- Nickname
- Nisha
- Donisha Rita-Claire Prendergast, actress, model, dancer and poet, was born on the 29th day of December 1984. Through the years while in the field, she increasingly developed a love for acting and the theatre. Donisha landed several lead parts for "Jambiz" (Production Company in Jamaica). Her first role came as Karen in "Puppy Love". Immediately she followed up by playing Cindy Relisha in "Cindy Relisha and the DJ Prince". This production had a record 300 performances on and off the island. Her latest lead role is the psychotic Shamika, in another "Jambiz" production "The Last Stand". All these plays were written by Jamaica's ace Playwright, Patrick Brown, featuring other Jamaican actors such as; Charles Hyatt, Christopher Daley, Dionne Silvera, Glen "Titus" Campbell and Winston Bell ("Third World Cop"/ "Bello & Blacka).
She also has appeared in a number of major promotional ads including the new Ammars spread which appears in newspapers and billboards throughout the Caribbean and parts of the world including the U.S.A. She has been in several videos including, Rita Marley's "Take me To the West Indies", Rik Roc's "Your Eyes" and Morgan Heritage's "Senorita". She has even been on stage performing with International artist like "Shaggy". Most recently, she has hosted Jamaica's premier television talent show "Star Search at Traxx", on CVM-TV, Jamaica's version of "American Idol". She is the granddaughter of Rita Marley (I-Three) and the late great Reggae superstar Bob Marley. Her mother is Sharon Marley (Melody Maker/actress "Mighty Quinn"). Her aunts and uncles are Cedella Marley ("Catch a Fire" clothing line), Steven Marley (Producer), and Ziggy Marley who led the Melody Makers to three Grammies. There are also Kymani Marley (singer/actor "Shottas"), Julian Marley, (singer) and Damian Marley, 2003 Grammy winner. All are very strong and independent in their own right.
She also has a famous bloodline on her father's side. Her father, Peter Prendergast, Jamaica's best known and most highly respected soccer (FIFA) referee. Other famous Prendergasts include, Lester Prendergast (Puss Fella "Dr. No"), Tessa Prendergast, (Designer of that famous swim suite worn by Ursula Andress in "Dr. No"). Noel Nethersole established the PNP Party, with Norman Manley. Scotty Welborn, (Cinematographer/Producer "Creature from the Black Lagoon"). In addition, there is Bernard L. Prendergast, the first Jamaican to win an Olympic medal. All have contributed to Jamaica's history and the world with a legacy to remember for generations. With this strong family genealogy, Donisha will be opening many doors.
Donisha's other aspirations is to become a Child Psychologist. Presently she is working, promoting Jamaica's latest hot spot "Back Yaad" in Kingston.- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.L.M.P - Donisha Prendergast ( Actor, Writer, Director, Producer, Activist) was born and raised in Jamaica, but considers herself a citizen of the world. As a child touring with Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers, she witnessed how Reggae music was able to challenge social boundaries and even national borders with a true message of Love & Justice. This '80's baby' also saw the rise of dancehall and other sub-cultures driven by music, but it was another art form that inspired her... The Art of Storytelling. Her vibrant talent spans many disciplines - acting, film, writing, alternative curriculum building, motivational speaking, social organizing and public advocacy. With a background in theater, film production and social work, she engages the act of community from the perspective of actively writing and righting one's story. Her first dance with theater was in 2002 with Jambiz Productions hit play Puppy Love starring theatre Legends Charles Hyatt and Glen 'Titus' Campbell. However it was her acclaimed performance in the lead role of the hit play Cindy-Relisha & the DJ Prince, one of the longest running plays in Jamaican theater history with a record of 200 shows that made her a household name and secured her space in the hearts of many Jamaicans as the "Cindy-Relisha".
In 2005, her grandmother Mrs. Rita Marley O.D., would introduce her to another kind of stage in Ethiopia as a youth ambassador for the Bob & Rita Marley Foundation's Mission: Bob Marley's 60th Earthday celebrations and the Africa Unite Youth Symposiums. She realized a renewed mission in advocacy, and experienced the positive influence her voice could have globally. Since then, her works as a speaker and cultural ambassador have taken her through much of the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and North America. She is equally at home in Canadian and American classrooms, lecturing on the same stages as Magic Johnson, Desmond Tutu and Martin Luther King Jr III and speaking to audiences of up to 15,000 young people about the Power of One Love and Activism for Social Healing. As a healer and community organizer she has put hands and heart into building a school for girls in the Mara Masaai region in Kenya with Free the Children, she has marched through the snow for justice with the Idle No More movement and the Indigenous youth and ancient elders of Canada. She has ventured half way across the world to Japan to visit with the survivors of the March 2011 earthquake and see firsthand the contamination of the Radiation spill in Fukushima and Ishinomaki, sailed for 12 days across Atlantic on the Peace Boat lecturing to Japanese travellers about the social and political context of Jamaica, blurring the lines of tourism and activism. Alongside other founding directors of Manifesto Jamaica, Donisha's commitment to global community work has special focus on her healing works in Jamaica, especially with the youth of Faces of Tivoli Gardens Youth Organization, who she has been mentoring since the violent incursion of May 2010 among many other projects.
