Biography
Kenya Cagle was born in Bedford Stuyvesant to working parents George and Randola Cagle. His dreams of being an entertainer began before he even entered public school where he declared to his younger brother Leon Cagle at age 6 that there were wooden people in the walls who were watching them. He also declared that they 'had to perform in front of the wooden people'. The children made this part of their daily routine. They performed often for this imaginary audience. At the age of 13, Kenya began his formal acting career appearing off off Broadway in The Negro Ensemble Company's production of Dreams written by himself and Director Bill Duke. By saving his own money in summer jobs, Kenya purchased super 8 movie camera equipment and started making short films where he taught members of his community acting and writing lessons. In addition, Kenya had auditioned for and was accepted into the famous High School of Performing Arts. Everything he learned in school, he would come back to his neighborhood and teach it to the teens who were less unfortunate but was interested in the arts. By time he was a senior in high school, he started looking for jobs in the theatrical field. He was in many touring productions and eventually landed at job in community theater with The First Family Theater in Brooklyn under Sherman Jones and the late Rev. George Samuels. In addition Kenya started honing his writing skills under the late Fred Hudson and Budd Schulberg at The Frederick Douglass Creative Arts Center.
In 1987 Kenya met and married the love of his life Sheila G. Wheeler. Together they created a community theatrical company Nu Artist Productions. Nu Artist was a volunteer organization that provided free acting, writing and singing lessons to members of the community. In addition, Nu Artist gave their students opportunities to perform in live productions as they went throughout the community performing at schools, community centers, senior citizen centers, day cares and street festivals. They also produced video production, created a long running talk show on cable, UHF and Public Access called Take It To the Hill starring the late Julian Hill. Take It To There Hill was a political talk show that featured current politicians such as Jesse Jackson Sr, Al Sharpton, Councilpersons and other local leaders. It was the couple's dream to create feature films. Unfortunately in October 1991, tragedy struck and Ms. Wheeler passed away.
Keeping their dream alive, Kenya went back to college and began studying the film, television and media industry. He received an Associates Degree in Television Arts and a Bachelors Degree in Media Arts from Empire State College. He went to New York Film Academy where he received a certificate in Filmmaking. He earned his Master's Degree in Media Management from Metropolitan College. After graduating, he started living his dream by creating CagleVision, an independent movie studio that features movies with meaning.
Mr. Cagle is now a multi award winning movie producer, writer and director. He has won nearly 70 awards in every major aspect of filmmaking including Best Picture, Best Writing, Best Editing, Best Cinematography. His films are streaming all over the world. They are popular in many festivals. They can also be seen on many major streaming services. In 2013, Kenya Cagle received one of his most proudest achievements being named Guerrilla Filmmaker of the year by The Action On Film International Film Festival featuring the late Del Weston. In September, 2022, Mr. Cagle received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the President of the United States Joe Biden for his outstanding work in the independent film industry.
In addition to his film career, Mr. Cagle is the author of two books Prophet - The Story of Nat Turner and The Mafia Betrayal. His first book Prophet - The Story of Nat Turner became an Amazon best seller and was produced as a play in community theater. Mr. Cagle is also a staff writer for Incarn Live Virtual Theater. He is the author of Mt. Pisgah's Production of The Maafa, a theatrical experience about the Atlantic Slave Trade created by Bishop Johnny Ray Youngblood. Mr. Cagle has written over 100 theatrical production for Mt. Pisgah to date. Mr. Cagle is a highly sought after instructor of film. His non profit organization Randola Creative Arts Center teaches a "Filmtreprenuer" course to people interested in making a career in the film industry.
