Ben Vereen

Few entertainers today are as accomplished as Ben Vereen. He won the Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Pippin and starred in such phenomenal musicals as Jesus Christ Superstar (Tony nom.), Fosse, Hair, Jelly’s Last Jam, Chicago, Wicked and I’m Not Rappaport. He is remembered for films like Sweet Charity and All That Jazz, and he became a household name in his Emmy-nominated role of Chicken George in the groundbreaking television series Roots. He has also been inducted to The Theatre Hall of Fame, the Dance Hall of Fame, and received various Emmy & Golden globe nominations. He received the BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award Best Celebrity Male Vocalist and his awards also include the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award, several NAACP Image Awards, and he recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from The Gold Coast International Film Festival.

He is now working on his new Broadway musical Reflections, written by Joe Calarco, to be directed by Tony-nominee Josh Bergasse with music by Stephen Schwartz.

Vereen has also starred in numerous television programs, and is well known for the role of 'Chicken' George Moore in Alex Haley's landmark TV miniseries Roots, for which he received an Emmy nomination in 1977.

In 1985, Vereen starred in the Faerie Tale Theatre series as Puss in Boots alongside Gregory Hines. He appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse", in which he played Will Smith's biological father Lou Smith. He made several appearances on the 1980s sitcom Webster as the title character's biological uncle.

He also appeared as Mayor Ben (a leopard) on the children's program Zoobilee Zoo and as Itsy Bitsy Spider in Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme. In 1993 he appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Interface" as the father of Roots co-star LeVar Burton's character Geordi La Forge; fellow Roots star Madge Sinclair appeared in the same episode as Geordi's mother. He also appeared on the television series The Nanny episode "Pishke Business". In 2010, he appeared on the television series How I Met Your Mother episodes "Cleaning House" and "False Positive" as Sam Gibbs, the long lost father of James Stinson, Barney Stinson's brother. He returned in 2013 and 2014 for another two episodes.