Cedric's stage name came about when he felt that his real name, Cedric Kyles, sounded too formal. Inspired by an entertainer named Kodak, he came up with the name "Cheerio", but received a cease and desist letter from
General Mills over their cereal
Cheerios. He settled on his stage name when someone introduced him as "an entertainer, Cedric the entertainer" and the name stuck. After appearing on ''
It's Showtime at the Apollo'' in 1992, Cedric hosted
BET's
ComicView during the 1993–1994 season, and
Def Comedy Jam in 1995. He then moved into acting, auditioning for and receiving his first-ever role as The Cowardly Lion in the 1995
Apollo Theater Revival of
The Wiz. He expanded his career by playing
Steve Harvey's friend Cedric Jackie Robinson on
The Steve Harvey Show. While his acting career grew, Cedric continued to perform
stand-up comedy and traveled the country as one of the
Kings of Comedy headliners with Steve Harvey,
D. L. Hughley and
Bernie Mac. The act was later made into a
Spike Lee film,
The Original Kings of Comedy (2000). From 2002-2003, Cedric had his own sketch comedy show,
Cedric the Entertainer Presents, but after being renewed for a second season, it was canceled by
Fox before the season began. He took time to write a book,
Grown-A$$ Man. He appeared in the 2003 video game
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004. He recorded comedic interludes on two
Nelly albums,
Country Grammar (2000) and
Nellyville (2002) as well as on
Jay-Z's
The Black Album (2003). A more recent
HBO Comedy Special was
Cedric The Entertainer: Taking You Higher in 2006. Cedric began appearing in films, including
Ride (1998), ''
Big Momma's House (2000), Barbershop (2002), and its sequels Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016), Serving Sara (2002), Intolerable Cruelty (2003), Johnson Family Vacation (2004), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Man of the House (2005) and Be Cool'' (2005). He was the subject of controversy when his
Barbershop character made unpopular remarks about
Martin Luther King Jr. and
Rosa Parks. These jokes (about the pastor's promiscuity with women, and Parks just being tired to get to the back of the bus) were spoken in character, as part of the script. Rev.
Jesse Jackson publicly asked for those jokes to be edited out of the movie on the DVD and VHS releases. Cedric also voiced the character of Bobby Proud in the series
The Proud Family (2001-2005), and starting in 2022, its revival series
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, and characters in several films including Zoo Bear #1 in
Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Carl in
Ice Age (2002). In
Madagascar (2005), and its sequels
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008) and ''
Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012), he voiced Maurice, the aye aye. He appeared in the film Charlotte's Web (2006) as the voice of Golly the gander. He also voiced Leadbottom, a biplane in the films Planes (2013), and its sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue'' (2014). In October 2005, Cedric joined the
Champ Car auto racing series as a part owner. Cedric appeared as the lead comedian at the 2005
White House Correspondents Dinner, but jokingly remarked that he was unprepared because he thought that he would follow a humorous speech by President
George W. Bush. He instead followed First Lady
Laura Bush, who called him "hilarious" and "probably the funniest person" she had ever met. In the 2007 comedy film
Code Name: The Cleaner, Cedric played Jake, a janitor with amnesia who may be a secret undercover government agent involved in an illegal arms conspiracy. He starred in the 2008 films
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins and
Street Kings. Cedric has won many awards, beginning with $500 in the Johnny Walker National Comedy Contest in 1990 and coming in first in the Miller Genuine Draft Comedy Contest in 1993.
BET named him
Richard Pryor Comic of the Year. He has also won four
NAACP Awards. He was inducted to the
St. Louis Walk of Fame on June 7, 2008. His star is at 6166 Delmar. He was the special guest host for
WWE Raw on September 21, 2009, in Little Rock, Arkansas. During the show, he participated in a wrestling match, defeating
Chavo Guerrero Jr. by
pinfall. The match also featured
Santino Marella as a
guest referee. Cedric also got help from an unknown wrestler dubbed The Sledge Hammer (played by Imani Lee) and
Hornswoggle. In March 2010, Cedric made his directorial debut with
Dance Fu, produced and funded independently by his company Bird and a Bear Entertainment with producer Eric C. Rhone. It starred comedian
Kel Mitchell. Cedric made a cameo appearance in the film as a homicide detective. It was released straight to DVD on October 4, 2011. Cedric made his Broadway debut in the 2008 revival of
David Mamet's play
American Buffalo. In a June 21, 2011, interview, Cedric said his latest reality game show, ''
It's Worth What?, would air on NBC on July 12, 2011, but the start date was delayed by one week to July 19. From 2012-2016, he played the main character in the TV Land original series The Soul Man'', featuring
Niecy Nash. The series ran for five seasons. Cedric was the host of the American TV game show
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, beginning with its 12th season in national syndication, which premiered on September 2, 2013. On April 30, 2014, Cedric announced that he was leaving the game show after the 2013–14 season to focus on other projects.
Terry Crews took over as host on September 8, 2014. In 2016, Cedric starred as Lou Dunne in the comedy film
Why Him?. Starting in 2018, he played the character of Calvin Butler in the television
sitcom The Neighborhood. He was the official commentator for the
Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson boxing match in 2024. In 2025, Cedric the Entertainer competed on
season thirteen of
The Masked Singer as "Honey Pot" where the bees on the mask part of his costume sported his trademark fedoras. He was the first of Group A to be eliminated in the season premiere. It was announced that Cedric will star in the
Broadway revival of ''
Joe Turner's Come and Gone'' with previews starting on March 30, 2026 and opening night on April 25, 2026. The play will be directed by
Debbie Allen and co-star
Taraji P. Henson. ==Personal life==