Donald Gibb was born in New York City on August 4, 1954. He grew up in California, where he attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks. He attended the University of New Mexico on a basketball scholarship and then University of San Diego, where he was on the football team. He played in the NFL in the San Diego Chargers before an injury from an auto accident curtailed his professional football career.
Given his size, early in his career Donald Gibb primarily played heavies. He made his movie debut in 1980 as a henchman in Any Which Way You Can. He made his TV debut in 1981 in the unsold TV pilot Nichols & Dymes. It would be Revenge of the Nerds in 1984 that would change the trajectory of his career. With casting directors discovering Donald Gibb had a gift for comedy, he began appearing in more and more comedy movies and TV shows. During the Eighties, he appeared in the movies Stripes (1980), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Meatballs Part III (1984), Lost in America (1985), Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), Jocks (1986), They Still Call Me Bruce (1987), Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise (1987), Amazon Women in the Moon (1987), and Bloodsport (1988). On television, he was a regular on the HBO sitcom !st & Ten. He guest-starred on the shows Alice, Simon & Simon, Hardcastle & McCormick, The A-Team, Just Our Luck, Magnum P.I., Knight Rider, Otherworld, Benson, The Facts of Life, 227, Hunter, My Two Dads, Dear John, Night Court, and Doctor Doctor. He also appeared in a few TV movies.
In the Nineties, Donald Gibb reprised his role as Ogre in the television movie sequel Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love. He guest starred on the shows Sons and Daughters, Amen, MacGyver, True Colors, Quantum Leap, Stand by Your Man, Cheers, Harry and the Hendersons, Dark Justice, Renegade, The X-Files, Daddy Dearest, Hearts Afire, Empty Nest, Boy Meets World, Muddling Through, Seinfeld, Murphy Brown, Kirk, Unhappily Ever After, Weird Science, Homeboys in Outer Space, Pacific Blue, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, Days of Our Lives, Arli$$, The Steve Harvey Show, Secret Agent Man, Early Edition, and Veronica's Closet. He appeared in the movies Missing Pieces (1991), Breakfast of Aliens (1993), Magic Kid II (1994), Broken Bars (1995), Bloodsport 2 (1996), American Tigers (1996), High Voltage (1997), U.S. Marshals (1998), and Durango Kids (1999).
In the Naughts, Donald Gibb guest starred on the TV shows Black Scorpion, Philly, She Spies, and The Young and the Restless. He appeared in the mini-series The Fantastic Two. He appeared in the movies Grind (2003), Lightning Bug (2004), Window Theory (2005), The Biggest Fan (2005), 8 of Diamonds (2006), and Hancock (2008). He appeared on the TV show Secret Mountain Fort Awesome in 2011 and the movie Hands in 2026.
Donald Gibb certainly had a flair for comedy, so that it is little wonder that he may be best remembered as ogre in the Revenge of the Nerds movies. It also little wonder that he appeared in many comedy movies, including Lost in America (1985), Transylvania 6-5000 (1985), Jocks (1986), They Still Call Me Bruce (1987), and Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), and such sitcoms as Benson, 227, Night Court, and Cheers. Of course, he could play other roles. His second best known role may be Ray "Tiny" Johnson in both Bloodsport (1988) and its sequel. In the X-Files episode "Conduit" he played Kip, a bartender who apparently had an encounter with aliens. In the MacGyver episode "Split Decision," he played Herman the German, a boxer who also serves as a thug for fight organizers. Of course as mentioned earlier, Donald Gibb played many heavies throughout his career. Regardless of what role he played, whether comedy or drama, whether nice guy or thug, Donald Gibb always gave a good performance.