Mark Christopher Lawrence
Lawrence at the 2011 Comic Con in San Diego
Born (1964-05-22) May 22, 1964
Occupation(s)Character actor, stand-up comedian, voice-over artist
Years active1987–present
Websitemarkchristopherlawrence.com

Mark Christopher Lawrence (born May 22, 1964) is an American character actor, stand-up comedian and voice-over artist. He is known for his role as esoteric D.J. Tone Def in the 1994 satirical rap mockumentary Fear of a Black Hat. He has appeared in popular films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Tales From the Hood, Planet of the Apes, Lost Treasure and The Pursuit of Happyness.

Lawrence is best known for his role as Big Mike on the series Chuck. He has made guest appearances on many television programs, most notably Heroes, My Name Is Earl, Crossing Jordan, Dharma & Greg, Malcolm in the Middle, Touched by an Angel, Malcolm & Eddie, Men Behaving Badly, Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, Good Luck Charlie and Martin. He is also featured on the radio series Adventures in Odyssey as "Ed Washington".[1]

Early life and education

Lawrence grew up in Compton, California. He and his two siblings were raised by a single mother. In tenth grade, he became involved with his high school's debate team—immersing himself in forensics competitions and theater. After winning his school district's Literary Olympiad competition, Lawrence went on to compete at the state and national levels as a member of the Cerritos Community College forensics squad. There he went on to capture the collegiate Bovero-Tabor Award, awarded to the top community college speaker in the country. Lawrence gained the attention of the University of Southern California’s debate team coaches, and was awarded a full scholarship to attend the university. While at USC, he traveled the nation competing in tournaments. Meanwhile, he was gaining valuable experience in his craft by moonlighting at the Los Angeles Theater Center. There, a Hollywood talent agent noticed his skill and landed Lawrence his first job in television, a role on Hill Street Blues.

After graduation from USC, he worked with the San Francisco Mime Troupe while also performing standup comedy throughout the United States, Australia, and Canada, opening for major acts, such as Jerry Seinfeld and Rodney Dangerfield. Lawrence's work in live theater led to a Dramalogue Award for his performance in Reza Abdoh’s, Minimanta. He won an NAACP award for his work in Ken Davis' The Glass House in 1990. It was this role which attracted the attention of director, James Cameron, who then cast him as the "burly insane asylum attendant" in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1988 Caddyshack II Construction Worker #4
1989 Listen to Me Attila
1991 Terminator 2: Judgment Day Burly Attendant
Child's Play 3 Cop
1993 Fear of a Black Hat Tone Def
12:01 Jack Spays TV movie
1995 Crimson Tide Rono, Chief Culinary Specialist
Tales from the Hood Prison Guard
1997 That Darn Cat Rollo
Sprung Brotha #3
The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda Pagoda DJ TV movie
1998 Senseless Wig Shop Owner
Caught in the Spray Lil' Ass Gee Short
1999 Molly Angels' Manager
Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story Fats Domino TV movie
2000 Retiring Tatiana E.J.
2001 Go with the Fro - Short
Planet of the Apes Friend at Leo's Party
Two Can Play That Game Lying Man #4
K-PAX Simms
2003 Lost Treasure Danny G.
2004 Garfield: The Movie Christopher Mello
Tiger Cruise Pop TV movie
Christmas with the Kranks Wes Trogden
2005 Fair Game Wesley
The Island Construction Worker
Life Is Ruff Calvin's Dad TV movie
Ordinary Miracles Duty Sergeant TV movie
2006 The Pursuit of Happyness Wayne
2008 Shout! -
The Club Donovan Short
2009 Halloween II Deputy Fred King
2010 Speed-Dating Dr. Petesmith
Sudden Death! Jim Short
Uncle Matin's Sword Trick Azeem Short
Silverlake Video: The Movie Landlord
2011 Sock Babies Dad Short
2014 Cooties Mr. Pederson
Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys Ted TV movie
2015 Cocked Burt TV movie
Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story Gary Rockwell
When I Wake Up Ronnie Williams Short
2016 The Death of Rasputin Detective Reynolds Short
Moving On Det. Weston Dempsey Short
2017 Stage Fright - TV movie
Conflict of Interest Rich
Circus Kane Billy
2018 West of Hell Abram
Mr. Malevolent Borris
2019 Maybe I'm Fine Detective Greene
The Flourish Dennis Short
One Fine Christmas Al TV movie
2nd Chance for Christmas Spoken Word Poet
2020 Skin: The Movie Marvin
$TACK$ Hector Short[2]
Sleeper Agent Mike
Leave 'em Laughing Soup Guy Fan Short
2021 Nothing Is Impossible Pastor Lawrence
Romeo and Juliet: A Covid Trajedy Father Lawrence Short
2022 Family Camp Pastor Dave [3][4]

