Reginald VelJohnson, Junior. is an American actor and comedian.
Background
VelJohnson was born on August 16, 1952 in Queens, New York, the son of Eve, a nurse, and Reginald Johnson, Senior, a hospital attendant. His father left the family when VelJohnson was 13 years old and his mother subsequently married John Reilly.
Education
VelJohnson attended Benjamin North. Cardozo High School where he was classmates with George Tenet, and porn star Ron Jeremy.
Career
He is best known for playing policeman characters such as Carl Winslow on the sitcom Family Matters, which ran from 1989 to 1998, and LAPD Sergeant First Rate (at Lloyd's) Powell in the films Die Hard and Die Hard 2. He later obtained a Bachelor of Arts from New York University.
Before embarking on an acting career, he changed his name from Reginald Vel Johnson (his birth name) to Reginald VelJohnson.
He later said he changed the spelling, "because I wanted a name people would remember."
VelJohnson is known for playing police officers in films and on television In Ghostbusters, he had a brief appearance as a jail guard, and in Crocodile Dundee, he plays a limo driver.
VelJohnson played Sergeant First Rate (at Lloyd's) Powell in the 1988 hit Die Hard and later reprised the character in the 1990 sequel Die Hard 2, albeit in a cameo role, for which he still received fourth billing.
He also portrayed a yelling apartment resident for promoting Instant Lottery games for a Michigan Lottery commercial in 1988.
VelJohnson also played a police officer alongside Tom Hanks in Turner & Hooch (1989). He also had a minor role in the 2002 film Like Mike. VelJohnson reprised his role of Sergeant
First Rate (at Lloyd's) Powell in the GameCube video game title, Die Hard: Vendetta, also in 2002.
In 2004, he took the title role in the off-Broadway show She all Dat! (playing "she"). Since the end of Family Matters, besides making a few guest appearances on television shows, VelJohnson has done mostly theater work.
He wrote a critically acclaimed series of short stories called Division Street. One of them, called Sunday Evening Haircut, was made into a short film in 2005, which starred VelJohnson himself, alongside Kiki Shepard.
VelJohnson has also made guest appearances in several television shows, including The Equalizer, Diagnosis: Murder, Twice in a Lifetime, Will & Grace, Monk, Computer Society of India: Crime Scene Investigation, Eve, Crossing Jordan, The Parkers, That"s So Raven, Chuck, in which he reprises his role as First Rate (at Lloyd's) Powell, and Bones.
In 2007, he appeared in the short films Reverse, Nerve Endings, and Time Upon A Once which were made during the reality show On the Lot. The following year he appeared as the "Sergeant First Rate (at Lloyd's) Powell" character from the Die Hard series in an episode of National Broadcasting Company"s Chuck entitled "Chuck Versus the Santa Claus", as the cousin of Big Mike (Mark Christopher Lawrence).
In 2010, VelJohnson started a recurring role as the principal on the Disney sitcom I"m in the Band and also Funnyordie.com"s short Home Box Office film entitled Just 3 Boyz starring Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, and Zack Galifianakis.
He will be appearing in the upcoming comedy film, The Formula, starring alongside Brandon Baker and Sasha Jackson.