Michael "Boogaloo Shrimp" Chambers (born November 13, 1967) is an American dancer and actor, known for his role as "Turbo" in the 1984 film Breakin' and its sequel, Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, in which he is credited as "Boogaloo Shrimp". Chambers, along with his Breakin' series co-star Adolfo "Shabba Doo" Quiñones and other dancers from the films, were prominently featured in the music videos for Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" (1983) and Chaka Khan's "I Feel for You" (1984).

Early life

Chambers, born in Wilmington, California, is the youngest of four. In 1978, while at junior high, Chambers saw a member of the Samoan American dance group Blue City Strutters perform. The group would influence Chambers' style by performing King Tut and domino routines.^[1] Initially, he formulated his style of dance through his interest in fantasy and sci-fi television shows, including the work of Ray Harryhausen and others. He credits his older brother with introducing him to the "moonwalk".

While still a teenager, Chambers' older brother would take him to Redondo Beach, California, where he would perform for money. Chambers' sister gave him a jacket that read "Mike a.k.a. Boogaloo Shrimp", his street dancing name. Chambers would meet Bruno "Pop N Taco" Falcon and Timothy "Popin' Pete". Both would later be featured in the Breakin' series.

Career

Chambers' early stints were through television commercials, followed by an appearance in the music video for Lionel Richie's "All Night Long". He made appearances in the videos for Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You", Richard Marx' "Children of the Night", Stacey Q's "Give You All My Love" and Paula Abdul's "Opposites Attract", where he played the character MC Skat Kat and was an assistant choreographer. In 1985, he co-starred in "Stop the Madness", an anti-drug music video sponsored by the Reagan administration. He also appeared in such films as Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)—as a dancing robot—Naked Gun 33+1⁄3: The Final Insult (1994) and Dudley Do-Right (1999). He also appeared as Urkel-Bot in two episodes of the television show Family Matters: "Robo-Nerd" and "Robo-Nerd II".

Chambers was the announcer on the children's show Fun House from 1990 to 1991. He also appeared in Sugar Ray's 1997 video for the song "Fly" and break danced in the video.

Chambers has been invited as a speaker several times to USC's Thorton School of Music. He has also spoken at Santa Monica College, the University of Redlands, and gave a surprise visit to Spelman College in Georgia, U.S.

In 2014, Chambers was in talks to do a second sequel to the Breakin' franchise. As of 2020, Chambers is set to release a website, as well as music and YouTube pages, featuring his original footage from his early career.

Filmography

References

External links

• Official website
• Michael Chambers at IMDb
• Comprehensive Interview with Michael Chambers, 17 parts on YouTube
• Cast biography from Breakin'