(photo credit: AP/AJL)
It’s been over 30 years since the Cosby Show debuted on our TV screens. Thirty years! Let that sink in for a minute. Now, as we all feel a little bit older, our favorite son, Malcolm Jamal Warner (Theo) is all grown up. He’s been doing a lot lately: movies, television series, etc.
But now he’s a Grammy-nominated musician, a father and the star of a long running show called The Resident, where he plays a doctor. Now, at age 50, he’s navigating through life and loving every minute of it.
On Bill Cosby “He’s one of my mentors, and he’s been very influential and played a big role in my life as a friend and mentor,” Warner shares. “Just as it’s painful to hear any woman talk about sexual assault, whether true or not, it’s just as painful to watch my friend and mentor go through this.”
(Photo credit: Cosby Style tumblr)
“I can’t really speak on any of the allegations because obviously, I was not there. The Bill Cosby I know has been great to me and great for a lot of people. What he’s done for comedy and television has been legendary and history-making.
What he’s done for the black community and education has been invaluable. That’s the Bill Cosby I know. I can’t speak on the other stuff.”
Even after decades of growing up on camera, the actor, poet and musician managed to bypass the “childhood actor curse” to keep his skin, hair and body healthy.
On His Health “I’m not a health nut,” Warner confesses. “But I’m very aware of what happens when I don’t watch what I eat and don’t work out. “The Tuskegee Airmen” and “Fool’s Gold” are perfect examples,ha! I love to eat and drink and as I’ve gotten older, I can most definitely see how my metabolism has slowed down so as a result, I am very conscious of what I put into my body.
I do go through cycles though. I know the top of my range so I know when to pull it back, however, I’m noticing how much longer it takes to bring the body back to where I prefer.”
On His Hair When asked about why he cut his dreadlocks, Malcolm describes, “My ten and a half year journey was done. When I committed to letting my hair loc I said I’d do ten years and after ten and a half, I was ready.
My manager and agents told me that locs would limit me getting roles, which may or may not have been true, but I have three television series, four independent films, and a major studio film with them so my locs are well-documented.
Everyone I knew who had cut theirs all stressed to me not to cut them until I was absolutely ready so as not to regret doing so. I took their advice and have no regrets at all. Live your life with no regrets.”
As he tells it, his life as an actor almost didn’t happen. In an effort to find Warner an after-school activity, his mother enrolled him in an acting workshop.
But she was no stage mother, Warner emphasizes. In fact, when an agent saw him perform in a community theater production and wanted to sign him on as a client, his mother refused. At the time, she was going to school and in no position to drag her son to auditions.
The following year, when the same agent saw Warner in another production and again offered to take him on as a client, his mother said no yet again. But Warner was fortunate to have an acting teacher who was willing to accompany the talented youngster to auditions.
Warner signed with the agent and continued to do local theater and a handful of day player roles on such shows as “Fame” and “Call to Glory.”
His life-altering experience was landing The Cosby Show during its national search for a young actor to play Theo. “They were looking for a 6-foot-2 15-year-old, and I was a 5-foot-5 13-year-old,” he recalls. “It was the last day of auditioning, Good Friday, 1984.
It was 6:30 in the evening and my agent was begging the casting director to stay so I can come in and let me read. I did and I was called back for network callback that Monday. I was one of three actors, one from New York, one from Chicago, and one from L.A.—that was me.”
On What He’s Doing Next “I always have my hands in different boxes,” he tells The Undefeated. “Right now, my two main things are parenthood and The Resident. But I always have different projects in development, and that’s because of my mother, who was a very big influence on me. When Cosby first aired and it was this out-of-the-box hit, I was 14. And my mom sat me down and told me, ‘Baby, it’s great that this show is a phenomenon, but you know how this business is. The show could be over next year. What are you going to do when Cosby is over?’”
Malcolm Jamal Warner has played a son, Theo Huxtable, on The Cosby Show for years, but now he’s been playing dad in real life for over a year now!
That’s right, after a number of years and celebrity relationships, the 48-year-old welcomed his first child into the world in 2017.
“I am elated over Malcolm’s new child,” says Phynjuar Thomas, a friend of Warner’s whose daughter Michelle Thomas dated the actor and played his girlfriend on “The Cosby Show” from 1988 until 1990. Warner was by Michelle’s side when she died of cancer in 1998 at the age of 30. Phynjuar and Warner have stayed friends.
“I love him,” she says, adding that the baby is about a week old. “I hope they name the baby after me. Phynjuar is a beautiful name.”
We’re told that the mom is an attorney from Bridgeport, Conn., and that she and Warner are “very much in love.”
Warner is busy with his new bundle of joy, but he’s equally as busy with a number a music and film projects.
He is currently directing, producing and acting in a number short films.
One of his latest projects is a short film just released called, You Can’t Hear Me. It’s a socio-political film that uses spoken word to tell the horrors of White supremacy.
Warner has been quietly producing and singing on award-winning music across the globe. If you didn’t know, he is 2015 Grammy Winner for Best Traditional R&B Performance in the song called “Jesus Children” with Robert Glasper Experiment featuring Lalah Hathaway and himself.
Among his acting projects, Warner co-starred as A.C. Cowlings opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. on the critically acclaimed FX series “American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson.” He is currently recurring on TNT’s hit series…
… “Major Crimes,” as well as “Suits” on USA and has appeared on “American Horror Story: Freak Show” and “Sons of Anarchy” for FX. Additional television credits include: recurring on NBC’s critically acclaimed series “Community,” guest star roles on “The Michael J. Fox Show,” TNT’s “Hawthorne,” AMC’s “The Cleaner,” and Showtime’s “Dexter.”
On the film front, his short film MUTED [starring opposite Chandra Wilson] won the HBO Short Film Competition at the American Black Film Festival [summer 2014].
A few weeks ago, Warner tweeted something that all father’s can relate to: “All Praise due to The Most High. God, please forgive me 4 the times I 4get I’m 1 of the most blessed & luckiest men I know. Thank you.”
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