Michael Clarke Duncan

Michael Clarke Duncan (December 10, 1957 – September 3, 2012) was an American actor and former basketball player best known for his breakout role as John Coffey in The Green Mile (1999), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and other honors. He also played Kingpin in Daredevil and Spider-Man: The New Animated Series (both 2003). In addition, he appeared in movies such as Armageddon (1998), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), Planet of the Apes (2001), The Scorpion King (2002), Sin City (2005), and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), as well as in the role of Leo Knox in the television series Bones (2011) and its spin-off The Finder (2012); he also appeared in episodes of Two and a Half Men. He also had voice roles in films, including Brother Bear (2003), Brother Bear 2 (2006), Kung Fu Panda (2008), and Green Lantern (2011); he had the voice role of Benjamin King in the video game Saints Row (2006).

Early life

Duncan was born in Chicago and raised in a single-parent household along with his sister, Judy, by his mother, Jean Duncan (a house cleaner) after his father left. When he was young, he wanted to play football and tried out for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) but decided to become an actor instead when his mother refused to let him play, fearing he would get injured. He always wanted to act but had to drop out of the communications program at Alcorn State University to support his family when his mother became ill.