Alphacat

Iman Crosson (March 27, 1982) is an American actor, impressionist, dancer and singer known on various Internet websites under the pseudonym "Alphacat" and is known for his impersonations of U.S. President Barack Obama, and for his use of the Internet to independently promote his career.

Crosson's propensity for dancing, acting and comedy manifested at age 5, his parents enrolling him in a school for the creative arts at age 12. Crosson showed interest in various performing arts. Crosson found early work as an actor at an amusement park, a hip-hop dancer, and a runway model before entering college to major in dance and minor in acting. He was recruited into a dance company. After moving to New York City, Crosson worked as a waiter, finding occasional work as a dancer and actor. In 2005, he began promoting his talents on Internet websites, especially video sharing website YouTube.

During the summer of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election campaign, Crosson won Denny's Restaurant's nationwide contest for the best impressionist of the then-candidate Barack Obama. Obama's election victory brought recognition for Crosson's comedy-, vocal-, musical-, and dance-laden video characterizations of a President during national crisis. Within months of the election, Crosson was featured on numerous entertainment, culture, and news television shows, blogs and newspapers, and performed at Aretha Franklin's March 2009 birthday celebration. Two of Crosson's videos have occupied spots in the top ten most "favorited" videos on YouTube (Entertainment category). Crosson has had engagements at corporate events, parts in national commercials, and voice-over parts on Newsweek.com's The District and on two prime time television shows. Crosson co-edited and sang in the charity music video "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube Edition)," whose participants were collectively named ABC News' "Persons of the Week" by Diane Sawyer. He also spoke at the 66th Annual Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner, impersonating Barack Obama who was not personally present at the event. Crosson produced "President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden (SPOOF)" as a spoof of Obama's May 1, 2011 speech announcing the death of Osama bin Laden, the video being named one of the top five Obama impressions by Matt Wilstein of The Huffington Post.com.