Artel Great

{{Infobox person

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| name = Artel Great

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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1981|9|11}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

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| website = {{URL|https://www.artelgreat.com/}}

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Artel J. Great{{cite web|last=Thornton|first=Cedric "BIG CED"|title=ARTEL J. GREAT: A FILM VISIONARY WITH A DEEP SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY|date=3 September 2014|publisher=Black Enterprise|url=https://www.blackenterprise.com/artel-j-great/|access-date=29 June 2019}} (born September 11, 1981){{cite web|last=Fomby|first=Oliva|title=Artel Great Net Worth|work=Star News|date=14 February 2019 |url=https://www.star-news.org/artel-great-net-worth|access-date=14 July 2019}} also known as Artel Kayàru, is an American actor and filmmaker.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k-zBDAAAQBAJ&q=artel+kayaru+independent+spirit+award&pg=PT215|last3=Bowdre|first3=Karen M.|last2=Sheppard|first2=Samantha N.|last1=Russworm|first1=TreaAndrea|title=From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry|year=2016|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=9781496807052}}{{page needed|date=June 2019}}{{cite web|title=THE URBANWORLD FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTED BY BET NETWORKS WITH FOUNDING SPONSOR HBO ANNOUNCES 2014 FESTIVAL SLATE|date=20 August 2014|publisher=BET|url=https://www.betpressroom.com/press-release/the-urbanworld-film-festival-presented-by-bet-networks-with-founding-sponsor-hbo-announces-2014-fest/|access-date=7 July 2019}} He is known for portraying Rodney in the 2002 film Dahmer.{{cite news|last=Thomas|first=Kevin|title='Dahmer' Falls Short of the Horrible Truth|date=21 June 2002|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-jun-21-et-dahmer21-story,amp.html|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite magazine|last=Gleiberman|first=Owen|title=Dahmer|date=10 July 2002|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|url=https://ew.com/article/2002/07/10/dahmer/|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite news|last=Wilmington|first=Michael|title='Dahmer' tasteful treatment of a ghoul|date=12 July 2002|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-07-12-0207120154-story,amp.html|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite news|title=Here are selected capsule reviews of movies...|date=19 July 2002|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-07-19-0207190260-story,amp.html|access-date=29 June 2019}}

Personal life

Great was born and raised in Chicago.{{cite news|last=Masunaga|first=Samantha|title=UCLA hosts speech contest|date=25 January 2009|newspaper=Daily Bruin|url=http://dailybruin.com/2009/01/25/ucla-hosts-speech-contest/|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite news|last=Cooper|first=Jeanne|title=The Names Making News in the Art, Sports and Culinary Scenes|date=June 29, 2023|newspaper=Nob Hill Gazette|url=https://www.nobhillgazette.com/people/movers_and_shakers/the-names-making-news-in-the-art-sports-and-culinary-scenes/article_ed511c40-0a1a-11ee-97c8-3f9663787d63.html|accessdate=January 15, 2024}}

He has been married since 2016; Nelsan Ellis was his best man at his wedding.{{cite news|last=Hinton|first=Rachel|title=Viola Davis, others honor life of 'True Blood' star Nelsan Ellis|date=23 July 2017|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/platform/amp/2017/7/23/18375740/viola-davis-others-honor-life-of-true-blood-star-nelsan-ellis|access-date=29 June 2019|quote=Nearly a year ago, Ellis was the best man at Artel Great's wedding.}}

Career

=Acting career=

Great moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting and landed roles in the films Light It Up (1999) and Save the Last Dance (2001).

In 2002, Great appeared opposite Jeremy Renner and Bruce Davison in David Jacobson's Dahmer (2002), a biographical film about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F60TAwAAQBAJ&q=artel+kayaru+leonard+maltin&pg=PT541|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|title=Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide|year=2014|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780698183612}}{{page needed|date=June 2019}}{{cite news|last=Strauss|first=Bob|title=Well-acted 'Dahmer' is not for everyone's taste|date=8 August 2002|newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|url=https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/movies/article/Well-acted-Dahmer-is-not-for-everyone-s-taste-1093142.php|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite magazine|last=Koehler|first=Robert|title=Dahmer|date=16 June 2002|magazine=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2002/film/reviews/dahmer-1200549085/|access-date=29 June 2019}} The character he portrayed, Rodney, is based on Tracy Edwards, who was intended to be Dahmer's next murder victim but managed to escape from him and successfully turn him in to the authorities.{{cite web|last=Orland|first=Kevin|title=Film Focuses On Serial Killer Jeffrey Dahmer|date=21 June 2002|publisher=WOIO|url=https://www.cleveland19.com/story/829352/film-focuses-on-serial-killer-jeffrey-dahmer/|access-date=29 June 2019}} For his performance in the film, Great was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Debut Performance.{{cite web|title=2003 Independent Spirit Awards nominees|date=12 December 2002|publisher=United Press International|url=https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2002/12/12/2003-Independent-Spirit-Awards-nominees/49111039731682/|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite magazine|last=Mohr|first=Ian|title='Amazing' Graced with Six Spirit Noms|date=12 December 2002|magazine=Backstage|url=https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/amazing-graced-six-spirit-noms-21980/|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite news|title=2003 IFP Independent Spirit Award Nominations|date=11 December 2002|work=IndieWire|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2002/12/2003-ifp-independent-spirit-award-nominations-80086/|access-date=29 June 2019}} He lost the award to Nia Vardalos for My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002).{{cite magazine|last=Harris|first=Dana|title='Heaven' tops Indie Spirit Awards|date=22 March 2003|magazine=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2003/film/awards/heaven-tops-indie-spirit-awards-1117883201/|access-date=29 June 2019}}

