Ving Rhames facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ving Rhames
Rhames in 2010
Born	Irving Rameses Rhames (1959-05-12) May 12, 1959 (age 65) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	Juilliard School (BFA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1984–present
Spouse(s)	Valerie Scott ​ ​ (m. 1994; div. 1999)​ Deborah Reed ​ ​ (m. 2000)​
Children	3

Irving Rameses Rhames (/ˈreɪmz/; born May 12, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying IMF Agent Luther Stickell in the Mission: Impossible film series (1996–present) and crime boss Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction (1994).

Early life and education

Rhames was born and raised in Harlem, New York City. He was named "Irving" after NBC journalist Irving R. Levine.

Rhames entered New York's High School of Performing Arts, where he developed his love of acting. After high school, he studied drama at SUNY Purchase, where fellow acting student Stanley Tucci gave him his nickname "Ving". Rhames later transferred to the Juilliard School's Drama Division (Group 12: 1979–1983) where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1983.

Career

Rhames first appeared on Broadway in the play The Boys of Winter in 1984. He started out in film in Wes Craven's The People Under the Stairs (1991) as Leroy, watched over Kevin Kline as Secret Service agent Duane Stevensen in Dave (1993), and played Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction (1994). He also played Buddy Bragg in Out of Sight (1998).

Rhames played Dr. Peter Benton's brother-in-law on the TV medical drama ER, a recurring role he filled for three seasons. He played ace computer hacker Luther Stickell opposite Tom Cruise in Brian De Palma's Mission: Impossible (1996). In 1997, Rhames portrayed the character of Nathan 'Diamond Dog' Jones in the popular film Con Air, and Muki in the Ice Cube film Dangerous Ground.

Rhames won a Golden Globe in 1998 for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film in HBO's Don King: Only in America. At the ceremony he gave his award to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon, saying, "I feel that being an artist is about giving, and I'd like to give this to you." Lemmon was clearly touched by the gesture as was the celebrity audience who gave Lemmon a standing ovation. Lemmon, who tried unsuccessfully to give the award back to Rhames, said it was "one of the nicest, sweetest moments I've ever known in my life." The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced later that they would have a duplicate award prepared for Rhames. That moment was #98 on E!'s 101 Awesome Moments in Entertainment. The New York Times lauded Rhames for the act, writing that in doing so he "demonstrated his capacity for abundant generosity."

..... He played Johnnie Cochran in American Tragedy (2000), the ex-con boyfriend of Jody's mother in the John Singleton film Baby Boy, portrayed a gay drag queen in the television film Holiday Heart, contributed his voice for the character of Cobra Bubbles in Lilo & Stitch (2002) and the subsequent TV series, and played a stoic cop fighting zombie hordes in Dawn of the Dead (2004) and Day of the Dead (2008) remakes. Rhames has also appeared in a series of television commercials for RadioShack, usually performing with Vanessa L. Williams.

In March 2005, Rhames played the lead role on a new Kojak series, on the USA Network cable channel (and on ITV4 in the UK). The bald head, lollipops, and "Who loves ya, baby?" catchphrase remained intact, but little else remained from the Telly Savalas-starring original.

Rhames voiced the part of Tobias Jones in the computer game Driver 3.

Reprising his Luther Stickell role, Rhames co-starred in Mission: Impossible III (2006), had a cameo appearance in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011), and played a major role in Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023), the fifth, sixth and seventh installments in the Mission Impossible film series, respectively. He is the only actor besides Tom Cruise to appear in all seven Mission: Impossible films. It was announced that he would have a role in the Aquaman-based show Mercy Reef; however, due to the integration of The WB and UPN for the new network, CW, Mercy Reef was not picked up. Rhames played a gay – and possibly also homicidal – firefighter who comes out of the closet in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. He narrates the BET television series American Gangster.

In the 2008 film Saving God, he played an ex-con who is released from prison a changed man, looking to take over his father's former church congregation in a deteriorating neighborhood. Rhames stars in Phantom Punch, a biopic of boxer Sonny Liston, released directly to DVD, as well as The Tournament, portraying a fighter out to win a no-rules tournament.

Rhames makes an appearance in Ludacris's song "Southern Gangstas" on his album Theater of the Mind. Rappers Playaz Circle and Rick Ross are also featured on the track.

He filmed the film The Red Canvas with Ernie Reyes Jr., UFC lightweight contender Gray Maynard, and Randy Couture. In 2010, he filed a lawsuit against the film's producer, claiming that he had only been paid $175,000 of a $200,000 contract.

In 2015, he filmed a series of commercials for The ADT Corporation.

Rhames is one of the narrators for UFC.

