Fredro Starr (given name, Fred Lee Scruggs Jr.) started off his career in entertainment as a break dancer and rapper in Queens, and he's best known to hip-hop fans as a co-founder of the rap group Onyx. Starr saw Onyx’s 1993 single “Slam” go platinum, but he might be more widely recognizable for playing Quinton "Q" Brooks, the love interest to Brandy's title character in Moesha, who was introduced in Season 2. Their relationship was a rollercoaster, and so was Starr's involvement in the series. He told VLAD TV in 2022 that producers told him Q would be written out of the main cast of the sitcom because they wanted to attract a “wider audience"—though Starr said he interpreted that phrase as code for a "whiter audience." After being bumped down to a guest character in Season 4, he would continue to recur in Seasons 5 and 6.
Starr's acting and music careers both continued in the years to come. Read on to find out what he's been doing since Moesha called off her and Q's engagement.
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He also appeared in one of the most acclaimed crime dramas of all time.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty ImagesBefore Moesha, Starr had already embarked on an acting career. His first credit was the 1993 TV movie Strapped, then he appeared in The Addiction, Spike Lee's Clockers, and episodes of Law & Order and New York Undercover. He was part of the sitcom off and on from 1996 to 2000, a period in which he also played parts in shows including In the House and NYPD Blue and movies including Sunset Park, Ride, and Light It Up.
In the early 2000s, he played Marquis "Bird" Hilton, one of Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) and Stringer Bell's (Idris Elba) enforcers, on three episodes of The Wire. And his TV career went on to include episodes of Karen Sisco, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY. On the big screen, he played Malaki in 2001's Save the Last Dance and Junior in 2004's Torque. He's also appeared in several independent movies and web series. Most recently, he acted in the 2022 Peacock series Bust Down, and he has several upcoming projects, including a fictionalized version of Onyx's story, Slam: Let the Boyz Be Boyz.
He's still involved in music—as a performer and a producer.
SGranitz/WireImageStarr, now 51, is still a member of Onyx, and the group is still active. In fact, he's the only member who's been with the group from their founding in 1988 to today. The lineup is currently Starr and his cousin Sticky Fingaz, whose given name is Kirk Jones. Onyx has released 12 studio albums, including three in 2022 alone, and have also contributed to several compilations. They're still touring all over the world, as well.
Starr launched a concurrent solo career in 2000, releasing four studio albums between 2001 and 2018. His songs appear on the soundtracks to his movies Light It Up and Save the Last Dance. He's also done guest verses on dozens of songs by other artists. He founded his own label, Mad Money Movement, in 2011, and he's produced both music and film and TV projects.
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He never dated Brandy.
Nicholas Hunt/Getty ImagesIn 2008, Starr started a firestorm by making a joke during an interview about having an intimate relationship with Brandy, his former co-star. He later clarified that nothing had ever happened between them, despite their onscreen chemistry. A clip of Starr losing his temper after being asked about his earlier comments on the matter on Power 105’s The Breakfast Club with Charlamagne tha God went viral in 2014. "You need to stop with all that. Let that be what it’s gonna be," he said. "Stop bringing up the past, B. We move to the future. I ain’t got time for that."
He's a dad and a children's book author.
Since 2007, Starr has been married to Karina Longin Starr, a model who hails from Croatia. (She also has her own early '00s pop culture credential, having appeared in the music video for NSYNC's "Gone.") The couple share two children, Princeton River and Brighton Angel. While she's not as active on social media as she used to be, Karina shared a sweet photo of Starr with their two kids on Father's Day 2016 with the caption, "Happy Father's Day to my hubby!💙👑💙👑💙👑💙 @Fredro_Starr. The greatest daddy in the world to our two little angels."
In 2011, Starr became a children's author with the publication of his book Lil Freddy: The Red Sock.
