Oct. 28--Longtime Nickelodeon star Kel Mitchell said he returned to faith instilled in him growing up on the South Side to get through "the wall" he hit after his marriage ended and his sitcom was canceled more than a decade ago.
"I was like, 'Okay. I need to figure out what I need to do in my life,'" Mitchell said in an interview with People magazine posted online Wednesday.
Mitchell, known for playing ditzy fast-food worker Ed on Nickelodeon and in the 1997 "Good Burger" movie, has admitted to struggling with suicidal thoughts and drug and alcohol usage while "dealing with the lost of love ones to gang violence, debt, hurt, pain, vanity, lust (and) heartbreak."
Mitchell, 37, studied at the eta Creative Arts Foundation on the South Side. He starred on Nickelodeon's "All That" in the '90s and its Chicago-set spin-off "Kenan and Kel" from 1996-2000. He and ex-wife Tyisha Hampton-Mitchell split in 2005 after six years of marriage.
While his "Kenan and Kel" co-star Kenan Thompson went on to join the cast of "Saturday Night Live," Mitchell struggled to find roles.
"I was trying to figure it all out on my own. But what I needed to do was turn to Him," Mitchell said. "Once I found that clarity with Christ, I knew everything would work out."
Mitchell, who stars on the Nickelodeon show "Game Shakers," recently reunited with Thompson for a "Tonight Show" sketch.
