Al White is among that rare breed of actors, who are equally adept in dramatic and comedic roles – be it on stage, screen, or television. Al’s body of work began on the local stages of San Francisco’s community theatres. His powerful performance in the title role of the prison drama The Ballad of Dangerous George lead William Ball, Artistic Director and founder of the renowned American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), to invite him to join the Company. While at A.C.T., he appeared in over seventeen productions. Among them were King Richard III, Othello, The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Christmas Carol, and The Taming of the Shrew. He also originated the role of the Military Officer in their premiere production of This Is (An Entertainment) by legendary playwright Tennessee Williams. For the Bicentennial Cultural Exchange with the Soviet Union, he toured Moscow, Leningrad, and Riga with A.C.T., performing in the productions of The Matchmaker and Desire Under the Elms.

Al then made the move to Hollywood where he went on to appear in over eighty film and television productions. Among his recent television credits are Switched at Birth, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, and Bones. On the big screen, Al is best known for his hilarious portrayal of one the Second Jive Dude in the mega hit comedy Airplane! . He and Norman Alexander Gibbs created their own dialogue in this classic film. Al also penned Barbara Billingsley’s jive dialogue and instructed her in its proper elocution.

Some of his other film credits include Back to the Future II, Critical Condition, Airplane II: The Sequel, Russkies, Leprechaun 2, Black Moon Rising and Red Scorpion.Al’s rich baritone voice can be heard among the cast of KCRW’s radio production of Walter Mosley’s novel Black Betty, directed by Ted Lange. He also lent his voice to PBS’s For the Love of Liberty: The Story of America’s Black Patriots, introduced by Former Secretary of State, General Colin Powell and hosted by Halle Berry.

Al has continued to hone his craft on the stage. As part of the original cast of Two Trains Running by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson, he originated the role of Memphis from its inception at Yale University through its pre-Broadway tour and Broadway run. His stellar performance garnered him the prestigious Theatre World Award for Outstanding New Talent on Broadway. His other Wilson plays include Gem of the Ocean for which he received an Ovation Award and an NAACP Theatre Award, both for Ensemble Performance. Al’s standout performance in King Hedley II earned him a Barrymore Award Nomination for Excellence in Theatre as Best Supporting Actor in a Play. He also received outstanding notices for his appearance in Wilson’s The Piano Lesson and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Al also drew rave reviews for his performance as Joe Louis’s no-nonsense trainer and mentor Jack Blackburn in In this Corner, playwright Steve Drukman’s lively and poetic play about the life and times of legendary heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis.

Al is also an accomplished writer. The seeds of his writing skills began with his dramatic and humorous poetry that capture his unique take on society that will be illustrated in his upcoming book of poetry. Though raised in San Francisco, this native of Houston, Texas has a love of Westerns. He volunteered as a “Wrangler” with the Inner City Slickers, an organization dedicated to enhancing self-esteem, and self-confidence among inner-city kids in an old west atmosphere where they also learned to "ride n’ rope”.