{{Use Canadian English|date=February 2024}} {{Short description|Canadian playwright and actor (born 1974)}} {{Infobox writer | name = Trey Anthony | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1974|02|18}} | birth_place = London, England | occupation = Playwright, actor, producer | genre = Comedy | notableworks = ''Da Kink in My Hair'' | awards = NAACP Theatre Award (2007), Gemini Award (2008) | website = [https://www.treyanthony.com Trey Anthony] }} '''Trey Anthony''' (born February 18, 1974) is a British-born Canadian playwright, actor, and producer, best known for her award-winning play and television series ''Da Kink in My Hair''.<ref name="swartz">{{cite web|last1=Swartz|first1=Shauna|title=Trey Anthony Brings Black Women Onstage - AfterEllen|url=http://www.afterellen.com/tv/7602-trey-anthony-brings-black-women-onstage|website=AfterEllen|accessdate=4 March 2018|date=28 March 2007}}</ref> As a producer, she worked for the Women's Television Network and the Urban Women's Comedy Festival.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.treyanthonystudios.com/bio.html|title=Trey Anthony Studios|website=www.treyanthonystudios.com|access-date=2018-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180517223754/http://www.treyanthonystudios.com/bio.html|archive-date=2018-05-17}}</ref> She founded Trey Anthony Studios, a television and theatre production company dedicated to producing new works of theatre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.treyanthonystudios.com|title=Trey Anthony Studios|website=www.treyanthonystudios.com|access-date=2018-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180619012703/http://www.treyanthonystudios.com/|archive-date=2018-06-19}}</ref>
== Personal life ==
Born in London, England, to Jamaican parents, Anthony arrived in Canada at 12 years old with her mother. They lived in the working class district of Rexdale in Toronto before moving to suburban Brampton. Anthony's mother had left for Canada ahead of her, leaving her from the ages of 6 to 12 to be raised by her grandmother.
Anthony's grandmother had in turn left her mother in Jamaica when leaving for the UK.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/how-black-mothers-say-i-love-you-1.4571336|title=The story that inspired 'How Black Mothers Say I Love You' {{!}} CBC News|work=CBC|access-date=2018-05-17|language=en-US}}</ref> Anthony's grandmother had been part of the Domestic Scheme Act, allowing her to go to a first world country if she proved she had no family ties.<ref>{{Citation|title=The story that inspired 'How Black Mothers Say I Love You'|url=https://soundcloud.com/cbcottawa1/the-story-that-inspired-how-black-mothers-say-i-love-you|language=en|accessdate=2018-05-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180312092750/https://soundcloud.com/cbcottawa1/the-story-that-inspired-how-black-mothers-say-i-love-you|archive-date=2018-03-12}}</ref>
She has a brother, Darren Anthony, who is also a writer.<ref name=":0" />
== Career == She is a regular on the Canadian comedy circuit. She began doing stand-up comedy during African Nubian Comedy Nights where she honed her comedic wit and timing.<ref name="thestar">{{cite news|last1=DeMara|first1=Bruce|title=When doors closed, she hired herself|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/282216|accessdate=4 March 2018|work=The Toronto Star|date=4 December 2007|language=en-CA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013023759/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/282216|archive-date=13 October 2012}}</ref> She soon became a crowd favourite and began writing and producing her own sketch comedy shows at Second City. These shows sold out monthly and Anthony moved her monthly shows to a bigger venue, growing her audience, and creating more demand for her theatrical work and projects.
She is a recipient of the prestigious Harry Jerome Award for the arts and the recipient of an Eve Ensler Award of the Arts.
In 2017, Anthony launched her new brand, ''Black Girl in Love'', which features the first lifestyle planner/organizer geared at professional black woman and also includes merchandise, workshops and retreats.
