Omari Akil Newton is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He is best known for playing the roles of Larry Summers in '' Blue Mountain State'' and Lucas Ingram in ''

Continuum Continuum may refer to: * Continuum (measurement), theories or models that explain gradual transitions from one condition to another without abrupt changes Mathematics * Continuum (set theory), the real line or the corresponding cardinal number ...

''. Newton is the co-founder of Boldskool Productions.

Early life

Newton grew up in Montreal. His parents were immigrants from

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. In the 1990s, he went to

Beaconsfield High School Beaconsfield High School (commonly known as Becky High) is a girls' grammar school in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The school takes girls from the age of 12 through to the age of 18 (A-levels). In order to gain admission into Beaconsfield High ...

along with his sister. At school Newton was the co-captain of the basketball team and starter for the local football team, but also went to the drama clubs. To become a professional actor Newton took drama courses at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

, where he did his BA in communication studies. He also went to the

National Theatre School of Canada The National Theatre School of Canada (NTS, french: École nationale de théâtre du Canada) is a private institution of professional theatre studies in Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1960, the NTS receives its principal funding from grants aw ...

Career

When Newton was 19 years old, he was hired by

Black Theatre Workshop Black Theatre Workshop (BTW) is a non-profit theater company based in Montreal and is one of the oldest Black English-speaking professional theatre companies in the Canada. It was established by Clarence Bayne and Arthur Goddard, who previously al ...

and got a lead role in one of their productions. He worked in the Montreal theatre scene for several years until he moved to Vancouver. During his early days in Vancouver Newton did a lot of theatre. He appeared in

Romeo & Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

with

Mad Duck Theatre Collective Mad Duck Theatre Collective is a Vancouver, British Columbia based theatre company that has been presenting classical theatre for the modern stage. Mad Duck in committed to exploring new and non traditional stagings, presenting women in non tradit ...

and

The Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' ( grc, Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of th ...

at Christ Church Cathedral. In 2001 Newton auditioned for the role of Dalton Nemers in the teenage vampire series ''

Vampire High ''Vampire High'' is a Canadian TV series that originally aired from 2001 to 2002. The show centered on a group of young vampires subjected to a daring experiment by the "Elders": taken in by a boarding school that also housed mortal teenagers, wit ...

''. He was directly booked after his first read for the role. He later mentioned that he really enjoyed the time at the set. He also liked that his character was pivotal in the story of one of the lead Vampires. During these days it was the first role on a TV series and his biggest role on film or TV. Before that he only had a few one liners in some TV movies. From 2010 to 2011 Newton played Larry Summers in '' Blue Mountain State''. The college comedy series is about a fictional university and its football team. Larry was Newtons first regular role on a television series. From 2012 to 2015 Newton starred as Lucas Ingram in ''

''. In 2014,

Diane Roberts Diane Roberts is an American author, columnist, essayist, radio commentator, reviewer and professor. She is the author of three books and a documentary-maker for the BBC. Career Roberts has been a commentator for NPR since 1993,

directed Newton's play ''Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy Of'' with Urban Ink Productions. Newton and Roberts' collaboration led to the formation of Boldskool Productions, a hip hop theatre company. In 2018, Boldskool re-staged ''Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy Of'' with Holding Space and the NAC English Theatre''.'' Newton began writing ''Sal Capone'' in 2008 after the police shooting of unarmed Fredy Villanueva. Newton has been commissioned by

to write ''Black & Blue Matters'', a companion piece to ''Sal Capone''.

Personal life

Newton has a twin sister named Akilah Newton.

Plays

* ''Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy Of''

Filmography

TV shows

Film

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Omari Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian male stage actors Black Canadian male actors Male actors from Montreal 21st-century Canadian male actors Canadian people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Anglophone Quebec people