Paul Bates

Paul Bates was a film and television actor who was best known for playing the royal servant Oha in the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy "Coming to America." Although Bates had been appearing on screen going all the way back to the early 1980s, not much biographical information about him was known. Furthermore, despite having over 50 acting credits to his name, Bates never truly had a breakout moment that would have lifted his career beyond the limited title of "working Hollywood actor." Bates began his acting career in 1983 with a role in the fantasy drama film "Somewhere, Tomorrow." The star of that film was a relatively unknown actor by the name of Sarah Jessica Parker. Bates would go on to nab small parts in films like "Exterminator 2" (1984) and "Midsummer's Night Dream" (1985) throughout the early to mid-1980s. In 1986 he landed a small part as a theater manager in Woody Allen's Oscar-winning comedy-drama "Hannah and Her Sisters" (1986), and then went on to work alongside John Cusack and Jerry Stiller in the 1987 comedy "Hot Pursuit." It was Bate's part as Oha, the servant to a lovestruck African King named Akeem played by Eddie Murphy in 1988's "Coming to America," that he would forever be associated with. Although the role of Oha was small, Bates's character performed a memorable high-pitched song during Akeem's wedding that would become one of several memorable scenes from the crowd-pleasing film. After "Coming to America" Bates continued working steadily over the next 30 years. Some of the more notable films he appeared in during this period include Tony Scott's romantic crime drama "True Romance" (1993), the Whitney Houston fantasy drama "The Preacher's Wife" (1996), and the Eminem -starring hip hop drama "8 Mile" (2002). Then in 2019 it was announced that an eagerly-anticipated sequel to "Coming to America" (called "Coming 2 America") was in the works, with Eddie Murphy reprising his role as Akeem. The film was directed by Craig Brewer, who was best known for directing 2005's "Hustle & Flow," and also featured appearances by Wesley Snipes, Tracy Morgan, and Arsenio Hall, in a reprisal of his role from the original film. Bates also returned for the sequel as Oha, thus giving him the rare opportunity to make a triumphant return to the role he was most remembered for. "Coming 2 America" was released in December of 2020.