Kristoff St. John

Actor Kristoff St. John began acting as a child before becoming a mainstay on the daytime soap opera "The Young & the Restless" (CBS, 1973-). Born in New York, he spent part of his childhood in Connecticut before relocating to Los Angeles. He found success early, appearing in the live-action Saturday morning show "Big John, Little John" (NBC, 1976). Guest appearances on "Happy Days" (ABC, 1974-84) and "Wonder Woman" (ABC/CBS, 1975-79), as well as a small role in the film "The Champ" (1979), followed. He was cast as the childhood version of author Alex Haley in the miniseries "Roots: The Next Generation" (ABC, 1979) and was a series regular in the short-lived sitcom "The Bad News Bears" (CBS, 1979-80), alongside Corey Feldman. After an appearance on the hit "The Cosby Show" (NBC, 1984-92), he earned his first starring role in the sitcom "Charlie & Co." (ABC, 1985-86), playing the son of Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight. He next moved into what would become his home for the rest of his career. The actor joined Vivica A. Fox and Richard Roundtree in the cast of the groundbreaking soap opera "Generations" (NBC,1989-91). After that show ended, he continued on daytime television taking a role on the long-running serial "The Young and the Restless," as the show added a group of African-American characters, an influx of talent that also included Victoria Rowell and Shemar Moore. St. John portrayed cosmetics executive Neil Winters, a role that he would play for 28 years. While working on the soap opera, the actor made occasional TV guest appearances on shows like "Martin" (FOX, 1992-97) and "Living Single" (FOX, 1993-98), and had a recurring role on "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper" (ABC, 1992-97). He also appeared in a string of television Christmas movies including "Marry Us for Christmas" (UP, 2014) and "A Christmas Cruise" (ION, 2017). St. John died unexpectedly at age 52 due to heart failure brought about by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy on February 3, 2019. His final episode of "The Young and the Restless" aired three days later on February 6.