Beau Sia

Beau Sia grew up in Oklahoma City where he spent most of his childhood facing identity issues. Being Chinese-American only added to the confusion about his lack of fully understanding his cultural diversity. His only outlet was the arts. It was only after a chance viewing of spoken word on MTV that he discovered writing.

Originally Sia used writing to deal with teenage frustrations as a catharsis for his inner demons and angst. He began performing at open mics in Oklahoma City and eventually moved to New York, attending NYU’s Tisch School of The Arts Dramatic Writing Program. Sia performed his poetry at the world famous Nuyorican Poet's Café, winning numerous poetry slams and appearing in several documentary films, Slamnation, Slam, and Race is the Place.

His strong entrance into the world of poetry slams exemplified his range of content, style, and talent. Sia has toured Europe and the U.S., focusing his spoken word on the college circuit. He authored the poetry book A Night Without Armor II: The Revenge as well as the spoken word CD's Attack! Attack! Go! and Dope and Wack. His work also appears in numerous anthologies including Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam.

Sia has appeared frequently in Russell Simmon’s Presents Def Poetry on HBO. He was featured in the 2000 ESPN X Games and on Hardball with Chris Matthews, Last Call with Carson Daly, Showtime at the Apollo, The Today Show, and The Tony Awards. His film career expanded to include Hitch, with Will Smith, and The Manchurian Candidate, with Denzel Washington. He is one of the original cast members in Def Poetry Jam on Broadway, a 2003 Special Event Tony Award Winner, and has recently toured with Declare Yourself, a project dedicated to increasing the number of young voters in this past 2004 election.

Sia believes the true body of his work is his poetry. Continuing to share his talents, he is involved with the Asian-American Writer's Workshop and Youthspeaks, a nonprofit dedicated to developing the writing and performance of teenagers. He has taught workshops at both institutions and has also helped to nurture and curate the only Asian-American open mic series in NYC, “(re)collection.”

Topics

• Fish Out of Water -A One Man Show

• Nurturing and Creating Poetry

• Asian American Artist

• Poetry Slam