Gary Coleman Biography

Gary Coleman was only 10 when he became a child star on the TV sitcom Diff’rent Strokes.

He played Arnold Jackson, a cute and mischievous black child adopted by a wealthy white Manhattan family. The show ran from 1978-1986; Coleman’s exasperated catch phrase, “What you talkin’ about, Willis?” became a long-lasting pop culture hit.

Diff’rent Strokes marked the high point of Coleman’s career; movies like On the Right Track (1981) and Jimmy the Kid (1983) failed to make him a star on the big screen. (Coleman never grew taller than 4’8″ due to a congenital kidney condition.) As he grew older, Coleman became something of a professional celebrity, capitalizing on his unusual size and fame as a former child star who never quite grew up. He declared bankruptcy in 1999, at times working as a security guard to make ends meet.

Coleman made a symbolic run for governor of California in 2003, entering a statewide recall race which eventually was won by another actor, Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Coleman “placed eighth in a field of 135 candidates, receiving 14,242 votes,” according to The Guardian.)

Gary Coleman continued to appear in the tabloids off and on, and died at the age of 42 after what was described as an intracranial hemorrhage. Coleman’s other films include Fox Hunt (1996, with George Lazenby, of all people), the blaxploitation spoof Shafted (1999), and Church Ball (2006).