Lester Speight | |||||||||||
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 Speight in 2016 | |||||||||||
| Born | (1963-08-28)August 28, 1963 (age 61) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Alma mater | Morgan State University | ||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Football player, wrestler, actor | ||||||||||
| Years active | 1991–1998 (wrestling) 1997–present (acting) | ||||||||||
| Known for | Terry Tate: Office Linebacker My Wife and Kids Gears of War | ||||||||||
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Lester Speight (born August 28, 1963), also known asRasta, is a formerAmerican football player who has had subsequent careers as aprofessional wrestler and thenactor. He achieved significant recognition for his portrayal ofTerry Tate: Office Linebacker in a series ofReebok commercials that debuted duringSuper Bowl XXXVII, and received further recognition for his portrayal ofAugustus Cole in theGears of War series of video games.
Lester Speight was born inBaltimore,Maryland, the son of Gussie Watson and Walter Speight. He graduated fromOld Mill High School inMillersville, Maryland in 1981,[1] where he is in its Hall of Fame for three sports: football, track, and basketball.[2]
He attendedMorgan State University from 1981 to 1985 and was a Division 1 All-American Linebacker.
After graduating college in 1985, he attempted to play in theNFL but did not. He tried out for theUnited States Football League (USFL) the same year. During tryouts, he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds, which received attention of theBaltimore Stars.[3] 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.[1] He was with theNew York Giants in 1987 as a replacement player during the1987 NFL strike, but he did not play in any games.[4]
Speight moved on toprofessional wrestling, working forGlobal Wrestling Federation andCatch Wrestling Association as Rasta the Voodoo Man. However, by 1997 he quit wrestling to pursue an acting career.
Speight began his acting career in minor roles in many films including the football filmAny Given Sunday,13 Moons and as the club doorman inCradle 2 the Grave. He has also appeared in many television shows such asMalcolm in the Middle,Walker, Texas Ranger,NYPD Blue,Arli$$,My Wife and Kids, andNCIS: Los Angeles.
In 2003, Speight starred in theTerry Tate: Office Linebacker ad forReebok that became an immediate pop-culture phenomenon and is considered among the funniest[5] and most memorable[6]Super Bowl commercials of all time. The exposure from the popular spot opened the door to further opportunities in film, television and video games.[7]
Following the success of Terry Tate, Speight had a recurring role onDamon Wayans' ABC seriesMy Wife and Kids as Calvin Scott, the father of Vanessa Scott. Speight guest-starred as prison inmate Banks on the showPrison Break. Speight appeared in an episode of ESPN'sMayne Street comedy short. In the 2008TV filmRing 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 ofBones, "Double Trouble in the Panhandle", where he played the Traveling Circus'strongman, Magnum.
Speight had a small role in the filmBachelor Party Vegas, as Gold Tooth, a prison rapist in 2006, before joining theEddie Murphy motion pictureNorbit as Blue, one of the three brothers of Rasputia, in 2007. The next year, he appeared inHarold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, as a character who is interrogated using racist methods. In 2011, Speight played "Hardcore" Eddie in theMichael Bay blockbusterTransformers: Dark of the Moon.
For the 2006Xbox 360 gameGears 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 forGears of War 2 (2008),Gears of War 3 (2011),Gears of War: Judgment (2013),Gears of War 4 (2016),[8]Gears 5 (2019), andGears Tactics (2020).
