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Watch Don Cheadle shake it in an '80s R&B video

Constance Grady is a senior correspondent on the Culture team for Vox, where since 2016 she has covered books, publishing, gender, celebrity analysis, and theater.

On The Late Late Show Monday night, James Corden revealed what might be Don Cheadle’s darkest secret: He used to be a backup dancer.

"It was not a career," Cheadle insisted. He just happened to go along with his friend to an audition for a music video choreographed by Debbie Allen, of Fame fame, and Debbie wouldn’t let him leave.

"She said, ‘Do you know how to dance?’ and I was like, ‘Not like that,’" Cheadle recalled. Allen was unswayed: "She had her Fame stick, and she was like, ‘No, baby, you doing this video.’"

But that was so long ago. Surely after Don Cheadle earned an Oscar nomination for 2004's Hotel Rwanda he had someone scour the depths of the internet to remove all traces of — oh, hey, who’s that dancing behind Angela Winbush?

Your eyes do not deceive you: That is acclaimed, award-winning actor Don Cheadle high-kicking in an orange jumpsuit. He may say it wasn’t a career, but check that shimmy at the 4-minute mark. Cheadle was all in on this.