Sahr Ngaujah Biography

Sahr Ngaujah is an American theater director and actor, based in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Early life and career

Ngaujah was born in the United States and is of Sierra Leonean ancestry. He began his career in theatre, working in Atlanta with the Freddie Hendricks Youth Ensemble of Atlanta, through 7Stages Theatre in Little 5 Points. Freddie has been Sahr"?s mentor and friend since 1992.

As an actor Sahr has had a rich career from the early age of 15, and has worked with the likes of Gerrit Timmers (Onafhankelijk Toneel, Rotterdam), Falk Richter (Berlin Schaubhne, Berlin), Del Hamilton (7 Stages, Atlanta), Walter Chakela (Windybrow, Johannesburg), Tim Habeger (PushPush Theater & Film, Atlanta), Made n da Shade/MC (Amsterdam). Sahr has also maintained a presence in the world of film since the late 1990s, with appearances in Passing Glory (TNT), A Lesson Before Dying (HBO), How I Spent My Summer Vacation (Castle Way), among other films, and more recently in The Signal (Magnolia/Pop Films, 2008), Stomp the Yard (Sony/Rainforest Films - Jan. 2007), and Blood Done (Sign My Name, 2009 release).

Sahr began as a director under the guidance of Freddie Hendricks, working as an assistant director on FH Y.E.A. productions, playing for audiences ranging from the Atlanta Black Arts Festival to the Tweetakt Festival 2000 Antwerp.

Since relocating to Amsterdam in 2001 Sahr has worked as a theater director and developer with Rotterdam"?s Lef and ACT Festival, and as a collaborator with Made n da Shade. He completed his studies at Dasarts in Amsterdam 2006, under the direction of Alida Neslo and Monique Toebosch. Under the primary influence of his work with Freddie Hendricks, as it relates to his creating of original works, integrating music into every layer of the developmental process, together with what he gained through close work with Made n da Shade and their extensive exploration into the weaving of interactive design technology throughout the base fibers of their theatre, Sahr used the laboratory of Dasarts and his encounters with Shu Lea Chang and Germaine Acogny to search for his own unique language and process, in an effort to lay a foundation that will hopefully allow him to all ways break new ground in his personal approach as a Maker.

Conversations With Ice is his most recent work, dealing with the question of value (who decides, who buys), within the context of the global diamond trade, Sierra Leone"?s child soldiers, and its links to the Bling sub-culture in hip-hop.

In November 2008, Ngaujah received the Audelco Award (or "Viv award") for his work on the Off-Broadway musical Fela!, under the direction of Bill T. Jones, which explores the life and inspiration of the Nigerian composer Fela Anikulapo Kuti. He also received a Tony Award nomination and a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for his role in this musical. In December 2008 Fela! The Musical was classified as the #1 theatre show of 2008 in New York, by New York Magazine.

In July 2017, Ngaujah lent his voice to Overwatch's hero Doomfist.

Personal life

Ngaujah is of Sierra Leonean ancestry. During the Christmas of 1999 he began the writing process that led to the short-story collection Refracting (Dasarts 2004), which inspired the piece Conversations with Ice Amsterdam-BitterZoet (Dasarts 2006). Over Het Ij Festival, Amsterdam, 2007 (Made n Da Shade/Cosmic Theater). Sahr has appeared at speaking engagements, at art conferences in Northern Europe (2007-08) about the construction and development of Conversations With Ice, with invitations pending to present this work in Sweden and Tokyo. Ngaujah continues to work with a host of inspiring artist between Europe, Africa, and the U.S. He is actively attempting to help forge stronger links between the artist community between Atlanta and the Netherlands through the development of an art festival called A to the A, celebrating and exploring Global Underground Art and Culture.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	First Time Felon	Smiling Inmate	Television film
1997	How I Spent My Summer Vacation	D'Angelo
1999	Passing Glory	Lil' Ricky	Television film
1999	A Lesson Before Dying	Brother	Television film
2002	Big Ain't Bad	Clay
2005	Shi cha qi xiao shi	Orintheus
2007	Stomp the Yard	Harold
2007	The Signal	Rod
2009	The Jailhouse	Cash
2010	Blood Done Sign My Name	Boo Chavis
2015	Freeheld	Father John
2016	Farewell Meu Armor	Walter	Short film
2016	Money Monster	Yao Appiah COO
2017	Patti Cake$	O-Z
2017	Kensho at the Bedfellow	Mosi

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007-2008, 2010	House of Payne	Blue	3 episodes
2012-2013	Last Resort	Julian Serrat	4 episodes
2014-2015	The Blacklist	General Yaabari	2 episodes
2015	The Good Wife	Joel Becquet	Episode: "Restraint"
2016	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Father Akintola	2 episodes
2017	The Accidental Wife	Buja	3 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2017	Overwatch	Doomfist