Artel J. Great[1] (born September 11, 1981)[2] also known as Artel Kayàru, is an American actor and filmmaker.[3][4][5][6] He is known for portraying Rodney in the 2002 film Dahmer.[7][8][9][10]

Artel Great
Born (1981-09-11) September 11, 1981 (age 43)
Websitewww.artelgreat.com

Personal life

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Great was born and raised in Chicago.[5][11][12]

He has been married since 2016; Nelsan Ellis was his best man at his wedding.[13]

Career

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Acting career

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Great moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting and landed roles in the films Light It Up (1999) and Save the Last Dance (2001).[5]

In 2002, Great appeared opposite Jeremy Renner and Bruce Davison in David Jacobson's Dahmer (2002), a biographical film about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.[14][15][16] The character he portrayed, Rodney, is based on Tracy Edwards, who was intended to be Dahmer's next murder victim but managed to escape from him and successfully turn him in to the authorities.[17] For his performance in the film, Great was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance.[3][18][19][20] He lost the award to Nia Vardalos for My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002).[21]

Great collaborated with Jacobson again in Down in the Valley (2005).[22][23] He also appeared in the 2005 television movie Their Eyes Were Watching God and the 2009 film The Soloist.[5]

Other work

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On June 11, 2010, Great graduated summa cum laude from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.[1][3][5] Great earned his MA degree at UCLA and is a PhD candidate at New York University.[3] In 2014, Great was announced a Cinema Research Institute Fellow at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.[3][24]

Great is the creator of the Project Catalyst app, which he developed at the New York University Cinema Research Institute.[1][4][25][26]

Great worked as a film studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington starting in 2019.[27][28][29] As of 2023, he is a professor of African-American cinema studies at San Francisco State University.[30]

Select filmography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Thornton, Cedric "BIG CED" (3 September 2014). "ARTEL J. GREAT: A FILM VISIONARY WITH A DEEP SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY". Black Enterprise. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  2. ^ Fomby, Oliva (14 February 2019). "Artel Great Net Worth". Star News. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d e Russworm, TreaAndrea; Sheppard, Samantha N.; Bowdre, Karen M. (2016). From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496807052.[page needed]
  4. ^ a b Macaulay, Scott (16 November 2014). ""It's No Longer Enough for Artists to Simply Be Artists": Artel Great on His Audience-Building App, Project Catalyst". Filmmaker. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d e Carter, Brian W. (17 June 2010). "Great in a Mighty Way". Los Angeles Sentinel. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  6. ^ "THE URBANWORLD FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY BET NETWORKS WITH FOUNDING SPONSOR HBO ANNOUNCES 2014 FESTIVAL SLATE". BET. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  7. ^ Thomas, Kevin (21 June 2002). "'Dahmer' Falls Short of the Horrible Truth". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  8. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (10 July 2002). "Dahmer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  9. ^ Wilmington, Michael (12 July 2002). "'Dahmer' tasteful treatment of a ghoul". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  10. ^ "Here are selected capsule reviews of movies..." Chicago Tribune. 19 July 2002. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  11. ^ Masunaga, Samantha (25 January 2009). "UCLA hosts speech contest". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  12. ^ Cooper, Jeanne (June 29, 2023). "The Names Making News in the Art, Sports and Culinary Scenes". Nob Hill Gazette. Retrieved January 15, 2024.
  13. ^ Hinton, Rachel (23 July 2017). "Viola Davis, others honor life of 'True Blood' star Nelsan Ellis". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 29 June 2019. Nearly a year ago, Ellis was the best man at Artel Great's wedding.
  14. ^ Maltin, Leonard (2014). Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide. Penguin. ISBN 9780698183612.[page needed]
  15. ^ Strauss, Bob (8 August 2002). "Well-acted 'Dahmer' is not for everyone's taste". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  16. ^ Koehler, Robert (16 June 2002). "Dahmer". Variety. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  17. ^ Orland, Kevin (21 June 2002). "Film Focuses On Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer". WOIO. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  18. ^ "2003 Independent Spirit Awards nominees". United Press International. 12 December 2002. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  19. ^ Mohr, Ian (12 December 2002). "'Amazing' Graced with Six Spirit Noms". Backstage. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  20. ^ "2003 IFP Independent Spirit Award Nominations". IndieWire. 11 December 2002. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  21. ^ Harris, Dana (22 March 2003). "'Heaven' tops Indie Spirit Awards". Variety. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  22. ^ Maltin, Leonard (2017). Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide: The Modern Era, Previously Published as Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide. Penguin. ISBN 9780525536314.page 381
  23. ^ Maltin, Leonard; Sader, Luke; Clark, Mike (2008). Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide. Penguin. p. 376. ISBN 9780452289789. artel great artel kayaru.page 376
  24. ^ Tamez, Lorena (21 April 2014). "Tisch announces Cinema Research Institute fellows". Washington Square News. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  25. ^ Macaulay, Scott (26 May 2015). "Artel Great Launches Project Catalyst at Cinema Research Institute Event". Filmmaker. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  26. ^ "The Urbanworld Film Festival Presented by BET Networks with Founding Sponsor HBO Announces 2014 Festival Slate". Business Wire. 20 August 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  27. ^ Huffman, Alan (4 July 2019). "The untold story of the Wild West's black cowboys". CNN. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  28. ^ Huffman, Alan (4 July 2019). "The untold story of the Wild West's black cowboys". WBBH-TV. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  29. ^ Weber, Jared (30 July 2019). "The real 'Old Town Road': Lil Nas X highlights black cowboy culture across US". USA Today. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  30. ^ Valrey, JR (February 27, 2023). "Dr. Artel Great revives 70s Black cinema with emphasis on Black consciousness". San Francisco Bay View. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
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