Kenya Cagle
Kenya Cagle was born in Bedford Stuyvesant to working parents George and Randola Cagle. At the age of 13 he began his acting career appearing off off Broadway in The Negro Ensemble Company's production of Dreams written by himself and Director Bill Duke. Kenya Cagle holds an MBA in Media Management and has been involved in the industry for over thirty years. He began as a child actor doing community and Off-Broadway Theater. He studied drama at the prestigious High School of Performing Arts, Communications and Media Arts at Empire State College and Business Management at Metropolitan College. In 1975, Kenya started working as an Associate Producer for the First Family Theater. He thrilled audiences across New York State. In 1981, he created and Co-produced Nu Artists Productions and continued to create for stage, video and film. In addition to various write-ups and press coverage, Mr. Cagle received a "People In Profile" Award in 1984. In 1988, he received a Brooklyn Arts and Cultural Association Award for his independent film "Enuf'." In 1994, he received a Certificate of Appreciation from Governor Mario Cuomo and a Certificate of Recognition from Congressman Ed Towns. In 1989, Kenya created the commercially viable and award winning UHF talk show "Take it to the Hill" and became an informative source for the Black community. "'Take it to the Hill" ran on UHF and cable access television for over 15 years and is now owned by "Take it to the Hill Productions." In 2001, Kenya became the president and CEO of CagleVision. In 2002, his first short film "The Boy Who Saw Christ" was screened at various festivals. He produced his first feature film "Goodnite Charlie" in August 2004. "Goodnite Charlie" features veteran performers Vanessa Tyler and Kimberly Shay Jones. "Goodnite Charlie" received two awards during the intial August 2004 screening. It has been selected for screening in several festivals. Since this time, Kenya has produced twenty shorts and features including the award winning The Miracle which was voted as the most downloaded film in 2005 at The Midnite Madness Movie Festival. His features TK - The Series, Father Dad, Rich From Within and Thug Kidz all went on to become award winning festival films. By 2007 The Action On Film International Film Festival in California gave Kenya top honors by naming an award after him.