Biography
Rasta Thomas was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was evident from the beginning that he was a prodigy with a flair for the stage. He studied at the world-renowned Kirov Academy in Washington, DC. As a teenager he made dance competition history with honors including the Special Jury Prize from the 1994 Paris International Dance Competition, the Gold Medal in the Junior Men's Division of the 1996 Varna International Ballet Competition, and the Gold Medal in the Senior Men's Division of the Jackson, MS USA-IBC.
In 1995 he became a member of Le Jeune Ballet de France and in 1997 was invited to be a Principal Dancer with the Hartford Ballet. His guest credits include the Russian Imperial Ballet, National Ballet of China, Victor Ullate Ballet of Spain, Inoue Ballet of Japan, Ochi Ballet, Universal Ballet of Korea, Joffrey Ballet, Washington Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, CityDance and Philadanco. He has been a featured soloist at many galas, including Le Gala Des Etoiles. In 2001 he was the first American to become a member of the Kirov Ballet of St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2003 he joined Dance Theatre of Harlem as its youngest principal dancer.
Thomas has danced diverse roles including "Albrecht" in "Giselle", "Basilio" in "Don Quixote", "Ali" in "Le Corsaire" and "Death" in "Debbie Allen's Soul Possessed". Television credits include a Bravo documentary in 1997, CBS' Breakfast with the Arts (1991), Sesame Street (1969), a featured solo during the 1999 Academy Awards and the Spring 2000 international ad campaign for The GAP.
He appears as "Timmy Chambers" in One Last Dance (2003), starring Patrick Swayze. Thomas has starred in Twyla Tharp's Broadway hit "Movin' Out." Critics have described Rasta's dance style as a mix of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Bruce Lee and Michael Jackson, "a force of nature". A truly multi-talented artist, Rasta spends most of his free time writing songs and scripts.
