Ray Shell is an African-American film, TV and stage actor, as well as an author, director and producer. He is known for creating the roles of Nomax in Five Guys Named Moe and Rusty in Starlight Express. He is a Creative Director of the Giant Olive Theatre Company, resident company at the Lion & Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town.
Career
His 1993 novel, Iced, was a commercial success. The novel tells the story of an upper-middle class black American man destroying himself with crack-cocaine. Whilst it was criticised by some for its inplausible story, and that he could not have researched it properly, the majority viewed it as a powerhouse of a novel. It has developed a cult following, been performed worldwide on the stage, including Gloucester Guildhall, and had a song written about it a project in which English rocker, Pete Doherty, was involved. In 2008, Shell wrote about his appearance in, and the closure of, the musical Gone with the Wind for The Guardian newspaper. After arriving in London in 1978 with producer Oscar Johnson's Gospel musical Little Willie Jr's Resurrection, Shell immediately became part of London's New Wave music scene, recording with Howard Devoto's Magazine, covering Kate Bush's "Them Heavy People". He went on to record with his own band The Street Angels featuring a "pre-Simon Cowell" Sinitta, Carl McKintosh and Charita Jones. Summer 2011, Shell was the performance coach for Adrian Grant's Respect La Diva starring Sheila Ferguson, Zoe Birkett, Katy Satterfield, Denise Pearson and Andy Abraham. In winter 2011, Shell was James Earl Jones' standby in the London West End production of the Broadway hit Driving Miss Daisy, starring Boyd Gaines and Vanessa Redgrave in the title role. In March 2012, Shell's TAIP produced The Gaddafi Club, a new play. In spring 2012, Shell toured the UK as MC Romeo Marcell in Dancing in the Streets. In 2012, he directed A Dream Across the Ocean, a new British musical produced by Samuel Facey and Dave Prince from ChurchBoyz Entertainment. Also in 2013, Street Angels Books published Spike Lee: The Eternal Maverick, a biography by Shell. In 2015, Shell began production of the film version of Iced and published Feedin' Miranda, a new novel. He also appeared as Bill Devaney in the newly created West End musicalThe Bodyguard, based on the movie of the same name. He appeared as The Bishop in the Bush Theatre production of Perseverance Drive; Shell recently established his popular London TAIP sessions at the Ripley Grier Studios in New York City, USA.
