Wayne Brady and Others to be Honored at Hollywood Caribbean-American Heritage Month Gala
Los Angeles, CA – Caribbean Heritage Organization (CHO) and the Institute of Caribbean Studies, DC (ICS-DC) are pleased to announce that actor, television personality and comedian Wayne Brady, EVP of Programming and Production at REVOLT, Val Boreland, EVPof Audience Strategy for The Fox Group, Nicole A. Bernard, computer graphics artist for Disney Animation Olun Riley and Cleveland (Cleve) Neil, former Honorary Consul of Jamaica to Southern will be honored at the 2014 Salute to Hollywood & Excellence gala to be held at the Hilton Universal City in Los Angeles on Friday, June 20 during the 2014 Caribbean-American Heritage Month celebrations.
Emmy-award winner Wayne Brady is known as the host of CBS’ Let’s Make a Deal and a panelist on the CW’s Whose Line Is It Anyway? This improvisational genius, accomplished actor, comedian and singer has garnered many guest star roles including the CBS hit How I Met Your Mother. Wayne’s Caribbean roots are from the US Virgin Islands.
Val Boreland has a very distinguished career in television. Having served as SVP for program, promotions and multiplatform strategy for Comedy Central and VP of scheduling, planning and acquisitions at Lifetime Television this veteran television executive is currently the EVP of programming and production for REVOLT TV, Sean “Diddy” Comb’s music-oriented digital cable television network. Val was born in the island of Jamaica.
Jamerican Nicole A. Bernard is the force behind the reimagining of the 21st Century Fox entertainment business’ approach to engaging broad and diverse audience around their global brands and programming. This former lawyer and SVP of New Business and Development for New York’s Apollo Theater Foundation, oversees Fox’s strategic business initiatives that serve as innovative resources across the Fox broadcast, film, sports and digital entertainment businesses to augment efforts to authentically engage globally diverse audiences- most recently launching the Fox Writers Intensive and the Fox|HBCU Media Alliance.
Olun Riley is a computer graphics artist at Disney Animation. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Olun has worked for Fox Animation, DreamWorks and Sony Pictures Imageworks. He has lead special effects on such Disney hits as BOLT, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and most recently, the Oscar® winning Frozen, to name a few. He is currently working as a lighting supervisor on Disney’s upcoming feature Big Hero 6.
Cleveland Neil, affectionately, known as “Cleve” is the first recipient of the Caribbean Heritage Community Award. For over 30 years, he had served the Los Angeles community with distinction and integrity. As the former Jamaica Honorary Consul to Southern California, Cleve facilitated official state actions on behalf of the Jamaican government and generally acted as a liaison between the government of Jamaica and American regional interests.
“Each year, for the Caribbean Heritage Salute to Hollywood and Excellence, the selection committee combs through rumors and minutiae to identify those among the Caribbean family, in what some term America’s most powerful industry, outside of politics – entertainment, business, and media. This year they got it right yet again,” says Dr. Claire Nelson, the architect of Caribbean-American Heritage Month and founder of the Institute of Caribbean Studies. “The 2014 honorees are exemplars of the power of America’s immigrant journey, and truly represent our pride in our contributions to American culture and society.” she added.
