David “Dave” Chappelle was born August 24, 1973 in Washington, D.C. to his father, William Chapelle who is a professor at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio and his mother, Yvonne Seon. Dave Chappelle was a comedian all of his life, his inspirations spanned from great comedians such as Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy, and some believe Dave Chappelle has lived up to his inspirations successes, or even surpassed them. Either way this comedian has come a long way.

Dave Chappelles comedian career started off saying jokes to his family, however at the age of 14 he finally gathered enough courage to perform his comedian act at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, however, it did not go so well for him his first time at the Apollo Theatre and Dave Chappelle was booed off of the stage.

Dave Chappelle took the previously booing in stride, and has since stated that the night of his Apollo appearance and its happenings actually gave him an enlightening moment which provided him with the courage to try again and continue his show businnes dreams.

Dave Chappelle continued practicing his comedian acts throughout his days of growing up, even through his parents divorce which led him to go through Joint Custody with both of his parents making it hard for his comedian life prosper.

Dave Chappelle was destined to be a comedian however, through college at Washingtons Duke Ellington School of Arts he continued to hone his comedian talent even while getting his major in theatre arts, after his college years his career began to take off.

Within a year of graduating Dave Chappelle was based in two small time comedy flicks; “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and  “Undercover Blues.” Noticing his apparent ability, producers of Forrest Gump actually offered him the role of “Bubba” in the film, however he denied the position, and later stated he deeply regretted the decision.

Comedian Dave Chappelle continued his acting career and ended up on the popular “Home Improvement” show in 1995 with future comedian buddy Jim Breuer which resulted in a comic masterpiece and for Dave Chappelle, a profitable time because it attracted network executives.

The Network Executives offered him a role on an up-coming sitcom “Buddies” with partner Jim Breur, however Jim Breuer was replaced from the job and due to lack of comedian chemistry with the new actor the show ultimately failed. Dave Chappelle moved forward however and landed roles in later years, he appeared as a comedian in the remake of “The Nutty Professor” and had a minor role in “Conair” and a supporting role in “Blue Streak” with Martin Lawrence.

Dave Chappelle did not truely shine until his debut in a full featured film known as “Half Baked” with his previous partner Jim Breuer, the film rocketed his career and made his talent well-known to the  networks and film makers alike.

After the success of Half Baked Dave Chappelle was offered his own show to feature him as the main comedian and was called “The Dave Chappelle Show” which starred Dave Chappelle. The show was a production of the Comedy Central network and ended up wildly successful for Comedian Dave Chappelle and the network throughout the first and second season. The third season brought about trouble however.

Comedian Dave Chappelle abruptly left the production of The Dave Chappelle Show during the third season due to pressure from the network executives surrounding the controversial material and his claim that he did not like the direction the show was going. Dave Chappelle later left the United States and travelled to South Africa to “view his life and career decisions.”

Dave Chappelle is reportedly done with the Dave Chappelle show, however he is not done with his career.  Dave Chappelle returned later to produce many comedian shows such as “Block Party” and to appear on many talk shows which ended in the crowd laughing, Dave Chappelle’s comedian career has only just began and at this rate, there is no limit as to where it will end. Look for Dave Chappelle in the video stores, and on your television, you are sure not to regret it.

Posted on February 25th, 2007