John Amos Speaker & Booking Information

Amos is best known for playing characters Gordy Howard (the weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show) from 1970 until 1973 and James Evans, Sr., the husband of Florida Evans, appearing three times on the sitcom Maude before continuing the role in 61 episodes of Good Times from 1974 to 1976. While playing a hard-working middle-aged father of three on the show, in real life Amos was only 34 when the show began, only eight years older than the actor who played his oldest son (Jimmie Walker) and 19 years younger than his screen wife (Esther Rolle). Amos, much like series' co-star Rolle, wanted to portray a positive image of an African American family, struggling against the odds in the ghetto of Chicago, but saw the premise slighted by lower comedy, and expressed dissatisfaction. Amos was fired from the show after the third season ended because he had issues with Norman Lear and the writers of the show in regards to Jimmie Walker's character JJ. His character James Evans died in a car accident in the first episode of the fourth season, and the series continued for three more seasons without him. Norman Lear said Amos had become a disruption and Amos agrees, saying he wasn't very diplomatic about the direction of the show. Amos disagreed about the writers emphasizing J.J.'s stereotypical buffoonishness including his catchphrases, funny walk and "pigeon hats", fearing it was turning the program into a weekly minstrel show. His character's other son Michael wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice and his daughter Thelma wanted to be a surgeon. Amos could see the comedy that could be generated from that but the writers wanted to stay with the J.J. actions.

He also portrayed Captain Dolan on the television show Hunter from 1984 to 1985. He co-starred in the CBS police drama The District and appeared in the 1977 miniseries Roots, based on Alex Haley's book of the same name, as the older Kunta Kinte. In 1980, he starred in the TV film Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story.

Amos played an Archie Bunker-style character for the 1994 sitcom 704 Hauser which was a modern spin-off of All In The Family, but this series was cancelled after only five episodes (in the series he played a different character than he played in the All in the Family spin-off Maude). He was a frequent guest on The West Wing, portraying Admiral Percy Fitzwallace, who serves as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for most of the show. He played Buzz Washington in the ABC series, Men in Trees. Amos co-starred with Anthony Anderson in the TV series All About the Andersons in 2003. In 2010, Amos also appeared as recurring character, Ed, on Two and a Half Men.

He has guest-starred in a number of other television shows including Police Story, The A-Team, The Cosby Show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, In the House, Martin as Sgt. Hamilton Strawn (Tommy's father), Touched by an Angel, Psych, My Name Is Earl, Lie to Me, and Murder, She Wrote.

He has also appeared as a spokesman for The Cochran Firm (a national personal injury law firm).
Amos is the writer and producer of Halley's Comet, a critically acclaimed one-man play that he performs around the world.

Amos has had roles in multiple films, such as Coming to America, Vanishing Point, The President's Plane is Missing, Lock Up, American Flyers, The Beastmaster and Die Hard 2. He starred in Let's Do It Again (1975) as Kansas City Mack with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier. Amos was featured in Disney's The World's Greatest Athlete with Tim Conway and Jan-Michael Vincent. He was in Ice Cube's and Dr. Dre's video for Natural Born Killaz and played a police officer in The Players Club. Amos co-starred with Sylvester Stallone in the 1989 movie Lock Up. In 1995, he appeared in the film For Better or Worse. In 2006, he played Jud in Dr. Dolittle 3. He played Uncle Virgil in My Baby's Daddy. In 2012, Amos had a role in the movie Madea's Witness Protection, as Jake's father.