Todd Bridges

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title: "Todd Bridges" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1965-births", "living-people", "20th-century-american-male-actors", "21st-century-american-male-actors", "african-american-male-child-actors", "21st-century-african-american-male-actors", "20th-century-african-american-male-actors", "american-male-child-actors", "american-male-comedians", "american-male-film-actors", "american-male-television-actors", "male-actors-from-san-francisco", "male-actors-from-the-san-francisco-bay-area", "comedians-from-san-francisco", "african-american-male-comedians", "celebrity-big-brother-(american-tv-series)-contestants"] description: "American actor (born 1965)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Bridges" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American actor (born 1965) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Todd Bridges
image	Todd Bridges 2017-10-28.jpg
caption	Bridges at the Chiller Theatre Expo in 2017
birth_name	Todd Anthony Bridges
birth_date
birth_place	San Francisco, California, U.S.
known_for	Role of Willis Jackson on Diff'rent Strokes
occupation	Actor
years_active	1974–present
spouse	Dori Smith (divorced)

| | children | 2 | | relatives | Jimmy Bridges (brother) Verda Bridges (sister) | ::

| name = Todd Bridges | image = Todd Bridges 2017-10-28.jpg | caption = Bridges at the Chiller Theatre Expo in 2017 | birth_name = Todd Anthony Bridges | birth_date = | birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S. | known_for = Role of Willis Jackson on Diff'rent Strokes | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1974–present | spouse = Dori Smith (divorced)

| children = 2 | relatives = Jimmy Bridges (brother) Verda Bridges (sister) | signature =

Todd Anthony Bridges (born May 27, 1965) is an American actor. He portrayed Willis Jackson on the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes and had a recurring role as Monk on the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. Bridges worked as a commentator on the television series World's Dumbest... from 2008 to 2013.

Early life

Bridges was born on May 27, 1965, in San Francisco, California, the son of Betty Alice Pryor, an actress, director and manager, and James Bridges Sr., a talent agent. His brother Jimmy Bridges and sister Verda Bridges are also actors.

Career

Television

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Cast_of_Fish_1977.jpg" caption="Bridges (at top right) with the cast of ''Fish'', 1977"] ::

Bridges appeared on The Waltons, Little House on the Prairie, "The Love Boat" Season 2 Episode 5, and the landmark miniseries Roots. He was a regular on the Barney Miller spinoff Fish. It was playing Willis Jackson on the NBC/ABC sitcom Diff'rent Strokes that made him a household name, along with those of fellow co-stars Conrad Bain, Charlotte Rae, Dana Plato, and Gary Coleman. With Rae's death in 2018, Bridges became the last surviving original cast member.

Bridges appeared in the 2002 special Celebrity Boxing with friend Vanilla Ice, whom he defeated. In 2006, Bridges appeared as a contestant on a celebrity episode of Fear Factor but was eliminated after the first stunt. Also in 2006, he appeared as a contestant on the Fox reality show Skating with Celebrities but was eliminated in the second episode of the show because he was using roller skates instead of ice skates. In January 2007, he appeared as a member of the "mob" on the American version of the game show 1 vs. 100. He and his wife Dori Bridges appeared in the November 14, 2007 episode of the MyNetworkTV show Decision House titled "Burned Bridges." He also had a recurring role as Monk on the UPN/The CW sitcom Everybody Hates Chris. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Nancyreagandiffrentstrokes.jpg" caption="The cast of ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' with guest star [[Nancy Reagan]] in 1983"] ::

In March 2008, Bridges appeared on TruTV Presents: World's Dumbest..., on which he continues to appear as a frequent commentator. That October, he debuted as a contestant on Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling on CMT as a member of Team Beefcake (coached by former wrestler Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake). Bridges' wrestling persona was the character Mr. Not So Perfect. In one episode, he defeated Tonya Harding with a lead pipe. The judges praised him for his athleticism and his cunning while defeating Harding. After reaching the finals along with Butterbean and Dustin Diamond, Bridges was defeated by Dennis Rodman. In 2015, Bridges was the host of a live game show titled Lovers or Losers: The Game Show at the Plaza Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. In 2022, Bridges was announced as a HouseGuest competing in the third season of Celebrity Big Brother.

Music videos

Bridges has appeared in several music videos. His first appearance was in Penny Ford's single "Change Your Wicked Ways" (1984). He made a cameo in Moby's 2002 music video for "We Are All Made of Stars" and in the video for the Black Keys' 2011 single "Howlin' for You."

Personal life

Bridges has daughter Bo from a previous relationship. Bridges' son Spencir Bridges (born July 15, 1998) from his marriage to former wife Dori Bridges (née Smith) is also a former child actor who appeared in the film Daddy Day Camp and an episode of iCarly.

