Tony Todd- Biography

Perhaps best known as the hook-handed horror film villain "The Candyman" (1992), this imposing, booming-voiced actor has capitalized on his physical assests--he's 6'5"--to appear in a wealth of science fiction, fantasy and horror movies and television series, yet has also proven quite effective as a dramatic actor in more serious fare. Classically trained in the theater, Todd got his first major entree into Hollywood when writer-director Oliver Stone saw his performance in "Johnny Got His Gun" at New York's Westbank Theater and cast the actor as Sgt. Warren in Stone's breakthrough film "Platoon" (1986). Todd subsequently appeared regularly in guest spots on various television series in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and developed a cult fan following beginning in 1990 when he took on the recurring role of Klingon Commander Kurn, the long-lost brother of the Enterprise's Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn), on several episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Todd would appear again as Kurn on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," a series in which he also previously played a human: the adult version of young series regular Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) in the highly-regarded 1995 episode "The Visitor." The actor would later earn the rare distinction of appearing on three different "Star Trek" series as three different characters when he appeared as an alien game hunter on "Star Trek: Voyager" in 1998.

Todd's major foray into horror began in 1992 when he was cast as the murderous Candyman, a role he reprised in two sequels, and he soon became a familiar presence in genre films such as "Wishmaster" and the remake of "Night of the Living Dead" along with TV series including "The X-Files," "Hercules," "Xena: Warrior Princess," "Babylon 5," "Angel," "Andromeda" and "Smallville." But he also landed several straightforward, non-genre parts, including the title role as Black Fox in a series of 1995 CBS TV Westerns in which he co-starred with Christopher Reeve, and "The Truman Show." Todd bolstered his Hollywood career with acclaimed turns on the stage, including originating the lead role in Athol Fugard's 1998 play "The Captain's Tiger," for which Todd was nominated for a Helen Hayes award, and in August Wilson's 1999 play "King Hedley II." Todd added a second horror film fixture to his resume when he was cast as the bizarre mortician Bill Bludworth in "Final Destination" (2000), a role he reprised in the 2003 sequel, and he found yet another popular recurring role on television when he was cast as Lester Lipschultz, the illegitimate son of venerable teacher Harvey Lipschultz (Fyvush Finkel), on David E. Kelley's Fox TV drama "Boston Public."