Career and Life
Born: November 23, 2007
Born: November 23, 2007
Place of Birth: Downey, CA
Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius
Lonnie Chavis, Jr. is an American actor and activist. He is known for playing young Randall Pearson on NBC's drama, This Is Us.
Chavis has been nominated for several awards and shared the win for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series with his This Is Us castmates. In 2017, he starred in Showtime's short-lived sitcom White Famous.
In 2016, Chavis joined the cast of This Is Us as a young version of Sterling K. Brown's Randall Pearson.
In early 2017, Chavis appeared as a guest star in an episode of his favorite show, the Nickelodeon sitcom, The Thundermans.
Later that year, Chavis appeared in The CW's Supergirl episode. In June 2017, Chavis was promoted to series regular in season 2 of This Is Us. Chavis would star opposite Jay Pharoah in the comedy White Famous, executive produced by Jamie Foxx. Chavis revealed that the series was his first experience with improvisation.
Chavis made his feature film debut in Disney's Magic, Campwhich starred Adam DeVine. The 2018 theatrical release was canceled and later streamed on Disney+. He also appeared in Kevin Hart's Guide to Black History, which premiered on Netflix in 2019.
In addition, Chavis appeared in the short film Skin by Guy Nattiv. The film won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 91st Academy Awards.
In 2018, Chavis was cast opposite Jason Wiles in Sunny Daze, which Wiles wrote and directed. In 2019, Chavis was cast opposite Academy Award nominee David Oyelowo in Oyelowo's film directorial debut, The Water Man. With Chavis as the lead, the film starred Rosario Dawson, with Oprah Winfrey attached to executive produce. The film marked Chavis's feature film debut, and he credited Oyelowo with making him a better actor.
In June 2018, Chavis posted a video to Instagram in response to online bullying about the gap in his teeth. The video garnered over 600,000 views, with friends and celebrities reposting it using Chavis's hashtag #FixYourHeart. In October 2018, Chavis partnered with Ad Council on an anti-bullying campaign.
In 2020, Chavis starred in his first feature film, The Water Man. That same year, he also starred in The Boy Behind the Door, a thriller from the writing-directing team of David Charbonier and Justin Powell.
In the wake of the Murder of George Floyd and the subsequent protests, Chavis, aged 12, wrote a letter to his mother about his experiences with racism in the U.S. as he struggled to verbally express his feelings. The letter was later published by People on June 17, 2020.