Age, Biography and Wiki
Mr. T, born Laurence Tureaud on May 21, 1952, is an American actor, wrestler, and television personality. He rose to fame for his tough-guy persona, distinctive mohawk, gold chains, and gravelly voice. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Mr. T was the youngest of 12 children. His early life involved working as a nightclub bouncer and bodyguard for celebrities like Muhammad Ali and Michael Jackson.
| Occupation | Football Players |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 21 May 1952 |
| Age | 73 Years |
| Birth Place | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
Mr. T's height is approximately 5 feet 10 inches (178 cm). Details on his current weight are not specifically highlighted in recent sources, but he is known for his robust build during his acting career.
Tureaud next worked as a bouncer at the Rush Street club Dingbats Discotheque. It was at this time that he created the persona of Mr. T. His wearing of gold neck chains and other jewelry was the result of customers losing the items or leaving them behind at the night club after a fight. A banned customer, or one reluctant to risk a confrontation by going back inside, could return to claim his property from Mr. T wearing it conspicuously right out front. Along with controlling the violence as a doorman, Tureaud was mainly hired to keep out drug dealers and users. Tureaud says that as a bouncer, he was in over 200 fights and was sued a number of times, but won each case.
| Height | 5 feet 10 inches |
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Dating & Relationship status
Mr. T has been married to Phyllis Clark since 1987. However, specific details about his current relationship status, including any children, are not widely reported in recent media.
He and his four sisters and seven brothers grew up in a three-room apartment in the Robert Taylor Homes. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, was a minister. After his father left when he was five, he shortened his name to Lawrence Tero. In 1970, he legally changed his last name to T. His new name, Mr. T, was based upon his childhood impressions regarding the lack of respect from white people for his family:
"I think about my father being called 'boy', my uncle being called 'boy', my brother, coming back from Vietnam and being called 'boy'. So I questioned myself: 'What does a black man have to do before he's given respect as a man?' So when I was 18 years old, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-ordained myself Mr. T, so the first word out of everybody's mouth is 'Mr.'"
In 1984, he made a motivational video called Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool!. He gives helpful advice to children throughout the video; for example, he teaches them how to understand and appreciate their origins, how to dress fashionably without buying designer labels, how to make tripping up look like breakdancing, how to control their anger, and how to deal with peer pressure. The video is roughly one hour long, but contains 30 minutes of singing, either by the group of children accompanying him, or by Mr. T himself. He sings "Treat Your Mother Right (Treat Her Right)", and also raps a song about growing up in the ghetto and praising God. The raps in this video were written by Ice-T. Due to its unintentionally comic nature, many clips have been made from this video and shared as Internet memes. Also in 1984, he played the protagonist of the TV movie The Toughest Man in the World, as Bruise Brubaker, a bouncer also leading a sports center for teenagers, who takes part in a strong man championship to get funds for the center. He also released a rap mini-album titled Mr. T's Commandments (Columbia/CBS Records) the same year, featuring seven songs, including the title theme for the aforementioned TV film. In much the same tone as his motivational video, it instructed children to stay in school and to stay away from drugs. He followed it up the same year with a second album, titled Mr. T's Be Somebody... or Be Somebody's Fool! (MCA), featuring music from the eponymous film.
Another seven years later, Mr. T appeared in the front row of the November 19, 2001, episode of WWF Raw. On April 5, 2014, at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Mr. T was inducted by Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame's celebrity wing. His acceptance speech, largely a tribute to his mother and motherhood rather than wrestling, ran long and was eventually interrupted by Kane.
Mr. T is a born-again Christian. Mr. T has three children with his wife: two daughters, one of whom is a comedian, and a son. Mr. T was sued by a man in 2014 saying that he was also Mr. T's son from outside his marriage. The lawsuit was dismissed in August 2014 due to the man's failure to pay the required fees.
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Net Worth and Salary
In 2025, Mr. T's estimated net worth ranges between $1 million to $1.5 million. At his peak, he earned around $5 million per year. His net worth has been impacted by financial challenges over the years.
Career, Business and Investments
Mr. T gained fame with his role as Clubber Lang in "Rocky III" (1982) and as B.A. Baracus in the hit series "The A-Team" (1983-1987). He also produced his own cartoon series, "Mr. T's Commandments," which aimed to promote positive life choices for young people. Mr. T has been involved in numerous endorsement deals and business ventures, including voicing himself in cartoons and appearing in commercials.
