Carl Lumbly Biography

Fast Facts

• Received a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award in 1980 for his lead performance in the play "Eden․"
• Received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor for the TV movie "Buffalo Soldiers․"
• Met his future wife, actress Vonetta McGee, on the set of "Cagney & Lacey" after she was cast on the show as his wife
• Before pursing an acting career, was a successful freelance journalist and public relations executive with 3M Corporation
• Started a career in Minnesota as a journalist and wrote freelance articles for the Associated Press
• His theatre performances brought him to Los Angeles, where he signed with an agent, moved to New York, and soon after was cast on the hit series "Cagney & Lacey․"
• After befriending actor Danny Glover in an audition for a play in San Francisco, both he and Glover made their feature film debuts in "Escape from Alcatraz" in 1979
• Working as a journalist in Minnesota, Lumbly was cast in a play while on assignment for a story about a workshop theatre and stayed with the company for two years