Delroy Lindo
Birthday:
Birthplace:
Eltham, London, England, UK
Whether on stage or the big screen, Delroy Lindo projects a powerful presence that is virtually impossible to ignore. Though it was not his first film role, his portrayal of manic depressive numbers boss West Indian Archie in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992) is what first attracted attention to Lindo's considerable talents. Since then, his star has slowly been on the rise and the actor has had steady opportunity to display his talent in a number of diverse films.The son of Jamaican parents, Lindo was born in London, England, on November 18, 1952. He was raised in Lewisham, England, until his teens, when he and his mother moved across the Atlantic to Toronto. Following a move to the U.S. a short time later, he became involved in acting, eventually graduating from San Francisco's renowned American Conservatory Theater. After graduation, he landed his first film role, that of an Army sergeant in More American Graffiti (1979). He would not appear in another film for a decade, spending the intervening years on the stage. In 1982, Lindo debuted on Broadway in Master Harold and the Boys, directed by the play's author, Athol Fugard. Six years later, he earned a Tony nomination for his portrayal of Harold Loomis in Joe Turner's Come and Gone.Although possessing obvious talent and the potential for a distinguished career, Lindo found himself in something of a rut during the late '80s. Wanting someone more aggressive and appreciative of his talents, he changed agents (he'd had the same one through most of his early career). It was a smart move, but it was director Spike Lee who provided the boost that the actor's career needed. The director was impressed enough with Lindo to first cast him in Malcolm X and then as patriarch Woody Carmichael in his semi-autobiographical comedy Crooklyn (1994), a role for which Lindo earned some long overdue praise. 1995 proved to be another big year for the actor, as he landed substantial supporting roles in two major films, playing a mercurial drug dealer in Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty and another drug dealer in Lee's Clockers. The following year, he could be seen in yet another villainous role in Feeling Minnesota. However, he also proved that he could portray the other side of the law, in the Mel Gibson thriller Ransom, in which he played an FBI agent, and John Woo's Broken Arrow, which cast him as a colonel. He made good as baseball player Satchel Paige in the upbeat Baseball in Black and White that same year, winning himself an NAACP Image nomination in the process.Following a turn as a jaded angel opposite Holly Hunter in Danny Boyle's A Life Less Ordinary (1997), Lindo returned to a more earthly realm, further proving his talent for playing shadesters in The Cider House Rules (1999), in which he portrayed a cider house foreman who impregnates his daughter, and Romeo Must Die (2000), a loose adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that cast him as a vengeful mob boss. Following roles in Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000), Heist (2001), and The Last Castle (also 2001), Lindo re-teamed with Romeo star Jet Li for another high-kicking action opus, The One, in late 2001. Supporting roles in such high profile Hollywood films as The Core, Sahara, and Domino kept Lindo in the public eye over the course of the following decade, and in 2009 the actor lent his voice to the character of Beta in the runaway Pixar hit Up.
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
MOVIES
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | BOX OFFICE | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|---|
45% | LX 2048 |
|
— | 2020 |
92% | Da 5 Bloods |
|
— | 2020 |
No Score Yet | LX2048 |
|
— | 2020 |
No Score Yet | Malicious |
|
— | 2018 |
No Score Yet | Battlecreek |
|
— | 2017 |
11% | Point Break |
|
— | 2015 |
25% | Do You Believe? |
|
$9.2M | 2015 |
33% | Cymbeline |
|
— | 2015 |
No Score Yet | Mary Lou Williams: The Lady Who Swings the Band |
|
— | 2015 |
100% | Salute |
|
— | 2012 |
19% | The Big Bang |
|
— | 2011 |
No Score Yet | For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots |
|
— | 2010 |
No Score Yet | Dug's Special Mission |
|
— | 2009 |
67% | One Bad Cat: The Reverend Albert Wagner Story |
|
— | 2008 |
55% | This Christmas |
|
$49.2M | 2007 |
66% | Wondrous Oblivion |
|
— | 2006 |
18% | Domino |
|
$10.2M | 2005 |
No Score Yet | Maiden Voyage: Ocean Hijack |
|
— | 2005 |
38% | Sahara |
|
$68.7M | 2005 |
No Score Yet | The Exonerated |
|
— | 2005 |
75% | Lackawanna Blues |
|
— | 2005 |
40% | The Core |
|
$31.1M | 2003 |
No Score Yet | Profoundly Normal |
|
— | 2003 |
66% | Heist |
|
$23.3M | 2001 |
14% | The One |
|
— | 2001 |
52% | The Last Castle |
|
$18M | 2001 |
No Score Yet | Pros and Cons |
|
— | 2001 |
No Score Yet | The Book of Stars |
|
— | 2001 |
26% | Gone in 60 Seconds (Gone in Sixty Seconds) |
|
$101M | 2000 |
32% | Romeo Must Die |
|
— | 2000 |
71% | The Cider House Rules |
|
— | 1999 |
No Score Yet | Strange Justice |
|
— | 1999 |
41% | A Life Less Ordinary |
|
— | 1997 |
63% | The Devil's Advocate |
|
— | 1997 |
No Score Yet | First Time Felon |
|
— | 1997 |
17% | The Winner |
|
— | 1997 |
75% | Ransom |
|
— | 1996 |
14% | Feeling Minnesota |
|
— | 1996 |
67% | Soul of the Game |
|
— | 1996 |
52% | Broken Arrow |
|
— | 1996 |
88% | Get Shorty |
|
— | 1995 |
71% | Clockers |
|
— | 1995 |
77% | Crooklyn |
|
— | 1994 |
No Score Yet | L'exil du roi Behanzin |
|
— | 1994 |
46% | Mr. Jones |
|
— | 1993 |
55% | Blood In, Blood Out (Bound by Honor) |
|
— | 1993 |
89% | Malcolm X |
|
— | 1992 |
77% | The Hard Way |
|
— | 1991 |
80% | Bright Angel |
|
— | 1991 |
13% | The Blood of Heroes |
|
— | 1990 |
67% | Mountains of the Moon |
|
— | 1990 |
No Score Yet | Perfect Witness |
|
— | 1989 |
20% | More American Graffiti |
|
$8.2M | 1979 |
TV
RATING | TITLE | CREDIT | YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet |
Desus & Mero
2019
|
|
|
96% |
The Good Fight
2017-2020
|
|
|
78% |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
1999
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Ransom
2017-2019
|
|
|
93% |
This Is Us
2016
|
|
|
63% |
Blood & Oil
2015
|
|
|
39% |
Believe
2014
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Le don
2014
|
|
|
100% |
The Chicago Code
2011
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
The Mo'Nique Show
2009-2011
|
|
|
25% |
Mercy
2009-2010
|
|
|
67% |
Kidnapped
2006-2007
|
|
|
85% |
The Simpsons
1989
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Jazz
2001
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Ken Burns' Baseball
1994-2010
|
|
|
No Score Yet |
Beauty and the Beast
1987-1990
|
|
|
Quotes from Delroy Lindo's Characters
FBI Instructor: | Ugly is our job, son. |
Mr. Rose: | I'm just tryin' to put things straight. Sometimes, ya gotta break some rules, to put things straight |
Mr. Rose: | That's right. That's the truth. I'm just tryin' to put things straight. Sometimes, ya gotta break some rules, to put things straight. |
Beta: | Scream all you want, Small Mailman. |
Gamma: | None of your mailman friends can hear you. |