Common

Acting

Born March 13, 1972 Chicago, Illinois, USA

Lonnie Rashid Lynn (born March 13, 1972), known by his stage name Common (formerly Common Sense), is an American rapper and actor. He has received three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award. He debuted in 1992 with the album Can I Borrow a Dollar?, and gained critical acclaim with his 1994 album Resurrection. He maintained an underground following into the late 1990s. He achieved mainstream success through his work with the Soulquarians. His first major-label album Like Water for Chocolate (2000), received commercial success. In 2003, he won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song for the Erykah Badu single "Love of My Life". His 2005 album Be was also a commercial success and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 2006 Grammy Awards. Common received his second Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Southside" (featuring Kanye West), from his 2007 album Finding Forever. His best-of album, Thisisme Then: The Best of Common, was released in late 2007. In 2011, Common launched Think Common Entertainment, his own record label imprint, having previously released music under various other labels including Relativity, Geffen, and GOOD Music. Common won the 2015 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and the Academy Award for Best Original Song, for his song, co-written and performed with John Legend, "Glory" from the 2014 film Selma, in which he co-starred as Civil Rights Movement leader James Bevel. Common's acting career also includes roles in the films Smokin' Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Date Night, Just Wright, Happy Feet Two, New Year's Eve, Run All Night, Being Charlie, Rex, John Wick: Chapter 2, Smallfoot and Hunter Killer. He also narrated the documentary Bouncing Cats, about one man's efforts to improve the lives of children in Uganda through hip-hop/b-boy culture. He starred as Elam Ferguson on the AMC western television series Hell on Wheels. Description above from the Wikipedia article Common (rapper), licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

TV Shows(54)

Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association

Narrator (voice)

2026

Evolution of the Black Quarterback

Self

2024

Silo

Robert Sims

2023

StoryBots: Answer Time

Mr. Wonderful

2022

The Jennifer Hudson Show

Self - Guest

2022

jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy

Self (archive footage)

2022

Obama

Self

2020

Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices

2020

Home Movie: The Princess Bride

Westley

2020

Bottomless Brunch at Colman's

Self

2020

Never Have I Ever

Dr. Chris Jackson

2020

Fraggle Rock: Rock On!

Self

2020

Tamron Hall

Self - Guest

2019

The Kelly Clarkson Show

Self

2019

Activate: The Global Citizen Movement

Self

2019

Shut Up and Dribble

Self - Musician

2018

The Chi

Rafiq

2018

America Divided

Self

2016

Chelsea

Self

2016

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Self - Guest

2015

Lip Sync Battle

Self

2015

Framework

Himself - Host

2015

Late Night with Seth Meyers

Self - Guest

2014

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Self

2014

Off Camera with Sam Jones

Self

2014

The Mindy Project

Security Guard

2012

Hell on Wheels

Elam Ferguson

2011

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

Self - Guest

2009

Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Self

2007

I Love the '70s: Volume 2

Self

2006

Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out

2005

Black in the 80s

Self

2005

Game Over

Himself (voice)

2004

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Self

2003

Real Time with Bill Maher

Self

2003

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Self

2003

Chappelle's Show

2003

Scrubs

Common

2001

One on One

Darius

2001

Girlfriends

Omar

2000

Mark Twain Prize

Self - Musical Guest

1999

TRL

1998

The View

Self

1997

The Chris Rock Show

1997

The Daily Show

Self

1996

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Self - Guest

1993

MTV Movie & TV Awards

Self - Presenter

1992

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

1992

The Simpsons

Common (voice)

1989

LIVE with Kelly and Mark

1988

American Masters

Self

1986

MTV Video Music Awards

Self - Presenter

1984

Entertainment Tonight

Self

1981

Saturday Night Live

Self - Cameo (uncredited)

1975

Movies(96)

