Background and career
Benjamin Augustus Vereen (né Middleton; October 10, 1946) is an American actor, dancer, and singer. He gained prominence for his performances in the original Broadway productions of the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar, for which he received a Tony Award nomination, and Pippin, for which he won the 1973 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Vereen was born October 10, 1946, in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Shortly after his birth, he and his family relocated to the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City. He was raised by James Vereen, a paint-factory worker, and Pauline Vereen, who worked as a maid and theatre wardrobe mistress. He was raised Pentecostal. He discovered he was adopted when he applied for a passport at age 25. According to the Vereens, his birth mother had abandoned him, although he later heard from relatives that his birth mother looked for him for years. During his pre-teen years, he exhibited an innate talent for drama and dance and often performed in local variety shows. At the age of 14, Vereen enrolled at the High School of Performing Arts, where he studied under world-renowned choreographers Martha Graham, George Balanchine, and Jerome Robbins. Upon his graduation, he struggled to find suitable stage work and was often forced to take odd jobs to supplement his income.
When Vereen was 18 years old, he made his New York stage bow off-off Broadway in The Prodigal Son at the Greenwich Mews Theater directed by Stella Holt. By the following year, he was in Las Vegas, performing in Bob Fosse's production of Sweet Charity, a show with which he toured in 1967–68. He returned to New York City to play Claude in Hair in the Broadway production, before joining the national touring company. The following year, he was cast as an ensemble dancer in the film adaptation of Sweet Charity. He is featured prominently in the "Rich Man's Frug" dance number and the song "Rhythm of Life", where he appears as one of three backup dancers for Sammy Davis Jr. After developing a rapport with Davis, Vereen was cast as his understudy in the upcoming production of Golden Boy, which toured England and ended the run at the Palladium Theatre in London's West End. Vereen was nominated for a Tony Award for his role as Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972 and won a Tony for his appearance in Pippin in 1973. Vereen appeared in the Broadway musical Wicked as the Wizard of Oz in 2005. Vereen has also performed in one-man shows and actively lectures on black history and inspirational topics. In August 2011, Vereen was named co-artistic director of Tampa's Broadway Theatre Project.
Vereen has also starred in numerous television programs, and is well known for the role of 'Chicken' George Moore in Alex Haley's landmark TV miniseries Roots, for which he received an Emmy nomination in 1977. Vereen's four-week summer variety series, Ben Vereen ... Comin' At Ya, aired on NBC in August 1975 and featured regulars Lola Falana, Avery Schreiber, and Liz Torres. In 1976, Vereen appeared as a guest star on the first season of The Muppet Show, singing two songs. In 1978, on a Boston Pops TV special, Vereen performed a tribute to Bert Williams, complete with period makeup and attire, and reprising Williams' high-kick dance steps, to Vaudeville standards such as "Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee". In 1981, Vereen performed at Ronald Reagan's first inauguration. The performance generated controversy as Vereen performed the first part of the show in blackface. Before the finale, ABC cut the live performance, generating confusion and anger from viewers at home. According to video artist Edgar Arcenaux, what TV viewers did not see was the second part of the performance, in which Vereen mimicked being refused service because of his color while trying to buy the Republican elite a congratulatory drink. As Arceneaux explains, Vereen's performance was meant as a critique of Republican civil rights policies, but the TV audience did not get to see it. Vereen was cast opposite Jeff Goldblum in the short-lived detective series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980). During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Vereen worked steadily on television with projects ranging from the sitcom Webster to the drama Silk Stalkings.
In 1985, Vereen starred in the Faerie Tale Theatre series as Puss in Boots alongside Gregory Hines. He appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse", in which he played Will Smith's biological father Lou Smith. He made several appearances on the 1980s sitcom Webster as the title character's biological uncle. He also appeared as Mayor Ben (a leopard) on the children's program Zoobilee Zoo and as Itsy Bitsy Spider in Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme. In 1993, he appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Interface" as the father of Roots co-star LeVar Burton's character Geordi La Forge; fellow Roots star Madge Sinclair appeared in the same episode as Geordi's mother. He also appeared on the television series The Nanny episode "Pishke Business". In 2010, he appeared on the television series How I Met Your Mother episodes "Cleaning House" and "False Positive" as Sam Gibbs, the long lost father of James Stinson, Barney Stinson's brother. He returned in 2013 and 2014 for another two episodes.
Vereen has six children. His 16-year-old daughter, Naja, was killed in a car crash in 1987 on the New Jersey Turnpike when a truck overturned on her car. His other daughter, Karon Davis, is a professional artist; Vereen's son-in-law was Davis' late husband, artist Noah Davis. His son, Ben Vereen Jr., died in 2020 at the age of 55. Vereen is the godfather of R&B singer Usher, and is also the first cousin once removed of former NFL running back Shane Vereen. In the early 1980s, Vereen moved with his family to Saddle River, New Jersey. In September 2012, Vereen filed for divorce from his wife of 36 years, Nancy Bruner Vereen, citing irreconcilable differences.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
