Geoffrey Owens accepted Tyler Perry's job offer to appear on his show The Haves and the Have Nots, a representative for OWN confirmed to Newsweek Friday.
Owens will be in a recurring role in Season 6 of The Haves and the Have Nots, which films in Atlanta, Georgia. He will appear in 10 episodes. TMZ first reported the news.
After photos were released showing Owens working at Trader Joe's and reports from The Daily Mail and Fox News job-shamed him, The Cosby Show actor received support from people all over the world, including those in Hollywood. "I'm about to start shooting OWN's number one drama next week! Come join us!!!" Tyler Perry tweeted Tuesday.
The Haves and the Have Nots is created, written, directed and executive produced by Perry.
"I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs," the producer wrote in his tweet. "The measure of a true artist." He used those same words when he spoke with Good Morning America Wednesday. "I have such tremendous respect for a man who has no pride about working. He's going to do what he has to do to support his family. He's going to get a job," he said.
"I know a lot of people in the business, in Hollywood, that refuse to go to work when they're between acting gigs, so when I first saw that, I was moved by him," he continued. "That's the true measure of a man."
Owens played Elvin Tibideaux in 44 episodes of The Cosby Show from 1985 to 1992, and has 40 other credits on IMDb, including guest appearances on Blue Bloods, The Blacklist and Lucifer in 2017 and Elementary this year.
"I'd been teaching, acting, directing for 30-plus years, but it got to a point where it just didn't add up enough," the 57-year-old actor said on GMA Tuesday. "I wanted a job that I could have some flexibility, try to stay in the business. I didn't advertise I was at Trader Joe's, not that I was ashamed of it, but because I didn't want the entertainment community to decide, 'Well, he's doing that, he's not pursuing acting anymore.'"
He didn't want the publicity he received from the photos to lead to him getting jobs. "I wouldn't mind getting auditions. I don't mind if people call me in to try out for things due to what's happened," he said. "I want to get a job because I'm the right person for that job."
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