He eventually parlayed his job as a bouncer into a career as a bodyguard that lasted almost ten years. As his reputation grew, he was contracted to guard, among others, clothes designers, models, judges, politicians, athletes and millionaires. His clients included celebrities Steve McQueen, Michael Jackson, LeVar Burton, and Diana Ross, and boxers Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, and Leon Spinks. With his reputation as "Mr. T", Tureaud attracted strange offers and was frequently approached with odd commissions, including tracking runaway teenagers, locating missing persons, debt collection, and assassination requests.
The year 1983 also marked the release of the only film that can be called a Mr. T vehicle, DC Cab. The movie featured an ensemble cast, many of whom were publicized figures from other areas of show business – comics Paul Rodriguez, Marsha Warfield, singer Irene Cara, bodybuilders David and Peter Paul (the "Barbarian Brothers") – but who had only modest acting experience. Despite the wide range of performers, and more seasoned actors such as Adam Baldwin as the protagonist Albert, as well as Gary Busey and Max Gail, Mr. T was top billed and the central figure in the film's publicity, with him literally towering over the other characters on the film's poster. While the film, featuring the ensemble as a ragtag taxi company trying to hustle their way to solvency and respectability, performed modestly at the box office, its $16 million take exceeded its $12 million budget, it received mixed reviews critically. Janet Maslin, writing for The New York Times, described it as "a musical mob scene, a raucous, crowded movie that's fun as long as it stays wildly busy, and a lot less interesting when it wastes time on plot or conversation." Roger Ebert praised the movie's "mindless, likable confusion" and criticized its "fresh off the assembly line" plot. It was the second feature in a prolific career for director Joel Schumacher.
Mr. T has been involved in numerous commercials, including for Snickers, Atari, World of Warcraft, MCI, Comcast and RadioShack. Forbes has described him as "one of the most enduring pitchmen in the business". Mr. T has described himself as "not really an actor, I'm a reactor; I'm a pitchman." At his peak, he was earning $5 million per year.
In 2010, Mr. T signed up as the spokesman for Gold Promise, a gold-buying company. According to an appraiser hired by Bloomberg Television's Taking Stock, his trademark gold jewelry was worth around $43,000 in 1983, although some sources claim the gold jewelry was worth up to $300,000.
Social Network
Mr. T maintains a presence on social media platforms, although specific engagement metrics are not readily available. He is more known for his public appearances and motivational speaking engagements.
Laurence T (born Laurence Tureaud; May 21, 1952) known professionally as Mr. T, is an American actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III. He is also known for his distinctive hairstyle inspired by Mandinka warriors in West Africa, his copious gold jewelry, his tough-guy persona and his catchphrase "I pity the fool!", first uttered as Clubber Lang in Rocky III, then turned into a trademark used in slogans or titles, like the reality show I Pity the Fool in 2006.
Mr. T did a video campaign for Hitachi Data Systems that was created and posted on consumer video sites including YouTube and Yahoo! Video. According to Steven Zivanic, senior director and corporate communications of HDS, "this campaign has not only helped the firm in its own area, but it has given the data storage firm a broader audience." In November 2007, Mr. T appeared in a television commercial for the online role playing game World of Warcraft with the phrase "I'm Mr. T and I'm a Night Elf Mohawk". A follow-up to this commercial appeared in November 2009 where he appeared promoting the "mohawk grenade" item, which appears in game and turns other players into Mr. T's likeness.
The same year, he appeared on commercials in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand advertising the chocolate bar Snickers with the slogan "Get Some Nuts!" One of these commercials featured Mr. T on an army jeep calling a speed walker wearing yellow shorts "a disgrace to the man race" (a pun on the double meaning of the word "race") and firing Snickers bars at the man with a custom-made machine gun so that he starts "running like a real man". This commercial was pulled by Mars following a complaint by the U.S.-based group Human Rights Campaign, although the advert had never been shown in the United States. The group alleged that the commercial promoted the idea that violence against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people "is not only acceptable, but humorous". Mr. T distanced himself from these accusations, insisting that he would never lend his name to such beliefs, and that he did not think the commercial was offensive to anyone, as all the commercials he appeared in had a similarly silly, over-the-top nature and were never intended to be taken seriously.
Education
Mr. T attended Paul Lawrence Dunbar Vocational Career Academy in Chicago. He briefly played football at Texas A&M Prairie View before returning to Chicago to pursue other opportunities.
Tureaud attended Dunbar Vocational High School, where he played football, wrestled, and studied martial arts. While at Dunbar he became the citywide wrestling champion two years in a row. He won a football scholarship to Prairie View A&M University, where he majored in mathematics, but was expelled after his first year.
