Donnell Lamont Turner (born January 8, 1973) is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Curtis Ashford on the ABC daytime soap opera, General Hospital.
Personal life Turner was born on January 8, 1973, in Tacoma, Washington. He is the son of Milton Turner (1949–2019) and Lorraine Sylvester (1951–2021). His older brother, Milton Jr. (Ejay) is a member of the 1990s Contemporary R&B group, DRS. His family moved to Chicago when Turner was still a baby. As a child, Turner relocated to Redding, California, with his mother and brother, where they were the only African American family in the neighborhood.
Turner has one daughter, Whitney. Turner fell in love with performing as a child participating in church plays. In high school, he played basketball and played trumpet in band. Turner has a cat, Josephine "Josie" Baker, named after the eponymous late singer. Turner has studied martial arts since the age of 10.5 and explained that it helped him in his acting career. He also enjoys knife combat, nunchaku, yoga, kickboxing, and firearms training.|
Career Turner briefly played semi-pro basketball but quit to act full-time. In 2001, Turner moved to Los Angeles and eventually started modeling and commercial work for several major brands including Nike, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, Bud Light, Coors, Mercedes-Benz, Disney and AT&T. As of 2016, he has appeared in over 100 commercials. Turner also found work as a production assistant and stunt work for shows like ER where he doubled for Eriq La Salle and Criminal Minds where he doubled for Shemar Moore. Turner later doubled for Jesse L. Martin in the musical, Rent. Turner also found work as a background artist. In 2010, Turner appeared on Days of Our Lives as Dr. Aiden Williams opposite Kristian Alfonso. Turner who grew up watching General Hospital started writing to casting director Mark Teschner in the 1990s and first auditioned for the series in 2014. On October 29, 2015, he signed on to portray Curtis Ashford.
Charitable works Turner also works as a motivational speaker and speaks with college and high school students, as well as religious and professional association audiences. Turner also has a mentoring program known as the "Turnround Project." On April 2, 2016, Turner was the celebrity guest speaker at the Autism Speaks Walk Now event.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes 2004 Wednesday Afternoon Backup Police Officer Short 2006 Diamond Real Estate Keion Richards Video short 2006–07 Criminal Minds Apartment super/ Man on the street #1 2 episodes 2007 Grave Situations Jerry 2008 Alternative Marcus Short 2009 A Fish Needs a Bicycle Eric Short 2009–10 Days of Our Lives Dr. Aiden Williams Recurring; 3 episodes 2010 A Worthy Gentleman Maurice 2011 The Boulevard Stan Hodek TV movie 2012 2 Broke Girls Officer James Episode: "And Martha Stewart have a Ball"; Parts 1 and 2 2012 Baby Daddy Guy Episode: "Married to the Job" 2012 Parks and Recreation Louis Episode: "Halloween Surprise" 2012 90210 Waiter Episode: "Into the Wild" 2013 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Bouncer 1 episode 2013 Anger Management Handsome man 1 episode 2013 Save Me Benicio 1 episode 2013 Teen Wolf Paramedic 1 episode 2013 Dexter Off Duty Cop 1 episode 2013 Social Nightmare Officer Elliot TV movie 2013 Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories Dock Ellis Independent film 2013 The Mindy Project Male cop 1 episode 2013 Revenge Investor 1 episode 2014 Love That Girl! Calvin B. Lyons 1 episode 2014 Friends with Better Lives Cop #2 1 episode 2014 Bad Judge Fireman 1 episode 2014 How to Get Away with Murder Handsome man 1 episode 2014 Suffocated Max Short 2015 The Young and the Restless Doctor 2 episodes 2015 Stitchers Dean Jerome Hardwyck 1 episode 2015 Rizzoli & Isles Firefighter 1 episode 2015 Kevin from Work Coach 1 episode 2015 - Current General Hospital Curtis Ashford Contract role; November 30, 2015–present 2016 Time In Between Wreck Film 2016 A Million Happy Now Mr. Handsome Film 2016 The Choir Director Detective McGraw Film
References
External links