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Lester Speight

{{short description|American professional wrestler and actor}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Lester Speight

| image = Lester Speight 2016.png

| caption = Speight in 2016

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|8|28}}

| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater = Morgan State University

| years_active = 1991–1998 (wrestling)
1997–present (acting)

| other_names =

| occupation = Football player, wrestler, actor

| known_for = Terry Tate: Office Linebacker
My Wife and Kids
Gears of War

| module = {{Infobox professional wrestler

| billed = Jamaica

| trainer =

| debut = June 28, 1991

| retired = April 18, 1998

}}

}}

Lester Speight (born August 28, 1963), also known as Rasta, is a former American football player who has had subsequent careers as a professional wrestler and then actor. He achieved significant recognition for his portrayal of Terry Tate: Office Linebacker in a series of Reebok commercials that debuted during Super Bowl XXXVII, and received further recognition for his portrayal of Augustus Cole in the Gears of War series of video games.

Early life, family and education

Lester Speight was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Gussie Watson and Walter Speight. He graduated from Old Mill High School in Millersville, Maryland in 1981,{{cite web|last=Burris|first=Joe|title=Mighty Busy Baltimore native Lester 'Mighty Rasta' Speight tackles many acting opportunities, including his latest role in 'Norbit'|url=http://newsle.com/article/0/29026084/|work= The Baltimore Sun|accessdate=May 8, 2013|date=February 19, 2007| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131021070551/http://newsle.com/article/0/29026084/|archive-date=October 21, 2013|url-status=dead}} where he is in its Hall of Fame for three sports: football, track, and basketball.{{cite web|last=Sragow|first=Michael|title=Baltimore's Lester Speight defends the human race in 'Transformers 3'|url=http://newsle.com/article/0/29026064/| work=Newsle.com |accessdate=May 8, 2013|date=July 1, 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140106040854/http://newsle.com/article/0/29026064/|archive-date=January 6, 2014|url-status=dead}}

He attended Morgan State University from 1981 to 1985 and was a Division 1 All-American Linebacker.

Professional football and professional wrestling

After graduating college in 1985, he attempted to play in the NFL but did not. He tried out for the United States Football League (USFL) the same year. During tryouts, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds, which received attention of the Baltimore Stars.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/01/sports/usfl-tryouts-stir-dreams.html|title=U.S.F.L. Tryouts Stir Dreams|first=William N.|last=Wallace|work=The New York Times|date=June 1, 1986|accessdate=May 15, 2018}} Speight and business manager/cousin Butch Groover negotiated a two-year deal with the Stars for more than $200,000. However, the USFL folded before he even played one season. He was with the New York Giants in 1987 as a replacement player during the 1987 NFL strike, but he did not play in any games.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-atlanta-journal/150084429/ | title=Atlanta Fallguys? No, just kidding | work=The Atlanta Journal | date=September 27, 1987 | accessdate=June 26, 2024 | author=Sheeley, Glenn}}

Speight moved on to professional wrestling, working for Global Wrestling Federation and Catch Wrestling Association as Rasta the Voodoo Man. However, by 1997 he quit wrestling to pursue an acting career.

Acting career

File:Lester Speight Comic Con International 2010.jpg in 2010 in support of the Gears of War 3 video game.]]

Speight began his acting career in minor roles in many films including the football film Any Given Sunday, 13 Moons and as the club doorman in Cradle 2 the Grave. He has also appeared in many television shows such as Malcolm in the Middle, Walker, Texas Ranger, NYPD Blue, Arli$$, My Wife and Kids, and NCIS: Los Angeles.

