Cedric the Entertainer

He hosted BET's ComicView during the 1993–1994 season and Def Comedy Jam in 1995. He starred in the TV Land original series The Soul Man, which aired from 2012–16 and hosted the 12th season of the daytime version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire from 2013–14. He has also done voice work for Ice Age, Charlotte's Web, Planes and Planes: Fire & Rescue. From 2018 to 2026, he starred on the CBS sitcom The Neighborhood. In 2019, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Cedric was born on April 24, 1964, in Jefferson City, Missouri, the son of Rosetta (née Boyce), a schoolteacher, and Kittrell Kyles, an employee of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He has a younger sister, Sharita Kyles Wilson, a communications professor at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. Cedric was raised in Caruthersville, Missouri, but after junior high school he moved to Berkeley, Missouri, a northern suburb of St. Louis. He is a graduate of Berkeley High School. Cedric majored in mass communication at Southeast Missouri State University and worked as a State Farm Insurance claims adjuster and substitute high school teacher before becoming a full-time comedian. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.

Cedric's stage name came about when he felt that his real name, Cedric Kyles, sounded too formal. Inspired by an entertainer named Kodak, he came up with the name "Cheerio", but received a cease and desist letter from General Mills over their cereal Cheerios. He settled on his stage name when someone introduced him as "an entertainer, Cedric the entertainer" and the name stuck. After appearing on It's Showtime at the Apollo in 1992, Cedric hosted BET's ComicView during the 1993–1994 season, and Def Comedy Jam in 1995. He then moved into acting, auditioning for and receiving his first-ever role as The Cowardly Lion in the 1995 Apollo Theater Revival of The Wiz. He expanded his career by playing Steve Harvey's friend Cedric Jackie Robinson on The Steve Harvey Show. While his acting career grew, Cedric continued to perform stand-up comedy and traveled the country as one of the Kings of Comedy headliners with Steve Harvey, D. L. Hughley and Bernie Mac. The act was later made into a Spike Lee film, The Original Kings of Comedy (2000). From 2002-2003, Cedric had his own sketch comedy show, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, but after being renewed for a second season, it was canceled by Fox before the season began. He took time to write a book, Grown-A$$ Man. He appeared in the 2003 video game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004. He recorded comedic interludes on two Nelly albums, Country Grammar (2000) and Nellyville (2002) as well as on Jay-Z's The Black Album (2003). A more recent HBO Comedy Special was Cedric The Entertainer: Taking You Higher in 2006. Cedric began appearing in films, including Ride (1998), Big Momma's House (2000), Barbershop (2002), and its sequels Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016), Serving Sara (2002), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Man of the House (2005) and Be Cool (2005). He was the subject of controversy when his Barbershop character made unpopular remarks about Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. These jokes (about the pastor's promiscuity with women, and Parks just being tired to get to the back of the bus) were spoken in character, as part of the script. Rev. Jesse Jackson publicly asked for those jokes to be edited out of the movie on the DVD and VHS releases. Cedric also voiced the character of Bobby Proud in the series The Proud Family (2001-2005), and starting in 2022, its revival series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, and characters in several films including Zoo Bear #1 in Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Carl in Ice Age (2002). In Madagascar (2005), and its sequels Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), he voiced Maurice, the aye aye. He appeared in the film Charlotte's Web (2006) as the voice of Golly the gander. He also voiced Leadbottom, a biplane in the films Planes (2013), and its sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue (2014). In October 2005, Cedric joined the Champ Car auto racing series as a part owner. Cedric appeared as the lead comedian at the 2005 White House Correspondents Dinner, but jokingly remarked that he was unprepared because he thought that he would follow a humorous speech by President George W. Bush. He instead followed First Lady Laura Bush, who called him "hilarious" and "probably the funniest person" she had ever met. In the 2007 comedy film Code Name: The Cleaner, Cedric played Jake, a janitor with amnesia who may be a secret undercover government agent involved in an illegal arms conspiracy. He starred in the 2008 films Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins and Street Kings. Cedric has won many awards, beginning with $500 in the Johnny Walker National Comedy Contest in 1990 and coming in first in the Miller Genuine Draft Comedy Contest in 1993. BET named him Richard Pryor Comic of the Year. He has also won four NAACP Awards. He was inducted to the St. Louis Walk of Fame on June 7, 2008. His star is at 6166 Delmar. He was the special guest host for WWE Raw on September 21, 2009, in Little Rock, Arkansas. During the show, he participated in a wrestling match, defeating Chavo Guerrero Jr. by pinfall. The match also featured Santino Marella as a guest referee. Cedric also got help from an unknown wrestler dubbed The Sledge Hammer (played by Imani Lee) and Hornswoggle. In March 2010, Cedric made his directorial debut with Dance Fu, produced and funded independently by his company Bird and a Bear Entertainment with producer Eric C. Rhone. It starred comedian Kel Mitchell. Cedric made a cameo appearance in the film as a homicide detective. It was released straight to DVD on October 4, 2011. Cedric made his Broadway debut in the 2008 revival of David Mamet's play American Buffalo. In a June 21, 2011, interview, Cedric said his latest reality game show, It's Worth What?, would air on NBC on July 12, 2011, but the start date was delayed by one week to July 19. From 2012-2016, he played the main character in the TV Land original series The Soul Man, featuring Niecy Nash. The series ran for five seasons. Cedric was the host of the American TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, beginning with its 12th season in national syndication, which premiered on September 2, 2013. On April 30, 2014, Cedric announced that he was leaving the game show after the 2013–14 season to focus on other projects. Terry Crews took over as host on September 8, 2014. In 2016, Cedric starred as Lou Dunne in the comedy film Why Him?. Starting in 2018, he played the character of Calvin Butler in the television sitcom The Neighborhood. He was the official commentator for the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match in 2024. In 2025, Cedric the Entertainer competed on season thirteen of The Masked Singer as "Honey Pot" where the bees on the mask part of his costume sported his trademark fedoras. He was the first of Group A to be eliminated in the season premiere. It was announced that Cedric will star in the Broadway revival of Joe Turner's Come and Gone with previews starting on March 30, 2026 and opening night on April 25, 2026. The play will be directed by Debbie Allen and co-star Taraji P. Henson.

Cedric is married to Lorna Wells. They have two children, Croix (born 2000) and Lucky Rose (born 2003). He also has a daughter, Tiara (born 1989), from a previous relationship. He continues his involvement with his high school by awarding a scholarship each year to a graduating senior through the Cedric the Entertainer Charitable Foundation, whose motto is "Reaching Out...Giving Back". In May 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in fine arts and humanities by Lincoln University of Missouri, which was his parents' alma mater. In May 2025, he was awarded another honorary doctorate in fine arts by Southeast Missouri State University, his alma mater. In 2018, St. Louis honored him by renaming the street in front of the Kappa Alpha Psi Alumni House to Cedric The Entertainer Way.