Louis Gossett, Jr.

Louis Cameron Gossett Jr. is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his Academy Awardwinning role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman, and his Emmy Awardwinning role as Fiddler in the 1977 ABC television miniseries Roots. Gossett has also starred in numerous film productions including A Raisin In The Sun, Skin Game, Travels with My Aunt, The Laughing Policeman, The Deep, Jaws 3D , Wolfgang Petersens Enemy Mine, the Iron Eagle series, Toy Soldiers and The Punisher, in an acting career that spans over five decades.

Gossett was born in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York, on May 27, 1936, to Hellen Rebecca , a nurse, and Louis Gossett Sr., a porter. He is an alumnus of Mark Twain Intermediate School 239 and Abraham Lincoln High School. His stage debut came at the age of 17, in a school production of You Cant Take It with You when a sports injury resulted in the decision to take an acting class. Polio had already delayed his graduation.

Source: Wikipedia