Tommy Davidson

Early years

Born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, Davidson was abandoned in the trash at 18 months old, before being rescued by the woman who became his adoptive mother. He was a child of an interracial adoption; his adoptive parents are Caucasian, and he is African-American. He has two younger Caucasian siblings, Michael and Beryle Davidson. He and his family moved from Colorado to Wyoming to Oregon until he was about 5 years old, when they settled in Silver Spring, Maryland. He attended high school at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, in Bethesda, Maryland. After graduating in 1982, he studied communications and interned at the radio station of the University of the District of Columbia for one semester. He had jobs in the kitchen of a hospital and in the storeroom of Hechinger in [[Hyattsville, Washington DC].

Career

Davidson started his career as a stand-up comedian in 1986, when a childhood friend convinced him to perform stand-up at The Penthouse strip club in Park View, Washington, D.C.. He continued performing in various comedy clubs throughout the Washington Metropolitan region, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. He opened concerts for Patti LaBelle, Starpoint, and Kenny G. He performed on a fundraising telethon for WHMM in 1987.

Davidson won an amateur stand-up competition at the Apollo Theater in 1987. Soon afterwards, he moved to North Hollywood, California, where he met Martin Lawrence, who lived in his building. He performed at the Comedy Store, where Robert Townsend heard of him and asked him to be the warm-up comic for an HBO special. After performing at Luther Vandross and Anita Baker shows, he appeared on the Arsenio Hall Show.

Davidson's first major exposure came on the variety show In Living Color, where he played various characters, including his impersonations of Sammy Davis, Jr. and Sugar Ray Leonard, and child victim of Homey D. Clown.

In 1991, he released Illin in Philly, a VHS tape of a stand-up performance, which was aired regularly on Comedy Central in the 1990s, and "On The Strength", another stand-up performance, this time filmed in New York City. He has also appeared in the films Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Strictly Business, Booty Call and Juwanna Mann. Davidson provided the voice for Oscar Proud, the father in the Disney animated series The Proud Family. He was also a recurring character on MADtvs Real M*****F***ing Talk sketches. In an episode of Comedy Central's Live at Gotham, Davidson hosted the show with amateur acts trying to make names for themselves. He was also a guest on an episode of Cartoon Network's animated/live action talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Davidson did commercials for Pizza Hut in 2002, talking about the "P'zone Revolution".

More recently, Tommy Davidson played the role of Cream Corn in Black Dynamite. He also reprised his role in the Adult Swim television show of the same name.

He appeared in an episode of the TV show Martin playing the role of Varnell.

In 2015, Tommy and his fiancée, Amanda, appeared in Season 4/Episode 11 of Celebrity Wife Swap. His fiancee swapped with Corey Feldman's girlfriend, Courtney. In 2016, Tommy appeared on Celebrity Family Feud.