Arsenio Hall

Arsenio Hall, born in 1955, American motion-picture actor and television talk-show host, the first African American man to host his own nationally syndicated talk show. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he was educated at Kent State University, where he majored in speech communication. Interested even as a child in a show business career, he avidly watched television talk shows, studying the styles of such hosts as Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson. Hall was already entertaining at local functions at the age of 12. After college he worked as a comedian in Chicago before moving to California, where he became a warm-up act for the Temptations and other touring musical acts. Engagements as cohost of “The Half Hour Comedy Hour” in 1983 and as a regular on “Thicke of the Night” followed, and eventually Hall established himself as the comedian-host of “Solid Gold” and substitute host of “The Late Show,” replacing American comedian Joan Rivers. “The Arsenio Hall Show,” of which Hall was the executive producer as well as the host, aired from 1989 to 1994. He appeared in two films with American actor Eddie Murphy: Coming to America (1988) and Harlem Nights (1989).