John Amos

Acting

John Amos

Born 1939-12-27 · Newark, New Jersey, USA

John Amos (December 27, 1939 – August 21, 2024) was an American actor and retired football player. He is best known for his role as the adult Kunta Kinte in the landmark miniseries "Roots" and for portraying James Evans Sr. on the CBS television series "Good Times." He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and an NAACP Image Award. On film, he played numerous supporting roles in movies such as "The Beastmaster" (1982), "Coming to America" (1988), "Lock Up" (1989), "Die Hard 2" (1990) and "Coming 2 America" (2021). Prior to acting, he played on the Colorado State Rams football team and in 1964, he signed a free agent contract with the American Football League's Denver Broncos and in 1967 signed a free agent contract with the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs. Both of these contracts did not land him a spot on the teams and played a final season in the Continental Football League with the Victoria Steelers before pursuing acting.

Acting credits

Uncut Gems poster
7.2

A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.

Uncut Gems

2019

Die Hard 2 poster
7.0

One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Christmas Eve, as he waits for his wife's plane to land at Washington Dulles International Airport, terrorists take over the air traffic control system in a plot to free a South American army general and drug smuggler being flown into the US to face drug charges. It's now up to McClane to take on the terrorists, while coping with an inept airport police chief, an uncooperative anti-terrorist squad, and the life of his wife and everyone else trapped in planes circling overhead.

Die Hard 2

1990

Coming to America poster
6.9

An African prince decides it’s time for him to find a princess... and his mission leads him and his most loyal friend to Queens, New York. In disguise as an impoverished immigrant, the pampered prince quickly finds himself a new job, new friends, new digs, new enemies and lots of trouble.

Coming to America

1988

Coming 2 America poster
6.3

Prince Akeem Joffer is set to become King of Zamunda when he discovers he has a son he never knew about in America – a street savvy Queens native named Lavelle. Honoring his royal father's dying wish to groom this son as the crown prince, Akeem and Semmi set off to America once again.

Coming 2 America

2021

Lock Up poster
6.8

Frank Leone is nearing the end of his prison term for a relatively minor crime. Just before he is paroled, however, Warden Drumgoole takes charge. Drumgoole was assigned to a hell-hole prison after his administration was publicly humiliated by Leone, and has now arrived on the scene to ensure that Leone never sees the light of day.

Lock Up

1989

Ricochet poster
6.1

An attorney is terrorized by the criminal he put away years ago when he was a cop.

Ricochet

1991

Me Time poster
5.8

With his family away, a devoted stay-at-home dad enjoys his first me time in years by joining his hard-partying old friend on a wild birthday adventure.

Me Time

2022

The Beastmaster poster
6.3

Dar, the son of a king, is hunted by a priest after his birth and grows up in another family. When he becomes a grown man, his new father is murdered by savages and he discovers that he has the ability to communicate with animals, which leads him on a quest for revenge against his father's killers.

The Beastmaster

1982

The Players Club poster
6.4

Single mother Diana struggles to provide for her child and pay for her college education. When she meets two dancers from a nearby gentlemen's club, Diana's convinced there's fast money to be made stripping.

The Players Club

1998

Madea's Witness Protection poster
6.1

For years, mild-mannered Wall Street banker George Needleman has meandered through life oblivious to his family's dysfunction and his company's malfeasance, but he's forced to wake up when he learns that he's been framed in a mob-backed Ponzi scheme. Placed under federal protection, George and his family are shipped down South to Madea's house, where the no-nonsense matriarch whips them all into shape using her special brand of tough love.

Madea's Witness Protection

2012

Vanishing Point poster
7.1

Kowalski works for a car delivery service, and takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to drive from Colorado to San Francisco. Shortly after pickup, he takes a bet to get the car there in less than 15 hours.

Vanishing Point

1971

Dr. Dolittle 3 poster
5.1

Lisa Dolittle sends her daughter to 'Durango', a Dude Ranch, to find herself. While there, she uses her talent to talk to the animals in order to save Durango from being taken over by a neighboring Ranch.

Dr. Dolittle 3

2006

American Flyers poster
6.2

When Dr. Marcus Sommers realizes that he and his troubled, estranged brother David may be prone a fatal brain disease that runs in their family, he decides to make peace with his sibling, and invites him on a trip to the Rockies. There, the brothers bond over their shared enthusiasm for cycling and decide to enter a grueling bike race through the mountains. However, Marcus' health soon begins to fail, and David must compete without his brother at his side.

American Flyers

1985

The Last Rifleman poster
6.7

A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.

The Last Rifleman

2023

Touched by Love poster
4.6

A teenager with cerebral palsy attempts to become pen pals with her idol, Elvis Presley.

Touched by Love

1980

Two Evil Eyes poster
6.1

A duo of Edgar Allan Poe adaptations about a greedy wife's attempt to embezzle her dying husband's fortune, and a sleazy reporter's adoption of a strange black cat.

Two Evil Eyes

1990

Bad Asses on the Bayou poster
6.0

The third installment in the successful Bad Ass action-comedy franchise. Bad Asses on the Bayou reunites the dynamic duo, Frank Vega and Bernie Pope, as they travel to Louisiana to attend the wedding of their dear friend Carmen Gutierrez. What was pictured as a wedding weekend escape to the south turns violently ugly as madness and mayhem ensue, pressing our senior heroes to once again serve justice.

Bad Asses on the Bayou

2015

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song poster
5.1

After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels.

Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song

1971

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times" poster
6.1

Live performances of classic holiday-themed episodes from Norman Lear's hit shows "All in the Family" and "Good Times."

Live in Front of a Studio Audience: "All in the Family" and "Good Times"

2019

Remembering Roots poster
NR

The cast and crew of Roots (1977) recall its phenomenal success on its 25th anniversary.

Remembering Roots

2002

Disappearing Acts poster
6.2

A struggling construction worker and an aspiring musician find themselves falling in love.

Disappearing Acts

2000

The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda poster
5.6

After a quiet fishing trip, Rockford is tricked into taking over a fellow PI's case involving alleged Police misconduct, which lands him in the hospital, hounded by a beautiful reporter, and out of favor with the entire Police Deapartment. Meanwhile Angel tries to cash in on the publicity by selling a movie about Rockford's life.

The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda

1997

American Lowrider poster
5.0

Lefty-a hard working, light hearted man is looking to make a decent buck. But when a simple bet goes horribly wrong, Lefty is stuck between a rock and gangster who's dead set on collecting his money.

American Lowrider

2013

Voodoo Moon poster
4.2

Voodoo Moon takes place in the mid-west United States, where a demonic figure murders the entire population of a small town, save for one young boy and his sister. Twenty years later, the boy has been consumed with trying to track the devil down and now he thinks he's found him. His sister is now an artist who has developed psychic abilities which enable her to sense disaster, visions she expresses in her art. The two siblings work together in fighting the devil, and also get the assistance of several people they have helped over the years

Voodoo Moon

2006