Where Are They Now: The Cast of School Daze
This film showed all shades of the college experience.
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Where Are They Now: The Cast of School Daze - Director Spike Lee's second feature film boldly explored the class and social dynamics at a fictional Black college. Taken from Lee's experiences attending Morehouse, the musical comedy – with its high-powered cast – exposed America to Black campus culture and showed intra-racial issues like light-skin vs. dark-skin, hostility between students and the surrounding working-class community and the power of Greek organizations. On the 27th anniversary of the film, here's a look at the players who put it all on screen. (Photo: Columbia Pictures)
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Laurence Fishburne - Hollywood heavyweight Laurence Fishburne headed the School Daze cast, playing pro-Black student activist Dap. The Oscar-nominated actor, who eventually landed on Hollywood's A-list with roles in classics like What's Love Got to Do With It and The Matrix, currently stars on (and executive produces) the groundbreaking, hit sitcom black-ish. (Photo: Andrew Toth/Getty Images)
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Giancarlo Esposito - Before playing the role of Dap's bougie, frat-boy nemesis Julian, this actor usually played off-to-the side roles. His most memorable work came from director Spike Lee, who'd also cast him in other films like Do the Right Thing and Mo' Better Blues. Tinsel Town finally took notice in 2011 when Esposito starred as the slick drug kingpin Gus Fring on hit dramatic series Breaking Bad. He is currently preparing to star in the upcoming sci-fi movie Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. (Photo: Mark Davis/Getty Images for EJAF)
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Tisha Campbell-Martin - The part of Julian's apolitical, shade-struck girlfriend Jane Toussaint went to Tisha Campbell-Martin. Tisha's big screen star rose in films like the House Party series and Boomerang, but she'd become most famous for her small screen roles on classic sitcoms Martin and My Wife and Kids. She now stars (alongside hubby Duane Martin) as herself on BET's hit scripted reality series Real Husbands of Hollywood. (Photo: FayesVision/WENN.com)
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Samuel L. Jackson - Jackson deftly played the part of Leeds, a hostile non-college man who challenges Dap's idea of Blackness. What else can be said about Jackson besides that after his Oscar-nominated role in 1994's Pulp Fiction he became a permanent member of Hollywood's A-list. But he's never forgotten his activist roots, recently lending his voice to the Black Lives Matter movement with a viral video. Jackson is preparing to hit the big screen this year, starring in the comedy Barely Lethal and returning as Nick Fury for Avengers: Age of Ultron. (Photo: Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
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Kadeem Hardison - Hardison was cast as Edge, the streetish homeboy of Dap's campus crew. The Brooklyn-raised actor is best known for playing the lovable Dwayne Wayne on the hit sitcom A Different World. Hardison, formerly married to R&B singer Chanté Moore, has continued his career primarily on television, starring on shows like Cult and K.C. Undercover. He is currently gearing up for a return to the big screen in B.C. Butcher. (Photo: Kristy Sparow/Getty Images)
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Bill Nunn - Starring as Grady, the towering country boy of Dap's crew, was Bill Nunn. The year after School Daze, he was cast in his most memorable film role as Radio Raheem in Do the Right Thing. Nunn has maintained a steady presence in film – starring in the Spider-Man franchise – and TV, where he currently stars on the cable comedy series Sirens. (Photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for : Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
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Jasmine Guy - This Southern belle landed the part of the shade-struck Gamma Ray Dina. Guy will forever be known for her convincing portrayal of snooty Whitley Gilbert on the hit comedy series A Different World. The 52-year-actress, who's also starred in TV shows like Dead Like Me and If Loving You Is Wrong, recently wrapped on the upcoming horror film Sick People. (Photo: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Altar Identity Studios)
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Ossie Davis - Hollywood legend and '60s civil rights activist Davis portrayed the beaten-but-hopeful Coach Odum. Davis, who's 50-year film career included directing the 1970 pre-blaxploitation crime drama Cotton Comes to Harlem, was starring on the groundbreaking drama series The L Word in 2005 when he passed away from natural causes. (Photo: Brad Barket/ Getty Images)
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Branford Marsalis - The musician and composer landed the part of Dap's crew member Jordan. As an offspring of the jazz-famed Marsalis family, Brandford has stacked more LPs than acting roles. He last starred in the short-lived 2009 TV series When Weather Changed History. But his latest album was 2014's In My Solitude: Live at Grace Cathedral. (Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
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Roger Guenveur Smith - The part of fraternity pledgee Yoda went to Roger Guenveur Smith. Following School Daze, Smith boosted his profile after writing and directing the one-man show A Huey P. Newton Story (which Spike Lee later directed for cable). Having starred in hit films like American Gangster and Empire State, the actor will be seen in the coming-of-age hood drama Dope. (Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
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Joe Seneca - Long-time actor and singer Joe Seneca won the role of Mission College's President Mcpherson. Heading into the 1990s, Seneca also garnered roles in the Spike Lee joints Mo' Better Blues and Malcolm X. Just before his death (due to asthma) in 1996, he finished his last project, the TV movie The Longest Memory. (Photo: Gerry Goodstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
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Art Evans - Actor Art Evans starred as Mission College dean Cedar Cloud. Most noted for his roles in films like A Soldier's Story as well as his stint on the trailblazing TV cop drama Hill Street Blues, Evans now gets occasional spots in film and TV, landing an appearance on the sitcom Love That Girl in 2014. (Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)