Sinbad

Sinbad Bio

David Adkins was born on November 10, 1956 in Benton Harbor, Michigan. David is better known as Sinbad, a name he chose as his stage name out of admiration for Sinbad the Sailor. He started out appearing on Star Search where he won against Dennis Miller but lost in the finals to John Kassir. He then played Byron Lightfoot on The Redd Foxx Show for a short time and then in 1987 landed the role in A Different World that was a spin-off of The Cosby Show as Coach Walter Oakes from 1988 to 1991. He then was popular so was given a show called The Sinbad Show premiering in September 1993 that received praise from critics but was cancelled in 1994. In addition to acting, Sinbad continued to do standup. While his television popularity may have peaked in the 1990s, he is still a popular live performer. He also does voice for animated series such as Slacker Cats and was a competitor on Celebrity Apprentice in 2010. In 2011, he had his own reality show called Sinbad: It’s Just Family. In April 2015, he appeared at Bagram and Kandahar Air Bases in Afghanistan in a USO show. In July 2017, he did voice work on Disney Junior’s The Lion Guard playing Uroho the baboon.