In 1998, Bridges and his brother James saved the life of Stella Kline, a 51-year-old paraplegic woman who nearly drowned when her wheelchair rolled into a lake while she was fishing. Kline said: "I was thanking God that he was there and you know, everybody's been saying nothing but bad stuff about Todd Bridges on the news and in the papers... He has a heart of gold." Bridges remarked: "We felt God put us there at the right time to save this lady's life, because there was no one else around."

In a 2010 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Bridges said that he was sexually abused at age 11 by a publicist who was also a family friend.

On September 25, 2022, he married designer Bettijo Hirschi. On January 14, 2026, Bridges announced that he and Hirschi have separated.

Legal and criminal problems

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/10.17.09ToddBridgesByLuigiNovi.jpg" caption="Bridges in 2012"] ::

Bridges started smoking marijuana as a 15-year-old star on Diff'rent Strokes. In his twenties, Bridges battled a crack cocaine and methamphetamine addiction. He bought and sold drugs to support his addiction. Bridges was arrested for felony assault and cocaine possession.

In 1983, Bridges was fined $240 for carrying a concealed firearm. In 1987, he received a suspended sentence after pleading no contest when charged with making a bomb threat.

In 1989, Bridges was arrested and tried for the attempted murder of Kenneth "Tex" Clay, a Los Angeles-area drug dealer who prosecutors argued had been shot by Bridges. Bridges pleaded not guilty and was represented by the famous defense attorney Johnnie Cochran, who argued that Bridges was an abused minor who had been driven to drugs by an exploitative entertainment industry and was now being framed. A witness finally testified that Bridges was not present at the shooting, and Bridges was acquitted of all charges by a jury.

Bridges was arrested on December 29, 1992, on suspicion of transporting narcotics for sale and possession of a loaded firearm after Burbank, California police officers discovered methamphetamines and a loaded gun in his car. He was released on $10,000 bail. Bridges stopped using drugs on February 24, 1993, after years of use.

Memoir

Bridges wrote a book, Killing Willis: From Diff'rent Strokes to the Mean Streets to the Life I Always Wanted (2008), discussing his childhood sexual abuse, drug addiction, criminal charges and efforts to establish a public identity independent of the Willis character. He appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 28, 2010 to discuss the troubled past that he had chronicled in his memoir. In a review on The AV Club, Nathan Rabin described the book as "self-pitying, self-aggrandizing bullshit".

