Bill Cosby is an American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and musician. He is best known for his groundbreaking sitcom, The Cosby Show, which was critically acclaimed and widely influential in the 1980s.
Bill Cosby was born on July 12, 1937, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the eldest of four sons born to Anna Pearl and William Henry Cosby Sr. Raised in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Cosby experienced a challenging childhood. His father served in the U.S. Navy and, due to his absence and struggles with alcohol, young Cosby often had to take on a caregiving role at home. His mother worked as a domestic worker to support the family, and they eventually moved into the Richard Allen Homes, a public housing project.
At the age of eight, Cosby suffered a personal tragedy when his younger brother James passed away. Despite financial hardship, his mother placed a high value on education and instilled in her children a love for learning by reading to them, including texts such as the Bible and works by Mark Twain.
Cosby attended Mary Channing Wister Public School in Philadelphia, where he excelled in athletics, becoming captain of both the baseball and track and field teams. In 1956, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served as a hospital corpsman at several naval facilities, including Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, Naval Station Argentia in Newfoundland, Canada, and the National Naval Medical Center in Maryland.
After his military service, Cosby earned a track and field scholarship to Temple University in 1961, where he also played football. While attending college, he worked as a bartender in a Philadelphia club and discovered his talent for comedy by entertaining customers.
Cosby began his career performing stand-up comedy in clubs across Philadelphia and New York City. His big break came in 1965 with a role on the television series I Spy, becoming the first Black actor to star in a drama series. He went on to create and voice characters in the animated series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.
His most iconic role came with The Cosby Show, which aired from 1984 to 1992. The show was praised for its positive portrayal of an upper-middle-class African American family and had a profound influence on American television. Cosby’s character, Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, became one of the most beloved TV fathers of the era. Known for his mentorship both on and off the screen, Cosby contributed to the careers of many of his young co-stars, including Lisa Bonet, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and Keshia Knight Pulliam.
Bill Cosby married Camille Hanks on January 25, 1964. Together, they had five children—four daughters and one son. The couple maintained a long-term marriage that endured through the highs and lows of Cosby’s career and later controversies.
In 2018, Cosby was convicted on three counts of aggravated indecent assault for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand at his home in 2004. The conviction followed numerous public allegations from multiple women spanning decades. He was sentenced to three to ten years in a Pennsylvania state prison. In a 2019 interview from prison, Cosby stated that he would not express remorse and was prepared to serve his full sentence to maintain his innocence.
However, in June 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction on due process grounds, ruling that Cosby’s rights had been violated when he was charged based on previously agreed non-prosecution terms. This decision led to his release from prison after serving nearly three years.
| Birth Date: | 12 Jul, 1937 |
| Age: | 82 yrs |
| Citizenship: | United States of America |
| Birth Place: | Philadelphia |
| Education: | University of Massachusetts Amherst Temple University |
| Gender: | Male |
| Spouse: | Camille Cosby [M. 1964] |
| Net Worth 2021: | 400 million |
