This year marks the 20th anniversary of Spike Lee’s semi-autobiographical film, Crooklyn, which came on the eve of his expensive and controversial Malcolm X. We take a look at what’s happened to the cast since then.
Starring Zelda Harris, Delroy Lindo and Alfre Woodard, Crooklyn was about a young child, Troy, and her daily life as the only girl in a household full of boys. The film would mark one of the few times where the critically acclaimed filmmaker toned down his subject matter to focus on a lighter subject.
Lee and his cinematic cohorts managed to take cinephiles back in the day to where everyone knew your name, watched out for your kids, played stickball and hide-n-go-get-it. Crooklyn was the kind of epic movie that today’s youth would never think existed, and now, almost 20 years to the day since its release we’re playing “where are they now” with the film’s cast.
Photo: Universal Pictures
Bokeem Woodbine
Photo: WENN
Relatively unknown at the time, Harlem’s own, Bokeem Woodbine got his start as an extra in Ernest Dickerson‘s classic film, Juice. After a starring role in HBO’s Strapped, Woodbine would go on to have a small, bit part in Spike Lee’s Crooklyn as Richard.
From then on, his stock continued to rise as Bokeem would go on to star in pictures such as Dead Presidents, Jason’s Lyric, Panther, and NBC’s Battery Park.
Since then, he’s been keeping a low profile, being featured in Little Murder and completed his own picture called The Fifth Commandment.
Joie Lee
Photo: WENN
Spike Lee’s real life sister played Troy’s Aunt Maxine in the movie, but has also frequently appeared in his previous works. A screenwriter and film producer in her own right, Joie has since went on to write 2005’s short, All the Invisible Children, and star in 2010’s Window on Your Present.
Isaiah Washington
Photo: WENN
A fellow player in Spike Lee’s pictures, Isaiah Washington played the in-house neighbor, Vic. He would go on to originate and excel as the role of Dr. Preston Burke in Shonda Rhimes‘ medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. After winning two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series, Washington was embroiled in a controversial backstage scandal where he used a homosexual slur on a fellow castmate.
Since the hype has died down, Washington starred as Beltway sniper John Muhammad in 2013’s Blue Caprice, which earned raved reviews. He will also be invited back to reprise his role as Dr. Burke in a farewell episode for Sandra Oh‘s character this May.
David Patrick Kelly
Photo: WENN
Best known to cinephiles as Luther in the 1979 cult film, The Warriors, Kelly played the smelly next-door neighbor Tony Eyes. When he wasn’t being berated by the kids for having a funky odor, the actor, who is also a celebrated stage performer, would find work on television. Mainly, Gossip Girl from 2008 – 2011 and HBO’s Bored to Death.
Delroy Lindo
Photo: WENN
A powerful presence on screen as the patriarch in Crooklyn, Delroy Lindo is always impossible to ignore on the big screen. After playing West Indian Archie in Lee’s Malcolm X, he was immediately cast in Crooklyn to play the struggling musician, Woody Carmichael. Since then, he has had some considerable roles, but is currently known for playing Alderman Ronin Gibbons in The Chicago Code, and as Winter on the new series Believe.
Alfre Woodard
Photo: WENN
The four-time Emmy Award winning actress was cast as Carolyn Carmichael, the wife to Delroy Lindo’s Woody Carmichael. She served out tough justice as the mother, and dispensed wisdoms to her only baby girl, Troy. Her stock never fell after that movie as she was in 2000’s Love And Basketball, 2005’s Desperate Housewives, and was most recently seen in Steve McQueen‘s Oscar-award winning 12 Years a Slave.
Vondie Curtis-Hall
Photo: WENN
Although, he is best known for his role as Dr. Dennis Hancock on the CBS medical drama Chicago Hope, in Crooklyn, Vondie played family relative Uncle Brown. A gifted character actor, Curtis-Hall is also a director whose films include Gridlock’d, Waist Deep, and Redemption: The Stan ‘Tookie’ Williams Story which starred Jamie Foxx. Most recently, Vondie was a central character in 2013’s Black Nativity with Tyrese and Jennifer Hudson.
Christopher Knowings
Photo: PBS screen cap
Spike casted this relative unknown to play Troy’s older brother. The former Brooklyn Tech High School student continued to gain significant work in roles such as Nickelodeon’s Taina and The Nick Cannon Show in 2002. Along with his twin sister, actress Christy Knowings, the duo joined the cast of Sesame Street and has been edutaining young minds ever since.
Zelda Harris
The lead star in Spike Lee’s semi-autobiographical drama, Zelda Harris played Troy, the only girl in a house full of rambunctious boys. In real life, the New York City born-and-bred talent was making a come-up for herself as Crooklyn served as her biggest role at the time. She managed to double-down on her work with Spike, playing Ray Allen‘s little sister in 1998’s He Got Game. According to her own admission, the lack of roles for capable young Black actresses forced Zelda to continue her education instead of hitting the big screens. The young upstart earned her degree from Princeton University in 2007.
Spike Lee
Photo: WENN
The architect behind Crooklyn hasn’t rested on his cinematic laurels. His work came to define the end of the 20th Century going into the 21st with documentaries such as Four Little Girls and The Kings of Comedy; Miracle at St. Anna and most recently, Spike directed a music video for Hip-Hop’s golden boy, Eminem.
What was your favorite scene from this classic film? Speak on it below!
