Joe Hernandez-Kolski is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

actor,

spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics of ...

poet, comedian and hip-hop theater artist. He appeared on the fourth and sixth seasons of HBO's ''

Def Poetry Jam ''Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry'', better known as simply ''Def Poetry Jam'' or ''Def Poetry'', is a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by establ ...

''.

Early life and education

Hernandez-Kolski was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the son of Philip Edmund Kolski and Cynthia Marie Hernandez-Kolski. He is the oldest of two children. He began acting professionally as a child in Chicago, working with Chicago Actors Ensemble and Profiles Performance Ensemble. His first professional theater production was the Chicago premiere of Matt Williams' ''Between Daylight and Boonville''. Hernandez-Kolski graduated from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. He then graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

with a degree in history.

Career

Hernandez-Kolski moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and acted in several theatrical productions, including the long-running Zoo District production of Mikhail Bulgakov's ''

The Master and Margarita ''The Master and Margarita'' (russian: Мастер и Маргарита) is a novel by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐf ...

''. Around the same time, Hernandez-Kolski began performing in the spoken word poetry scene. In 2002, Hernandez-Kolski was cast in American Stage Theater Company's production of ''

The Bomb-itty of Errors ''The Bomb-itty of Errors'' is a hip hop theatre retelling of Shakespeare's ''The Comedy of Errors''. Written and performed by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Jason Catalano, GQ, and Erik Weiner, the show has been performed in New York City (Off-Broadway), ...

''. This production led to a long-running series of performances, including a run at the

Chicago Shakespeare Theater Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare s ...

, The

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

(where the cast received the Stage Award for "Best Ensemble"), The Helix (Dublin) and the Ambassadors Theatre (London). In 2004, Hernandez-Kolski debuted on the season finale of the fourth season of HBO's ''

'' then appeared again in the sixth season. Hernandez-Kolski was chosen to warm up the crowd for Hillary Clinton's speech at the 2015 National Council of La Raza annual conference. Hernandez-Kolski currently tours around the country with his performances titled, "Refried Latino Pride" and "Cultural Collisions: Commentary for a Changing America." In addition to his solo work, he performs regularly with his comedy partner, comedian/beatboxer Joshua Silverstein. In addition to their live performances, they co-hosted Si TV's ''Not So Foreign Filmmakers Showcase'' and shot a political/comedy digital series for MiTu, ''Pocho Joe & Silverstein''. Hernandez-Kolski hosts Downbeat 720, an open-mic for high school youth sponsored by the City of Santa Monica. The televised version, Downbeat Showdown received the Los Angeles Emmy for "Outstanding Youth Programming." Hernandez-Kolski's first solo hip-hop theater show ''You Wanna Piece of Me?'' was published by the University of Michigan press in a hip-hop theater anthology, ''Say Word: Voices from Hip Hop Theater''. Hernandez-Kolski has a guest role in the 2016 Netflix series ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy-drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) and Alexis Bledel (Rory Gilmore). The show debuted on October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagshi ...

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez-Kolski, Joe Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Male actors from Chicago Princeton University alumni American male television actors