Donnell Turner

Donnell Lamont Turner

Turner was born on January 8, 1973, in Tacoma, Washington.^[2][3] He is the son of Milton Turner (1949–2019) and Lorraine Sylvester (1951–2021).^[1][4] His older brother, Milton Jr. (Ejay) is a member of the 1990s Contemporary R&B group, DRS.^[1][5] His family moved to Chicago when Turner was still a baby. As a child, Turner relocated to Redding, California, with his mother and brother, where they were the only African American family in the neighborhood.^[4]

Turner has one daughter, Whitney.^[1] Turner fell in love with performing as a child participating in church plays. In high school, he played basketball and played trumpet in band. Turner has a cat, Josephine "Josie" Baker, named after the eponymous late singer.^[3][5] Turner has studied martial arts since the age of 10.5 and explained that it helped him in his acting career. He also enjoys knife combat, nunchaku, yoga, kickboxing, and firearms training.^[6]

Career

Turner briefly played semi-pro basketball but quit to act full-time. In 2001, Turner moved to

Turner also works as a motivational speaker and speaks with college and high school students, as well as religious and professional association audiences. Turner also has a mentoring program known as the "Turnround Project."[6]^[7] On April 2, 2016, Turner was the celebrity guest speaker at the Autism Speaks Walk Now event.^[8]

Filmography

References