled Martin Lawrence Project 
2010         Lie to Me 
2010         30 Rock 
2010         Royal Pains 
2010         Two and a Half Men 
2010         Perfect Sunday
2009         The Law 
2008         My Name Is Earl 
2006-2008     Men in Trees 
2008         Tamales and Gumbo
2007         Psych 
2007         Ascension Day
2007         Hauntsville
2006         Voodoo Moon 
2006         Dr. Dolittle 3 
2005         Boy s tenyu
2004         Countdown
1999-2004     The West Wing 
2003-2004     All About the Andersons 
2004         My Baby's Daddy
2003         The Watermelon Heist
2002         American Masters
2000-2001     The District 
2001         All Over Again
2000         Disappearing Acts 
2000         The Outer Limits 
2000         Something to Sing About 
1998         The Players Club
1998         King of the Hill 
1997         The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda
1995-1997     In the House
1997         Walker, Texas Ranger
1997         Martin
1997         A Woman Like That
1994-1995     The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
1995         Hologram Man 
1995         For Better or Worse
1995         Touched by an Angel 
1995         Murder Was the Case: The Movie
1994         704 Hauser 
1993         Night Trap
1993         The Black Cat
1992         Mac
1991         Ricochet
1991         Clippers
1991         Without a Pass
1990         Die Hard 2
1990         Two Evil Eyes
1989         Lock Up
1984-1989     Hunter 
1989         Gideon Oliver
1988         The Cosby Show 
1988         Coming to America
1988         Bonanza: The Next Generation 
1987-1988     One Life to Live 
1987         You Are the Jury 
1987         Stingray 
1987         Murder, She Wrote 
1985         American Flyers
1984         Hardcastle and McCormick 
1984         Trapper John, M.D. 
1984         The A-Team
1983         Dance of the Dwarfs
1983         The Love Boat 
1982         The Beastmaster
1981         Here's Boomer 
1980         Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story 
1980         Touched by Love
1979         Willa 
1979         Mr. Dugan
1978         Cops and Robin 
1976-1977     Future Cop 
1970-1977     Mary Tyler Moore 
1977         Roots
1976         Police Story 
1974-1976     Good Times
1975         Let's Do It Again
1973-1974     Maude
1973         The President's Plane Is Missing
1973         Two's Company
1973         The World's Greatest Athlete
1973         Sanford and Son
1972         Keeping Up with the Joneses
1971-1972     Love, American Style
1972         The New Dick Van Dyke Show 
1971         The Funny Side 
1971         Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song
1971         Vanishing Point
1970         The Bill Cosby Show