Haywood Nelson has been a member of the entertainment community for over forty years. Born in New York, he began his career at the age of six with numerous principal on-camera and voice-over national commercials, including Lavoris,
Campbell's Soup,
Libby's,
Polaroid,
Hot Wheels,
Rock'em Sock'em Robots,
Johnny Lightning,
Aurora AFX,
Kodak,
Duncan Hines, Milk,
Burger King, and
Dean Witter. Nelson appeared as a co-star in several feature films, including
If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band,
Mixed Company,
This Property Is Condemned, and a featuring role in
Evilspeak. Haywood also spent a two-year run on Broadway in
Thieves. Nelson guest starred on
Kojak in the episode "The Godson" as Bobby Moore. At the age of 14, he went on to guest star in the television series
Sanford and Son as the grandson of Whitman Mayo's
Grady then acting in the series of the same name,
Grady in 1975. The next year, in 1976, at the age of 16, Haywood soon landed the role of "Dwayne" in the television series "Cooley High," which became the ABC hit series ''
What's Happening!! for TOY Productions. As a "teenage heartthrob" on a popular television series, Nelson was one of the first Black teen idols. After three seasons, Nelson went on to a short run on the television series The White Shadow for MTM Enterprises. Haywood had his studies in Architectural Design and Electronics Engineering interrupted when the cast of What's Happening!!
was re-united for three seasons of syndication in the series continuation What's Happening Now!!'' for
Columbia Pictures Television where he also served as Technical Director. Haywood appeared in an urban dramatic Broadway production at New York's Lincoln Center Alice Tully Hall. He appeared as himself in the Paramount film
Dickie Roberts and on
The Parkers. He is a devout
Scientologist. ==Filmography==