George Arthur "Rusty" Cundieff (born December 13, 1960) is an American film and television director, actor, and writer known for his work on Fear of a Black Hat (1993), Tales from the Hood (1995), and Chappelle's Show (2003–2006).
Biography Cundieff was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Christina and John A. Cundieff. He had an interest in the entertainment business from a young age, and he started doing standup comedy in his junior year of high school. He studied his freshman year at Loyola University in New Orleans before transferring to the University of Southern California. He wanted to attend USC for the film department but found it "actually pretty crappy" and thus took filmmaking classes while not being a film major. He graduated with degrees in philosophy of religion, journalism, and drama. While at USC, Cundieff became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, a historically African American fraternity.
He is married to Trina Davis Cundieff, with whom he has two children: Simone Christina and Thelonious Jon Davis.
Film career After graduating from USC in 1982, Cundieff performed stand-up comedy in Los Angeles while looking for opportunities to act. His first major role was a year-long run as Theo Carver on Days of Our Lives in 1985. In 1988, he played Big Brother Chucky in Spike Lee's School Daze. Cundieff was inspired by his experience working with Lee on the film to pursue writing and directing in addition to acting, and at age 29 he wrote, directed, and starred in the well-received 1993 rap parody Fear of a Black Hat.
He directed and co-wrote the 1995 horror anthology Tales from the Hood. He directed sequels in 2018 and 2020, Tales from the Hood 2 and Tales from the Hood 3, projects that he said he had been trying to make for 20 years, but that the success of Get Out had opened the door for.
Cundieff was also a correspondent on Michael Moore's comic TV magazine show TV Nation in the mid-1990s.
In 2013, along with 12 others he received a Razzie Award for Worst Director for directing a segment in the anthology comedy film Movie 43.
Filmography
Actor + Film credits Year Film Role Notes 1984 Welcome to the Fun Zone Host TV movie 1986 3:15 M-16's 1987 Hollywood Shuffle Audition Actor / Slave #1 / Zombie Pimp 1988 School Daze Big Brother Chucky 1992 Eddie Presley Guard 1993 Fear of a Black Hat Ice Cold Also writer and director. 1995 Tales from the Hood Richard Also writer and director. 1997 Sprung Montel Also writer and director. 2003 The Devon Taylor Show Ice Cold TV movie 2018 Tales from the Hood 2 Press Conference Reporter Also writer and director.
+ Television credits Year Show Role Notes 1985 Days of Our Lives Theo Carver 1985 What's Happening Now! J.B. Whitney 1 episode 1985 MacGruder and Loud Perry 1 episode 1990 thirtysomething Student #5 1 episode 2003 Chappelle's Show Ystur Feidnuc D.D.S. / Richard Pryor 2 episodes
Director + Film and television director Year Film Notes 1993 Fear of a Black Hat 1995 Tales from the Hood 1996 Clueless 1 episode 1997 Sprung 2000 The New Adventures of Spin and Marty: Suspect Behavior TV movie 2005 Bitch House 2006 The Bernie Mac Show 1 episode 2006 So Notorious 1 episode 2003-2006 Chappelle's Show 25 episodes 2006 The Brandon T. Jackson Show TV movie 2006 Campus Ladies 1 episode 2007 Human Giant 3 episodes 2008 Somebodies 4 episodes 2008 Chocolate News Segment director, 12 episodes 2009-2010 The Wanda Sykes Show Segment director, 21 episodes 2013 Movie 43 Segment director, "Victory's Glory" 2013 Second Generation Wayans 3 episodes 2013 The Devon Taylor Show TV movie 2013 The Hustle 2 episodes2018Tales from the Hood 2director 2019 Black Jesus 2 episodes2020Tales from the Hood 3director2021Creepshow2 episodes202357 Secondsdirector2024Meet Me Next Christmasdirector
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