Aries Spears, an American comedian and actor, earned widespread recognition through his celebrity impersonations, with a particular focus on rappers and Hollywood stars. Born in Chicago in 1975, he relocated with his family to New York City shortly after birth before they settled in New Jersey. He launched his standup career while still a teenager, first showcasing his impression routine at Harlem’s Uptown Comedy Club. Appearances on Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam and It’s Showtime at the Apollo preceded his 1992 move to Los Angeles, where he took the stage at The Comedy Store and The Laugh Factory. Additional television credits from that period include a role in the Cosby Show spin-off A Different World plus episodes of The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Soul Train. He also co-starred with Glenn Frey in South of Sunset, though only the pilot episode aired.
After appearing in Malcolm X (1992) at age sixteen, Spears secured further film parts in Home of Angels, Out-of-Sync, and Jerry Maguire. He joined the MADtv cast in 1997 and stayed through its tenth season in 2005, introducing multiple recurring characters while impersonating numerous celebrities, among them Jay-Z, DMX, Denzel Washington, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. His first album, the double CD I Ain’t Scared!, arrived in 2005.
Following his departure from MADtv, he performed in the 2006 feature Hood of Horror and took part in the series The Underground and The Proud Family. He portrayed Shaquille O’Neal on Frank Caliendo’s Frank TV and issued a rap-battle challenge to Soulja Boy Tell Em during an appearance on the Covino and Rich radio program. In 2009 he joined Cedric the Entertainer for the All Star Comedy Jam. His standup special Aries Spears: Hollywood, Look I’m Smiling premiered on Showtime in 2011. A subsequent divorce kept him largely out of the public eye for several years until he appeared in the 2015 film Promoted and returned for MADtv’s twentieth-anniversary special in 2016. Comedy Dynamics issued his album Comedy Blueprint in 2017, its artwork referencing Jay-Z’s Blueprint.