W.E.B. Du Bois: Rebel With a Cause

Self

2026

Boo-Yah: A Portrait of Stuart Scott

Self

2025

Wick Is Pain

Self

2025

Diane Warren: Relentless

Self

2025

Bilal: Live at Glasshaus

Self

2024

Live from Detroit: The Concert at Michigan Central

Self

2024

Hip-Hop and the White House

2024

Breathe

Darius

2024

A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop

Self

2023

Fool's Paradise

The Dagger

2023

The Legacy of J Dilla

Self - Rapper; Friend

2023

Chris Rock: Road To Live Special

Self

2023

Between Riverside and Crazy

Junior

2023

Killing Me Softly with His Songs

Self

2022

Alice

Frank

2022

You're Watching Video Music Box

Self (archive footage)

2021

2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Self

2021

Ava

Michael

2020

A Most Beautiful Thing

Narrator

2020

Let's Go Crazy: The Grammy Salute to Prince

Self

2020

One World: Together at Home

Self

2020

The Informer

Grens

2019

The Price of Protest

Self (archive footage)

2019

The Kitchen

Gary Silvers

2019

Here and Now

Ben

2018

Hunter Killer

RA John Fisk

2018

The Hate U Give

Uncle Carlos

2018

All About Nina

Rafe

2018

Saint Judy

Benjamin Adebayo

2018

Smallfoot

Stonekeeper (voice)

2018

Ocean's Eight

Common

2018

The Tale

Martin

2018

Love Beats Rhymes

Coltrane

2017

Girls Trip

Common

2017

The Words That Built America

Self - Reader: Declaration of Independence

2017

Chamber Check: Evolution of a Fight Scene

Self

2017

Misdirection: The Real Magic

Narrator

2017

Megan Leavey

Gunny Martin

2017

Feel Rich: Health Is the New Wealth

Himself

2017

A Happening of Monumental Proportions

Daniel

2017

Chasing Trane

Self - Musician

2017

John Wick: Chapter 2

Cassian

2017

BET Presents Love & Happiness: An Obama Celebration

Self - Performer

2016

Letter to the Free

2016

Black America Again

Himself - Street Performer

2016

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

Self

2016

We're Still Here (Now).... A Documentary about nobody

Self

2016

Suicide Squad

Monster T

2016

VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens

2016

Being Charlie

Travis

2016

Barbershop: The Next Cut

Jabari

2016

Two Trains Runnin'

Narrator

2016

The Wiz Live!

The Bouncer

2015

Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives

2015

Unity

Narrator (voice)

2015

Entourage

Common

2015

Run All Night

Mr. Price

2015

Selma

James Bevel

2014

Every Secret Thing

Devlin Hatch

2014

X/Y

Jason

2014

Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton: This Is Stones Throw Records

Self

2013

Now You See Me

Evans

2013

Pawn

Jeff Porter

2013

Movie 43

Bob Mone (segment "The Pitch")

2013

LUV

Uncle Vincent

2013

The Odd Life of Timothy Green

Coach Cal

2012

Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap

Self

2012

New Year's Eve

Soldier

2011

Happy Feet Two

Seymour (voice)

2011

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

Self

2011

Music

Self

2010

Just Wright

Scott McKnight

2010

Bouncing Cats

Narrator

2010

Date Night

Collins

2010

Brave New Voices 2010

Himself - Host

2010

Terminator Salvation

Barnes

2009

Wanted

The Gunsmith

2008

Street Kings

Coates

2008

American Gangster

Turner Lucas

2007

Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life

Self

2007

Smokin' Aces

Sir Ivy

2006

Alicia Keys: Unplugged

Self

2005

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Self

2005

Letter to the President

Self

2005

Kanye West: College Dropout [Video Anthology]

Self (segment "Two Words")

2005

Soundz of Spirit

Self

2005

The Notorious B.I.G BET Official presents

2005

5 Sides of a Coin

Himself

2004

Godfathers and Sons

Self

2003

Beef

Self

2003

Brown Sugar

Self

2002

Pete Rock: Soul Survivor

Common

1998

Hate to See You Go

Paragraphs I Manifest

Self

Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association

Self/Narrator

Dave Chappelle's Block Party 2

Self