சுயசரிதை
Her Royal Majesty Queen Angelique-Monét Gureje-Thompson (Queen Consort of Eti-Oni, Osun State, Nigeria) is the American born wife of Nigerian monarch, His Majesty the Oloni of Eti-Oni, Oba Dokun Thompson Gureje IV. She is a former beauty queen, master ventriloquist, actress, former model, film producer, celebrity television hostess, singer, musician with a long standing humanitarian background since childhood and a Living Legend by the Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) for her contribution to the arts, the youngest recipient. According to Namesorg and other websites, HRM is listed as ''notable persons named Angelique" or next most famous person According to Playbackfm Fame Ranker "we've decided to mark fame as persons importance in history."
Queen Angelique-Monet was born in Nashville Tennessee, and raised in Greenville, South Carolina in a political household of civil rights leaders and American politicians. As a shy girl who was bullied, she did not talk until age five, suffered a learning disability and was placed in speech therapy. She overcame these obstacles through the art of mastering ventriloquism and learning classical music at age nine. As a self taught ventriloquist she and her puppet "Gracie The Pig" would sing comedic classical styled tunes which she wrote and performed as her talent in beauty pageants. According to Spartanburg Herald and Goupstate (South Carolina) "with her ventriloquism skills, sharp sense of humor, and affable personality," that landed her the State Title and 2nd runner up in the Nationals.
She went on to graduate from Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh, North Carolina with a Bachelor's degree in mass communications. While in college she pursued a journalism career and worked for NBC, CBS, ABC, UPN in top markets behind and in front of the scenes. This included PBS's Between the Lions as a script supervisor.
In order to pursue a career in stage acting she moved to New York City and shortly made history as the only stage actress ventriloquist to ever act in a one woman play in Theatre Row. In "Multiple Me," she played six alternate personalities and the ventriloquist dummies shifted for a traditional Off Broadway run "at the start of the Millennium when the art form was not as popular" according to Ventriloquist Realm and several history archives. It has been recorded that this production changed modern day ventriloquism making it more popular again at the start of the digital era. According to the Columbia Spectator, ''a dynamic performer billed as the world's only African American female ventriloquist has made each personality distinct and complex with her multifaceted performance she creates an astonishing versatile array of voices, gestures and expressions''.
HRM has acted bit parts in films starring, Eric Roberts, Armand Assante, Chris Rock , Anthony Hopkins, Steven Bauer and Angel Salazar and worked on NBC's syndicated children's show VIDEOMAX as an on-air personality and producer, and Dawson's Creek along with producing, writing, and director her own films where she also starred. Seeing the need for minority women and minorities to tell their own stories, she founded award winning Greta Joanne Entertainment, a USA based boutique film/TV production, film sales agent, public relations, marketing, and event design company that attends markets such as American Film Market (AFM) and Marche Du Film (Cannes). To date the company has produced, distributed, and provided public relations services for many films with Hollywood names and assisting international films from South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the African marketplace. Her Royal Majesty has also been a leader and pioneer in the evolution of shooting content whether films or citizen journalism on the smartphone for close to a decade. Before helping to digitalize journalism and film on the smartphone, Queen Angelique-Monet's previous career as an on air personality, she interviewed Hollywood veterans such as Morgan Freeman who stated "Your story should be told," Alan Alda, David Morse, James Cromwell, just to name a few with her VOD Channel Nothing On Television TV (NOT TV) and was one of the first women to own and found an Over The Top (OTT) digital content channel which ran worldwide through DISH TV / DISH online in 2011. Though NOT TV was short lived it was later revealed the platform was a test model before leading into the Video On Demand (VOD) , Paid Per View (PPV), subscription based boom helping to provide data to ensure the mass population had a demand for alternative non-traditional programming outside the traditional television stations.
As a visionary, futurist, and multi-disciplinary artist additional art mediums include original fine art critiqued and unveiled in the Principality of Monaco in 2013 along with fine art press collectors book (limited 10).
Queen Angelique-Monet is also a composer and musician with an album on streaming platforms, and a member of ASCAP with a publishing division for music.
Seeing the need to preserve ancient artisan art, HRM has provided support and platforms from South Asia to working with artisans on Native American reservations to now working in her now home country of Nigeria with ancient artisans By popular demand HRM along with husband His Royal Majesty Oba Dokun Thompson have created 'The Queen Angelique-Monet Collections' spotlighting HRM royal gowns made by the The Oloni Royal Palace and designed by Their Royal Majesties of Eti-Oni.
For over a decade, a majority of Queen Angelique-Monet's work and performances have been humanitarian. As a performer, some international performances within the past 10 years have included Parliament of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg where the former European Commission Chairman Jean Juncker commended her African American and Native American spiritual medley 2018), Petit Palais Museum in Paris for Namaste Festival where she was the first to sing jazz music alongside the veena classical instrument with renowned Chevelier Dr. Raghunath Manet(2017) that same year she performed for the United Nations Women Guild at the United Nations Headquarters as a singer and ventriloquist for the Women's Bizarre under the Patronage of Catrina Marques de Almeida Vaz Pinto.
Queen Angelique-Monet made world news the month of May 2022 with her puppet, Milk the Cow, for her unique talent of ventriloquism and performing for the children of Eti-Oni, Osun State, which was featured on BBC World Service and was dubbed ''Ventriloquist Queen,'' ''Royal Performer,'' and ''Royal Puppet Performer.''
Two years later Her Royal Majesty came out of retirement and wrote, performed and produced the critically acclaimed ''Ventriloquist Queen: A True African Queen,'' at Edinburgh Fringe the largest arts festival in the world at the Big Four Assembly, one of the longest running curated establishments from August 1-18 2024 in Edinburgh, Scotland. According to Fringe Society and Broadway World this was the first time a true Queen has ever performed a stage play, making history and according to the Assembly data with over 51,313,500 opportunity to see (OTC) from press articles solely, making the play one of the highest (OTC) at Edinburgh Fringe to date. Later in the year December 1, the play was featured at the maiden edition of Royal Cocoa Puppetry Theatre Festival founded by Her Royal Majesty and husband Nigerian Monarch His Majesty The Oloni of Eti-Oni, Oba Dokun Thompson marking another historic moment. The first time ventriloquism and traditional masquerade has been performed with ventriloquism on a major stage, and the first time ventriloquism and theatre have been performed on the continent of Africa.
The international critically acclaimed "highly recommended show" from critics received several top reviews, including 5 stars.
Her Royal Majesty plays an active role in being an advocate for children, women, girls and also the under-served and under-represented communities including indigenous people with initiatives and events year round. As the Yeyeluwa Olori of Eti-Oni, Her Royal Majesty is the President of Eti-Oni Development Group, initiator and founder of the annual Eko Chocolate Show, The Royal Cocoa Festival at Eti-Oni, Royal Cocoa Festival Dinner London and Co-Founder with her husband His Royal Majesty Oba Dokun Thompson, Royal Cocoa International Film Festivals, and Royal Cocoa Puppetry Theatre Festival. Since 2012 is the Founder of A.F.I World Peace Initiative an international Non-Governmental Organization that utilizes film, the arts and media to aid in world peace and tolerance. The organization hosts events at the United Nations Headquarters, Hamptons USA, Cannes Film Festival, London, the African Marketplace
