Rapper-Actor Heavy D Loses 135 Pounds
LOS ANGELES - Heavy D isn't so heavy anymore.
The rapper-turned-actor says he's dropped 135 pounds in the last year. Although he didn't say what he previously weighed ? or how he lost the weight ? Heavy D, whose real name is Dwight Myers, said the loss wasn't prompted by health concerns.
"I went on a couple auditions and one director was kind enough to say, `Look, you would've had this part but you're not fitting, you're stifling yourself,'" he told the Television Critics Association last week.
"He was right. I kind of always knew it in the back of my mind, and I just woke up on a Tuesday and I just kept going."
Heavy D plays a mechanic in "The Tracy Morgan Show," a proposed show starring the former "Saturday Night Live (news - Y! TV)" comic. It's not yet on NBC's fall schedule. Heavy D composed and performs the show's title theme.
The 36-year-old has no plans to lose the moniker he's used since he broke into the music business. Heavy D and the Boyz earned three Grammy nominations and scored a hit with "We Got Our Own Thang."
"There's a lot of checks involved with 'Heavy D,' so that name stays," he said.
His credits include the movies "Life," "The Cider House Rules" and "Big Trouble."