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Bernie Mac (born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on October 5, 1958 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor and comedian.

The start of Mac's career was during high school, when he would put on shows for neighborhood kids in Chicago's south side. During his 20s he worked in a variety of jobs; he was a furniture mover, UPS agent and a bread delivery sales rep. He started as a stand-up comedian in Chicago's Cotton Club. He won the Miller Lite Comedy Search at the age of 32, at which point his popularity as a comedian began to grow. A performance on HBO's Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam thrust him into the spotlight. He opened for Dionne Warwick, Redd Foxx and Natalie Cole and had a number of HBO comedy specials, which helped increase his popularity further.

Later Mac also began acting in minor roles, and received his big break as Pastor Clever in Ice Cube's 1995 film Friday. Following that role, Mac would also work in many other movies, and some television appearances, including Booty Call, How to Be a Player, Life and What's the Worst That Could Happen?. Mac had a small recurring role on the sitcom Moesha, playing Moesha's uncle Bernie and Andell's one-time love interest. Mac was one of the few African American comedic actors to be able to break out of the traditional "black comedy" genre, having roles in the 2001 remake of Ocean's Eleven and becoming the new Bosley for the Charlie's Angels sequel Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

In 1997 Mac continued with his stand-up comedy roots, touring the country as one of the Kings of Comedy, along with Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer and D.L. Hughley. The comedy act would later be filmed by Spike Lee for the movie The Original Kings of Comedy.

In 2001, Fox gave Bernie Mac his own sitcom called The Bernie Mac Show. The show is based on his own life, in which he suddenly becomes custodian over his sister's three children. It has been a success in part because it allows Mac to stay true to his stand-up comedy roots, breaking the fourth wall to communicate his thoughts to the audience. The show contains many parodies to events in Bernie's actual life. Unfortunately, the show was not renewed after the 2006 season. Viewers were left without a conclusion for the series, and no ending to the storyline where Bernie and Wanda were trying to have a baby.

In 2004, Mac had his first starring role as a retired baseball player in the movie Mr. 3000. In real life he is a Chicago White Sox fan.

In February 2005, Mac announced that he has sarcoidosis, a rare autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the body's tissues, frequently in the lungs. In the announcement, he said that he has suffered from the disease since 1983.

He is number 72 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of all time.

Mac attended Chicago Vocational Career Academy.

Mac has been married to Rhonda McCullough since 1977. They have one daughter, Je'Niece (born 1978).

Possible Cubs Jinx

In 2003 he sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field at Game 6 of the NLCS between the Cubs and Florida Marlins. With the Cubs up by 3 runs and 6 outs away from a pennant Mac replaced "Root, root, root for the Cubbies" with "root, root, root for the champions!", even though the Cubs only had a 3-0 lead and anything could have happened. After the Steve Bartman incident the Marlins went on to win the game 8-3, and the series the next night. Some have suggested that the Cubs were on the way towards breaking the Curse of the Billy Goat and Mac, a White Sox fan, inadvertently jinxed them again.

Partial filmography

Bernie Mac is best-known for his major roles in the films Ocean's Eleven and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

• American Dog (2008)
• Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
• Transformers (2007)
• Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever (2005)
• Punk'd (TV) (2005)
• Guess Who (2005)
• Ocean's Twelve (2004)
• Mr. 3000 (2004)
• Bad Santa (2003)
• Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
• Head of State (2003)
• Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• The Bernie Mac Show (TV) (2001)
• What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001)
• Life (1999)
• The Players Club (1998)
• How to Be a Player (1997)
• Booty Call (1997)
• Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood (1996)
• Moesha (TV) (1996)
• Friday (1995)
• House Party 3 (1994)
• Above The Rim (1994) as "Flip"

External links

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