Jamal Mixon spent the majority of his career living inside a specific type of Hollywood typecasting that is rarely discussed. The fat child wearing the Eddie Murphy fat suit. *The Nutty Professor*’s younger brother. According to him, the casting directors wanted “a chubby kid” who could eat a cookie and laugh on camera, so his mother dragged him to an open call. He was able to. Yes, he did. He was immediately signed by Tom Shadyac. And that scene continued to recur in one way or another for the next thirty years.
When you see enough of his interviews, a pattern begins to emerge. He is quick, witty, and giving to those around him, but there’s always an undertone when the topic of work comes up. The roles never really grew. As he put it on Adrian Marrow’s show, the producers wanted him and his older brother Jerod to “sit and eat and smoke all day.” Looking back, this frustration is likely what initiated the entire transformation long before the gym did.
| Bio Data | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Jamal Mixon |
| Nickname | Taco |
| Known For | The Nutty Professor (1996), The Nutty Professor II, The Parkers, Gridiron Gang, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia |
| Brother | Jerod Mixon (also an actor) |
| Profession | Actor, screenwriter |
| Starting Weight | Around 437 lbs |
| Weight Lost | Approximately 150 lbs |
| Duration | Roughly one year |
| Method | Diet overhaul + heavy gym routine (cardio, weight lifting) |
| Current Projects | Working on a Netflix deal, a Willie Nelson cookout script |
Jamal weighed about 437 pounds when he reached his maximum weight. That’s a cardiology number, not a vanity number. For years, the Cleveland Clinic has been blunt about how even five extra pounds can significantly alter a person’s heart risk profile; at 437, the math is no longer up for debate. Observing previous interviews gives the impression that he was aware of this. He simply didn’t yet have a compelling enough reason to take action.
It’s unclear exactly what has changed, and the Mixons haven’t had a candid conversation about it. The general outline is thoroughly recorded. Doctors were consulted by both brothers. Non-negotiable instructions were given to both. Jamal had to give up alcohol, chips, sugar, and anything high in carbohydrates. Protein essentially took over the entire menu. Greek yogurt, eggs, chicken, and the green salad for lunch routine that foodies secretly view as a kind of grieving.
The part of this story that doesn’t photograph well is familiar to anyone who has attempted to break a pattern of binge eating. The drive-by fast food restaurants he used to run don’t shut down when a doctor orders them to. They gradually turn off because eventually the expense of continuing outweighs the comfort. It’s the dull, unglamorous middle of every true transformation story, and the before-and-after collages hardly ever include it.
Then the gym, which he described as initially uncomfortable. It had been a long time since he had made any organized physical movements. morning cardio. lifting weights, boxing and cycling. According to some accounts, the brothers work nearly three hours a day, which seems excessive until you consider the starting line. Intensity is a mathematical requirement at that weight. A thirty-minute walk does not allow you to outrun 437 pounds.
After a year or so, Jamal had lost about 150 pounds. Jerod, his older brother, who had an even higher starting point, lost almost 300 a figure so high that it appears to be a typo until you look at the pictures. The two of them had been well-known Hollywood faces for a long time in their former incarnation, so the before-and-after pictures that go viral on the internet still feel startling. It’s difficult to ignore how much younger Jamal now appears. Not more light. younger.
This type of story has a tension that no one really talks about. When Jamal changed it, the industry that had been making money off of his body for years didn’t exactly rush to offer him new roles. You can tell from the way he phrased it that he is sick of waiting for approval. He told Marrow that he has been pushing for his own projects, a Willie Nelson cookout script, and a potential Netflix deal. He was cast as “Black Dennis” in the race-swap episode of *Always Sunny in Philadelphia*, a role that would not have been available to him at 437. He describes the role with genuine warmth.
It’s possible that losing weight opens doors that were silently closed years ago. It’s also possible that Hollywood updates its perception of a person more slowly than the individual does. In any case, the number on the scale isn’t what makes Jamal’s story noteworthy. It’s the endurance. He refused to eat the food he loved for a year in a town that made a living by observing him eat it.