| Oliver Samuels | |
|---|---|
 Samuels in 2018. | |
| Birth name | Oliver Adolphus Samuels [1] |
| Born | 4 November 1948 [1] Saint Mary, Jamaica [1] |
| Nationality | Jamaican |
| Children | He has six children. |
| Relative(s) | Brother, Christopher Humber |
| Notable works and roles | Oliver at Large |
Oliver Samuels (born 4 November 1948) is a Jamaican comedian and actor. He has been described as the Jamaican "King of Comedy", performing both stand-up and comic theatre. [2] [3] [4]
Samuels found fame on the popular Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation's television series Oliver at Large, created by producer Calvin Butler and playwright Aston Cooke. Nine of the thirteen episodes of the original series, including the pilot episode, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, were written by prolific Jamaican playwright, Patrick Brown. In this series, Samuels played his alter ego Olivius Adams, aka Oliver. The series featured sketches from Oliver's exploits, often with his sidekick, Maffi—a character created by Patrick Brown. Oliver has subsequently appeared in several Patrick Brown plays, including Large Abroad, Oliver's Posse (1999), Oliver and Pinocchio (2001), and Oliver and the Genie (2002).
Samuels, known by most through Oliver at Large, has combined a career in marketing with life on stage, touring every year between spring and summer before returning home for his executive offices at Mack D's—the Kingston-based company where he is a director and head of marketing and public relations.
Abroad, he is known as Jamaica's Bill Cosby, and is a brand name that is synonymous with Jamaica and laughter. Samuels is widely regarded as one of the funniest talents to emerge from the Caribbean.
In addition to his work with a local car company, Samuels was recently selected by the wire transfer service Unitransfer to star in a series of advertisements that will market their products to Florida's Caribbean community.
Samuels also piloted the launch of "Oliver's Yaad Cyaad", which features Samuels giving instructions in Patois and standard English. The unique feature of Patois prompts is a first for the international calling-card industry.
As well as having a large following in Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, Samuels frequently tours Britain and North America, playing to the Caribbean ex-pat community.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Class of '73 | Mr. B. Pringle | |
| 1976 | Smile Orange | Snail race | |
| 1982 | Countryman | Pillion | |
| 1987 | Hammerhead | ||
| 1989 | The Mighty Quinn | Rupert | |
| 1993 | Oliver at Large | Thomas | |
| 1993–1996 | Chef! | Dad / Justin | 2 episodes |
| 1994 | Great Moments in Aviation | Thomas | |
| 2005 | Almost Heaven | Hotel Manager | |
| 2011 | Out the Gate | Uncle Willie |
Common Law as Winston 6 November (2009) Midnight at Puss Creek (2011)
Jamaican culture consists of the religion, norms, values, and lifestyle that define the people of Jamaica. The culture is mixed, with an ethnically diverse society, stemming from a history of inhabitants beginning with the original inhabitants of Jamaica. The Spaniards originally brought slavery to Jamaica. Then they were overthrown by the English. Jamaica later gained emancipation on 1 August 1838, and independence from the British on 6 August 1962. Black slaves became the dominant cultural force as they suffered and resisted the harsh conditions of forced labour. After the abolition of slavery, Chinese and Indian migrants were transported to the island as indentured workers, bringing with them ideas from their country.
Yardie is a term often used, particularly within the Caribbean expatriate and Jamaican diaspora, to refer to people of Jamaican origin, though its exact meaning changes depending on context. The term is derived from the Jamaican patois for “home” or "yard". The term may have specifically originated from the crowded "government yards" of two-storey government-funded concrete homes found in Kingston and inhabited by poorer Jamaican residents, though "yard" can also refer to "home" or "turf" in general in Jamaican patois.
Jamaican Patois is an English-based creole language with West African, Taino, Irish, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, Chinese and German influences, spoken primarily in Jamaica and among the Jamaican diaspora. Words or slang from Jamaican Patois will be heard in other Caribbean countries, the United Kingdom and Toronto, Canada. The majority of non-English words in Patois derived from the West African Akan language. It is spoken by the majority of Jamaicans as a native language.
Joseph Evans Brown was an American actor and comedian, remembered for his friendly screen persona, comic timing, and enormous elastic-mouth smile. He was one of the most popular American comedians in the 1930s and 1940s, with films like A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), Earthworm Tractors (1936), and Alibi Ike (1935). In his later career Brown starred in Some Like It Hot (1959), as Osgood Fielding III, in which he utters the film's famous punchline "Well, nobody's perfect."
