He's the man who told America to "pity the fool" but for 74-year-old Mr T, the real story has always been about God, not gold chains.
In a new interview with The Guardian the former 80's TV icon talks about his life growing up as Laurence Tureaud on Chicago's South Side and the youngest of twelve children. When he was five, his father, who himself was a minister, left the family, and his mother raised them alone on welfare and what she earned cleaning.
He credits her, above everyone, with keeping him rooted in faith. She taught him that Frederick Douglass, born into slavery, had learned to read from his enslaver's wife and that both education, like faith, was a path to freedom.
As a young man "Little T" changed his name. Tired of watching black men in his family be disrespected, he became "Mr T" so the first words out of anyone's mouth would be "Mr".
He went on to study philosophy and theology in college, a fact he says rarely makes the papers.
Throughout the height of his fame the actor says his faith was always strong. During filming for Rocky III, his pastor told him to find somewhere to minister while in Los Angeles so he began volunteering, then preaching, at the Midnight Mission for the homeless. He enjoyed the experience and continued to preach later at his own church, Chicago's Cosmopolitan Community Church, describing it as "a great honour" carrying "awesome responsibility."
His Christian work extends beyond into prison ministry and he has spoken about how Christians are "missing the mark" with young men who need to be caught early before getting into trouble.
His life is charted in a new Netflix documentary out next Tuesday called Untold Mr T: I Pity the Fool.