Editing Reginald VelJohnson (section)

==Early life==
VelJohnson was born Reginald Johnson in New York City, in the borough of [[Queens]]. His mother Eva was a nurse’s aide, while his father Dan was a hospital attendant.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/47/Reginald-VelJohnson.html |title=Reginald VelJohnson Biography (1952– ) |publisher=FilmReference.com|access-date=June 7, 2010}}</ref> His father left the family, which included Reginald's brother Barry,<ref name=tvg>{{cite web|url=http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/reginald-veljohnson/bio/171183/|title=Reginald Veljohnson <nowiki>[sic]</nowiki> |publisher=[[TV Guide|TVGuide.com]]|access-date=March 21, 2018|archive-date= September 18, 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150918172710/http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/reginald-veljohnson/bio/171183/|url-status=dead}}</ref><!--site is live, but birth date and relationships are in archived version only--> when Johnson was 13 years old. Their mother subsequently married John Reilly,<ref name="yahoo">{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800057267/bio |title=Reginald Veljohnson Biography|publisher=[[Yahoo! Movies]] |access-date=June 7, 2010|archive-date= July 12, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712035800/http://movies.yahoo.com/person/reginald-veljohnson/biography.html|url-status= dead}}</ref> and Johnson attended [[Benjamin N. Cardozo High School]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/confarchive/2002/0110/qconfidential.html |title=QConfidential |newspaper=[[Queens Tribune]]|location=New York City|access-date=June 7, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715123919/http://www.queenstribune.com/archives/confarchive/2002/0110/qconfidential.html |archive-date=July 15, 2010 }}</ref>

He obtained a [[Bachelor of Fine Arts]] in theater from [[New York University]], where he had a chance to work with [[Joseph Papp]]'s ''Black/Hispanic Shakespeare Company'', in which [[Morgan Freeman]] and [[CCH Pounder]] were among his fellow actors.<ref name="hill">{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Michael E. |title=Reginald VelJohnson |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1990/11/25/reginald-veljohnson/9812a86d-f340-4208-8ef0-5f044116a632/ |access-date=May 18, 2020 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=November 25, 1990|archive-date= December 3, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191203115615/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1990/11/25/reginald-veljohnson/9812a86d-f340-4208-8ef0-5f044116a632/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://gradactingalumni.org/alumni/reginald-vel-johnson/|title=Reginald Vel Johnson: Class of 1975|publisher= New York University Grad Acting Alumnni Association|archive-date=April 7, 2019|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190407030122/http://gradactingalumni.org/alumni/reginald-vel-johnson/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Early in his acting career, he changed his name from Reginald Johnson to Reginald VelJohnson. He later said he changed the spelling of his birth name "because I wanted a name people would remember".<ref>{{cite news|title=Reginald Veljohnson of 'Family Matters' reminisces|last=Buck|first=Jerry|date=November 16, 1989|work=The Dallas Morning News}}</ref>