Rhames narrated the team introductions for the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI in February 2017.

Since 2014, Rhames has provided the narration for numerous Arby's commercials, with the slogan "Arby's: We have the meats!"

Personal life

Rhames is a Christian. As of 2018, he resides in Santa Monica, California. He has been married to Deborah Reed since 2000.

Filmography

Key

Denotes works that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Native Son	Jack
1988	Patty Hearst	Cinque Mtume
1989	Casualties of War	Lieutenant Reilly
1990	The Long Walk Home	Herbert Cotter
	Jacob's Ladder	George
1991	Flight of the Intruder	Chief Petty Officer Frank McRae
	Homicide	Robert Randolph
	The People Under the Stairs	Leroy
1992	Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot	"Mr. Stereo"
1993	Blood In Blood Out	Ivan
	Dave	Duane Stevenson
	The Saint of Fort Washington	Leroy "Little Leroy"
1994	Pulp Fiction	Marsellus Wallace
	Drop Squad	Garvey
1995	Kiss of Death	FBI Agent Omar
1996	Mission: Impossible	Luther Stickell
	...	"Shad"
1997	Dangerous Ground	Muki
	Rosewood	Mann
	Con Air	Nathan "Diamond Dog" Jones
1998	Body Count	Pike
	Out of Sight	Buddy Bragg
1999	Entrapment	FBI Agent Aaron Thibadeaux
	Bringing Out the Dead	Marcus
2000	Mission: Impossible 2	Luther Stickell
2001	Baby Boy	Melvin
	Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within	Ryan Whittaker
2002	Undisputed	George "The Iceman" Chambers
	Lilo & Stitch	Cobra Bubbles (voice)
	Dark Blue	Deputy Chief Arthur Holland
2003	Stitch! The Movie	Cobra Bubbles (voice)	Direct-to-video
	Sin	Eddie Burns
2004	Dawn of the Dead	Sergeant Kenneth Hall
2005	Back in the Day	Joe "J-Bone" Brown
	Animal	James "Animal" Allen	Video
	Shooting Gallery	Carl "Cue Ball Carl" Bridgers	Video
2006	Mission: Impossible III	Luther Stickell
	Leroy & Stitch	Cobra Bubbles (voice)	Direct-to-video
	Idlewild	"Spats"
2007	Ascension Day	Hark	Video
	I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry	Fred G. Duncan
	A Broken Life	Vet
2008	Animal 2	James "Animal" Allen
	Day of the Dead	Captain Kenneth Rhodes	Video
	Phantom Punch	Sonny Liston
	Saving God	Armstrong Cane
2009	Echelon Conspiracy	FBI Agent Dave Grant
	Give 'Em Hell, Malone	"Boulder"
	The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard	"Jibby" Newsome
	The Bridge to Nowhere	Nate
	The Tournament	Joshua Harlow
	Surrogates	The Prophet
	Evil Angel	Detective Carruthers
2010	Master Harold...and the Boys	Sam
	Love Chronicles: Secrets Revealed	Mike	Video
	Operation: Endgame	"Judgement"
	Piranha 3D	Deputy Fallon
	King of the Avenue	Norman De'Sha
	The Wrath of Cain	Miles "Cain" Skinner
	Red Canvas	Himself
	Death Race 2	R. H. Weyland	Video
2011	The River Murders	Captain Art Langley
	... Bullies	Miguel
	Julia X	The Man
	Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol	Luther Stickell	Uncredited cameo
2012	Seven Below	Jack
	Piranha 3DD	Deputy Fallon
	Soldiers of Fortune	Grimaud "Grim Reaper" Tourneur
	Art of Submission	Gene
	Won't Back Down	Principal Thompson
	Mafia	Renzo Wes
	Btd	Ken	Short
2013	Death Race 3: Inferno	R. H. Weyland	Video
	Armed Response	Officer Hall
	Force of Execution	"Ice Man"	Video
2014	Jamesy Boy	Conrad
2015	Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation	Luther Stickell
	Operator	Richard
2016	A Sunday Horse	Mr. Valentine
2017	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2	Charlie-27
	The Star	Thaddeus (voice)
	Father Figures	Rod Hamilton
2018	Con Man	"Peanut"
	Mission: Impossible – Fallout	Luther Stickell
2022	Wendell & Wild	Buffalo Belzer (voice)
2023	The Locksmith	Frank
	Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning	Luther Stickell
2024	The Garfield Movie	Otto (voice)
	The Instigators	Frank Toomey
	The Wild Robot	Thunderbolt (voice)
2025	Untitled eighth Mission: Impossible film	Luther Stickell	Filming

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Ving Rhames para niños