Chi McBride as Emerson Cod

A former telephone operator with MCI, Chi (pronounced SHY) McBride originally planned to pursue a career in music. After studying several instruments and singing with gospel choirs in his native Chicago, the heavyset African-American relocated to Atlanta to work for the long distance company. His first success in show business came with the hit song “He’s the Champ” that parodied the marriage of boxer Mike Tyson and actress Robin Givens. Based on the tune’s success, McBride was signed by Esquire Records and he joined the rhythm and blues band Covert.Convinced he should try his hand in front of the cameras, the singer moved to Los Angeles and, billed as ‘Chi’, landed guest spots on Fox’s “In Living Color” and NBC’s “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” as well as a featured role in the TV-movie “Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation” (Fox, 1992). Within a year, he had landed the role of Heavy Gene, the surly bus station janitor who decidedly did not like cleaning, on the sitcom “The John Larroquette Show” (NBC, 1993-96). McBride has also appeared in a handful of features including the Eddie Murphy vehicle “The Distinguished Gentleman” (1992) and Peter Jackson’s “The Frighteners” (1996), as one of the trio of ghosts in cahoots with Michael J Fox. He also appears in a prominent supporting role alongside Tim Roth, Vanessa Williams and Laurence Fishburne in Bill Duke’s “Hoodlum” (1997).

McBride returned to sitcoms as a fictional British butler to US President Abraham Lincoln in the slightly controversial UPN series “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” (1998). After that series’ quick demise, McBride landed roles in “Disney’s The Kid” and “Gone in 60 Seconds” (both 2000) before returning to the small screen playing Steven Harper, the beleaguered principal of a big city high school in David E. Kelley’s “Boston Public” (Fox, 2000-2004), a role he essayed to excellent effect (he was nominated for an AFI TV Series Actor of the Year award and a Golden Satellite Award for the part) despite increasingly improbable storylines.

In 2002, he joined Ray Liotta and Jason Patric for the crime thriller “Narc,” and in a 180-degree turn played The Chief in the comedy “Undercover Brother” that same year. Supporting roles in the crime drama “Paid in Full” (2002) and the urban action thriller “Cradle 2 the Grave” (2003) followed, and the actor got a fresh opportunity to show off his talents to a wide audience when he appeared opposite Tom Hanks in director Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal” (2004) as a kind-hearted baggage carousel worker, and opposite Will Smith in the sci fi thriller “I, Robot” (2004) as a police lieutenant. He then appeared in the low-budget slice-of-life comedy “Waiting” (2005) as a dishwasher who dispenses advice to other employees, including a waiter (Justin Long) sick of his dead-end job.

• Also Credited As:Chi, James Momel
• Born: on 09/23/1961 in Chicago, Illinois
• Job Titles:Actor, Musician, Songwriter, Telephone operator (for MCI)

Significant Others

• Companion: . married

Milestones

• 1986 Moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to work for MCI as a telephone operator
• 1992 Early TV guest appearances on “In Living Color” (billed as Chi) and “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”
• 1992 Feature film debut (billed as Chi) “The Distinguished Gentleman”
• 1992 TV-movie debut billed as ‘Chi’, “Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation”
• 1993 Cast as Heavy Gene, the janitor, on the NBC sitcom “The John Larroquette Show”
• 1996 Acted in “The Frighteners”
• 1997 Co-starred in the underrated “Hoodlum”
• 1998 First screen appearance opposite Bruce Willis in “Mercury Rising”
• 2000 Appeared as Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown in the ABC biopic “Muhammad Ali: King of the World”
• 2000 Cast as the principal in the pilot of “The Faculty”, a Fox pilot written by David E Kelley; show picked up for fall season under title “Boston Public”
• 2000 Co-starred with Bruce Willis in “Disney’s The Kid”
• 2002 Co-starred in the feature drama “Narc”
• 2004 Appeared as a Baggage Carousel Worker in Steven Spielberg’s “The Terminal”
• 2004 Cast in the sci-fi thriller “I, Robot” with Will Smith; based on Isaac Asimov’s book
• 2006 Starred opposite James Franco in the Disney drama “Annapolis,” directed by Justin Lin
• Based on success of song, signed to recording contract with Esquire Records; joined rhythm and blues group Covert
• Moved to Los Angeles
• Raised in the Chicago, Illinois, area
• Returned to series TV in the title role of “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” (UPN)
• Wrote the hit song “He’s the Champ”

(source)