Darryl Van Leer - Award Winning Actor/Performer
My Life in Bondage

Friday September 28, 2007
7:30 -8:45 p.m.

In this presentation, Van Leer delivers a heart-warming, heart wrenching performance of the true story of Frederick Douglass.

Darryl Van Leer Leer's other one-man show, Power on Earth has earned high praise from critics and audiences alike. Termed "emotionally riveting," by Daily Variety , the show features vivid portrayals of some of history's most important and influential African American figures. Written, directed and performed by Van Leer, the show includes a startlingly accurate portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the dramatic courtroom eloquence of Thurgood Marshall, and the fiery conviction of Malcolm X, as well as Nat Turner, leader of the largest slave revolt in history, separatist Marcus Garvey, slave turned abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass and blues greats Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. His performance then entitled "The Gallows to the Gavel" earned him a nomination for the 1996 NAACP Theatre Award.

A versatile performer, Van Leer began his television acting career by working regularly on Black Entertainment Network's Bobby Jones Gospel Show as a background vocalist, writer and staff photographer.

Today, he enjoys a successful and varied career in film and television as a featured performer. Most recently, he appeared in First Time , a Nickelodeon Movie of the Week co-starring John Amos. His other recent film work includes roles in Steel Chariots , an acclaimed Fox Movie of the Week , and in an HBO original movie, The Second Civil War , co-starring James Earl Jones and Beau Bridges .

His other television and motion picture appearances include the NBC-TV movie, Witness to an Execution , and the HBO film Up Against the Wall . He also appeared in the major motion picture A League of Their Own , co-starring Geena Davis and Tom Hanks, and in nationally aired TV commercials. Van Leer has performed extensively in local stage productions, and his theatrical repertoire also includes stand-up comedy. He has traveled the comedy circuit, appearing in such hot spots as The Comic Strip and Catch a Rising Star in New York .

Born and raised in Madisonville , Kentucky , Van Leer received his B.S. degree in industrial technology from Western Kentucky University .