LL Cool J

James Todd Smith, better known as LL Cool J (acronym for Ladies Love Cool James), is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is one of the earliest rappers to achieve commercial success, alongside fellow new school hip hop acts Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. Signed to Def Jam Recordings in 1984, his breakthrough came with his single "I Need a Beat" and his landmark debut album, Radio (1985). He achieved further commercial and critical success with the albums Bigger and Deffer (1987), Walking with a Panther (1989), Mama Said Knock You Out (1990), Mr. Smith (1995), and Phenomenon (1997). His twelfth album, Exit 13 (2008), was his last in his long-tenured deal with Def Jam. A two-time Grammy Award winner, LL Cool J is known for hip hop songs such as "Going Back to Cali", "I'm Bad", "The Boomin' System", "Rock the Bells", and "Mama Said Knock You Out", as well as R&B hits such as "Doin' It", "I Need Love", "Around the Way Girl" and "Hey Lover". In 2010, VH1 placed him on their "100 Greatest Artists Of All Time" list. In 2017, LL Cool J became the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors. In 2021, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with an award for Musical Excellence. While he first appeared as a rapper in the movie Krush Groove (performing "I Can't Live Without My Radio"), his first acting part was a small role in a high school football movie called Wildcats. He continued to work in movies from then until 1995 when he landed his own television sitcom, In the House (1995-2000). He has appeared in numerous films, including Last Holiday, Edison, Mindhunters, S.W.A.T., Deliver Us from Eva, Rollerball, Charlie's Angels, In Too Deep, Any Given Sunday, Deep Blue Sea, Halloween H20, B.A.P.S., Toys, and The Hard Way. In 2005, he returned to television in a guest starring role on the FOX medical drama House. He also guest starred on 30 Rock in 2007, and on Sesame Street 's 39th season where he introduced the word of the day, "Unanimous” and performed "The Addition Expedition" in episode 4172 (Sept. 30, 2008). As of 2011, he stars as Special Agent Sam Hanna on CBS's police procedural NCIS: L.A., a spin-off of NCIS. He was also the host of MTV's Lip Sync Battle.

Known For: Acting

Born: Bay Shore, Long Island, New York, USA, 1968-01-14

Died: null

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1985	Krush Groove	LL Cool J	62
2	1986	Wildcats	Rapper	62
3	1986	Big Fun in the Big Town	Self	50
4	1991	Future Of The Funk	Self	0
5	1991	The Hard Way	Billy	62
6	1991	Simply Mad About the Mouse	Self	40
7	1992	Toys	Patrick Zevo	53
8	1995	Out-of-Sync	Jason St. Julian	43
9	1995	The Show	Self	64
10	1996	The Right to Remain Silent	Charles Red Taylor	50
11	1997	Touch	LL Cool J	57
12	1997	B.A.P.S	LL Cool J	52
13	1998	Caught Up	Roger	51
14	1998	Woo	Darryl	42
15	1998	Halloween H20: 20 Years Later	Ronald 'Ronny' Jones	60
16	1999	Deep Blue Sea	Preacher	60
17	1999	In Too Deep	Dwayne Gittens / God	63
18	1999	Rapmania: The Roots of Rap		0
19	1999	Any Given Sunday	Julian Washington	68
20	2000	Charlie's Angels	Mr. Jones	58
21	2001	Kingdom Come	Ray Bud Slocumb	66
22	2002	Hype Williams: The Videos Vol. 1		50
23	2002	Rollerball	Marcus Ridley	39
24	2002	It's Black Entertainment	Self (archive footage)	80
25	2003	Deliver Us from Eva	Ray Adams	64
26	2003	Beef	Self (archive footage)	64
27	2003	S.W.A.T.	Deacon 'Deke' Kaye (as James Todd Smith aka LL Cool J)	62
28	2004	Mindhunters	Gabe Jensen	65
29	2005	Edison	Deed	53
30	2005	Slow Burn	Luther Pinks	53
31	2006	Last Holiday	Sean Matthews	72
32	2007	ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway	Self	72
33	2008	The Deal	Bobby Mason	54
34	2009	DJ Cinema Presents: Masterpiece Theater Blend Dvd	Self (archive footage)	66
35	2009	How Bruce Lee Changed the World	Self	80
36	2010	We Are the World 25 For Haiti	Self	70
37	2012	Yo! The Story of ‘Yo! MTV Raps’	Self	50
38	2012	Whitney Houston: We Will Always Love You	Self	75
39	2013	Mayweather	Narrator	45
40	2013	Grudge Match	Frankie Brite	61
41	2014	The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to the Beatles	Self - Host	71
42	2015	Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life - An All-Star Grammy Salute	Self	80
43	2015	Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert	Self	93
44	2018	MVP: Most Valuable Performer		10
45	2018	Q85: A Musical Celebration for Quincy Jones	Self	70
46	2018	A Home for the Holidays: The 20th Anniversary	Self - Host	0
47	2019	Henry Louis Gates Jr.: Uncovering America	Self - Musician and Actor	0
48	2020	One World: Together at Home	Self	70
49	2020	Ricky Powell: The Individualist	Self	48
50	2021	Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell	Self - Hip-Hop Artist (archive footage)	72
51	2021	You're Watching Video Music Box	Self (archive footage)	64
52	2022	2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony	Self	82
53	2023	2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony	Self	81
54	2023	A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop	Self	85
55		LL Cool J Presents The Rock the Bells Festival Celebrating 50 Years of Hip Hop	Self	0
56	2024	Comin' Up Short	Self	0
57	2024	NCISverse: The First 1,000	Self	90
58	2024	A Hip Hop Minute	Self	65
59	2024	Jimmy Fallon's Holiday Seasoning Spectacular	Self	90
60	2025	Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music	Self	79

