Tone Bell

Tone Bell is an American comedian and actor whose screen work has moved between network sitcoms, streaming comedy, and ensemble films. Born on August 10, 1983, in Decatur, Georgia, he attended Savannah State University before pursuing comedy. Bell developed his stand-up in Dallas and later relocated to Los Angeles, where television roles gave him a wider audience.

One of Bell’s early recurring parts was R.J., the bartender and friend in NBC’s Whitney. The sitcom, created by and starring Whitney Cummings, ran from 2011 to 2013. Bell’s character was part of the show’s central group around Whitney and Alex, played by Chris D’Elia.

Bell then took a principal role in NBC’s Truth Be Told, a 2015 multi-camera comedy about two couples whose friendship is tested by marriage and parenting. He played Mitch, opposite Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Russell. Although the series lasted one season, it placed Bell at the center of an NBC comedy rather than solely in a supporting capacity.

In Netflix’s Disjointed, Bell played Carter, the security guard at a Los Angeles cannabis dispensary. The workplace comedy, released in 2017, starred Kathy Bates as Ruth Whitefeather Feldman, the dispensary’s owner. Carter’s deadpan presence made Bell a regular across the series’ 20 episodes.

His later television work includes Fam, the CBS sitcom in which he played Nick, the fiancé of Nina Dobrev’s Clem. The 2019 series centers on Clem’s effort to build an adult life while her troubled younger half-sister moves in.

Bell also joined the cast of Netflix’s Survival of the Thickest, a comedy created by Michelle Buteau and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel. He plays Khalil, a close friend in the orbit of Buteau’s stylist Mavis Beaumont. The series adapts Buteau’s essay collection of the same title and follows Mavis after a breakup reshapes her life and work.

Alongside acting, Bell has continued performing stand-up. Showtime released his special Tone Bell: Can’t Cancel This in 2019. The title reflects Bell’s interest in contemporary culture and public debate, while the special preserves the conversational delivery associated with his club work. In addition to sitcom appearances, Bell appeared in the 2022 film Dog, directed by Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin. In the road film, Tatum plays Army Ranger Jackson Briggs, who must take military dog Lulu to her former handler’s funeral. Across these projects, he has played friends, partners, and workplace colleagues, moving from NBC’s traditional multi-camera format to Netflix’s serialized ensemble comedies and films alike.