Acting, Writing, Directing, Producing

Yaphet Kotto - established himself in the ranks of top box-office stars,, and revolutionized the image of African American men on movie screens forever after starring in such cinema hits as Live and Let Die, becoming the first black villain in movie history as an antagonist to James Bond, and the first black space man in an action film such as the Super colossal hit Alien. He has created some of the most memorable characters of all time in movies, Mosley in Midnight Run, Laughlin in the Running Man, Coombs in Brubaker, Smokey in Blue Collar, Pope in Across 110th street, Crunch in Report to the Commissioner, Sonny Boy in the Liberation of Lord Byron Jones, Lowes in the Star Chamber just to mention a few among dozens of other movie and television hits he has starred in. He is credited with helping to popularize the Stanislavski system of acting having studied at the Actors Studio in New York and He initially gained acclaim and an Emmy Award nomination for creating the role of Idi Amin in NBC’s Raid on Entebbe. He has made 67 films, the combination of his films and film rentals he has earned for the motion picture industry the sum of 2 point 8 billion dollars, not only has he contributed in a producing role in one of them, he has participated as a writer for the hit television series “Homicide; Life on the street”- Kotto has been honored with tributes ranging from the NAACP image award, the High Chaparral Crystal awards to the Cowboy national hall of fame. In addition to his artistic contributions. Yaphet Kotto has used his professional success as a vehicle for positive change, becoming an international advocate, civil rights activist and philanthropist in the fields of health, education and literature. Yaphet along with Academy Award winner and writer Budd Schulberg help to start the Watts Writers Workshop, it was a creative writing group initiated by screenwriter Budd Schulberg in the wake of the devastating August 1965 Watts Riots in South Central Los Angeles (now South Los Angeles). Kotto later said: "My people come first, I had to help in some way.... The only thing I knew was acting writing, so I decided to teach at the writers' workshop.” The group, which functioned from 1965 to 1973, was composed primarily of young African Americans in Watts and the surrounding neighborhoods. Early on, the Workshop included a theatrical component including one of the founders and the neighbors were proud to see Yaphet Kotto teaching classes and being not just a movie star but a good friend..