Ernie Hudson

Earnest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor, who is perhaps best known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters films, Justin Jones in the 1989 sci-fi horror film Leviathan, Sergeant Darryl Albrecht in the 1994 superhero film The Crow, Reggie in the 1995 biographical drama film The Basketball Diaries, and Warden Leo Glynn in the HBO crime drama series Oz (1997–2003).

For Disney, he portrayed Solomon in the 1992 Hollywood Pictures film The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, CIA Agent Gustav Anders in the 1997 live-action comedy film Mr. Magoo, and voiced Pedro in the direct-to-DVD sequels Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 and Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva la Fiesta. He also played Poseidon in Once Upon a Time and voiced Robbie Robertson in Spider-Man and Buddy in Puppy Dog Pals. He will next voice Combat Carl in Disney/Pixar's Toy Story 5, replacing the late Carl Weathers.

Hudson was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He never knew his father. His mother, Maggie Donald, died of tuberculosis when he was two months old. He was subsequently raised by his maternal grandmother, Arrana Donald. Hudson joined the U.S. Marine Corps immediately after high school but was discharged after only three months on medical grounds due to asthma. Having moved to Detroit, he became the resident playwright at Concept East, the oldest black theater company in the United States. He enrolled at Wayne State University to further develop his writing and acting skills, graduating in 1973. He established the Actors' Ensemble Theatre where he and other talented young black writers directed and appeared in their own works. He began a doctoral program at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities before leaving to appear in a stage production of The Great White Hope.