James LaRue Avery (November 27, 1945 - December 31, 2013) was an American actor and poet. He was best known for his roles as Philip Banks in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Shredder for most of the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.
For Nickelodeon, he provided the voice of the gorilla in The Wild Thornberrys episode "Valley Girls".