All Through The 90s Sinbad Cracked Us Up. But Where Is He Now?

Going AWOL

David Adkins, also known best as Sinbad, was raised in Michigan by his Baptist Reverend father, Dr, Donald Beckley Adkins, and his mother, Louise Adkins, along with five siblings, Dorothea, Donna, Michael, Mark, and Donald.

Sinbad served in the United States Air Force and worked as a boom operator. However, he was never really committed to the job. "I didn't make the Air Force basketball team and went into denial. So, I kept going AWOL," he said. "My mother kept begging me to go back. I told her, 'No, I'm not going back. I'll just grow a beard. They won't recognize me. I'll just be another black man with a beard.' I was going to Georgia Tech to learn about computers. I'd go AWOL all the time. I'd just leave. I'd come back, hoping they'd throw me out." He did eventually get dismissed "for parking his car in the wrong position."

Becoming A Star

Sinbad got his start in show business when he appeared on Star Search. This is where he decided to use the name Sinbad as a tribute to the fictional sailor. He won his round on Star Search and ended up landing a role on a sitcom. He landed a role on A Different World which was a spin-off of The Cosby Show. He stayed as part of the show even after the star, Lisa Bonet, left. He played the role of Coach Walter Oakes until 1991.

After A Different World ended, he starred on The Sinbad Show playing a man who becomes a foster parent to two kids. Salma Haya also starred on the show which received praise from the critics.

Over the years, Sinbad was in a couple of feature films like Good Burger and Jingle All The Way. After this, though, his career seemed to take a turn for the worse.

Tough Times

He may have been a huge star in the 90s, but he is struggling now. His roles have slowed down a lot during the past decade even though he continues to look for work. He still gets small roles but mostly doing voice-overs or really small parts, so he is not making any real money.

Sinbad also had issues with the government after he failed to pay his taxes for many years. That was not his only debt either. He has filed for bankruptcy twice in order to clear up his debt. In 2013, he had around $11 million in debt, $8 million of that was from back taxes that he owed. He only has $131,000 worth of assets and cannot pay the $10,991,715 bill he has. Hoping to alleviate some of the pressure, Sinbad filed his second bankruptcy in 2013.

He owed Bank of America more than $30,000 and American Express more than $300,000 on top of the millions he owes in back taxes. He claims that his income is a mere $16,000 a month and has put his mansion up for sale in order to pay back some of his debt.

No Regrets

Even though he was struggling financially, Sinbad told Oprah that he would not change a thing. "I didn’t buy Bentleys. I didn’t live large. I invested in me. I invested in a lot of other people. I would not change it; I would not go back," he said. "It’s never over. There’s no one defining moment that kills you or makes you."

Shazaam

Since filing for bankruptcy in 2013, Sinbad has not had much work. He has only been in a small number of things and mostly as a voice actor. He has, on the other hand, done more stand-up acts in order to make his way back into the mainstream.

Sinbad recently made a video with a website to create the movie Shazaam that everyone thought he had already starred in even though the movie doesn't even exist. People say that it came out the at the same time that Shaq came out with Kazaam, but it is not true. At least now, the movie is sort of real.