In an attempt to stand out in the entertainment industry, Adkins worked under the professional name Sinbad, which he chose out of admiration for
Sinbad the Sailor. and made it to the finals before losing to
John Kassir. He soon was cast on
The Redd Foxx Show, a short-lived sitcom, playing Byron Lightfoot.
A Different World In 1987, Sinbad landed a role in
A Different World, a spin-off of
The Cosby Show built around
Lisa Bonet's character Denise Huxtable. Previously, Sinbad appeared in a one-off role on
The Cosby Show as car salesman Davis Sarrette. While Bonet only stayed with the program for a season, Sinbad stayed with the cast from 1988 until 1991 as
Coach Walter Oakes. Walter began to fall in love with a girl named Jaleesa Vinson, played by
Dawnn Lewis. They dated, and eventually became engaged but decided to cancel the wedding due to differing outlooks on life.
The Sinbad Show By the early 1990s, his popularity had grown enough for
Fox to greenlight
The Sinbad Show, which premiered September 16, 1993. In it, Sinbad played 35-year-old David Bryan, a bachelor who decides to become a
foster parent to two children after becoming emotionally attached to them. Around that time, Sinbad had received joint custody of his two children: Royce, age 4; and Paige, age 7, and told the press that these experiences informed him of single parenting.
Films and other projects students in September 2004 In 1990, Sinbad did his first stand-up comedy special for
HBO called
Sinbad: Brain Damaged. The special was recorded at
Morehouse College in
Atlanta, Georgia. In 1993, Sinbad did his next stand up special in New York City's
Paramount Theater at Madison Square Garden called
Sinbad: Afros and Bellbottoms for which he won a
1995 Image Award. He was brought back in 1996 for
Sinbad: Son of a Preacher Man, recorded at the
Paramount Theatre in
Denver, Colorado, and again in 1997 for ''Sinbad: Nothin' but the Funk''. All of these shows have been released on VHS and DVD. Sinbad again won an
NAACP Image Award in 1998 for his role in ''Sinbad's Summer Jam III: '70s Soul Music Festival''. By 1995, Sinbad created a company called "David & Goliath Productions", that was located in
Studio City. During the 1990s, Sinbad guest starred on an episode of Nickelodeon's
All That. In one sketch, he played the father of recurring character Ishboo, dubbed "Sinboo". He also made a
cameo appearance in the comedy movie
Good Burger, starring
Kenan & Kel, as "Mr. Wheat", a short-tempered teacher. His character was modeled after Gough Wheat, a past teacher of the movie's producer,
Dan Schneider, at White Station High School in
Memphis, Tennessee. He and
Phil Hartman co-starred in the comedy film
Houseguest, where he plays Kevin Franklin, a
Pittsburgh resident who owes $50,000 to the mob. Hartman, as Gary Young, comments to his children that they are waiting to pick up his old college friend, who is black and he has not seen for twenty years. Taking who they think to be a well-known dentist home, Young's family is stabilized by Franklin's own unstable nature. Released January 6, 1995, the film grossed $26 million in North America. Sinbad's film roles also include
First Kid, which he starred in, and
Jingle All the Way (1996) opposite
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Rita Wilson and the late Phil Hartman. For
Jingle All the Way, Sinbad won a
Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Favorite Supporting Actor – Family"; it was also his third and final collaboration with Hartman following the latter's death in May 1998. In March 1996, Sinbad joined First Lady
Hillary Clinton and musician
Sheryl Crow, in a
USO tour in
Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
NAACP Image Awards recognized his role in
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child (1996), nominating him in the "Outstanding Performance in an Animated/Live-Action/Dramatic Youth or Children's Series/Special" category. He lent his voice to Riley, an animal character, in
Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996), and later voiced the horse "Hollywood Shuffle" in
Ready to Run. In 1997, Sinbad released ''Sinbad's Guide to Life: Because I Know Everything'', a book of comedic short essays. It was co written with
David Ritz. In August 1997,
Vibe magazine started its own syndicated late night talk show, which aired on
UPN, hosted by actor
Chris Spencer. Spencer was fired in October, and replaced by Sinbad; the series lasted until the summer of 1998. At that same time, Sinbad performed his HBO comedy special "Nothin' But the Funk" in
Aruba's
Guillermo P. Trinidad Memorial Stadium. In 1998 and 1999, Sinbad reunited with
Bill Cosby and
Carsey-Werner Productions, and appeared in three episodes of
Cosby. In February 1999, he was featured in an
infomercial for
Tae Bo, where he stated that he was successfully using the Tae Bo system to become an action star. In 2002, he appeared in three episodes of the Showtime series
Resurrection Blvd. In 2004, he was named the No. 78
Greatest Stand Up Comic of All Time on "Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time". In 2006,
Maxim magazine ranked Sinbad as the "Worst Comic of All Time." In February 2007, actor
Mark Curry credited Sinbad and Bill Cosby for helping convince him not to commit suicide. Sinbad was responsible for discovering R&B trio
702, convincing their parents to let him take them to a music convention/competition under the name "Sweeta than Suga"; the group eventually being heard by music producer
Michael Bivins. Sinbad also made a cameo appearance on the television show ''
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'' as himself in a rehab center in the episode "Dennis Reynolds: An Erotic Life", which originally aired October 23, 2008. His cameo was met with positive acclaim from fans of both him and the series. Sinbad was the host of
Thou Shalt Laugh 3. The DVD was released on November 11, 2008. He performed his
Comedy Central television special
Where U Been? at
Club Nokia, which was later released on DVD to even greater success. On March 14, 2010, he debuted on the
Celebrity Apprentice and was fired on the second episode (March 21, 2010) after losing in the Kodak challenge as project manager, placing 13th. Sinbad starred in a reality show on
WE tv called ''Sinbad: It's Just Family'' that aired on Tuesdays at 10:00 p.m.; the show was canceled in 2011. In 2013, Sinbad voiced Roper in the animated film
Planes. The same year he had a guest role on the adult animated series
American Dad!, voicing an animated version of himself in the episode "
Lost in Space", then returning for the 2014 episode "
The Longest Distance Relationship", and again in 2015's "Holy Shit, Jeff's Back!" In April 2015, Sinbad appeared in a USO show at Bagram and Kandahar Air Bases in
Afghanistan. In 2017, he appeared on two episodes of
Disney Junior's
The Lion Guard, as the voice of Uroho the baboon. The same year, he appeared in a
CollegeHumor April Fool's video consisting of newly created footage supposedly taken from a 1990s
genie movie called
Shazaam which never existed. The comedy drew from
an Internet rumor confusing
Shazaam with the real genie film titled
Kazaam (1996), starring
Shaquille O'Neal. The
false memories of
Shazaam have been explained as a
confabulation of memories of the comedian wearing a genie-like costume during a TV presentation of
Sinbad the Sailor movies in 1994. In addition, in the 1960s,
Hanna-Barbera had an animated series about a genie called
Shazzan. In 2018 to 2019 he starred on
Fox show
Rel.
Apple Sinbad has a long history of using and promoting Apple products, working with Apple and appearing at Apple events. Examples include numerous appearances at
Macworld shows. On January 25, 2011, he was the celebrity speaker of
MacWorld Expo 2011.
Music Sinbad also plays percussion and drums which he most often displays after every show appearance. He has played with numerous artists and musicians under the moniker of "Memphis Red"; such as Dawnn Lewis and
Adult-Urban instrumentalist (saxophonist) Journell Henry "p/k/a. J. Henry". ==Personal life==