Who you gonna call? Earnest Lee Hudson is most well known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in “Ghostbusters” (1984), as well as the following sequels. But more than the major hit horror-comedy, he was the resident playwright at one of the oldest black theaters in the country- Concept East. While enrolled at Wayne State University, he created the Actors’ Ensemble Theater, where he and other black actors and/or performers could show off their skills, talent, and work. He graduated from Wayne with a B.A, and a full scholarship for the MFA program at Yale School of Drama.
Hudson learned a valuable lesson in 1976 after experiencing a rough and harsh year regarding Hollywood after he co-starred in “Leadbelly.” He states, “There are those who spend their lives studying it, and those who spend their lives doing it.” He aimed to be the latter, and dropped out of a program that would have earned him a PhD in order to star as Jake Jefferson in “The Great White Hope.”
