Lemon Andersen

About me:

LEMON is a critically acclaimed and award-winning renaissance artist. As a poet he has the greatest number of appearances on HBO'S RUSSELL SIMMONS PRESENTS DEF POETRY—seven times in five seasons. He is also an original cast member of RUSSELL SIMMONS PRESENTS DEF POETRY JAM ON BROADWAY—he won a TONY award for his writing and performance, as well as a Drama Desk Award nomination. He has been a mainstay in the spoken-word and theater scene for the past decade, performing in and selling out venues such as the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Apollo Theater, Chicago Theater, and Hollywood’s Kodak Theater. Most recently he received a standing ovation after a stellar performance in front 500,000 people at Philadelphia’s Live 8 Theater. His film credits include THE SOLOIST, starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr., a feature film which premieres in 2009, which Lemon also wrote for. Spike Lee's MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA, SUCKER FREE CITY, SHE HATE ME, and the major motion picture INSIDE MAN, which Lemon appeared in opposite Denzel Washington, and Clive Owens. His theater credits include SLANGUAGE, which was directed by Jo Bonney, and premiered at the New York Theater Workshop to rave reviews and sold out shows. Lemon has taught performance art workshops at a countless number of colleges, universities and institutions through out the nation, including Harvard, Princeton, Umass and Sing Sing prison, just to name a few. He has studied master acting with the honorable Wynn Handman at Carnagie Hall. Lemon is the author of READY MADE REAL: POEMS, a collection of his most prolific poems to date. The self published title includes some of Lemon’s most popular poems, as well as original material. Nike hand picked Lemon to write a piece to help them sign basketball star Lebron James. He has also been heard through out the country performing his poetry on Hot 97. Lemon was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, where he currently resides. He is currently working on his one man show, COUNTY OF KINGS: THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE, which will premiere at the Public Theater as part of Under the Radar Festival in January 2009.