=Commercials=

In 2003, Speight starred in the Terry Tate: Office Linebacker ad for Reebok that became an immediate pop-culture phenomenon and is considered among the funniest{{cite news |last1=Hafner |first1=Josh |title=The funniest Super Bowl ads of all time: Betty White, Terry Tate and avocados |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2018/01/22/funniest-super-bowl-ads-all-time-betty-white-terry-tate-and-avocados/1055407001/ |access-date=December 28, 2020 |agency=USA Today}} and most memorable{{cite news |last1=Bentley |first1=Coleman |title=The best Super Bowl commercial every year since 2000 |url=https://www.golfdigest.com/story/the-best-super-bowl-commercial-every-year-since-1998 |access-date=December 28, 2020 |agency=Golf Digest |date=January 23, 2020}} Super Bowl commercials of all time. The exposure from the popular spot opened the door to further opportunities in film, television and video games.{{cite news |last1=Samuel |first1=Anslem |title=Lester Speight Talks His Way to Success in Gaming World & Hollywood |url=https://www.blackenterprise.com/lester-speight-talks-gears-of-war-3-and-hollywood/ |access-date=December 28, 2020 |agency=Black Enterprise}}

=Television=

Following the success of Terry Tate, Speight had a recurring role on Damon Wayans' ABC series My Wife and Kids as Calvin Scott, the father of Vanessa Scott. Speight guest-starred as prison inmate Banks on the show Prison Break. Speight appeared in an episode of ESPN's Mayne Street comedy short. In the 2008 TV film Ring of Death, Speight played convict "Milton Kennedy", a feared and revered gang boss (nicknamed "The President"), and undefeated champion of an underground fighting tournament in a notorious prison. In 2009, Speight appeared in an episode of Bones, "Double Trouble in the Panhandle", where he played the Traveling Circus' strongman, Magnum.

=Film=

Speight had a small role in the film Bachelor Party Vegas, as Gold Tooth, a prison rapist in 2006, before joining the Eddie Murphy motion picture Norbit as Blue, one of the three brothers of Rasputia, in 2007. The next year, he appeared in Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, as a character who is interrogated using racist methods. In 2011, Speight played "Hardcore" Eddie in the Michael Bay blockbuster Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

=Video games=

For the 2006 Xbox 360 game Gears of War, Speight voiced the role of former "Thrashball" player Augustus Cole (a.k.a. Cole Train), humorously re-using some of his characteristic lines. He won the G-Phoria '07 award for Best Voiceover. Speight later reprised the role for Gears of War 2 (2008), Gears of War 3 (2011), Gears of War: Judgment (2013), Gears of War 4 (2016),{{cite news |title=Cole Train Actor Says He'll Reprise His Role in Next Gears of War |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/cole-train-actor-says-he-ll-reprise-his-role-in-ne/1100-6420926/ |access-date=December 28, 2020 |agency=Gamespot |date=July 7, 2014}} Gears 5 (2019), and Gears Tactics (2020).

Filmography

=Films=

=TV Series=

=Video games=

=Other=

  • Kimberly-Clark Healthy Workplace project (2012) - Eugene Hammer{{cite web|title=Eugene|url=http://www.healthyworkplaceproject.com/eugene.aspx|website=The Healthy Workplace Project|publisher=Kimberly-Clark Professional|accessdate=May 16, 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121214072909/http://www.healthyworkplaceproject.com/eugene.aspx|archivedate=December 14, 2012}}
  • "Bring It On" music video by Kasland - Augustus "Cole Train" Cole

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{Commons category|Lester Speight}}

  • {{IMDb name|711529}}
  • [https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,260278/ Lester Speight at MobyGames]
  • [https://www.espn.com/sportsbusiness/s/2003/0129/1500934.html ESPN's "Twist of Tate" article]
  • [http://www.rockvilleca.com Lester Speight plays HUGH on Rockville, CA]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Speight, Lester}}

Category:1963 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century African-American people

Category:20th-century African-American sportsmen

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:21st-century African-American people

Category:21st-century African-American sportsmen

Category:African-American professional wrestlers

Category:American male professional wrestlers

Category:American male television actors

Category:American male video game actors

Category:Morgan State Bears football players

Category:Players of American football from Baltimore

Category:New York Giants players