ORBITRA
John Amos

Acting

John Amos

Dec 27, 1939 – Aug 21, 2024111 titles 63 movies · 48 TV
Explore orbit
IMDb Instagram X / Twitter Facebook

Biography

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.

Also known as

Jon Amos · Johnny Amos · John A. Amos Jr. · John Allen Amos Jr.

Born

Dec 27, 1939 – Aug 21, 2024

Newark, New Jersey, USA

Open in OpenStreetMap

Photos

Profile images from TMDB · click to enlarge

3 images

Roles across career

Titles counted once; a person can act and direct on the same film (roles merged).

110

Acting credits

0

Directing

0

Writing

2

Other crew

Most critically rated

Highest TMDB score (min 100 votes)

Most commercially successful

Highest TMDB vote count (attention / reach proxy; not box office)

Career timeline

By release / first air year · movie & TV merged

Orbit ↑

1961 1 title(s)

1962 2 title(s)

1969 1 title(s)

1970 1 title(s)

1971 4 title(s)

1972 1 title(s)

1973 3 title(s)

1974 2 title(s)

1975 1 title(s)

1976 1 title(s)

1977 4 title(s)

1978 1 title(s)

1979 1 title(s)

1980 3 title(s)

1981 1 title(s)

1982 1 title(s)

1983 3 title(s)

1984 3 title(s)

1985 1 title(s)

1986 1 title(s)

1987 1 title(s)

1988 2 title(s)

1989 1 title(s)

1990 3 title(s)

1991 1 title(s)

1992 2 title(s)

1993 2 title(s)

1994 2 title(s)

1995 4 title(s)

1997 3 title(s)

1998 1 title(s)

1999 1 title(s)

2000 3 title(s)

2002 1 title(s)

2003 3 title(s)

2004 3 title(s)

2005 2 title(s)

2006 5 title(s)

2007 2 title(s)

2009 2 title(s)

2012 3 title(s)

2013 1 title(s)

2014 2 title(s)

2015 5 title(s)

2016 2 title(s)

2018 1 title(s)

2019 4 title(s)

2020 2 title(s)

2021 3 title(s)

2022 2 title(s)

2023 1 title(s)

2025 1 title(s)

Undated 4 title(s)