She has performed at The Second City, the Urban Womyn's Comedy Festival and Toronto's St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts. She was also a writer and performer for Kenny Robinson's sketch comedy show ''After Hours with Kenny Robinson'' and a writer for ''The Chris Rock Show''.<ref name="thestar" />
In 2017, her play ''How Black Mothers Say I Love You'' debuted at the Factory Theatre, Toronto.<ref name="clay">{{cite news|url=http://www.bramptonguardian.com/whatson-story/7165280--da-kink-in-my-hair-playwright-trey-anthony-explores-family-relationships-in-new-play-how-black-mo|title='da Kink in my Hair' playwright Trey Anthony explores family relationships in new play 'How Black Mothers Say I Love You'|last1=Clay|first1=Chris|date=1 March 2017|work=BramptonGuardian.com|accessdate=4 March 2018|language=en-CA}}</ref>
In 2020, Anthony appeared in CBC Gem's ''Queer Pride Inside'' special.<ref>Peter Knegt, [https://www.cbc.ca/arts/this-pride-come-inside-for-a-digital-queer-cabaret-unlike-anything-else-1.5617476 "This Pride, come inside for a digital queer cabaret unlike anything else"]. CBC Arts, June 22, 2020.</ref>
=== 'Da Kink in My Hair === Her hit play and television series, ''<nowiki/>'Da Kink in My Hair'', has received tremendous critical acclaim, and was named one of the top ten plays in Canadian theatrical history and the winner of four NAACP and received several Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Originally set as a one-woman show, ''<nowiki/>'Da Kink'' documents the lives of women in a Caribbean style Jamaican hair salon in Toronto.<ref name="National Arts Centre">{{Citation|last=National Arts Centre|title=Trey Anthony - 'da Kink in my Hair|date=2016-10-18|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpglUyCZvKA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/IpglUyCZvKA |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|accessdate=2018-05-17}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
Starting out at the Toronto French Festival in 2001<ref name="National Arts Centre"/> ''<nowiki/>'Da Kink'' has been produced in California, New York, London, and was the first Canadian play to be produced at the Princess of Wales Theatre.<ref name=":0"/>
''<nowiki/>''
Anthony is the first Black Canadian woman to write and produce a television show on a major prime time Canadian network. A television series version of '''Da Kink in My Hair'' began airing in 2007 and Anthony was a cast member before the show was cancelled in 2009.{{Cn|date=January 2025}}
=== Trey Anthony Studios === Trey Anthony Studios was founded by Anthony with the mission to "produce television and theater for urban audiences."<ref name=":0" /> It has produced and continuous to produce Anthony's works and has also produced ''Secrets of a Black Boy'', a play written by her brother Darren.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://passemuraille.ca/archives/current-season/secrets-of-a-black-boy|title=Secrets of a Black Boy {{!}} Theatre Passe Muraille|website=passemuraille.ca|language=en-CA|access-date=2018-06-16|archive-date=2018-06-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180616103232/https://passemuraille.ca/archives/current-season/secrets-of-a-black-boy|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Selected works ==
* ''<nowiki/>'Da Kink in my Hair'' * ''I Am Not a Dinner Mint, The Crap Women Swallow to Stay in a Relationship!'' * ''How Black Mothers Say I Love You'' * ''Black Girl in Love (with Herself)'' * ''Brampton Walk of fame''
==Awards==
* ''Eve Ensler Vagina Warrior Award'' 2005<ref>{{Citation |last = Kish |first = Cuauhtémoc |title = 'Da Kink in My Hair' |date = 2005-09-15 |issue = 925 |url = http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=5834 |url-status = usurped |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924053116/http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=5834 |archivedate = 2015-09-24 }}</ref> * ''NAACP Theatre Award'' 2007<ref>{{Citation | last = Lostracco | first = Marc | title = Local Play Wins Four NAACP Awards | date = 2007-02-20 | issue = 925 | url = http://torontoist.com/2007/02/local_play_wins/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412175429/http://torontoist.com/2007/02/local_play_wins/|archive-date=2015-04-12}}</ref> * ''Gemini Award'' 2008 * ''Harry Jerome Award'' 2009<ref>{{Citation | last = James | first = Royson | title = Harry Jerome Awards offer a gift to a whole community: James | newspaper = The Toronto Star | date = 2013-04-26 | issue = 925 | url = https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/04/26/harry_jerome_awards_offer_a_gift_to_a_whole_community_james.html}}</ref> * ''Egale Canada – Queering Black History Award'' 2009<ref>{{Citation | last = Rau | first = Krishna | title = Naming Canada's top black queer activists | date = 2009-02-18 | url = https://www.dailyxtra.com/canada/news-and-ideas/news/naming-canadas-top-black-queer-activists-52829}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{official website|http://www.treyanthonystudios.com/}}, for Trey Anthony Studios * {{IMDb name|0031028}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anthony, Trey}} Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:Black Canadian actresses Category:Black Canadian dramatists and playwrights Category:Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Category:British emigrants to Canada Category:Canadian people of Jamaican descent Category:Canadian lesbian actresses Category:Canadian lesbian comedians Category:Canadian women comedians Category:Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Category:Canadian lesbian writers Category:Lesbian dramatists and playwrights Category:Canadian expatriate actresses in the United States Category:21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Category:21st-century Canadian women writers Category:Writers from Ontario Category:Black Canadian LGBTQ people Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people Category:Black Canadian women writers Category:Harry Jerome Award winners Category:Comedians from London