Tunde Adebimpe

A filmmaker and painter turned musician and actor, Tunde Adebimpe proved the widespread suspicion that very few forms of creative expression were out of boundaries for him. Adebimpe jump-started his career as a student at New York University's prestigious and exclusive Tisch Film School; in that venue, he developed a startling facility for stop motion animation that helped him land a job working on MTV's violent cult claymation series Celebrity Death Match, after graduation. Adebimpe also honed his facilities as a painter on the side and shot a series of experimental films and videos, hitting something of a creative peak with his creation of the music video for the garage punk band The Yeah Yeah Yeahs' song "Pin" - which depicts a female doll-like character being skewered by mechanical hands with safety pins, romantically cavorting with a giant insect, and - ultimately - morphing into a butterfly. Adebimpe then broke out as a musician on his own, headlining the experimental rock ensemble TV on the Radio opposite fellow visual artist David Andrew Sitek. In terms of acting, Adebimpe signed for one of his premier roles by headlining the light, offbeat romantic seriocomedy Jump Tomorrow (2001) - as a Nigerian expatriate who forsakes his arranged bride for a gorgeous Latina. Additional projects included the quirky 2003 sci-fi comedy The First Three Lives of Stuart Hornsley (as a Brooklynite scientist who hurtles himself into the past, via a time machine, to try to "correct" mistakes in a prior romance), and the Jonathan Demme-directed, Anne Hathaway-headlined ensemble comedy Rachel Getting Married (2008).

~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide