Cedric the Entertainer Has Worked Hard for His Role in 'The Neighborhood'

If you don’t know him by now, today’s the perfect day to get to know Cedric the Entertainer — his life story, his career, and even his net worth — since the comedian hosted the 73rd Emmy Awards in 2021.

Even though COVID-19 disrupted Emmy plans, Cedric still entertained a live audience, albeit a limited one, on TV’s biggest night.

And Cedric definitely knows a thing or two about television — here are more details about Cedric’s life on the big and little screen so far.

In an Emmys.com interview last year, the actor — born Cedric Antonio Kyles — explained that he fell in love with entertainment while he was growing up in Caruthersville, Mo.

“My grandmother would watch The Jackie Gleason Show, and I thought he was bigger than life,” he said. “He was a big guy, but he was light on his feet and had a funny sense of humor. He just came off as a star.”

After attending Southeast Missouri State University, where he majored in communications, Cedric worked odd jobs: reporting for a CBS affiliate, working at Best Buy, and adjusting claims for State Farm. “I was doing well, but probably within a week of getting that [State Farm] job, I discovered I could do comedy,” he said.

From 1993 to 1994, with his comedy career underway, Cedric hosted the BET standup comedy series ComicView. And from 1996 to 2002, he starred in the WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, earning four NAACP Image Awards in the process.

After that show ended, Cedric starred in the big-screen comedy Barbershop and hosted the Fox sketch comedy show Cedric the Entertainer Presents.

Following roles in the films Be Cool, Madagascar, Man of the House, and Larry Crowne, Cedric returned to full-time television acting in the TV Land sitcom The Soul Man, which ran for five seasons between 2012 and 2016.

These days, the 57-year-old is a star of the CBS sitcom The Neighborhood, where he makes a reported salary of $48,000 weekly. He’s also the host of the CBS clip show The Greatest #AtHome Videos and a recurring actor on the TBS comedy The Last O.G.

With all this film and television success, Cedric has a net worth of $25 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.

“Since I was a little boy huddled up next to my grandmother, television has always been my reliable friend, so it is an enormous honor for me to host this year’s Emmy Awards,” Cedric said in a statement this July, when his hosting gig was announced.

“Throughout the roller-coaster of a year that we have all lived through, television has helped us stay connected as a society like never before. It not only entertained us, but as it always has, it helped to open our eyes, educate us, and hopefully brought about a better understanding of who we are as a people. I can’t wait to take the stage to celebrate all of the great shows and performances that made us laugh, cry, dance and sing over the past year.”