Television

Television appearances by Lyric Bent
Year Title Role Notes
1987 Ohara Carl Episode: "The Sparrow"
1991 Roc Husband Episode: "A Home, a Loan"
1992 Designing Women Black Gentleman Episode: "Driving My Mama Back Home"
Evening Shade Mr. Powell Episode: "Hasta la Vista"
Seinfeld Skycap Episode: "The Airport"
1993 In Living Color - Episode: "The Info Group"
Martin Security Guard Episode: "Hollywood Swinging: Part 2"
1994 Murphy Brown Trekker Episode: "Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?"
Seinfeld Boss Episode: "The Race"
1995 The George Wendt Show Fletcher Williams Main Cast
1996 The Show Chris Recurring cast
3rd Rock from the Sun Bartender Episode: "Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick"
1997 Coach Big Dave Episode: "A Boy and His Doll"
High Incident - Episode: "Excessive Force"
Sister, Sister Mr. Kirkpatrick Episode: "Child's Play"
Men Behaving Badly Russell Recurring cast: season 2
1998 Kelly Kelly Hank Episode: "Episode One"
Malcolm & Eddie Squires Episode: "A Few So-So Men"
2000 Touched by an Angel Hank Episode: "A Perfect Game"
Malcolm in the Middle Sheriff #1 Episode: "Traffic Jam"
2001 Yes, Dear Tony Episode: "The Daddies Group"
Dharma & Greg Arnold Episode: "Do the Hustle"
Emeril Matt Episode: "Blind Dates"
2003 The Mullets Bill Recurring cast
2004 American Dreams Melvin Bishop Episode: "Real-to-Reel"
Crossing Jordan Rob Morton Episode: "Second Chances"
Grounded for Life Duane Episode: "Pressure Drop"
Reba Bar Bouncer Episode: "Girls' Night Out"
Center of the Universe Moe Episode: "Independence Day"
2005 Hot Properties John Episode: "Waiting for Oprah"
2006 My Name Is Earl Jack Knox Episode: "Stole P's HD Cart"
Weeds Mike Episode: "Cooking with Jesus"
2007 Heroes Mr. Lamont Episode: "Chapter Four 'The Kindness of Strangers'"
2007-12 Chuck Michael "Big Mike" Tucker Recurring cast: season 1, main cast: seasons 2–5[5]
2008 Chuck Versus the Webisodes Big Mike Recurring cast
Buy More Big Mike Recurring cast
2010 Buy Hard - The Jeff and Lester Story Big Mike Main Cast
2011 Retired at 35 Carl Episode: "The Tell-Tale Cart"
2012 Glee Rob Adams Episode: "Glease"
2013 Lab Rats Announcer Episode: "Robot Fight Club"
Good Luck Charlie Bernie Episode: "Duncan Dream House"
2014 Franklin & Bash Henry Shae's Boss Episode: "Honor Thy Mother"
2014-15 Kirby Buckets Coach Batchelder Episode: "Killer Puppies" & "Atta Boy"
2015 Murder? [6] Jason Episode: "Part 1 & 4"
2015-16 Chain Comedy Hour Cast Member Main Cast
2016 Inside the Extras Studio Will Johnson Episode: "Famous Director"
The Encounter Sheldon Episode: "Her Final Role"
Pitch Russell Episode: "Unstoppable Forces & Immovable Objects"
2017 Malibu Dan the Family Man Marty Dankles Recurring cast
2019 The Detour Officer Bradshawl Episode: "The Return"
Chartered Mr. Jay Heard Episode: "Pilot"
Black Jesus Det. Samuels Episode: "The Compton Crusader"
2020 The Dream Tom Episode: "Pilot"
Two Degrees Mark Episode: "Dr. Abigail & Me"
2021 All the Queen's Men[7] Gene Marks Recurring cast: season 1
2022 Sprung Hank Episode: "Chapter Seven"

References

  1. "Cast & Crew: Mark Christopher Lawrence". The Odyssey Scoop. Retrieved 2013-06-06.
  2. Papadatos, Markos (2021-06-30). "Mark Christopher Lawrence talks about his 2021 Daytime Emmy nomination for 'Lead Actor'". Digital Journal. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  3. Morris, Andrea (2022-06-25). "'When God Closes a Door He Opens a Chick-fil-A': The Comedy of Mark Christopher Lawrence in 'Family Camp'". Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  4. Bell, Diane (2022-06-07). "Column: 'Family Camp' film romp has San Diego connection". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  5. Bernstein, Abbie (2011-12-30). "Exclusive Interview: CHUCK star Mark Christopher Lawrence looks back on five seasons of Buy More fun - Assignment X". Assignment X. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
  6. "bio" (PDF). mildlyfearsomefilms.com. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
  7. Hanson Jr., John L. (2021-10-11). "A conversation with renowned actor Mark Christopher Lawrence". KUT. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
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