Filmography

Film

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	High School U.S.A.	Otto Lipton
1989	She's Out of Control	Water Man
1992	The Sounds of Silence	Joe Goodman	Independent film, co-starring Dana Plato
Homeboy	Johnny Davis
1996	Gangstaz	Tyrone
1997	The Girl Gets Moe	Dr. Glick
1998	The Waterfront	Gary Franklin
1999	Flat Out	Dr. Acosta
2000	The Thief & the Stripper	Burn
2002	The Beach House	Todd
The Climb	Eddie
Welcome to America	Easy T
Scream at the Sound of the Beep	Lamar
Pacino is Missing	Harrison Dodge	Ind. film, co-starring Dana Plato
Baby of the Family	Ted
2003	Pauly Shore Is Dead	Himself	Cameo
Dumb Luck	Lincoln
2004	Land of the Free?	Alex
Curse of the Maya	Ruben Herardo
2005	Treasure N'Tha Hood	Henry Nails
Issues	Carson
I Got Five on It	Jimmy	Direct-to-video
2006	San Franpsycho	Officer Eckersley	Direct-to-video
2007	Frankie D	Frankie D
2008	Darkroom	Charles the Barkeep
2009	See Dick Run	ATM
I Got Five on It Too	Jimmy
The Jerk Theory	Waiter	Uncredited
2010	Big Money Rustlas	Scruffy Scrub #3
The Apparition of Roxanne	Officer Johnston
Do Me a Solid	Maurice	Short film
2011	King of the Underground	Todd
2012	That's My Boy	Himself	Cameo
Turning Point	Marvin
2014	Monsters on Main Street	Larry Goleman
2016	Dependent's Day	Hank Wright
Precious Mettle	Sam
The White Sistas	Bishop Wilkins
Dead Ringer	Detective Billington
Bar Chronicles	The Customer	Ind. film
Nightblade	Detective Francesco
Renaissance Man	Todd
Hospital Arrest	Prosecutor Denuyl
2017	The White Sistas	Bishop Wilkins
2019	A Psycho's Path	Haywood
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1975	Barney Miller	Truman Jackson	Episode: "The Hero"
The Orphan and the Dude	Leonard Brown	TV movie
Katherine	Robert
1976	Police Story	Little Walter	Episode: "Oxford Gray"
1977	Little House on the Prairie	Solomon Henry	Episode: "The Wisdom of Solomon"
A Circle of Children	Todd	TV movie
Roots	Bud Harvey	TV Mini-Series
A Killing Affair	Todd York	TV movie
1977–1978	Fish	Loomis	Main role (35 episodes)
The Waltons	Josh Foster	2 episodes
1978	The Love Boat	Michael Jr.	Episode: "Mike and Ike"
1978–1986	Diff'rent Strokes	Willis Jackson	Main role (169 episodes)
1979	The Return of Mod Squad	Jason Hayes	TV movie
Hello, Larry	Willis Jackson	3 episodes
1979–1980	CHiPs	Todd Bridges	2 episodes (uncredited)
1979–1981	The Facts of Life	Willis Jackson	2 episodes
1980–1981	Here's Boomer	Turk/Benny
1983	High School U.S.A.	Otto Lipton	TV movie
1988	Twice Dead	Petie
1991	The New Lassie	Deputy Kirby	Episode: "Twin Pekes (Aka Justice)"
1992	The Ben Stiller Show	Todd Bridges	2 episodes
1997	L.A. Heat	Trevor	Episode: "Cop Star"
2000	The Darkling	Baron	TV movie
2001	Son of the Beach	Todd Bridges	Episode: "It's a Nude, Nude, Nude, Nude World"
2002	The Rerun Show	T.J. Davis	1 episode
The Young and the Restless	Juice	8 episodes
2003	Cram (Celebrity Edition)	Himself	1 episode
2003	Ghost Dog: A Detective Tail	Power Plant Guard	TV movie
2004	Jane Doe: Now You See It, Now You Don't	The Man
2005	Alien Express	Peter
2007–2009	Everybody Hates Chris	Monk	17 episodes
2008–2012	World's Dumbest...	Himself	112 episodes
2011	Are We There Yet?	Himself	Episode: "The Lindsey Gets High Episode"
2013	The Ben Show	Himself	Recurring Segment: "Todd Bridges Animated Crack Stories"
2014	Hotel P	Bryce	Pilot
2016–2020	Sangre Negra	Dante Lewis	3 episodes
2021	Live in Front of a Studio Audience	Himself	Episode: "The Facts of Life/Diff'rent Strokes"
2022	Celebrity Big Brother	Himself
2023	Celebrity Beef	Himself
2024	Christmas in the Friendly Skies	Darnell	TV Movie
::

Video games

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Voice role
2014	Tesla Effect	Mantus
2016	2064: Read Only Memories	Hayden Webber
2019	Take a Seat	Narrator
::

References

References

1. "Todd Bridges Biography (1957–)".
2. "'Diff'rent Strokes': Todd Bridges is now the last living member of the core cast". [[USA Today]].
3. (January 26, 2022). "Celebrity Big Brother Season 3 Cast Revealed: Meet the New Famous Houseguests".
4. Kantor, Justin. (October 9, 2012). "Interview: Penny Ford – The Power of Experience".
5. "Todd Bridges {{!}} Official Publisher Page".
6. (April 16, 2022). "Diff'rent Strokes' Todd Bridges Would 'Like to Marry Again' as He's 'Moving on to Finding a Girlfriend'".
7. Zap, Claudine. (May 29, 2012). "'Diff'rent Strokes' Star Todd Bridges Divorcing". Yahoo! Entertainment.
8. Silverman, Stephen M.. (April 9, 1998). "Bridges's Latest Strokes".
9. Okura, Lynn. (August 20, 2013). "Todd Bridges, 'Diff'rent Strokes' Star, Talks About Healing From Sexual Abuse". [[HuffPost]].
10. "Todd Bridges Is Married! Inside the 'Diff'rent Strokes' Star's Beverly Hills Wedding". People.
11. Kappes, Serena. (August 20, 2002). "Former child star Todd Bridges gets second shot". [[CNN]].
12. "Todd Bridges' Darkest Days".
13. (December 30, 1992). "Actor Todd Bridges Arrested; Police Say Car Held Drugs, Gun". [[Los Angeles Times]].
14. "Plus Entertainment".
15. McGraw, Carol. "Todd Bridges Found Not Guilty in Drug Shooting". [[Los Angeles Times]].
16. Roberts, Soraya. "'Diff'rent Strokes' actor Todd Bridges discusses kicking drugs, wearing diapers and Corey Haim". [[New York Daily News]].
17. (April 3, 2010). "Killing Willis: From Diff'rent Strokes to the Mean Streets to the Life I Always Wanted". [[Simon & Schuster]].
18. Rabin, Nathan. (May 20, 2010). "Killing Willis by Todd Bridge". [[The AV Club]].

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