Gary's Bio
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Gary Coleman Gary Coleman was born February 8, 1968 in Zion, Illinois. Adopted as an infant, his father worked for a pharmaceutical firm and his mother was a nurse. Before reaching the age of 5, Coleman had undergone three operations for a congenital kidney defect known as nephritis. As a result of his medical condition, he would never grow any taller than 4'8". His smallness proved to be a professional advantage when he began appearing in Chicago-area TV commercials; even at the age of 9, he could still pass as a precocious five-year-old. In 1978, Coleman auditioned for a proposed television revival of the old Little Rascals comedy series. Though the project fell through, ABC chief executive Fred Silverman was enchanted by the talented tyke. Silverman cast Coleman as Arnold Jackson on the upcoming sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, which moved to NBC along with Silverman in the fall of 1978. It was this extraordinarily popular series, coupled with the precocious Coleman's spirited TV talk show appearances, that catapulted the 10-year-old to stardom. Within a year of Diff'rent Strokes' debut, Gary Coleman Productions was formed, for the purpose of starring the youngster in theatrical features like On the Right Track (1981) and made-for-TV movies like Scout's Honor (1980) and The Kid With the Broken Halo (1982). This last project was spun off into the Saturday-morning cartoon series The Gary Coleman Show (1983), with Coleman providing his own voice. An instinctive comic performer and extremely quick study, Coleman rapidly grew weary with the rigors of show business. As he grew older, Coleman's spontaneous cuteness faded. After the cancellation of Diff'rent Strokes in 1986, Coleman found the going decidedly rough. Occasionally he'd play a "stunt" part like a villainous gang leader on the TV series 227, but his short stature and ever-diminishing acting range made him difficult to cast. He still remained in the public eye, albeit as the central character in a bitter legal squabble between himself and his parents. Gary retired to Colorado in 1986 after Diff'rent Strokes was cancelled to a 6 bedroom - 3,500 square feet home. After leaving Colorado he lived briefly in Tucson, Arizona and worked at Tucson Hobby Shop because he is/was an active model railroader. More recently, he has reappeared in Hollywood. He has appeared in a few movies recently, Party (1994) and S.F.W. (1994). He appeared in Norm MacDonald's movie Dirty Work. He was the voice of Kenny Falmouth in a cd-rom video game from Lucas Arts called "The Curse of Monkey Island". He sued his adoptive parents and his former manager for mishandling his funds in 1989 and was awarded 1.3 million dollars. More recently, he has made guest appearances on television series such as Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Married with Children, Homeboys in Outer Space, The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show, and Mad TV. He was supposed to have a series sometime in 1992 after he did a guest shot on Geraldo, but the pilot did not sell and the project was scrapped. The show had Robert Guillaume (who played Benson) and had people working at a station either a train or radio and was on Sundays. It didn't last long and Gary was supposed to have the part that Robert had. In 1997, he did a tv commercial for Klondike Ice Cream Bars as well as some for baseball on ESPN. His favorite car is a Hummer. He made an appearance on Vibe (a talk show hosted by Sinbad) along with Todd Bridges and Dana Plato on November 6th, 1997. He co-starred with Harry Hamlin in holiday TV-movie on cable's Fox Family Channel called 'Like Father, Like Santa'. On July 30th, he allledgly struck a woman who asked for his autograph, a court hearing was held August 25th where he pleaded not guilty. He recently finished a movie with Todd Bridges. He has worked as a security guard, a job he is trained to do. Recently, he was a corporate spokesperson and director of promotions for HoloWorld Cafe (a restaurant with laser-tag and video games) in Pasadena, California. Gary also was a co-host of The Reel Show on the site Reelpreviews.com. More recently, he appeared in Kid Rock's "Cowboy" video. In October 1999, he was hired as an intern/on-air personality show Mojo and Betsy In the Morning for 93.7 KRQ in Tucson, AZ. He was in the first episode of Shasta McNasty (Shasta) in September 1999 and voiced himself in the classic Christmas episode of The Simpsons in December 1999. Gary will supply the voice for the title character in the upcoming Fox kids' action series, Xeronine, according to the January 8 edition of the Hollywood Reporter. The show's about a robot with the mind of a child. Today, he lives modestly in a condominium in Los Angeles. His story is an inspiration to all that have had to deal with adversity.
