Ernest Lee "Ernie" Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an
American actor known for his roles as
Winston Zeddemore in the
Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in
The Crow, and
Warden Leo Glynn on
HBO's
Oz.
Early life
Hudson was born in
Benton Harbor, Michigan, the son of Maggie Donald, who died of
tuberculosis when Hudson was two months old; Hudson never knew his father. He was subsequently raised by his maternal grandmother, Arrana Donald. He has a half-brother, Lewis Hudson. After a short time in the
Marine Corps, he moved to
Detroit, where he became the resident playwright at Concept East, the oldest Black Theatre company in the country. In addition, he enrolled at
Wayne State University to further develop his writing and acting skills, and found time to establish the Actors' Ensemble Theatre where he and other talented young black writers directed and appeared in their own works, before enrolling and subsequently graduating from
Yale School of Drama.
Career
One of Hudson's early films was in
Penitentiary in the late 1970s starring Leon Isaac Kennedy. After various TV guest roles on shows such as
The Dukes of Hazzard and
The A-Team, Hudson went on to bigger fame playing
Winston Zeddemore, who enlists with the Ghostbusters in the 1984 film
Ghostbusters and its
1989 sequel (he auditioned to reprise the role for
the......
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