CULTURAL NEWS –
ENTERTAINMENT
Saturday, September 22, 2007
To crown David
Showing of ‘No Time To Die’
School from Form-One to Upper-Six. For the Sixth Form, he read Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.
After the sixth form course, David worked briefly with his father at APPLE (Association of People for Practical Life Education), a subsidiary of USAID at Atebubu in the Brong Ahafo Region.
According to David Dontoh, it was while working there, that he did some illustrations on Agriculture in the Tropics for Dr. Olean Hess, one of the Directors of USAID, and the Director recommended him as a person with artistic talents.
He said because he liked drawing, painting, watching films musical shows and writing poetry, Dr. Hess comments struck him to take acting seriously.
It was around the same time same that the Ghana Film Industry Corporation (GFIC) put up an advert for people who wanted to train as film actors. He went for an audition and was one of the 40 successful applicants selected out of the 150.
The successful applicants were trained under the late George Andoh Wilson, who named the school, Wilson’s Acting Academy.
At the Wilson Academy, David was lucky to have friends like Ernest Youngman (currently the President’s cameraman), who introduced him to Ghana Theatre Club. The club had members like Emmary Brown, Solomon Sampah and William Abbey Okine.
In 1982, he joined the “Keteke,” a drama group which was on air for about one and a half years. The name was later changed to Obra when it became a very popular TV programme. Members of the group included himself as Ghanaman, Maame Dokono and Station Master.
He later joined Talent Theatre Company, the cultural wing of the National Mobilization Programme under the leadership of Mr. Kofi Portorphy.
David’s breakthrough into a full feature film, came when King Ampaw shot the hugely popular “Kukurantumi” – The Road to Accra”, which became the first Ghanaian film to be screened on TV in Europe.
It was after this film that David Dontoh started working on radio programmes. On GBC- Two for instance, he started as a stringer, on Carl Agyeman-Bannerman’s programme “Solid Black”.
He won the first award, as the Best Actor, ECRAG Award for the play “Mambo” in 1984. He also won the same awards in 1989 and 1992, crowning with Ghana Actors Guild and ASPA (Association of Students of Performing Arts) awards in 2000 and many more since then.
Along the line in his career, David Dontoh did drama and theatre studies (1985 to 1988) at the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon, majoring in playwriting.
He and his wife, Mrs. Rebecca Dontoh, are blessed with two children, Jojo and Ewura.
*Source:
Daily Graphic - Saturday, September 22, 2007 Page: 21
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