Lawrence Gilliard Jr.

As a young leading man who made a strong debut as the teen whose family poverty leads him to rob a drug dealer with tragic consequences in "Straight Out of Brooklyn" (1991). Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. -- who was billed as Larry Gilliard, Jr. in many credits -- then began to carve out a career working as leads in independent productions and in supporting and small roles in more mainstream films and TV projects. In 1993, he had a bit in Paul Mazursky's "The Pickle" and he played an unnamed hoodlum in "Money Train" (1995). Yet, in "Lotto Land" (made in 1993, released aside from festivals, 1996), Gilliard gave a sweet and taut performance as a young man who is walking the straight and narrow while his peers are selling drugs. He decides, instead, the invest all his money in lotto tickets in anticipation of winning the big score. On TV, Gilliard has oft been cast as street hoods, as he was in his first TV effort, "In the Line of Duty: Street Wars" (1992). In 1993's "Survive the Night" (USA), he was a gang leader terrorizing Stefanie Powers. That same year, Gilliard was a regular on the short-lived ABC series "George," starring George Foreman and his sons. Gilliard was Foreman's all-purpose support.