Faizon Love

Life and career

Love was born Langston Faizon Santisima in Santiago de Cuba and grew up as a military brat; he was raised in San Diego, California and Newark, New Jersey because of his father's career in the United States Navy. 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. 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. 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".

Love co-starred in Couples Retreat (2009), a comedy film chronicling four couples who partake in therapy sessions at a tropical island resort. 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.

In 2011 Love starred in a theatrical production of Our Town by Thornton Wilder, alongside Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Etan Thomas.

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. In 2015 Love once again took to Twitter to defend Cosby, dismissing those African Americans who believed the allegations as "spineless monkeys".

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. Faizon filed a plea of not guilty.