Remember the actor who played Michael Jackson in the 1992 mini-series, The Jacksons: An American Dream? He was handpicked by MJ himself to play that role and although most of us never knew his name, many of us remember his face from what became the only role that he was known for in his acting career.

The thing that is news to a lot of is that just like Michael Jackson, this brotha, whose name is Wylie Draper, is no longer here with us either. He sadly passed away at a very young age soon after the Jacksons mini series aired on television. He had no clue that his days were numbered at the time that he was filming the ’92 movie, but we now know that he soon learned that they were.

Wylie Hughes Draper Jr. was born May 5 1969 in West Virginia. He seemed destined for stardom from the very start, at the age of ten Wylie’s brother Deasmond would throw parties at a local skating rink where Wylie would dance like Michael Jackson often becoming the main attraction at the party!

Wylie grew his focus from the arts shifted and as a teen he became a football player at Northside high school, but he changed his focus again back to the arts his Sophomore year. But he passed away…

After graduating college, Wylie auditioned and won the role as adult Michael Jackson in the television film “The Jacksons an American dream”.

Sadly he would pass away one year later he died from a rare form of leukemia on December 20, 1993. Wylie passed away without much “fanfare”, but many of us did enjoy the one of the first movies depicting Micheal Jackson, so we thank you for blessing us with your talents.

R.I.P.

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