Director, actor, writer, educator and activist SaMi Chester was born on Chicago’s Westside. He started his artistic journey at the age of 7 years old. and a few years later discovered Chicago politics. Some of his credits include Godspell (Original Chicago Company) Hair (European and US National Tour) Native Speech (Soho Rep.) The Skin Of Our Teeth (Dallas Theater Center) Five on the Black Hand Side (Kuumba Workshop) FAUST (Kingston Mines Theatre Co.) Trojan Women (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble) and a host of others. He has guest starred on numerous television shows; NYPD Blue, Law and Order, Doogie Howser, Quantum Leap… and was a series regular on his own short-lived series Human Target. He is the founder and artistic director of BeBop Theatre Collective and the Co-Founder and artistic director of STUDIO ONE, a multicultural space in New York city’s lower east side. He has directed over 30 theatrical productions. Currently he has two of his own works on the drawing board, one for TV and the other for the stage. Aside from his artistic life, SaMi has always and continues to fight for social justice and the rights of tenants in New York State and beyond.