When he was interviewed by USA Today, Shawn stated, ‘I lived his life before… He’s been surrounded by drugs, the crime, living with his aunt – I lived with my grandmother, so there was a lot of familiarity.’ Once he got used to the tight-fitting outfits the actors had to use for the motion capture technology, Shawn quickly fell into the character thanks to his past as a gang-banger and drug dealer. Pooh also wrote and co-produced “GTA: San Andreas”, but he is better recognized for playing Red in the film “Friday.” Initially, Shawn helped look for actors to play Franklin and helped them with their auditions, but after a few weeks, he decided to take up the role himself. His 2013 performance was mostly recorded with motion capture technology.ĭJ Pooh, a friend of Shawn’s and consultant for “GTA V,” asked him to be part of Rockstar’s newest video game. In 1996, he appeared in “Dead Homiez,” “3 Strikes” in 2000, as Face in 2001’s “The Wash”, and as Bam in 2017’s “Grow House.”Īt one time he was a member of Kam&Solo, a rap group associated with Ice Cube’s Lench Mob Crew.Īlthough Shawn is best known for voicing smart street gangster Franklin Clinton in “Grand Theft Auto V”, which grossed over $1 billion, Shawn’s voice was also heard in “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” in 2004 as an unnamed Grove Street Families member. Shawn has been in several movies throughout his career. Original source: Ī post shared by Shawn Fonteno life as a young gang member did come in handy eventually, as Shawn is best known for voicing the somewhat notorious Franklin Clinton in the 2013 video game, “Grand Theft Auto V”.

Article cannot be re-published in any other pages or documents. Just a simple reminder that article is created and owned only by. While in the gang, Shawn stole cars, was a thief, and sold drugs. The traumatic experience lead to him leaving the gang and turning his life around. Shawn joined an African-American gang until he was nearly fatally shot.

He was raised by his father, Thomas Fonteno in Watts, Los Angeles – known to be home to mainly African-American people in Los Angeles – and attended Locke High School.

4 Hobbies, favorite things, and interesting facts about ShawnĮarly life, family, educational backgroundĪmerican voice actor, recording artist, actor and DJ rapper Shawn Darnell “Solo” Fonteno was born on 8 April 1968, in South Los Angeles, California, USA.

1 Early life, family, educational background.

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