Haywood Nelson

Haywood Knowles Nelson Jr. was born on March 25, 1960, in New York, New York. He began working in the entertainment industry at the age of six, appearing in principal on-camera and voice-over national commercials for brands including Campbell's Soup, Polaroid, Burger King, Kodak, Hot Wheels, Rock'em Sock'em Robots, Lavoris, Libby's, Johnny Lightning, Aurora AFX, Duncan Hines, Milk, and Dean Witter.

Nelson's early career included co-starring roles in several feature films, among them If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band, Mixed Company, This Property Is Condemned, and Evilspeak. On television, he guest starred on Kojak in the episode "The Godson," playing a character named Bobby Moore. At age 14, he appeared on Sanford and Son as the grandson of Whitman Mayo's character Grady, and subsequently acted in the spin-off series Grady in 1975.

In 1974, Nelson appeared on Broadway in the play Thieves, a run that extended for two years. He also appeared in an urban dramatic Broadway production at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall in New York.

In 1976, at age 16, Nelson was cast as Dwayne in the television series that originated as Cooley High before becoming the ABC series What's Happening!!, produced by TOY Productions. The show ran from 1976 to 1979. Following its conclusion, he had a run on the MTM Enterprises series The White Shadow. Nelson later reunited with the What's Happening!! cast for the syndicated continuation What's Happening Now!!, produced by Columbia Pictures Television, which ran from 1985 to 1988; he also served as Technical Director on that production. His studies in Architectural Design and Electronics Engineering were interrupted by the demands of the reunion series.

Additional screen credits include an appearance as himself in the Paramount film Dickie Roberts and a guest appearance on The Parkers. Nelson is a devout Scientologist.