Ving Rhames's Real Name: Ving Rhames

Quick answer: The actor is known professionally as Ving Rhames. TV Guide lists the birth name Irving Rameses Rhames and the birthplace as New York City. The Internet Broadway Database lists the birth name Irving Rhames and dates the birth to May 12, 1959, in New York. Encyclopedia.com includes both a "born 1961" line and a later biographical box dating the birth to May 12, 1959, and giving the name Irving Rhames.

Real name and early life

Independent publishers identify him under the professional name Ving Rhames. TV Guide lists the birth name as Irving Rameses Rhames and the birthplace as New York City, New York, says he studied at the High School of Performing Arts and at the State University of New York, Purchase, earned a degree in fine arts from Juilliard in 1983, and was given the nickname Ving by his former college roommate Stanley Tucci. The Internet Broadway Database independently lists the birth name as Irving Rhames and dates the birth to May 12, 1959, in New York, New York. Encyclopedia.com independently records that he was raised on 126th Street in Harlem, earned a Juilliard B.F.A. in 1983, and includes both a "Born 1961, in New York, NY" line and a later box that gives the name Irving Rhames and the date May 12, 1959, in New York, NY.

Career highlights

Encyclopedia.com says he appeared on Broadway in The Boys of Winter in 1985, made an early film appearance in Go Tell It on the Mountain, later appeared as Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction (1994), and later appeared in Mission: Impossible (1996), with later credits including Mission: Impossible II (2000) and Lilo & Stitch (2002). The Internet Broadway Database independently records The Boys of Winter, from December 1 to 8, 1985, in the role of Doc. TV Guide independently records a 1998 Golden Globe for best actor in a miniseries or motion picture made for television. Encyclopedia.com independently records a 1998 Golden Globe for best actor in a miniseries, and says he handed the award to Jack Lemmon.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Ving Rhames, Irving Rhames, or Irving Rameses Rhames are looking for the same actor, including the later film work most often associated with his name. This page uses the public professional name. Search traffic often uses the professional name Ving Rhames.