Heavy D now light on his feet

LOS ANGELES - Heavy D isn't so heavy anymore.

The rapper-turned-actor says he has dropped 135 pounds in the past year. Although he didn't say what he previously weighed or how he lost the weight, Heavy D, whose real name is Dwight Myers, said the loss wasn't prompted by health concerns.

"I went on a couple of auditions and one director was kind enough to say, "Look, you would've had this part but you're not fitting, you're stifling yourself,' " he told the Television Critics Association last week.

"He was right. I kind of always knew it in the back of my mind, and I just woke up on a Tuesday and I just kept going."

Heavy D plays a mechanic in The Tracy Morgan Show, a proposed show starring the former Saturday Night Live comic. It's not yet on NBC's fall schedule. Heavy D composed and performs the show's title theme.

The 36-year-old has no plans to lose the moniker he has used since he broke into the music business. Heavy D and the Boyz earned three Grammy nominations and scored a hit with We Got Our Own Thang.

"There's a lot of checks involved with "Heavy D,' so that name stays," he said.

His credits include the movies Life, The Cider House Rules and Big Trouble.