
Erika Nicole Tureaud-Clark(born on December 24, 1979) is a chicago native who studied at the famed Improv Olympic before deciding to venture out into stand-up Erika has performed at Laugh Factory, Comedy Store, the Improv, and TBS Just For Laughs Festival.
Laurence Tureaud (born May 21, 1952), known professionally as Mr. T is an actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III. He is also known for his distinctive hairstyle inspired by Mandinka warriors in West Africa, his copious gold jewelry, his tough-guy persona, and his catchphrase. "I pity the fool!"first uttered as Clubber Lang in Rocky III, then turned into a trademark used in slogans or titles, like the reality show I Pity the Fool in 2006.
Tureaud was born in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest son in a family with twelve children. He and his four sisters and seven brothers grew up in a three-room apartment in the Robert Taylor Homes. His father, Nathaniel Tureaud, was a minister. After his father left when he was five, he shortened his name to Lawrence Tero. In 1970, he legally changed his last name to T. His new name, Mr. T was based upon his childhood impressions regarding the lack of respect from white people for his family:
"I think about my father being called "boy", my uncle being called "boy", my brother, coming back from Vietnam and being called "boy". So I questioned myself: "What does a black man have to do before he's given respect as a man?" So when I was 18 years old, when I was old enough to fight and die for my country, old enough to drink, old enough to vote, I said I was old enough to be called a man. I self-ordained myself, Mr. T, so the first word out of everybody's mouth is "Mr.T"