Allen Payne was born in New York City. His early roles include a cautionary tale in Mario Van Peebles' "New Jack City" (1991) as Gee Money, lieutenant to Wesley Snipes' ascendant cocaine king Nino Brown and as Euripides in "CB4" (1993). He had a recurring role as Lance Rodman in "The Cosby Show" (NBC, 1984-1991), as well as big-screen credits in "The Walking Dead" (1995), "The Perfect Storm" (2000) and "California Love" (2021). More recently, Payne has played the role of CJ Payne in "Tyler Perry's House of Payne" (TBS, 2007-2011; BET, 2020- ).