Actor and comedian Carl Anthony Payne II, best known for his role as “Cockroach” Bradley on the 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show, is now 53 years old. Most people don’t know that he is also a proud graduate of Howard University, an HBCU in Washington, DC.

Payne, who also starred as Cole Brown in the 1990s TV sitcom Martin, was born in Clinton, South Carolina but grew up in New York City. He studied acting at the First All Children’s Theater, an off-Broadway repertory theatre company, and he graduated from the infamous Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. He also played the roles of Carl on Rock Me Baby and Curtis on the sitcom George Lopez which aired in the early 2000s. In the 2010s, LeToya Luckett and Rockmond Dunbar costarred with him in the television series For Richer or For Poorer, and he also played an FBI agent who later joined the FCC in a field agent role on The Rickey Smiley Show. Most recently, he can also be seen as Myles Wilson on Tyler Perry’s Young Dylan which airs on Nickelodeon.

In his younger days, Payne made appearances in various music videos including the video for Bobby Brown’s “Girl Next Door” in 1987 and Mint Condition’s “Walk On” in 2011.

Nowadays, he is a stand-up comic that is often on tour across the country, and he even produces and directs music videos, web series, and short films.