DL Hughley

Born: March 6 1963
Where: Los Angeles, California, USA

The stand-up comedian could be heard as the voice of the gadgetmobile in the hit Inspector Gadget movies.

In the flesh, he also appeared in the comedies Soul Plane, Scary Movie 3 and Chasing Papi.

The son of an airline maintenance worker, he grew up in LA's notorious South Central where he joined the Bloods gang after being expelled from school.

However, he quit the gang lifestyle after his cousin was shot (the killers dumped the body on the doorstep of his mother's house).

He landed a job in sales with the Los Angeles Times and was promoted to circulation manager.

Encouraged by his wife-to-be, he tried his hand at stand-up comedy and after years of club dates was selected as the first host of TV's Comic View.

After making a name on TV, Spike Lee gave him his big break with the 2000 movie The Original Kings of Comedy.

After Inspector Gadget, he appeared in The Brothers with Morris Chestnut, the comedy Chasing Papi and the lacklustre Airplane!style spoof Soul Plane.