A compact, serious actor, Plummer's work often falls into the category of "Black hoodlums", but he always brings a sensitivity to those roles. Plummer has worn dreadlocks for most of his roles regardless of the characters' so-called class distinctions. After receiving training at the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and the Contra Costa Performing Arts Center, he began his career in TV. In 1987, Plummer made his debut as an unsavory character in the NBC miniseries "Hands of a Stranger" and followed as a street tough in the biopic "The Father Clemens Story" (NBC, 1987) starring Louis