DAVID HERON
AT FIRST sight, his million dollar smile warms your spirit. Stick around a bit longer and he'll infuse you with his jovial, kind and energetic nature.
Born in the early 1960s, David Heron is the last in a family of four children and was tagged as the 'crazy child'. He attributes his craziness to being dropped often as a baby. Still, growing up in Acadia, upper St. Andrew, has left him with only pleasant memories, he says, recalling a childhood of painting, drawing, and creating games.
Heron attended Stella Maris and Queens Prep schools before going on to Wolmer's Boys. After high school he studied Mass Communication, specialising in television and English, at the University of the West Indies (UWI).
As an actor Heron has appeared in Children, Children, The Rope and the Cross, Ecstasy, Intermission, Love and Marriage and New York City and Cheaters.
Redemption is the first play since 1999 for Heron who has won five International Theatre Institute Actor Boy Awards for writing and production. In 1996 he won two awards for best script and best production. A year later he received three awards for Against His Will and last year created history when Love and Marriage and New York City was nominated for the American Black Theatre's highest honour - The Vivian L. Robinson AUDELCO Award. He became the first Jamaican to be thus honoured.
Heron sees his plays as storytelling in another form. "Not just any form but a more creative and enthusiastic form."
Away from the stage he enjoys going to the beach and the gym (describing himself as a fitness buff). He's also a football fan who loves reading and going to the movies.
WHAT HE WOULD GRAB
Heron said he would grab his mother's jewellery, his father's bathrobe and his family album.
"I love my parents dearly (who are deceased). Most of my mother's jewellery was given to her by me and when she died she gave them to me. They are sentimental. My father had a splendid bathrobe and he gave it to me also."
"I would grab my family album because everything else in the house can be replaced but the memories and the photos of my family are irreplaceable. Family is very significant to me and I love my family, they are priority. Friends, furniture and other things can be replaced but a thing like family will always be around."
RAMON TAYLOR
HE'S THe last child in his family and on meeting him the words smart, handsome and calm come to mind.
However, this 25-year-old former Calabar All Age and St. George's College student also has a brainier side. He is presently studying Sociology and Management at the University of the West Indies.
Taylor ventured into the performing arts as a teenager when he joined The Little People & Teen Players Club. He excelled as an actor, singer and dancer and became a member of the ASHE Performing Arts Ensemble in 1994. Taylor, who has done several television and radio commercials, played the role of Mario in Redemption and has his sights set on becoming a huge star.
Besides acting, he loves football, basketball, meeting new people and entertaining them. He attributes most of his involvement in sports to his brother. Throughout this interview he kept saying, "my brother was this and a little rub off on me".
He lives by the philosophy that "the best way to predict your future is to create it."
WHAT HE WOULD GRAB
Ramon Taylor says his two trophies and three medals are close to his heart. He would grab those and his passport or anything that proves his existence, he adds.
He won his silver medal as a member of the runner up team in the Miami Classic - a football competition. He won the other two for long jump.
One of his trophies came in 1998 when he coached his team to victory in the under-14 Guinness football league. He received the other for his success in basketball.
Taylor has a practical explanation for why he would grab his passport. Documents that prove his existence would make life easier, he reckons. "When you are going anywhere you need your passport or some identification to say that you are who you say you are."
PAUL CAMPBELL
PAUL CAMPBELL first came to local attention in stage productions such as Masquerade, Flame Heart, Mansong, and The Mikado. More success followed with Checkers, Foreign Mind and Intermission which earned him an Actor Boy Award nomination from the international Theatre Institute Jamaica Centre.
However, it was his work on screen that brought the 43-year-old actor mass attention. He has appeared in movies like Klash, Wide Sargasso Sea, and The Lunatic. His two most famous roles, however, are 'Priest' in Dancehall Queen and 'Capone' in Third World Cop. Professionally, Paul does voice-overs for Fame FM,
Born in Kingston, Campbell attended St. Michael's All Age, Kingston College (KC) and later Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (then the Jamaica School of Music, dance & drama). He also studied drama at Howard University in the United States and has received numerous honours and awards including the Doctor Bird Career Achievement Award and two best Actor Boy Awards.
A father of three boys, Campbell says when he's not acting he enjoys spending time with his children, writing and painting. Last week he had an exhibition of his paintings at the Pantry Playhouse.
WHAT HE WOULD GRAB
As an actor Paul Campbell figures he needs to go wherever he's called. His passport (which has his Green Card) is therefore significant because it allows him to go anywhere.
He would also grab a few of his paintings. The paintings, he explains, make him feel rejuvenated and lift his spirits. "I'd rather have paintings in my house than furniture. I think in colours and shapes."
KAREN HARRIOTT
TO MOST Jamaicans she will always be 'Tiney Winey' of CVM Television's long running soap opera Royal Palm Estate.
Karen Harriott was born in England but spent most of her childhood in Jamaica. "Growing up in England as a black child was very interesting in that I always felt special," she recalls. "In my neighbourhood I was the only child with curly hair. My mother told me that the women would spit in their babies' hair and then curl it up to look like mine."
Harriott says she knew at an early age that she would act because she was dazzling in her performances at school - or so she was told.
"I always knew that I had some talent in the performing arts because I'm always performing at church and school. I also had a warm personality so people would gravitate towards me."
Harriott who attended Knox College in St. Ann entered the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission festival and got scholarships to the Edna Manley College of the Visual & Performing Arts (formerly Jamaica School of Music, dance & drama).
She is one of a select group of Jamaican actors whose name on a local marquee likely guarantees box office gold. She has earned national recognition in Trevor Rhone's classic Old Story Time and became a star with an unforgettable performance in Basil Dawkins Same Song Different Tune. In 1992 she earned the first of four international Theatre Institute Actor Boy Award nominations. In 1996 she began her highly successful collaboration with David Heron, resulting in three roles that earned her Actor Boy nominations, prompting British critics to describe her "one of the greatest talents they have seen anywhere".
Since then, Harriott has gone on to deliver performances in Jambiz International's blockbuster Oliver's Posse and Dawkins' controversial May-December.
She has been married for 19 years and she is the mother of a 10-year-old girl. Besides acting, Harriott says she enjoys going to the beach, having fun with her family and travelling. She is also a full time student at Greenwich University in England where she is pursuing a Master's Degree in Psychology.
WHAT SHE WOULD GRAB
If her house were on fire, Karen Harriott says she would grab her CDs and spiritual books.
"I love reggae music and Jamaican folk music. I got a CD the other day with some wicked Jamaican folk music. I am a very spiritual person who has a lot of books on motivational speaking - which is what I would ultimately like to do, to motivate people to live the best life they can."
