Stogie Kenyatta

Stogie Kenyatta is an actor, comedian, writer, and director with a career spanning more than two decades across stage, screen, and the stand-up comedy circuit. Classically trained at the Afro American Studio in Harlem, the Henry St. Settlement, and the Al Fann Theatrical Ensemble, Kenyatta developed his craft with a disciplined approach from the outset. As a finalist in the New York State Theatre competition with artistic director John Houseman, he later moved to the West Coast on a basketball scholarship, studying screenwriting and political science at the University of California and training privately with Ivan Markota at the Van Mar Academy for Television and Film Acting.

Kenyatta has accumulated more than 30 television credits, including guest-starring roles on shows such as "J.A.G.," "The Bold and the Beautiful," "Batman & Robin," "Half Past Dead," "ER," and "The Bernie Mac Show." He is recognized for his ability to deliver authentic Jamaican, British, and African dialects in his performances. In addition to his acting work, Kenyatta has written two novels, directed several short films, cable commercials, and music videos, and co-headlined a USO stand-up comedy tour in Okinawa and Tokyo, Japan. His stand-up work is featured in the comedy DVD "Stogie Kenyatta - Started with Nothing; Still Got Most of It."

Kenyatta is known as the writer and performer of the one-man Broadway-style show "The World is My Home – The Life of Paul Robeson." The production earned the NAACP Theater Award for Best Solo Show and became a leading multicultural Pan-African touring show in the United States. Kenyatta has performed the show at U.S. Embassies and universities in 21 countries, including venues in the South of France, London, Birmingham, the Gulf of Mexico, and several Caribbean islands. With more than 450 performances, the show highlights his commitment to using art as a platform for social change.

Through theater, Kenyatta addresses the significance of the Harlem Renaissance, education, cultural diversity, and social justice, using Robeson's life to examine the role of slavery's descendants in American history. He also completed a co-starring role in "Joseph," an international film shot in Jamaica, Cape Coast, and Accra, Ghana, exploring the 400-year return and the Ashanti Tribe. Kenyatta has written several screenplays, some of which have been optioned, and continues to focus on projects that use the arts to inspire and create social impact.