Trinidad-born actor Paul Pryce, who recently earned widespread critical acclaim for his performance in the leading role of Shakespeare's Pericles at the prestigious Elm Shakespeare Company in Connecticut, has been named one of the 40 Under-40 Caribbean American Achievers of 2014 by Caribbean Life newspaper.
A release said Pryce and 39 other Caribbean American luminaries will be feted at the publication's Second Annual Under 40 Awards Gala, to be held in Brooklyn, on November 20, where they will each receive engraved awards honouring their career achievements to date.
Caribbean Life is the largest and most popular Caribbean publication in the eastern United States.
The gala will recognise 40 US-based individuals of Caribbean descent who are under 40 and who have distinguished themselves in various fields, including arts and entertainment, business, education, and entrepreneurship. Twenty individuals were honoured at last year's successful event and the number has been doubled for 2014.
In an acting career that is not yet a decade old, former model Pryce–who won the title of Oprah Winfrey's Sexiest Caribbean Man on the Oprah Show in 1999–has been carving a niche for himself as one of the most promising and exciting classical actors working today.
His career highlights include appearances in off-Broadway productions as Pecong at the National Black Theater of Harlem, Harry The Hunk On His Way Out at the Cherry Lane Theater and originating the part of Rob X in John Prescod's premiere of his play Pre-Disposal.
His career gained momentum when he enrolled at the Yale School of Drama, where he was awarded the Eldon Elders Fellowship (2012) and Oliver Thorndike Award for Acting (2013). At Yale he earned consistently excellent notices for his work in Othello, Angels in America: Perestroika, Cymbeline, Twelfth Night and Julius Caesar among numerous other, new and contemporary plays and projects.
His success in those roles led to his appearance in the Yale Repertory production of Hamlet, in which he played Fortinbras and the Player King opposite Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti.
On graduating in 2013, he earned high praise for his Mark Antony with the Elm Shakespeare Company.
who then, a year later, cast him as the title character in their 2014 production of Pericles. "I am deeply honoured, humbled and tremendously excited to be recognised by Caribbean Life with this incredible honour at this point in my career," Pryce said. "Having been out of grad school for such a relatively short time, the award for me is far less about the work I have done, but more so encouragement towards what I have yet to accomplish. And if this in any way also inspires my fellow Caribbean actors and artists to strive to achieve their own goals, then it is a double blessing of the highest order."