George Arthur "Rusty" Cundieff (born December 13, 1960) is an American film and television director, actor, and writer known for his work on '' Fear of a Black Hat'' (1993), '' Tales from the Hood'' (1995), and '' Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006).

Biography

Cundieff was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

to Christina and John A. Cundieff. He studied journalism at Loyola University in New Orleans and the philosophy of religion at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. While at USC, Cundieff became a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate List of African-American fraternities, historically African American Fraternities and sororities, fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the ...

, a historically African American fraternity. He is married to Trina Davis Cundieff, with whom he has two children: Simone Christina and Thelonious Jon Davis.

Film career

After graduating from USC in 1982, Cundieff performed stand-up comedy in Los Angeles while looking for opportunities to act. His first major role was a year-long run as Theo Carver on ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

'' in 1985. In 1988, he played Big Brother Chucky in

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

's ''

School Daze ''School Daze'' is a 1988 American musical comedy-drama film written and directed by Spike Lee and starring Lee along with Laurence Fishburne (credited as Larry Fishburne), Giancarlo Esposito, and Tisha Campbell. Released on February 12, 19 ...

''. Cundieff was inspired by his experience working with Lee on the film to pursue writing and directing in addition to acting, and at age 29 he wrote, directed, and starred in the well-received 1993 rap parody '' Fear of a Black Hat''. He directed and co-wrote the 1995 horror anthology '' Tales from the Hood''. He directed sequels in 2018 and 2020, '' Tales from the Hood 2'' and '' Tales from the Hood 3'', projects that he said he had been trying to make for 20 years, but that the success of ''

Get Out ''Get Out'' is a 2017 American psychological horror film written, co-produced, and directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery, LaKeith Stanfield, Bradley Whitford, Caleb ...

'' had opened the door for. Cundieff was also a correspondent on

Michael Moore Michael Francis Moore is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

's comic TV magazine show '' TV Nation'' in the mid-1990s. In 2013, along with 12 others he received a Razzie Award for Worst Director for directing a segment in the anthology comedy film '' Movie 43''.

Filmography

Actor

Director

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cundieff, Rusty 1960 births Living people Male actors from Pittsburgh American male film actors African-American film directors African-American television directors Film directors from Pennsylvania American television directors Television producers from Pennsylvania University of Southern California alumni Writers from Pittsburgh African-American male actors American male television actors 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people American comedy film directors American horror film directors