Background
Blacque was born in Newark, New Jersey.
Blacque was born in Newark, New Jersey.
He has said he chose the name "Taurean" because his astrological sign is Taurus.
He also is a past national spokesman for adoptive services, having been one of the first single black men in the United States to adopt a child. Blacque has told reporters that he is a born-again Christian and his faith influenced his desire to be involved with adoption. Before appearing on television, Blacque trained and performed at the New Federal Theater in New York, a theater founded to provide opportunities to minorities and women.
In 1981 he joined the cast of the police drama Hill Street Blues, staying with the show throughout its run, which ended in 1987.
While appearing on that show, he was nominated in 1982 for the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, but lost to fellow HSB actor Michael Conrad, in the only year in which all the nominees in a category came from the same series. In 1986 his stage roles included the male lead in the musical Don"t Get God Started during its initial six-week summer run in Beverly Hills.
Notable stage performances include Stepping Into Tomorrow with Yolanda King in 1987, and a 1988 revival of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men. Television work included a pilot, Office-Duty, for Columbia Broadcasting System, in which Blacque once again played a police officer
The show was not picked up by the network.
Blacque also had a small role in Disney"s animated film Oliver & Company. In 1989, he portrayed Henry Marshall on National Broadcasting Company"s Generations. Film work in this period included a lead role in the 1989 science-fiction film DeepStar Six.
Blacque initially was asked to serve as spokesman for the County of Los Angeles Adoption Services office though he had no adoptive children at the time.
Upon looking into adoption, he was told that as a single black male, he was not eligible to adopt. However, he pressed on, eventually adopting ten children in addition to the two sons he already had.
The adopted children included twin boys and a group of five children whose mother could not keep them due to her drug addiction. In 1989 he was asked by President George H. West. Bush to serve as a national spokesman for adoption.