Anthony Anderson

Gradually, Anderson got his life in gear and began pursuing performance opportunities. His career began with small television roles, including one on the UPN series In the House in 1995. He had a recurring role as Theodore "Teddy" Brodis on NBC's Hang Time from 1996 to 1998, and he garnered roles in episodes of such top-rated series as NYPD Blue and Ally McBeal. In 1999 Anderson broke into films with a small role in the Martin Lawrence-and-Eddie Murphy comedy Life. Film roles followed thick and fast after that, with the actor showing his range by appearing in non-comic roles like one in the martial-arts Shakespeare adaptation Romeo Must Die. He had his first starring role in the Martin Lawrence comedy Big Momma's House (2000).

Top-notch slapstick turns in several huge comedy hits over the next few years made Anderson a familiar face among both industry people and audiences. He appeared opposite Jim Carrey as one of triplet sons of Carrey's split-personality character in Me, Myself & Irene, and in Barbershop (2002) he played one of a hapless pair of thieves who steal an automatic teller machine but then find that it becomes an enormous millstone as they struggle to move it from place to place. Anderson functioned well in the flourishing African-American ensemble film genre, taking a turn in the funeral-themed comedy-drama Kingdom Come.

The year 2003 brought Anderson, whose friends call him "Ant," no fewer than four film parts, including his first lead role, in Kangaroo Jack. That comedy featured Anderson as one of a pair of friends who try to recover $50,000 in an envelope lost to an aggressive kangaroo in Australia; it received generally lukewarm reviews but topped American box-office lists for a week. Anderson also appeared that year in Cradle 2 the Grave, Scary Movie 3, and the hip-hop spoof Malibu's Most Wanted.