Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, television/radio talk show host and a former White House adviser for President Barack Obama. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, and he makes regular guest appearances cable news television. In 2011, he was named the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation, a nightly talk show. In 2015, the program was shifted to Sunday mornings. Sharpton's supporters praise "his ability and willingness to defy the power structure that is seen as the cause of their suffering" and consider him "a man who is willing to tell it like it is". Former Mayor of New York City Ed Koch, a one-time foe, said that Sharpton deserves the respect he enjoys among black Americans: "He is willing to go to jail for them, and he is there when they need him." President Barack Obama said that Sharpton is "the voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden." A 2013 Zogby Analytics poll found that one quarter of African Americans said that Sharpton speaks for them. His critics describe him as "a political radical who is to blame, in part, for the deterioration of race relations". Sociologist Orlando Patterson has referred to him as a racial arsonist, while liberal columnist Derrick Z. Jackson has called him the black equivalent of Richard Nixon and Pat Buchanan. Sharpton sees much of the criticism as a sign of his effectiveness. "In many ways, what they consider criticism is complimenting my job," he said. "An activist's job is to make public civil rights issues until there can be a climate for change." (Wikipedia)

Filmography

• Star — Rev. Al Sharpton
• Empire — Rev. Al Sharpton
• 2011On the Shoulders of Giants
• Murder in Black & White
• 2005The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till
• Boston Legal — Reverend Al Sharpton
• I Hate My Job
• Rescue Me
• Anderson Cooper 360°
• 2003James Brown: Soul Survivor
• 2002Mr. Deeds — The Rhyme Master
• My Wife and Kids
• Girlfriends — Al Sharpton
• 2000Let's Talk
• 1999Cold Feet — The Reverend
• 1992Malcolm X — Speaker #2

Appearances as themselves (92)

• 2024"Get the Jew": The Crown Heights Riot Revisited (WSJ Opinion Documentary) — Self
• 2024Atrocity Inc. — Self - Civil Rights Activist
• 2024Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid — Self
• James Brown: Say It Loud — Self
• Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World — Self
• 2023South to Black Power — Self
• 2023When Truth Isn't Truth: The Rudy Giuliani Story — Self
• 2022Behind the Shield: The Power and Politics of the NFL — Self (archive footage)
• JANET JACKSON. — Self
• 2022Loudmouth — Self
• 2022Rudy! A Documusical — Self
• Sherri — Self - Guest
• 2022The Greatest Lie Ever Sold: George Floyd and the Rise of BLM — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali — Self
• Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union — Self
• 2021Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) — Self - Minister & Activist
• 2021The First Wave — Self (archive footage)
• 2021Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage — Self
• 2021Woman in Motion — Self
• 2020American Trial: The Eric Garner Story — Self
• By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem — Self
• 2020Saving OurSelves: BET COVID-19 Relief Effort — Self
• The Joy Reid Show — Self
• The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart — Self
• 2020Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn — Self
• 2019The Black Godfather — Self
• 2018Ali & Cavett: The Tale of the Tapes — Self
• Basketball: A Love Story — Self
• Firing Line with Margaret Hoover — Self
• 2018Hope & Fury: MLK, the Movement and the Media — Self
• 2018I Am MLK Jr. — Self
• 2018Martin Luther King by Trevor Mcdonald — Self
• 2018Prince: the Last Year of a Legend — Self - Civil rights activist
• 2018Satan & Adam — Self
• 2018United We Stand: The Ali Summit — self
• 2017Get Me Roger Stone — Self (archive footage)
• 2017Maynard — Self
• Time: The Kalief Browder Story — Self
• 2016A Tale of James Brown — Self
• 2015Brave Spaces: Perspectives on Faith and LGBT Justice — Self - National Action Network
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — Self - Guest
• 201491 Bullets in a Minute — Self
• 2014James Brown - The Man, The Music & The Message — Self
• 2014Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown — Self
• 2013Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie — Self
• 2013Koch — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Steve Harvey — Self
• 2012The Central Park Five — Self (archive footage)
• 2011Beating Justice: The Martin Lee Anderson Story — Self
• 2011Looking for Lenny — Self (archive footage)
• PoliticsNation — Self
• 2011The After Party: The Last Party 3 — Self
• America: The Story of Us — Self
• 2010Michael Jackson: The Inside Story - What Killed the King of Pop? — Self (archive footage)
• 2010One Night in Vegas — Self
• 2010Race — Self
• 2009Abraham Obama — Self
• 2009Good Hair — Self
• 2009If I Die Tonight — Self
• Joy Behar: Say Anything! — Himself
• 2009Madea Goes to Jail — Self
• 2009Moonwalking: The True Story of Michael Jackson - Uncensored — Self
• 2009Shooting Star(s): The Rise of Hip Hop Photographer Johnny Nunez — Self
• Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen — Self - Guest
• 2008Dean and Me: Roadshow of an American Primary — Self
• 2008James Brown - The Night James Brown Saved Boston — Self
• 2008The Black List: Volume One — Self
• 2007The Jena 6 — Self
• 2006Out From Ali's Shadow: The Larry Holmes Story — Self
• When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts — Self
• 2005Pursuit of Equality — Self
• 2005Street Fight — Self
• The Colbert Report — Self
• 2004Celsius 41.11 — Self (archive footage)
• Tanner on Tanner — Self
• Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Self, Self - Guest
• Real Time with Bill Maher — Self
• 2000Bamboozled — Himself
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Himself
• 1999The Subtext of a Yale Education — Self
• The Chris Rock Show — Self
• Fox News Sunday — Self
• MS NOW Reports — Self
• The Daily Show — Self - Guest
• 1995Run For Cover — Himself
• New York Undercover — Self
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien — Self - Guest
• Raw — Self
• 1993The Last Party — Self
• 1990Seven Days in Bensonhurst — Self
• Saturday Night Live — Self - Host, Self - Cameo (uncredited)
• Meet the Press — Self - Panelist