Biography

Larenz Tate

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Larenz Tate was born on the west side of Chicago to Larry and Peggy Tate, the youngest of three brothers. His brothers are actors Larron Tate and Lahmard J. Tate. In 1984, Larenz and his family moved to California. It was while living in California that Larenz's parents got him and his brothers involved in a drama program at the Inner City Cultural Center. At first, the boys were interested just to meet girls. However, when they saw classmate Malcolm-Jamal Warner get cast in the role of "Theo Huxtable" on The Cosby Show (1984), they began to take it more seriously. From then on, the brothers began getting other small roles. Larenz's career first took off in a Christmas episode of The Twilight Zone (1985), after which roles began pouring in. He has gone on to star in both television series and movies.
- IMDb mini biography by: <yolandayb@freewwweb.com>

He is the co-founder of The Tate Bros. Foundation with his brothers. The non-profit organization was created to help provide funds for children living with the disease sickle cell anemia.
Before portraying him in Ray (2004), he spent time with Quincy Jones.
Has played real-life music legends Frankie Lymon and Quincy Jones.
Larenz and his brothers Larron Tate, a writer-producer, and Lahmard J. Tate, an actor, have formed a production company of their own, "Tate Men Entertainment".
Good friends with Ludacris, and Tyrese Gibson.

It's interesting, because I've never seen myself as a sex symbol. It's actually kind of cool that women have taken to me. Because now I have a whole different demographic when it comes to the audiences. I have women who come out and support my movies and that is a huge demographic for me, which is great because some actors don't have a female base at all.
What I look for in a script is the plot point and whether they're strong, obviously, or not, whether the characters are rich or not, and if I can do justice to the character or not. Some movies you look at and the script is so bad that no one can do anything with the script. I mean, that's probably why Denzel Washington turns down so much. It's like why go through all of the ups and downs of trying to have a phenomenal performance when the movie is just bad all around?

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