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Freddie Leon Tate Jr. was born on June 24, 1968 in San Angelo, Texas. He is the first born of two children to a homemaker mother, Jean Tate, from Texas, and a military father, Frederick Leon Tate, Sr., also from Texas. Growing up, Freddie always had a fascination with numbers, computers, and music!
Freddie's love of music began with listening to his father's vinyl albums through headphones on his turntable and watching MTV. Freddie wrote his first song at age 9 and though he didn't yet have the skills of arranging music, melodies began to fill his head. Freddie wasn't exactly encouraged by his family to write or sing, but he continued to do just that, adding hundreds, then thousands of songs to his collection.
After high school, Freddie joined the Army and was intent on a career in either computers or music. He studied computers in the military and fell in love with programming. During this time, Freddie had begun to record and mix his own music, buying keyboards, 4-tracks, drum machines, and on and on. His collection of music began to build, and he began to put together tapes, then CDs of his material. Though you would be hard pressed to find it today, his music is still floating around out there on the internet.
It was Freddie's love for writing, composing, and performing music that ultimately led him to a new love--acting. Freddie used to frequent a karaoke club, and after hearing him sing one night, his friends Brad and Claire asked if he would like to be in a play: "Moby Dick: The Musical." Though Freddie had a huge problem with stage fright he agreed, in hopes that being in the play would help him to overcome it. Freddie was instantly bitten by the acting bug. He was excited to have an opportunity to sing and dance onstage, but remembers being transformed by the minute-and-a-half sermon he had to give as Father Maple. "I just remember leaving my body to do the part (I was so afraid), yet still being fully present! It was amazing, and all I thought was: THAT is what I want to do!"
Freddie was approached by, Gary Amstutz after seeing "Moby Dick," and quickly offered him a part in "Jesus Christ Superstar." Freddie began to quickly make friends in the acting community and asked one friend , Kara Staiger, if she would help him find a (non-musical) play to audition for. She led him to American Theater Company's "National Pastime," which is the true story of Jackie Robinson. Freddie auditioned hoping for any part in the play, but landed the lead role. He accepted the role with little to no true knowledge of acting and in the end learned a huge lesson, it isn't as easy as it looks. Freddie regards his performance in that play as the turning point in his newly chosen career. He calls his performance "terrible." "I can't stand to watch it." Freddie began to second-guess himself, thinking that maybe acting wasn't for him, and it was better that he learned that now.
Fate saw things differently. One weekend, while Freddie was contemplating quitting acting for good, he received a call from another friend, Michael Remington, who said "hey, want to get paid to act?" and Freddie headed off to his first murder mystery. He met James Fields, who allowed him to be crazy as all get out, and at the same time learn to act: stay in character, ignore distractions. "I'm so grateful to Jim Fields. "He took me in and taught me some of the greatest lessons in acting."
During this time Freddie was also being asked to fill roles in other plays. His schedule began to fill up and Freddie quickly became a sought-after actor, who has garnered much acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Some of Freddie's most notable work has been in roles such as "Walter Younger" in "A Raisin In The Sun," "Noah T. Horse" in "The Full Monty," "Mitch Albom" in "Tuesdays with Morrie," "Jesus Christ" In "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot," and "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." in "All the Way," for which he won a TATE Award for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role.
"I like to be challenged," he says. "I want to have some sort of struggle with every role that I take. It's so much more fulfilling when it all comes together. I can't really put into words the passion I have for acting, but I know it's what I'm supposed to be doing."
Freddie Tate is now looking to pursue and further his career in film. He has been in a few movies, music videos and television commercials. His most notable film work are the award winning films "The Take" and "Out from Smoke & Ash."
Additional theatrical work includes: "Twisted Theatre," "Jake" in Side Show," "Larry" in "The Day They Shot John Lennon," "Governor Bellingham" in "The Scarlet Letter," "Edward Farpis" in "Revenge of the Space Pandas," '"Belize/Mr. Lies" in "Angels in America," "Cupid" (the openly gay reindeer) in "The Eight Reindeer Monologues," "Dr. Barnes" in "Waiting for Lefty," "Tom" in "Dinner with Friends," "Doc" in "The Most Happy Fella," "Chasuble" in "The Importance of Being Earnest," "Jay Moore" in "Quarter Till 12," "Henry (Hank) Brown" in "Race," "Clifford Bradshaw" in "Cabaret," "Dracula" in "Bram Stoker's Dracula," "The Fairy Godfather" in "Sleeping Beauty," "Julius" in "Bard Fiction," "Average Guy/Vietnam Vet" in "Tinkerbell is Dead," "Rodney/Ms. Polinski" in "My Big Gay Italian Wedding," "Captain Schultz/Soldier" in "Miss Saigon," "Isaac Thomas" in "Nanyehi," various roles in "Brain Storms," "Dominik Vitale" in "My Big Gay Italian Funeral," and as "Sam Himmelsteen" in "Andrew Lippa's Wild Party."
