Shaft He's cool and tough. He's a black private dick that's a sex machine with all the chicks. He is the man who would risk his neck for his brother man. I'm talkin' about Shaft. Can you dig it? The man who became John Shaft for the movie also became John Shaft for his entire career. Richard Roundtree started his career as a model, working for a while in a black theater in New York City. Roundtree was born in New Rochelle, New York in 1937 and went on to attend Southern Illinois University. It was there that he began his acting career which consisted of big roles in small plays and small roles in small movies until he became the complicated man that no one understands but his woman