Affion Crockett is known as a comedic movie star, but in the early stages his career, he was a “Soul Train” dancer for three years.
Every celebrity had a life before they became household names, and Affion Crockett is taking fans on a stroll down memory lane. The comedic actor is known for his roles in Soul Men, For the Love Money, A Haunted House (1-3), Baggage Claim, Man & Devin go to High School, Charlie’s Angel’s, and Dance Flick, but not many people know that early on in his career, Affion Crockett was bustin’ a move on Soul Train as a regular dancer from 2000 to 2003.
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The comedian revisited his dancer days in a segment for BET and talked about moving from his home state North Carolina to Los Angeles back in 1998. He learned how to dance from watching films like Breakin’ and Beat Street, as well as keeping himself glued to music videos that came out in the 1980s. He idolized Michael Jackson, so Affion went on to study ballet, jazz, and even martial arts, fusing everything together to come up with his moves.
“Honestly, if I was old enough, I would have wanted to be on Soul Train back in the ’70s,” Affion Crockett said. “But by the time I got to L.A., I was already a comedian. I wanted to be on Soul Train because it was TV, it was something to do, it was historic. I ended up getting on there and it was fun!” He approached production and let them know that he was a comedian coming from Def Comedy Jam and had no aspirations being a pressional dancer, so Affion told them he wanted to “be a character.” So, he decided not to take things too seriously and became this animated dancer to stand out.
Watch his clip below as he also recalls meeting Fabolous and Lil Mo when the pair artists performed “Superwoman.”