Robert Crayton

Cast

Born

March 29, 1977

Died

January 7, 2023

Robert Crayton is an American actor, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He performed in events since childhood, such as "Mr. Bojangles", singing in the choir, small films, plays and just plain entertaining his whole family at reunions. He made his acting debut, on Tru TV as "Tank" on Southern Fried Stings (2010). He performed in films and television series including Let the Church Say Amen (2013), The Quad (2017), Wu-Tang: An American Saga (2019), "The I Ching Lawyer" (2020), Murdersville, USA (2021), Dark Awakening (2014), Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016), and History Detectives (2003). He attended an upstate NY prep school where he excelled in sports and started to participate in skits and perform comedy. He loved living in a dorm, like being in college before being of age, but returned home after 2 years citing allegations of racism. He was always a class clown and was voted most-likely to be an actor. He was often sought after by others in school for their media projects for impersonations and characters. During this time, he developed a passion for rapping and became proficient at it, especially free-styling (without writing lyrics), due to his grandmother's method of learning, which consisted of memorizing 300 words, spelling and meaning before he could go play during the summer, he hated it then but states it did pay dividends in the future. His rapping ability led him to performing on BET's 106 & Park television show and being the opening act for the BET Comics, winning several cash prizes, recording contracts as well as opportunities to be featured on several compilation albums. He also, not always by choice, memorized anything he saw or heard, which he felt was a great asset to being an actor. He loved to entertain others in some type of capacity. He had been a youth counselor, in which each day working with children is different when you are dealing with a myriad of personalities, but he enjoyed the challenge of helping young people. After a battle with mental illness, on January 7, 2023, he killed his wife and three children at their home in High Point, North Carolina, and then committed suicide. Authorities had paid five visits to the home since 2014, police said, but Crayton was never arrested.