Began acting career on New York stage in Le Roi Jones's "Slave Ship" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Off-Broadway acting debut in Douglas Turner Ward's "Day of Absence" with the Negro Ensemble Company

Broadway acting debut in Melvin Van Pebbles' "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death"

TV movie acting debut, "Santiago's Ark" for ABC Afterschool Specials

Off-Broadway directing debut, "The Secret Place" by Garrett Morris

Began writing for TV series, "Good Times" (1973-79)

Feature film acting debut, "Car Wash"

Directed over 30 off-Broadway plays including "Unfinished Women..." (1977) and "No Place to Be Somebody" (1987)

Directed first short, "The Hero"

Directed for TV series, "Knots Landing"

Cast in Alex Haley's TV series, "Palmerstown, U.S.A" for two seasons as a fictional representative of Haley's father

Directed "The Killing Floor"; filmed as the pilot for a 10-part PBS series; received first theatrical release March 1992

Directed first feature, "A Rage in Harlem"

Helmed "The Cemetery Club"

Directed (executive produced) the under-appreciated gangster flick "Hoodlum"

Helmed a two-part story arc of the UPN drama "Legacy"

Played a corrupt Chicago detective in "Payback"

Directed the A&E TV-movie "Golden Spiders"

Helmed episodes of the CBS medical drama "City of Angels"

Co-starred in "Exit Wounds"

Cast as Amos Andrews in the NBC series "Karen Sisco" based on the feature "Out of Sight"

Cast in Jim Sheridan's urban drama "Get Rich or Die Tryin'"; loosely based on the life of rapper 50 cent

Directed the thriller "Cover"