Faizon Love

Faizon Love
Love in 2005
Born	Langston Faizon Santisima (1968-06-14) June 14, 1968 (age 53) Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor, comedian
Years active	1992–present

Langston Faizon Santisima (born June 14, 1968), professionally known as Faizon Love, is a Cuban American actor and comedian. He is best known for roles in the films The Meteor Man, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Friday, B*A*P*S, Torque, Elf, The Replacements, Made, and Couples Retreat. Also, he is known for his role as Wendell Wilcox on The Parent 'Hood from 1995 to 1998. He also played Maurice Starr on BET's The New Edition Story.

Life and career[]

Love was born Langston Faizon Santisima^[1] in Santiago de Cuba and grew up as a "military brat"; he was raised in Southeast San Diego, California and Newark, New Jersey because of his father's career in the United States Navy.^[1] Love got his start as a stand-up comedian at age 15 and made his acting debut in an off-Broadway at the age of 19 shortly after graduating from Morse High School.^[2] His motion-picture debut, Bebe's Kids, had him providing the voice of comedian Robin Harris, who died before production began on the film; Love offered a close vocal impression of Harris. He then had a role in The Meteor Man, starring Robert Townsend. Townsend then cast Love in a co-starring role on his sitcom The Parent 'Hood.

He followed up this role with a breakout performance as the drug supplier Big Worm in the 1995 film Friday. Follow-up films have included 3 Strikes, Elf, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, Money Talks, Wonderland, The Fighting Temptations, and Idlewild.^[3][4][5][6] In 2001, Love guest-starred in the Ludacris single "Freaky Thangs" from the album Word of Mouf. The same year, he made a cameo appearance as a bus driver, in the music video for Lil Jon & The East Side Boys' single "Put Yo Hood Up". In 2004, Love appeared in the action video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the voice of Sean "Sweet" Johnson, the leader of the Grove Street Families and the older brother of the game's protagonist, Carl Johnson.

Love co-starred in Couples Retreat (2009), a comedy film chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort.^[7] In 2011 Love starred in a theatrical production of Our Town by Thornton Wilder, alongside Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Etan Thomas.^[8]

In 2012, he played the role of Stringer Bell in the satirical trailer for The Wire: The Musical. In June of that year, Love started to appear in a series of commercials for the pre-paid wireless provider Boost Mobile, promoting its new 4G phones.

Controversy and legal issues[]

In 2014, Love made a series of controversial Twitter comments in the wake of the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby. Defending Cosby against the charges, Love used profanity and racial slurs against Cosby's accusers as well as comedian Hannibal Buress, who had alluded to the allegations in a stand-up routine.^[9][10] In 2015, Love once again took to Twitter to defend Cosby, dismissing those African Americans who believed the allegations as "spineless monkeys".^[11]

On March 7, 2017, Love was arrested in Columbus, Ohio, on a charge of misdemeanor assault. An altercation with a valet occurred at John Glenn Columbus International Airport, whereby video showed him grabbing the valet behind the neck in the baggage claim area and throwing him onto the ground and into a desk. Love filed a plea of not guilty.^[12] He pled no-contest to the assault charge and received a $500 fine and a 180 day suspended jail sentence.^[13]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Television[]

Video game[]

References[]

External links[]

• Faizon Love at IMDb
• Faizon Love on Twitter