Bishop Blay (born 1980) is a Liberian actor.

Biography

Blay was born in Liberia in 1980. During the Liberian Civil War, Blay worked as a rubber tree tapper in one of the largest rubber plantations in the country. He escaped to Ghana and lived at a refugee camp. During his time at the camp, he began his acting training by performing in improvised "street dramas". After the war, he acted in Liberian film and theater productions. Blay also worked in a parking lot in

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

when not acting. In 2015, Blay made his feature film debut in Takeshi Fukunaga's '' Out of My Hand''. He played Cisco, a rubber tapper who is involved in a labor dispute, and eventually decides to immigrate to New York. When he arrives in America, Blay's character is forced to confront his dark past. Katie Walsh of the

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

wrote that "Blay brings a naturalism and grounded soulfulness to his performance," noting that he "has an arresting face and an even more arresting screen presence." The film debuted at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

and won the U.S. Fiction Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Fukunaga discovered Blay at an audition that he had in cooperation with the Liberian Movie Union, and was impressed with Blay's ability to convey emotion through facial expressions. Like his character, Blay moved to New York to further his career.

References

External links

Bishop Blay
at the

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blay, Bishop 1980 births Living people Liberian expatriates in Ghana Liberian expatriates in the United States Liberian male film actors 21st-century actors