De'voreaux White
{{short description|American actor (born 1965)}}
{{Infobox person
|name = De'voreaux White
|image =
|caption =
|birth_name = Devorea W. Sefas
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1965|08|06}}
|birth_place = Los Angeles County, California
|death_date =
|death_place =
|occupation = Actor
|years_active = 1977–present
}}
De'voreaux White (born Devorea W. Sefas; August 6, 1965)White in {{cite web |last=Nobleman |first=Marc Tyler |title=Interview: De'Voreaux Sefas (Argyle in 'Die Hard') |url=https://www.noblemania.com/2019/07/interview-devoreaux-sefas-argyle-in-die.html |date=July 14, 2019 |accessdate=December 18, 2019|archivedate= August 11, 2020|archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20200811072839/https://www.noblemania.com/2019/07/interview-devoreaux-sefas-argyle-in-die.html|url-status=live|quote=My born name is Sefas. [After] my mother passed away, my grandparents (last name White) adopted [me].}}{{cite web|url= https://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/devorea_w_sefas_born_1965_9346783|title=The Birth of Devorea Sefas| publisher=California Birth Index|accessdate=October 19, 2020|archivedate= October 19, 2020|archiveurl= https://archive.today/20201019142508/https://www.californiabirthindex.org/birth/devorea_w_sefas_born_1965_9346783|url-status=live|quote=Devorea W Sefas was born on August 6, 1965 in Los Angeles County, California. His father's last name is Sefas, and his mother's maiden name is White.}} is an American actor. He started his career as a child actor in the late 1970s, and may be best known for his role in Die Hard (1988) as the young limousine driver, Argyle.
Career
=Film and television=
De'voreaux White was born in Los Angeles County, California. He began acting professionally at the age of ten.
His first bookings were The Jeffersons, Little House on the Prairie, and 1980's The Blues Brothers (as a would-be-shoplifter who is thwarted by a gun-toting Ray Charles).{{cite web |title="Stirb langsam": Das macht McClanes Limousinenfahrer heute! |url=https://www.tvmovie.de/news/stirb-langsam-das-macht-mcclanes-limousinenfahrer-heute-103804 |work=TVMovie|location=Germany |date=April 6, 2019 |accessdate=December 18, 2019}} White also played one of the boys who attempt to keep a baseball in the Neil Simon movie Max Dugan Returns. In 1984, he played Wylie - who was lynched for accidentally shooting a white sheriff - in Places in the Heart. The movie received notice at the Academy Awards; White credits this role for providing an opportunity to read with producer Joel Silver and star Bruce Willis for Die Hard (1988).{{cite news |last=James |first=Caryn |title=The Police, Terrorists And a Captive Audience |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/15/movies/review-film-the-police-terrorists-and-a-captive-audience.html |accessdate=December 18, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=July 15, 1988 |url-access=subscription}} White filmed his scenes with Willis over a period of three months; some of their dialogue was improvised on the set.
White also starred in the television series Head of the Class as Aristotle McKenzie, and co-starred as a suicidal misfit who befriends Rick Schroder in 1989's Out on the Edge. In 1992, White played the role of Ice-T's drug-addicted younger brother in Walter Hill's Trespass. White appeared in the 2000 drama Shadow Hours.
White reprised his role as Argyle from Die Hard, with Willis, in a commercial for Advance Auto Parts' DieHard brand of car batteries in October 2020.{{cite magazine|url=https://deadline.com/2020/10/bruce-willis-reprises-his-role-as-john-mcclane-in-commercial-for-die-hard-car-batteries-1234599448/|title=Bruce Willis Reprises His Role As John McClane In Commercial For Die Hard…Car Batteries|first=Dino-Ray|last=Ramos|magazine= Deadline Hollywood|date=October 18, 2020|accessdate=October 19, 2020}}
=Other work=
In 2019, White set up his own company in California. By then, he worked in the clinical staff of a substance-abuse rehabilitation facility.
Personal life
In 2019, White resided in Newport Beach, California. His original last name, Sefas, is Ethiopian; after his mother died, his maternal grandparents with the surname White adopted him.
Filmography
=Television=
- 1977 The Jeffersons as Warren Barnes
- 1979–1981 Little House on the Prairie as various characters
- 1981 Quincy, M.E. as Ethan Kellogg
- 1982 T.J. Hooker as Stevie Pine
- 1983–1984 Diff'rent Strokes as Glenn
- 1985 Highway to Heaven as Terry
- 1986 ''227 as Harvey
- 1989 In the Heat of the Night as Albert Tolliver
- 1989 Out on the Edge as Lonnie
- 1989–1991 Head of the Class as Aristotle McKenzie
- 2014 Workaholics as Uber Driver
- 2023 Easter as Smiley
- 2023 Obliterated as Delray
=Films=
- 1979 Aunt Mary as Wally Hazel
- 1980 The Blues Brothers as Young Guitar Thief
- 1983 Max Dugan Returns as Boy
- 1984 Places in the Heart as Wylie
- 1988 Action Jackson as Clovis
- 1988 Die Hard as Argyle
- 1988 Split Decisions as Coop
- 1992 Trespass as "Lucky"
- 2000 Shadow Hours as Second Transvestite
- 2012 Sandbar as Charles Kendall
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0924636}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Devoreaux}}
Category:Male actors from Los Angeles
Category:American male television actors
Category:American male film actors
Category:20th-century African-American male actors
Category:20th-century American male actors
Category:21st-century African-American male actors