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1952	Today	Self	58
2	1975	Saturday Night Live	Self - Musical Guest	70
3	1989	MTV Unplugged	Self	68
4	1993	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Self - Guest	72
5	1995	In the House	Marion Hill	74
6	1995	The Frank Skinner Show	Self	75
7	1995	MADtv	Self - Host	69
8	1996	The Daily Show	Self	64
9	1996	Clive Anderson All Talk	Self	0
10	1997	Oz	Jiggy Walker	80
11	1997	The View	Self	45
12	1999	Teen Choice Awards	Self	100
13	1999	Teen Choice Awards	Self - Presenter	100
14	1999	The Early Show	Self	57
15	2000	106 & Park		57
16	2002	American Idol	Self - Guest Judge	51
17	2003	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Self	55
18	2003	The Ellen DeGeneres Show	Self	57
19	2003	NCIS	Sam Hanna	76
20	2003	Spike TV VGA Video Game Awards		100
21	2004	The Tony Danza Show	Self	61
22	2004	House	Clarence	86
23	2005	So You Think You Can Dance		71
24	2005	The Tyra Banks Show	Self	50
25	2006	30 Rock	Ridikolus	75
26	2009	NCIS: Los Angeles	Sam Hanna	75
27	2009	WWII in HD		75
28	2010	Hawaii Five-0	Sam Hanna	78
29	2012	Finding Your Roots	Self	62
30	2015	The Late Late Show with James Corden	Self	53
31	2015	Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter	Self	57
32	2018	Shut Up and Dribble	Self - Musician	10
33		The Man		10
34	1959	The Grammys	Self	87
35	1972	Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest	Self - Performer (Times Square)	53
36	1981	Entertainment Tonight	Self	43
37	1984	MTV Video Music Awards	Self - Host	76
38	1984	MTV Video Music Awards	Self	76
39	1987	Kids' Choice Awards	Self - Co-Host	87
40	1988	Yo! MTV Raps	Self	75
41	1993	The Adventures of Pete & Pete	Mr. Throneberry	77
42	1994	MTV Europe Music Awards	Self - Presenter	100
43	1995	MADtv	Self	69
44	1996	The Rosie O'Donnell Show	Self	35
45	1997	The Chris Rock Show	Self	44
46	1999	WWE SmackDown	Self	75
47	2002	Last Call with Carson Daly	Self	29
48	2004	Project Runway	Self - Guest Judge	62
49	2005	American Dad!	Sam Hanna (voice)	70
50	2006	Rachael Ray		51
51	2009	Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen	Self - Guest	51
52	2010	Conan	Self	71
53	2015	Hot Ones	Self	75
54	2015	Lip Sync Battle	Host	64
55	2016	The $100,000 Pyramid	Self	74
56	2016	Greatest Hits		50
57	2016	Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party	Self	85
58	2019	Desus & Mero	Self - Illustrious Guest	51
59	2019	The Kelly Clarkson Show		65
60	2021	NCIS: Hawaiʻi	Sam Hanna	78
61	2022	They Call Me Magic	Self	72
62	2022	Supreme Team	Self	70
63	2022	The Jennifer Hudson Show		62
64	2023	Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World	Self	67
65	2023	Superfan	Self	0
66	2023	Hip Hop Treasures	Self	0
67	2024	James Brown: Say It Loud	Self	80
68	2024	Fat Joe Talks	Self - Guest	0
69	2025	Hip Hop Was Born Here	Self - Host	0

LL Cool J

Film

Television