July 13, 2025
According to Ana Martinez, the producer of the Walk of Fame, Turman was chosen for the honor due to the mark he has left on the industry
Glynn Turman, who began his acting journey at just 12 years old performing alongside Sidney Poitier in the original Broadway production of Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun,” now has his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, fittingly placed beside that of his longtime mentor.
According to Black Press USA, while Glynn Turman is widely recognized for his role on “A Different World”–the sitcom that brought the fictional HBCU Hillman College to life–he’s also a multifaceted talent with credits as a director, producer, writer, and composer.
Turman is also a prominent figure in the 2022 Netflix documentary “Is That Black Enough For You?,” which was written and directed by Elvis Mitchell. Per the film’s entry on IMDB, although the film focuses on 1970s cinema, it is invested in tracking the history of Black films across several decades.
Given Turman’s lengthy career in Hollywood, it is fitting that he would be tapped to discuss Black films. Turman’s roles in film stretch from 1975’s “Cooley High” to Tyler Perry’s recently released and current Netflix hit, “Straw,” giving Turman a remarkable five-decade career in front of the camera.
Per a press release from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, on July 10, Turman’s star became number 2,816 to be dedicated along Hollywood Boulevard.
According to Ana Martinez, the producer of the Walk of Fame, Turman was chosen for the honor due to the mark he has left on the industry.
“The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is honored to welcome Glynn Turman with this well-deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,” Martinez said. “His exceptional talents and dedication to the craft of acting have left an indelible mark on the industry, and we are proud to immortalize his legacy on this iconic boulevard. Glynn’s star will be next to his friend Sidney Poitier’s star, whom he performed with on Broadway in 1959.”
A seasoned cowboy and accomplished equestrian, Turman began competing in rodeo events about 35 years ago. In 1999, he earned national recognition by placing in the top five at the U.S. Team Roping Champion Finals in Oklahoma City.
In 2011, Turman was inducted in Fort Worth, Texas’ Western Heritage Multicultural Museum’s Hall of Fame and he also manages a free, non-profit, western-themed summer camp program with his wife, Jo-An, “Camp Gid D Up,” which was created to help inner city and at-risk youth in 1992.
The guest speakers at the ceremony, actor Don Cheadle and filmmaker Ava DuVernay, issued remarks about their experiences with Turman. While DuVernay was more serious, Cheadle opted to share a humorous reflection on his experience working with Turman.
Although lighthearted, Cheadle was reverent of Turman in his comments, joking that despite the common advice to never meet your heroes, Turman stands, to him, as the exception to that trope.
“Be mindful, never meet your heroes — unless, of course, somehow, some way, they turn out to be Mr. Glynn Turman,” Cheadle told the audience.
DuVernay told the crowd that she refers to him as “Mr. Turman” and not by his first name as a sign of that respect and admiration.
“I don’t call him Glynn. I call him Mr. Turman because I just can’t,” DuVernay said during her remarks. “Because there are artists and then there are architects.”
She continued, “Creative human beings who don’t only perform. But who build, who shape, who carve paths, who create structures that others walk through and dwell in long after the curtain is lowered and the cameras stop rolling. On this gorgeous summertime day we gather to celebrate such an architect, a master builder of culture, a man whose name alone conjures not only memories of performances, but entire eras of the nation’s history, its beauty, its bruises, its pain, its poetry. Glynn Turman is an American institution.”
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