Beginning her career on the theatrical stage, Oyafunmike Ogunlano first graced the stages of Washington, D.C.
with the D.C. Black Repertory Company under the direction of Robert Hooks and Vantile Whitfield. She was a member
of the Ebony Impromptu Theater Company, under the direction of the late Harry Poe, WASTSA, and the Black Box
Theater. She has appearedin many stage productions including North Seventeenth Street with the Negro Ensemble
Company, Shango de Ima with the Nuyorician Poet's Cafe, The Blacks, Homecookin', Changes, Imam, Day of
Absence and Amen Corner with The DC Black Rep to name just a few. She received much of her training at the Los Angeles
Southwest College and the University of the District of Columbia, where she minored in Journalism.
Oyafunmike is a student of Yoruba culture and an initiated Priestess in that tradition. She is also an accomplished African
dancer and has danced with the dynamic Olatunji's Drums of Passion, Wo'Se African Dancers, Mori Nimba, Ashanti Drum
and Dance Ensemble and the Yoruba Temple Dancers and Drummers.
Her television appearances have included Charlotte Forten's Mission, Special Friendship, A Gathering of Old Men,
The Hardy Boys, Mike Hammer, Hill Street Blues and A Man Called Hawk. Her film credits include Disillusioned,
the Exorcist-Part II, The Hit, Egungun and, of course, her award-winning performance in Sankofa.
She recently hosted the 1996 Tortola Jazz Festival in the beautiful British Virgin Islands and participated in the
Ken Benne's Scholar's Week in Bethel, Maine as guest lecturer. Oyafunmike has toured the college circuit lecturing
on "The Making of Sankofa" and "The Yoruba Tradition." She taught several classes at Tennessee State University, spoke
at Sarah Lawrence College and Florida International University to name a few.
Oyafunmike is a mother of three and a grandmother.
a contact number for Ogunlano Oyafunmike is:
(212) 802-7114
Last Updated: Thursday, December 26, 1996 8:10:49 PM