Biography

Duke was born in Charlotte N.c. on Nov 29th 1950. He attended woodlawn elementary school, Smith Junior High and South Mecklenburg High School in Charlotte N.C. He was interested in acting from childhood. He was an avid comic book collector and enjoyed reading. Duke is the fifth son of six sons born to Virginia and Earl Ernsberger. Duke was the first in his family to attend and graduate from college. He graduated from the N.C. school of fine arts in the 70's. During his college years he won the Irene Ryan Award for acting and performed at the Lincoln Center in Washington D.C. After college he collaborated with some friends to start a film company. He produced his first film at the age of 22. It was a 16 MM film entitled "Spook". Duke wrote, directed, produced and stared in the movie. The movie was a box office flop. A few years later Duke was contacted to do a movie called Killer. A low budget slasher movie made in the South that did well and reached cult status among young people. During the 80's Duke pursued commercial work along with voice overs and stage acting. During this time he won many ad awards and made industrial training films for many companies like Duke Power Company. By the end of the 1980's, Duke had become the most popular actor in the Carolina's and his notoriety was spreading. He appeared in King Kong with Jeff Bridges and in 1989 Jim Varney, having seen some of Duke's work, asked him to do a movie with him called Earnest Rides Again. to be continued......

- IMDb Mini Biography By: John Mark Ernsberger