He was so good in An Officer and a Gentleman, Never seemed to get a lot of good roles after that which was surprising
Reading up on him a bit, apparently he tried out for the New York Knicks and almost made the team as a PG, then turned to stage acting full time. He was pretty confused and bitter that Officer and a Gentleman didn't lead to more high-profile roles in bigger films, turned to drugs and alcohol for a bit before getting straight, getting back into acting and focusing on activism.
Guessing at the time there were only so many high profile/leading roles to go around in big time films for African American actors, but who knows. Shame, he was a truly great dramatic actor.