Great collaborated with Jacobson again in Down in the Valley (2005).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPMxDwAAQBAJ&q=artel+great+artel+kayaru&pg=PA381|last=Maltin|first=Leonard|title=Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide: The Modern Era, Previously Published as Leonard Maltin's 2015 Movie Guide|year=2017|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780525536314}}page 381{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780452289789|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780452289789/page/376 376]|quote=artel great artel kayaru.|last3=Clark|first3=Mike|last2=Sader|first2=Luke|last1=Maltin|first1=Leonard|title=Leonard Maltin's 2009 Movie Guide|year=2008|publisher=Penguin|isbn=9780452289789}}page 376 He also appeared in the 2005 television movie Their Eyes Were Watching God and the 2009 film The Soloist.

=Other work=

On June 11, 2010, Great graduated summa cum laude from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.{{cite web|last=Carter|first=Brian W.|title=Great in a Mighty Way|date=17 June 2010|publisher=Los Angeles Sentinel|url=https://lasentinel.net/great-in-a-mighty-way.html|access-date=29 June 2019}} Great earned his MA degree at UCLA and is a PhD candidate at New York University. In 2014, Great was announced a Cinema Research Institute Fellow at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts.{{cite web|last=Tamez|first=Lorena|title=Tisch announces Cinema Research Institute fellows|date=21 April 2014|publisher=Washington Square News|url=https://nyunews.com/2014/04/21/cinema/|access-date=14 July 2019}}

Great is the creator of the Project Catalyst app, which he developed at the New York University Cinema Research Institute.{{cite magazine|last=Macaulay|first=Scott|title="It's No Longer Enough for Artists to Simply Be Artists": Artel Great on His Audience-Building App, Project Catalyst|date=16 November 2014|magazine=Filmmaker|url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/88328-its-no-longer-enough-for-artists-to-simply-be-artists-artel-great-on-audience-building-app-project-catalyst/|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite magazine|last=Macaulay|first=Scott|title=Artel Great Launches Project Catalyst at Cinema Research Institute Event|date=26 May 2015|magazine=Filmmaker|url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/94390-artel-great-launches-project-catalyst-at-cinema-research-institute-event/|access-date=29 June 2019}}{{cite web|title=The Urbanworld Film Festival Presented by BET Networks with Founding Sponsor HBO Announces 2014 Festival Slate|date=20 August 2014|publisher=Business Wire|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140820005938/en/Urbanworld-Film-Festival-Presented-BET-Networks-Founding|access-date=14 July 2019}}

Great worked as a film studies professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington starting in 2019.{{cite web|last=Huffman|first=Alan|title=The untold story of the Wild West's black cowboys|date=4 July 2019|publisher=CNN|url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/african-american-cowboys-rory-doyle/index.html|access-date=7 July 2019}}{{cite web|last=Huffman|first=Alan|title=The untold story of the Wild West's black cowboys|date=4 July 2019|publisher=WBBH-TV|url=https://www.nbc-2.com/story/40744064/the-untold-story-of-the-wild-wests-black-cowboys|access-date=14 July 2019}}{{cite web|last=Weber|first=Jared|title=The real 'Old Town Road': Lil Nas X highlights black cowboy culture across US|date=30 July 2019|publisher=USA Today|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/07/30/lil-nas-x-old-town-road-black-cowboy-culture/1801170001/|access-date=1 November 2019}} As of 2023, he is a professor of African-American cinema studies at San Francisco State University.{{cite news|last=Valrey|first=JR|title=Dr. Artel Great revives 70s Black cinema with emphasis on Black consciousness.|date=February 27, 2023|newspaper=San Francisco Bay View|url=https://sfbayview.com/2023/02/dr-artel-great-revives-70s-black-cinema-with-emphasis-on-black-consciousness/|accessdate=June 11, 2023}}