Ralph William John Brown is an English actor and writer, known for playing Danny the drug dealer in Withnail and I, the security guard Aaron in Alien 3, DJ Bob Silver in The Boat That Rocked aka Pirate Radio, super-roadie Del Preston in Wayne's World 2, the pilot Ric Olié in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and Henry Clinton in Turn: Washington's Spies. He won The Samuel Beckett Award for his first play Sanctuary written for Joint Stock Theatre Company in 1987, and the Raindance and Sapporo Film Festival awards for his first screenplay for the British film New Year's Day in 2001.
Oliver Robert Ford Davies is an English actor and writer, best known for his extensive theatre work, and to a broader audience for his role as Sio Bibble in Star Wars Episodes I to III. He is also known for his role as Maester Cressen in HBO series Game of Thrones.
Jamaican literature is internationally renowned, with the island of Jamaica being the home or birthplace of many important authors. One of the most distinctive aspects of Jamaican literature is its use of the local dialect — a variation of English, the country's official language. Known to Jamaicans as "patois", and now sometimes described as "nation language", this creole has become an important element in Jamaican fiction, poetry and theater.
Trevor Dave Rhone was a Jamaican writer, playwright and filmmaker. He co-wrote, with director Perry Henzell, the internationally successful film The Harder They Come (1972).
Aston Cooke was one of Jamaica's leading playwrights and the recipient of nine national Actor Boy Awards for outstanding achievement in various categories of theatre in Jamaica. Cooke was an inductee to the Caribbean Hall of Fame for Arts and Culture for his contribution to Jamaican theatre over the years. Cooke served as Chairman of the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (2013–2016).
Vincent "Ivanhoe" Martin, known as "Rhyging", was a Jamaican criminal who became a legendary outlaw and folk hero, often regarded as the "original rude boy". He became notorious in 1948 after escaping from prison, going on the run and committing a string of robberies, murders and attempted murders before he was gunned down by police. In subsequent decades his life became mythologised in Jamaican popular culture, culminating in the 1972 cult film The Harder They Come, in which he is portrayed by Jimmy Cliff.
Wolmer's Schools, also referred to as Wolmer's Trust Group of Schools in Kingston, Jamaica, currently consists of Wolmer's Pre-School, Wolmer's Preparatory School and two high schools: Wolmer's Trust High School For Girls and Wolmer's Trust High School for Boys. Both are schools of choice for many Jamaican students sitting Primary Exit Profile examinations. While acknowledged as separate institutions, each school shares a school song, crest, and motto, "Age Quod Agis", a Latin phrase that translates as "Whatever you do, do it well". Another English translation is “Whatever you do, do it to the best of your abilities”. Wolmer's Schools closely resemble British schools of the 1950s more than those today, a trend that can be noted of the entire Jamaican schooling system. Wolmer's Boys' and Girls' have been deemed some of the top schools in the Caribbean and performs well in exit examinations (CSEC/CAPE), especially in the Sciences and Mathematics.
Louis Marriott was a Jamaican actor, director, writer, broadcaster, the executive officer of the Michael Manley Foundation, and member of the Performing Right Society, Jamaica Federation of Musicians, and founding member of the Jamaica Association of Dramatic Artists.
Keith 'Shebada' Ramsay is a Jamaican actor and comedian, best known for his appearances in 'roots' plays.
Barrington John Reckord, known as Barry Reckord, was a Jamaican playwright, one of the earliest Caribbean writers to make a contribution to theatre in Britain. His brother was the actor and director Lloyd Reckord, with whom he sometimes worked.
Lloyd Reckord was a Jamaican actor, film maker, and stage director who lived in England for some years. Reckord appeared in 1958 in a West End production of Hot Summer Night, which as an ITV adaptation broadcast on 1 February 1959 contained the earliest known example of an interracial kiss on television. His brother was the dramatist Barry Reckord.
Jeffrey Anderson-Gunter is a Jamaican-born actor.
Sam Beaver King MBE was a Jamaican-British campaigner and community activist. He first came to England as an engineer in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War but returned to Jamaica in 1947. Failing to settle there, King took passage to London in 1948, sailing on the Empire Windrush. He later became the first black mayor of Southwark and a campaigner in support of West Indian immigrants to the country.
Lois Kelly Miller, also spelled Lois Kelly-Miller and formerly known as Lois Kelly-Barrow, was a Jamaican theater and screen actress. She became a household name in Jamaica for her decades-long, professional career in theater and pantomime, particularly with the Little Theatre Movement (LTM) National Pantomime. Kelly Miller was best known to international audiences for her role in the American film Meet Joe Black (1998) opposite Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins.
The Caribbean American Heritage Awards (CARAH) were established in 1994 to recognize and celebrate individuals "who have made outstanding contributions to American society, promoted Caribbean culture and interests in the United States, as well as to friends of the Caribbean." The annual awards ceremony is hosted by the Institute of Caribbean Studies in Washington, D.C..
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
