Stage and screen actor Delroy Lindo, known best for his roles in films like “Malcolm X,” “Get Shorty” and “Gone in 60 Seconds,” comes to Fresno State as the inaugural speaker in the Black Popular Culture Lecture Series.

The Tony Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominee will speak about his career, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25 in the North Gym 118 (south of Barstow on Campus Drive). The event is free and open to the public.

The Africana Studies Program’s Black Popular Culture Lecture Series was created by Dr. T. Hasan Johnson, professor of Africana Studies at Fresno State. “Many of my students are interested in developing careers in popular culture, and I wanted for them to be able to learn from someone who has mastered their craft to get a feel for what exactly it takes to be successful,” Johnson said.

Lindo was born in London and studied acting at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Over the course of his three-decade career working in film, television and theater, Lindo has portrayed a variety of roles including FBI agents, thieves, politicians, an angel and baseball legend Satchel Paige. He has also worked as a voice-actor, providing the voice of a Rottweiler named Beta in the animated Pixar film “Up.

When asked why Lindo was chosen as the first speaker in the Black Popular Culture Lecture Series, Johnson said, “I can’t think of a role that he’s performed in where he didn’t bring a level of humanity to it that just took it to another level.”

The visit was made possible by funding from the College of Social Sciences to establish the Black Popular Culture Lecture Series and Online Research Archive. This lecture, and all future events, will be recorded and available online as an oral history for academic research.

For more information, contact Johnson at 559.278.8805 or by email.

Related links:

Delroy Lindo IMDB

“Malcolm X” trailer

Clip of Lindo in “Get Shorty”

Clip of Lindo in “Gone in 60 Seconds”

Fresno State Africana Studies program

Dr. T Hasan Johnson

Clip of Lindo from “Up”