Damon Evans

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Damon Evans born November 24 1949 is an American actor born in Baltimore Maryland best known as the second of two actors who portrayed Lionel Jefferson on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons He also portrayed the young Alex Haley ages 1725 in the ABC television miniseries Roots The Next Generations Evans attended the Interlochen Academy on a Readers Digest Scholarship After graduation he attended the Boston Conservatory of Music While in Boston he appeared in productions of Two If by Sea Hair and The Corner at the Theatre Company of Boston His OffBroadway credits include performances in A Day in the Life of Just About Everyone Bury the Dead for the Urban Arts Corp and Love Me Love My Children He made his Broadway debut in The Me Nobody Knows Other Broadway credits include Via Galactica and Lost in the Stars He also toured as Judas and Jesus Christ in the authorized concert version of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar He appeared in the Tony Obie and Drama Desk Awardwinning Broadway musical Dont Bother Me I Cant Cope In the late 1980s Evans appeared in Trevor Nunns enormously successful critically acclaimed Glyndebourne Festival production of the George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess and again in the 1993 television adaptation of that production In addition to Evans and other noted performers this British production of Gershwins American folk opera featured the Glyndebourne Chorus and the London Philharmonic both conducted by Sir Simon Rattle Evans played Sportin Life a role originated by John W Bubbles and originally written for famed 1920s and 1930s jazz bandleader and singer Cab Calloway CLR