The Fast and Furious star has succeeded in all of his chosen career paths. A multi-talented entertainer, Tyrese Gibson has shown his versatility in acting, singing, and writing. With that, he has proven that excellence runs in his genes. Gibson has won a lot of coveted accolades over the years, including 5 Grammy nominations. Given his varied career and the accomplishments thereof, things like his family life and origin have come to pique the interest of many.
Well, Tyrese Gibson was born on the 30th of December 1987 in Watts, Los Angeles, California. He is one of the four children born to Priscilla Murray and Tyrone Gibson. The actor was solely raised by his mother as his estranged father left home when he was young. As you would soon learn, this has not stopped Tyrese in any way from being a family man.
His Music Career Began With a Coca-Cola Commercial
It was in 1994 that Tyrese Gibson began his career in the entertainment industry. He qualified for a Coca-Cola singing commercial competition and eventually bagged an award with his song, Always Coca-Cola. With the commercial, Tyrese gained a lot of exposure that pushed his career forward.
Fast forward to 1998, he signed a record deal with RCA Records and released his first single Nobody Else. It was a good outing for him as the song peaked at the number 35 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. During the same period, he began to host the weekday music video show, MTV Jams.
Later in 1998, Tyrese Gibson released the single Lately, which peaked at the number 56 spot on the Billboard Charts. Sweet Lady, another single, gave him a Grammy Award nomination for R&B Male Vocal Performance and made it to the number 9 spot on the Billboard Hot 100. All of these singles were part of his debut album titled Sweet Lady, which was subsequently certified Platinium by the RIAA.
Tyrese Gibson’s 2nd Studio Album Led to His Acting Career
Gibson’s second album, 2000 Watts, was released in May 2001. It had lesser commercial success, earning only a Gold certification from the RIAA. It includes singles like I Like Them Girls and Just a Baby Boy, which both charted on the Billboard. Just a baby Boy was later used as a soundtrack for the 2001 movie, Baby Boy. A movie that became the platform that introduced Tyrese to mainstream acting.
He played Joseph ‘Jody’ Summers in the coming-of-age hood movie. Before then, he had only made appearances on television shows with Love Song (2000) being his big-screen project. Following a new record deal penned with J Records, Tyrese Gibson released his next studio album entitled I Wana Go There. From the album, the single, How You Gonna Act Like That, was a massive hit and is widely considered as his signature song. It peaked at the number 7 spot on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs Chart.
Following the poor sale of his fourth studio album, Alter Ego, Tyrese took a sabbatical leave from music. He, however, made a comeback in 2011, releasing the album, Open Invitation. It peaked at number 9 on the Billboard chart and gave him his third Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Album. His album Black Rose gained rave reviews as it debuted as the number one position on the Billboard 200 charts with sales of over 77,000 copies in the very first week it was released.
A Look at His Most Popular Works as an Actor
After gaining relevance as an actor for his role in Baby Boy, Tyrese Gibson subsequently appeared in films like 2 Fast 2 Furious, Flight of the Phoenix, Annapolis, Waist Deep, and The Take. You will also find him in Death Race, Legion, Eldorado, Black and Blue, and Black Nativity. So far, he has been a part of no fewer than 25 projects made for the big screen. Most of them like 2005’s Four Brothers, were quite significant. He played Angel Mercer in the action movie directed by John Singleton alongside prominent actors like Garrett Hedlund, Andre Benjamin, and Mark Wahlberg.
Nonetheless, the works he has come to be known for are the Transformers and Fast & Furious film series. While he portrays Sergeant Robert Epps in the former, he plays Roman Pearce in the latter. The first time he played Roman was in 2 Fast 2 Furious. People were excited to see him star alongside his friend the late Paul Walker, who played Brian O’Conner.
Most recently, Tyrese Gibson reprised the role in The Fate of the Furious (2017). Before this, there were Furious 7 (2015), Fast & Furious 6 (2013), and Fast Five (2011). For the Transformers series, the actor first played Epps in 2007’s Transformers and reprised the role in 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Fans expected him to return for 2017’s Transformers: The Last Knight; he would have if it hadn’t conflicted with the schedule for The Fate of the Furious.
The Truth About His Sexuality
Gay rumors began to plague Tyrese Gibson following an allegation by Spanky Hayes, who publicly accused him of being the gay partner of Morris Chestnut. Spanky claimed that the actor landed his first acting gig after he had given Chestnut, who was the film’s producer a blow job.
Attempts to substantiate these claims prove they are baseless as Morris is hardly a producer and to the best of our knowledge, not gay. He has been married to Pam Byse-Chestnut since 2005. Similarly, Gibson is not gay, as far as we can tell. He has always been known to date women and has married two of them. He has dismissed Spanky’s narrative as false.
The Actor Got Married The First Time in 2007
The first time Tyrese Gibson got married, it was to Norman Mitchell and in 2007. Together, they had a daughter named Shayla Somer Gibson. But as fate would have it, the union could barely last for two years as they parted ways in 2009. The end of their marriage was followed by a bitter battle of child custody. Norman related that the actor was suffering from bipolar disorder.
She accused him of domestic violence, claiming that he had a habit of hitting people he conflicts with, including her and their baby girl. In response, the actor said the accusations against him were a shameful attempt by Norman to ruin their co-parenting efforts. With all the drama, Tyrese and his ex-wife settled for co-parenting Shayla. They both share custody for their child with Gibson, paying $13,000 monthly for child support.
Tyrese Gibson Is Now Married to Samantha Lee
After the chaos with Mitchell, it took eight years before the actor became ready for another marriage. He got married to Samantha Lee in February 2017. A New Jersey native, it is said that Lee obtained a Master’s degree in social work from the University of Georgia.
The two welcomed their adorable daughter named Soraya Lee Gibson on the 1st of October 2018.
