Kharty Payton first got the acting bug after winning a nationwide talent competition in high school. As a teenager he began doing stand-up comedy at small comedy clubs, Standup New York Comedy Store and The Village Gate.

Following graduation from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, he performed in a number of Dallas Theatre Center productions, including Pericles, Tartuffe, Macbeth and A Christmas Carol, among many others.

In feature films, Payton has sometimes had difficulty keeping his head -- in two of them, in fact, Dracula II: The Ascension and Dimension's Hellraiser: Hellworld, his character's head was cut off. However in the independent films Swatters and Latter Days, his character managed to keep it all together.

On television Payton is most proud of his series regular role in the Cartoon Network's animated series, Teen Titans, for which he originated the voice of Cyborg. Other television credits include guest starring roles in The Shield and JAG, and the series regular role as Josh in Emily's Reasons Why Not for ABC.

--ABC