5 Questions with Owen ‘Blakka’ Ellis: A Caribbean Icon on Comedy, Culture and Garvey’s Ghost

Jamaicans.com recently sat down with cultural icon Owen ‘Blakka’ Ellis, the beloved Jamaican actor, comedian, dub poet, writer and educator whose career has spanned more than four decades. Ellis reflected on his extraordinary journey in the creative arts and his role in the acclaimed Caribbean-Canadian series Garvey’s Ghost.

For Ellis, comedy has never been merely entertainment. It was a survival tool, a way to make sense of life’s challenges and connect with audiences through shared experiences. “You either become the joke, or people laugh with you,” Ellis explained. “I chose to laugh first and invite people to laugh with me.”

In conversation, he spoke candidly about his unconventional path, one defined not by auditions and ambition, but by authenticity and the ability to turn lived experience into laughter. “I’ve never auditioned for a part,” he added. Opportunities, he said, simply found him.

That approach extended to Garvey’s Ghost, where he was directly invited and convinced by series creator Frances-Anne Solomon to portray the spirit of Marcus Garvey.

Brandeis Denham Jolly, OD, CM, LL.D 

Inspiration Behind Garvey’s Ghost

Garvey’s Ghost is inspired by the life and legacy of Jamaican-Canadian media pioneer Denham Jolly, in particular his memoir In The Black: My Life. The series follows a young Denham as he arrives in Toronto in the 1950s, where he boards at the home of Violet Williams, a leader in the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

While Garvey’s presence anchors the story, the series is ultimately about Caribbean migration and self-determination in a foreign land. Set in 1950s Toronto, it explores how Garvey’s ideas continue to shape the lives of Caribbean people navigating identity, power and belonging in the diaspora.

_{Owen ‘Blakka’ Ellis as Garvey’s Ghost and Sharon Lewis as Violet Williams}

Reimagining Garvey

Ellis admitted he was initially intimidated by the role. The idea of portraying Garvey in a comedic, imaginative way challenged expectations. Some, he anticipated, would object before seeing a single frame of the film. Yet he quickly reconciled that concern by focusing on meaning rather than mimicry.

“Have you ever seen Garvey’s ghost?” he asked. “The important thing is not how he looked or sounded. It’s the ideas.”

That perspective aligned naturally with Caribbean cultural tradition, where humour and seriousness often exist side by side. Ellis pointed to the region’s ability to find laughter even in moments of grief, describing it as a cultural instinct rooted in survival and remembrance.

The series also stars a strong Caribbean-Canadian cast, including Sharon Lewis as Violet, alongside Nigel Scott, Rudy Webb and Dwight McLean, whose performances help ground the story in lived diaspora experience.

Blakka Reflects on Legacy

Beyond the series, Ellis reflected on legacy more broadly and what it means after a lifetime of work. He was clear that legacy is not something a creator controls or defines for themselves. Instead, he sees it as something shaped quietly through honesty, consistency and service to others.

What mattered most to him, he said, was having fully lived his creative life, using his work not to centre himself, but to help others see, heal and laugh.

For Ellis, Garvey’s Ghost was therefore not just another role, but part of a much longer continuum of cultural contribution.

The full first season of Marcus Garvey’s Ghost can be streamed on CaribbeanTales-TV. The platform features all six episodes, which take viewers through young Denham’s journey, Miss Violet’s leadership, and the lively appearances of Garvey’s ghost as he guides the community.