Donisha first engaged the political hemisphere in 2014 after championing a Global campaign, through 18 countries, including U.S.A, Canada, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland, Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malaysia and more to speak on the preservation of RasTafari heritage and contribute to academic perspectives of 'De-colonial Artivism in Jamaica' in reference to Reggae Revival and Occupy Pinnacle. She continues to challenge the Jamaican government to compensate the elders of the RasTafari movement for the displacement, discrimination and injustice they have suffered as a result of its criminalization. She has formed a strategic alliance with civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Jasmine Rand to forward social justice movements and causes including Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Mario Deane. She also recently signed with one of the largest speaker's bureaus in United States, APB Speakers as a retained speaker on Rastafari and human rights issues. She is presently travelling and engaging all aspects of society on the I Am the Change World Tour with Ndaba Mandela, Nelson Mandela's grandson and Jasmine Rand to discuss the power of international collective action. RasTa... A Soul's Journey, a Canadian feature length documentary took her to 8 countries including Israel, Ethiopia, India and South Africa as a guide, to seek out the roots and evolution of RasTafari. Her second documentary venture saw her and two other creatives, Director Kush Asher and Musician Kelissa, backpacking for 50 Days in Afrika (50DNA) through the heart of the motherland on a Mission to build bridges between the Jamaican creative industries and Africa, exploring the idea of Repatriation from a social and economic perspective. Her first major attempt at screenwriting was shot and produced into a pilot television series entitled Savannah, a Jamaican Love story exposing the turmoils of living in paradise. Most recently, she visited Ghana and spent a month immersed in research and active observation, leading to the co-creation of Awaking Sankofa, an Afro-futurist film that travels through time and space on a journey to re-connect the dots of a scattered history while observing our present state as Africans in the diaspora. It is a multi-dimensional artistic investigation into the histories we find ourselves to be a part.
With well over a decade of consistent travel, documentation, personal growth and insight into cultures, geographies and histories only books speak of, Donisha has had an intensely amazing journey with epic moments of greatness and loss, mansions and gutters, court houses and jailhouses. Her unorthodox approach to living and creating, allows her to use her Art as a tool for governance, and her voice as a platform to give insight into the diversity of the human existence beyond what the physical eyes can see .- IMDb Mini Biography By: Donisha Prendergast - Donisha Prendergast is a Jamaican born actress and storyteller. She travels the world learning histories and sharing insight to advance the consciousness of humanity. Her vast experience covers many disciplines in filmmaking, education and activism. Her work explores themes around the human condition and inherited legacies of both liberation and post-colonialism and how they continue to inform culture and institutional frameworks. Her foray with storytelling began with the theater in Jamaica at 17, where she starred in a few major stage productions while dabbling in modeling and hosting for TV. She majored in Theater Arts at Howard University before continuing studies in Film & Digital Production, earning a BFA in Fine Arts from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University). Still, Donisha sees the Earth as her classroom.
In 2010, Buffalo NY declared June 10 to be Donisha Prendergast Day, citing the importance of recognizing and supporting young visionaries who are making a mark on the world. As a Come-Unity instigator, Donisha uses her platform to create programs for disenfranchised youth, help build schools in poor communities and stand as an advocate for various global issues including race relations, upholding indigenous rights, responsible nuclear energy use and the rights of the child. Using her films and speaking presentations to instigate conversations, Donisha believes that "We must use our talents as tools to create new models of coexistence between Art and the reality of Nation building."
Her independent projects include 50 Days in Africa (Exec Producer- Writer ), Earthworm (Writer- Director 2016) as well as directing a number of music videos and short impact films. Awaking Sankofa (Writer-Lead 2018) which was supported by Toronto Arts Council and evolved into a multi-dimensional artist residency in Ghana the following year, funded by the Ryerson International Experiential Learning Grant. Donisha created an alternative curriculum for students to investigate particular histories that we find ourselves to be a part of as Africans in the diaspora and create films, photography, menu offerings, fashion etc all serving as a tool to further the conversation. She is also a contributing writer to TRAD Magazine, a grassroots educational organization creating African centered educational experiences via an online bi-weekly ideas magazine for learners, teachers and community.
She has produced work commercially for Beyonce, Melina Matsoukas, O-T Fagbenle, Sean Paul, Damian Marley and T.V. stations National Geographic, BET, Channel 4. Her on screen acting credits includes Savannah, which she also wrote and executive produced (TVJ), The Story of God with Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman (Disney Plus) Rasta, A Soul's Journey (City TV) , OMI (Jury Prize SXSW) Canadian Screen Award winning films Akilla's Escape (Netflix) and Black Bodies (Crave) which also won much acclaim at Sundance.
She is presently in development for her first feature length film Istwa Dwol.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Berhane Miriam
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