 Owen Blakka Ellis is a teacher, writer, performing artist, and community development worker. He taught English, Literature and Drama, in the Jamaican high school system in the 1980s and lectured at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts for 11 years before migrating to Canada in 2004.
Widely acknowledged as a leading Caribbean comedic entertainer, he has performed at the world famous Apollo Theatre In New York, The Hackney Empire in London, and at major comedy festivals in Toronto, Montreal, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Florida, Virginia, Washington DC and all over the Caribbean either as a solo act or as part of the popular “Bello & Blakka” comedy duo.
As an actor, he made appearances in the ABC television series “Going to Extremes”; the Warner Brothers feature film “Club Paradise” and the Jamaican blockbuster “Dancehall Queen”. He has also performed in dozens of theatrical productions, music videos, and television/radio commercials.
Blakka co-wrote the national pantomime “Schoolers” which won the Jamaica Music Industry (JAMI) award for Best Musical in 1989, and co produced and starred in one of Jamaica’s most successful comedy productions “Laugh Jamaica” which won the Actor Boy Award for Best Revue 1998. He also produced, directed and performed in the innovative theatrical production “Tings a Gwaan!” which won the 2004 award for Best Comedy and was among the nominees for Best New Jamaican play.
He has conducted workshops and training seminars for youths and communities, development workers, cultural agents, Peace Corps volunteers, diplomats, teachers and performers internationally, including working in England, Germany, Canada and Zimbabwe. He is one of the founders of the inner city Arts-in-Education project Area Youth Foundation. Blakka has published a book of poems ‘GATEMAN’ (2005) and writes a weekly column, ‘Blakka’s Box’ which appears in the Jamaican STAR every Wednesday.
Ellis presented a paper entitled “Ragamuffin Bacchanal: From Johnkunnu to Passa-Passa - Carnival in Jamaican Culture” at the recently concluded international conference CARNIVAL: 'PEOPLE'S ART' AND 'TAKING BACK THE STREETS' (held July 30-August 3, 2008 in Toronto, Canada). The presentation focused on manifestations of the ‘carnivalesque’ in Jamaican culture by exploring discernable demonstrations of these expressions from the early street masquerade of costumed characters to the contemporary street dance phenomenon, and strongly challenged the notion that the current post-Easter ‘Jamaica Carnival’ - which imitates and borrows from the Trinidadian experience- is a valid exemplar of carnival in Jamaica.
His academic interests relate to masculinity, gender relations, urban violence, and Jamaican popular culture. Blakka is now reading for a Master in Environmental Studies (MES) degree from York University with completion scheduled for June 2009.
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