Actor / Acting Coach / Director
Michael Cherrie
About Michael
Born in the twin-island of Trinidad and Tobago, Michael Cherrie is one of the most notable names and faces in theatre in the Caribbean.
From the stage to the big screen, Cherrie has spent over 30 years honing his craft in countless productions. His acting career began while he attended an all-boys secondary school in Port of Spain, Trinidad in the Pirates of Penzance under Trinidadian actress and director Sonya Moze. Bit with the acting bug, Cherrie continued to pursue the craft in the Secondary Schools Drama Competition before graduating to bigger stages.
Over the course of his career, he has worked with directors and teachers such as the late Sir Peter Hall, the late Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, Gregory Doran, Donovan Marley, Rawle Gibbons, Horace Ove, Yao Ramesar, Sonya Moze, the late Tony Hall, Wendell Manwarren, Albert LaVeau, Dr. Arthur Feinsod, Ron Morales, Danielle Dieffenthaller, Mervyn De Goeas and the late Derek Walcott.
His work has been recognised with various honours. He won the Best Supporting Actor Cacique Award for excellence in theatre in 1995 for his work playing ‘Batricio’ in Derek Walcott’s The Joker of Seville and was also nominated for the Best Actor Cacique Award on several occasions. He was also awarded a Pioneer in Film Award in 2013 by The Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival.
While Cherrie has appeared in numerous productions in T&T, among them The Player’s Workshop production of Peter Shaffer’s Equus (Dr. Martin Dysart) in association with The Actors’ Lab Trinidad and The UTT-Academy for the Performing Arts’ productions of Derek Walcott’s The Odyssey (‘Blind’ Billy Blue), he has also done theatre in the United States,
Theatre credits in the US include: A Streetcar named Desire (Pablo), Lobby Hero (William), The Three Sisters (Ferapont), A Selfish Sacrifice (an adaptation of A Doll’s House) playing Balogun and The Madwoman of Chaillot (The Waiter) – all at The Denver Center Theatre Company; Othello (Othello) and The Merry Wives of Windsor (Ford) at The Houston Shakespeare Festival; Antony and Cleopatra (Mardian) and The Comedy of Errors (Pinch/Balthazar) at The Colorado Shakespeare Festival; Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio) at The Colorado Springs/Theatreworks Shakespeare Festival; The Tempest (Caliban) at The Mill Mountain Theatre in Virginia; Blues for an Alabama Sky (Dr. Sam Thomas) at The Black Spectrum Theatre, NY; Salome (Iokanan) with The Colorado Opera Troupe; The National Theatre Conservatory’s Rep productions of Equus (Frank Strang) and The Good Doctor (The General/The Sexton/The Bank Manager); The Dragon Can’t Dance (Philo) at The Austin Arts Centre, Trinity College, Hartford, CT and The Joker of Seville (Batricio) and Dream on Monkey Mountain (Chorus) at The Huntington Theatre (Boston University Theatre), Boston, MA – on tour with The Trinidad Theatre Workshop.
Cherrie received his professional training for the stage and screen at The National Theatre Conservatory’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree program at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts where he was seen in productions of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream (Oberon/Theseus), GB Shaw’s Arms and the Man (Capt. Bluntschli) and John Guare’s Landscape of the Body (Raulito/Dope King). He also did an intensive in acting, voice and speech with The Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production with Theatre Arts from The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, he is an Assistant Professor of Acting at The University of Trinidad and Tobago’s Academy for the Performing Arts and he is a member of Actors’ Equity Association of the United States of America, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the USA.
Awards
Won the Cacique Award for Best Supporting Actor for “The Joker of Seville” (1994),
Nominated for Best Supporting Actor for “Ti-Jean and His Brothers” (1995)
Nominated for Best Actor for “Endgame” (1996), “I, Marcus Garvey” (1997), “The 3 Canal Bachannal Show” (2007) and “Shine” (2008).
Awarded the Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival Pioneer in Film Award in 2013
Short Film 2010 Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, co-producer of “The Blood and the Bois”.
Official Selection TTFF experimental short “Breathe” 2009
Press
Caribbean Beat
Michael Cherrie Blossoms
He’s been dubbed “the Black Brando” and, writes Caroline Taylor, Michael Cherrie’s future as an actor seems assured …
Trinidad Gaurdian
Cherrie: Create your own work in arts industry
What serious students of the performing arts have to realise is that working in the performing arts is in a large part entrepreneurial. You have to create your own work …
Media
