Out of the innumerable amount of cinematic genres and subgenres that exist these days, the “party movie” is one that I never would have expected to see inspire any remakes or reboot. However, out of the many great party movies from over the years, I suppose the most likely candidate for such treatment would be the most quintessential title of them all — House Party.
Years after director Reginald Hudlin’s star-studded, 1990 comedy classic inspired four sequels, a full-fledged reimagining of the self-explanatory plot is being released in theaters with some grade-A talent behind the scenes — including “Old Town Road” video director Calmatic at the helm and Atlanta writers Stephen Glover and Jamal Olari penning the screenplay. There is just as much talent in front of the cameras in one of the biggest 2023 movies, too, as we will explain in our breakdown of who plays whom in the new House Party cast, along with a reminder of where you may have seen them from.
Tosin Cole (Damon)
As Damon — one of the two cash-strapped party hosts at the center of the House Party remake — we have Tosin Cole, who last played a hard-partier in the British 2021 comedy, Pirates, but first gained prominence in his native United Kingdom with roles on the coming-of-age TV dramas The Cut and Hollyoaks in the early to mid-2000s. He would go on to star in movies like the Idris Elba-led 2014 drama, Second Coming, but began to make a name for himself in American mainstream cinema the following year when he joined the Star Wars movies universe as Resistance pilot Lt. Bastian in The Force Awakens.
His more prominent sci-fi role, however, is Ryan Sinclair from his 22 episodes of the British cultural phenomenon Doctor Who, during which he time he also played Phil in the 2019 period romance, The Souvenir, and follow-up, The Souvenir: Part II, two years later. In 2022, Cole did a pair of timely dramas for both the small and big screen — namely when he joined producer Michael B. Jordan’s 61st Street cast and played civil rights activist Medgar Evers in Till.
Jacob Latimore (Kevin)
Playing Damon’s party co-host is Tosin Cole’s co-lead in the House Party cast, Jacob Latimore, who has some previous experience with remakes and reboots, having appeared in 2018’s modernized Superfly, and episodes of Apple TV+’s revival of the sci-fi anthology Amazing Stories, and Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre cast in 2022. After rising to fame as a teen hip-hop sensation, he made his acting debut alongside the One Tree Hill cast in a Season 7 guest role and made his film debut alongside Hayden Christensen in 2010’s Vanishing on 7th Street.
After putting his musical talents to use on the big screen in 2013’s Black Nativity, he had back-to-back hits the following year with Ride Along and the first of the Maze Runner movies, repeated that pattern in 2016 with Sleight and the Will Smith-led drama, Collateral Beauty, and, in 2017, starred in Kathryn Bigelow’s harrowing historical drama, Detroit. While playing Emmett Washington on Showtime’s The Chi, Latimore starred in Netflix’s 2019 coming-of-age comedy, The Last Summer, and appeared in Like a Boss with Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne.
Karen Obilom (No Character Name Provided)
Also appearing in the House Party cast is Karen Obilom, who actually just made her feature-length film debut in 2021 with the Netflix original rom-com, Resort to Love, opposite Christina Milian. By then, she had already began appearing on one of the most popular modern DC TV shows, Doom Patrol, in the recurring role of cybernetic war veteran, Roni Evers.
Before then, she had also landed a starring role on the BET original drama, Games People Play, and, in 2022, went on to star on the Hollywood-set dramedy, Send Help, for the streaming service AllBlk. The early years for Obilom’s career predominantly consisted of short films and guest appearances acclaimed series like NCIS: Los Angeles (as well as its New Orleans-set counterpart) and Insecure.
Scott Mescudi (No Character Name Provided)
Another House Party cast member who also has experience in the music business is Scott Mescudi, who, also like Jacob Latimore, made his acting debut on One Tree Hill, which marked the first time the rapper, also known as Kid Cudi, played himself. He would do this again in 2017’s Killing Hasselhoff, in the technophobic comedy Jexi, and Bill & Ted Face the Music — the long-awaited third installment of the sci-comedy franchise — after first playing a completely fictional character in HBO’s How to Make It in America cast.
After Mescudi made his feature film debut in 2013’s apocalyptic drama Goodbye World, he went on to star in movies like 2014’s adaptation of the Need for Speed video games, Adam McKay’s Oscar-nominated satire Don’t Look Up, and one of the best horror movies of 2022, X. He is known on the small screen for a recurring role on Westworld, a starring role on HBO Max’s miniseries We Are Who We Are, and for Netflix’s animated musical comedy special, Entergalactic, which he also created.
D.C. Young Fly (No Character Name Provided)
Yet another House Party cast member who also has experience in the music business (among other various avenues of the entertainment industry) is D.C. Young Fly, who, also like Scott Mescudi, has played himself before — namely in his 2016 acting and feature film debut #DigitalLivesMatter. He would follow that up with the star-studded holiday comedy Almost Christmas, Mario van Peebles’ action thriller Armed, Netflix’s The Trap, and the 2019 sequel to the stoner movie favorite, How High.
Some of his most notable TV credits include guest appearances and recurring roles on MTV’s Scream: The Series, Grown-ish, American Soul (as Sly Stone), Disney+’s Proud Family revival, and 80 epodes of Wild ’N Out. Fly’s other feature-length credits 2020’s 2 Minutes of Fame and She Ball and writer, director, and star Nick Cannon’s 2021 holiday flick, Miracles Across 125th Street.
Andrew Santino (Peter)
While Andrew Santino — who plays LeBron James’ neighbor, Peter, in House Party — has no experience in the music business, he stars as someone who does on FX’s Dave — namely Mike, the best friend and manager to Lil Dicky’s fictional self. After making his acting debut in 2008’s Henry Poole is Here, he became a featured prankster on 2012’s revival of Punk’d, made guest appearances on such notable TV comedies as The Office and Arrested Development, and starred in the unaired pilot for the original gender-swapped HIMYM spin-off, How I Met Your Dad, in 2014 — the same year he did land a starring role on the short-lived comedy, Mixology.
After leading another short-lived comedy for Yahoo! called Sin City Saint in 2015, he landed a starring role on Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here, played a The Room cast member in The Disaster Artist, and played a cop in Netflix’s 2018 action-comedy Game Over, Man!. His other Netflix original credits include the Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Hart-led buddy comedy, Me Time, and his recently released stand-up comedy special, Cheeseburger.
LeBron James (Hologram LeBron James)
As you can infer from our mentioning of LeBron James in the previous section, the NBA superstar does appear in the House Party cast as a holographic version of himself. In fact, most of the remake — which the athlete also produces — takes place mostly at his home, where the titular gathering is thrown in secret by our protagonists.
This actually marks the latest of many times that James has played a fictionalized version of himself that includes guest appearances on TV shows like The Simpsons, Entourage, and SpongeBob Squarepants and starring roles in movies like 2015’s Trainwreck — one of the best performances by a celebrity as themselves — and Space Jam: A New Legacy, which he also helped produced. He also tried his hand at not playing himself by voicing a yeti named Gwangi in 2018’s Smallfoot.
Also making a cameo (as seen in a brief moment from the trailer) are the stars of the original classic, Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin — better known collectively as hip-hop duo, Kid ’N Play. See what sort of roles they play in the new House Party cast by checking out the remake for yourself in theaters now.
