Ishiaka McNiel
Cast
Biography:
​
Ishiaka has been a part of the Laff-it-Off family from 2002 bringing loads of laughter to audiences every year.
His love for theatre began at the Calvary Moravian Church where he participated in many of the church programmes. He also participated in programmes at the Wesley Hall Boys’ and Louis Lynch Secondary Schools.
Ishiaka, who believes that life is a stage and every person he meets or comes into contact with is a part of this earthly production called, LIFE, took his love for theatre and singing further and enrolled in the Theatre Arts programme at the Barbados Community College,
The jovial, energetic, talented and versatile actor and singer has appeared in a number of other productions spanning 18 years such as Talk Tent 97, Man Over Board a tribute to Lord Admiral Vernon Watson of the Land Ship, Julius Caesar (Stage One Theatre Productions), S.E.X Stories Exchange (Cross Caribbean Productions), Blessed (UWI), Praise Song for Burgie (Carifesta 2006) and The It So Happen Suite (Diasporic Arts Productions 2010).
He has also appeared on the National Geographic’s Locked up Abroad.
Regarding his singing abilities, Ishiaka is a Calypsonian/Singer of note. He is a former winner of the Richard Stoute Teen Talent Contest (1999) and multiple-time semi-finalist and finalist in the national Pic-O-De-Crop competition.
As a singer, he received numerous awards including the Jackie Opel Spouge Award (Community Independence Secretariat 2000) and the Marcus Garvey Award of Merit (Pan African Commission 2002), to name a few. One of his many achievements to date is being the composer of the first and third place songs in the 2014 Junior Calypso Monarch Competition.
He loves spouge and hopes that one day it will regain its prominence in Barbados’ musical arena.
Ishiaka has his eyes set on becoming a household name as an actor/singer/performer in the Caribbean and wider world and believes that action without vision is a nightmare and vision without action is a daydream
