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David Chappelle (born August 24, 1973 in
Washington, D.C.) is an American comedian, actor,
and social commentator.  He is not to be confused
with David LaChapelle.  He attended elementary
school in Silver Spring, Maryland. As a child
Chappelle lived in Yellow Springs, Ohio, where his
father taught voice and music at Antioch College,
and where Chappelle attended junior high school.
After his parents' divorce, Chappelle moved to
Washington, D.C., with his mother (a Unitarian
Religious minister|minister). He attended high
school in Washington, but spent his summers with
his father in Yellow Springs. Chappelle began
playing comedy clubs in his native Washington,
D.C., when he was as young as 14 years old, while
studying acting and literary media at the Duke
Ellington School of the Arts. Within a year, he
had a chance to perform at the Apollo Theater in
Harlem, New York. He was promptly booed off stage.

Undeterred, Chappelle became a hit at clubs along
the East Coast, refining sets which were laid-back
and socially conscious. By 1992, he had appeared
on HBO's Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam. Catching
the eye of Whoopi Goldberg, he became the youngest
comic to have a featured spot on Comic Relief VI,
at age 20.

His first major role was in Robin Hood: Men in
Tights.  Chappelle turned down the role of Bubba
in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump, thinking the movie
would be a box office bust, and has since admitted
to deeply regretting it.  He later appeared as the
abrasive comedian in the remake of The Nutty
Professor, had a minor role in Con Air, had a
supporting role in Martin Lawrence's Blue Streak
(film)|Blue Streak, and then wrote and starred in
Half Baked, a cult film about a group of
Cannabis|pot-smoking best friends trying to get
their friend out of jail.  Chappelle appeared as
himself in an episode of The Larry Sanders Show.
In that performance, Chappelle and the executives
of the show's nameless television network
satirized the treatment that scriptwriters and
show creators are subject to, as well as the
executives' knee-jerk stereotyping when it comes
to race.

In 2003, Chappelle debuted his own weekly
television show on Comedy Central, Chappelle's
Show.  His sketch comedy heavily skewers racial
stereotypes and slurs, including Chappelle's
African American heritage. This with pointed
social and poltical commentary quickly achieved
great popularity.  By the end of the second
season, it was one of the highest-rated shows on
basic cable, and second only to South Park on
Comedy Central. Due to the popularity of his show,
Comedy Central's parent company Viacom cut a $50
million deal with Dave Chappelle that will
continue the production of "Chappelle's Show" for
two more years and will allow Chappelle to do side
projects.

His show has a large hip-hop following and has
featured such political rappers such as Dead Prez,
Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Kanye West.  His show has
also spotlighted Wu-Tang Clan, Outkast, Fat Joe
and Erykah Badu.

One of his most well-known skits has him
portraying the late Rick James during his drug
years, and the phrase "I'm Rick James, bitch!" has
now become a part of popular culture as have many
of his other characters and skits.

Chappelle lives with his wife and children on a
farm just outside Yellow Springs, Ohio. When he is
not touring or engaged in filming for television
or the big screen, he can be seen in the shops and
markets of the small college town. He converted to
Islam around 1998. He told TIME Magazine in a May
2005 interview that he does not often discuss his
religion publicly because he does not feel
qualified to represent the Islamic faith before
the public.

Chappelle's Show is on hiatus as of July 2005
while he sorts out unspecified personal issues. On
May 11, news sources (most notably Entertainment
Weekly) indicated that Chappelle had checked
himself into a psychiatric facility in South
Africa. On May 14, Time magazine|Time announced
that one of their reporters, Christopher John
Farley, had interviewed Chappelle in South Africa,
and that no psychiatric treatments were occurring
or necessary. Chappelle has said that he was on a
"spiritual retreat".  In an interview, Chapelle
said, "I don't normally talk about my religion
publicly because I don't want people to associate
me and my flaws with this beautiful thing. And I
believe it is a beautiful religion if you learn it
the right way. It's a lifelong effort. Your
religion is your standard. Coming here I don't
have the distractions of fame. It quiets the ego
down. I'm interested in the kind of person I've
got to become. I want to be well rounded and the
industry is a place of extremes. I want to be well
balanced. I've got to check my intentions, man."
Chappelle, who converted to Islam several years
ago, reportedly went to South Africa to purify
himself and to do some soul searching. 

More recent news has located Chappelle back in the
United States, at his house in Ohio
http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articles/story
.php?s=1003386, and performing impromptu shows in
Los Angeles
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1503467/20050603/
index.jhtml?headlines=true.

==Filmography==
*Undercover Brother, 2002
*Screwed (film)|Screwed, 2000
*Blue Streak (film)|Blue Streak, 1999
*Half Baked, 1998
*200 Cigarettes, 1998
*You've Got Mail, 1998
*Con Air, 1997
*Woo (film)|Woo, 1997
*The Nutty Professor, 1996
*Getting In, 1994
*Robin Hood: Men in Tights, 1993

==External links==

*http://thetravisty.com/Chappelles_Show.php -
Video Clips From Chappelles Show.
*http://www.davechappelle.com DaveChappelle.com -
Chapelle's official website and forums.
*http://www.chappellecenter.com Dave Chappelle's
Show - Chappelle Center, a fan website for Dave
Chappelle's Show
*http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/chappelless
how/ Comedy Central: Chappelle's Show - Comedy
Central's official website for Chappelle's Show.
*http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1059677_3|1353
7||0_0_,00.html "Chappelle's No-Show" -
Entertainment Weekly article that originally
reported on Chappelle's stay at a mental health
facility.
*http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1061578_3|1353
7||0_0_,00.html "Durban Renewal" - a follow-up
article including Chapelle's side of the story.
*http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1061
415,00.html "On the Beach With Dave Chappelle" -
interview with Chapelle in South Africa by Time
Magazine
*http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/29/news_6128
319.html "Dave Chappelle Loves World of Warcraft"
- a report on Dave Chappelle's love of video games