FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Pan African Film & Arts Festival
Begins Preparations for 17th Annual Celebration

Film Festival Announces Actor Blair Underwood as 2009 Celebrity Host

Los Angeles, CA - The 17th Annual Pan African Film And Arts Festival (PAFF), America's largest and most prestigious flagship black film and arts festival, has begun preparations for its 2009 celebration of black film and arts by announcing the selection of actor and producer Blair Underwood as its 2009 Celebrity Host. 

With an overall festival attendance of 200,000, the PAFF attracts a diverse audience of over 40,000 people to its films at the AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 Theaters.  Each year the PAFF presents quality films from the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Europe, the South Pacific and Canada, all showcasing the diversity and complexity of people of African descent.  PAFF also presented one of America's largest fine art shows featuring prominent and emerging Black artists and fine craftspeople held at the BaldwinHillsCrenshawPlaza.  Other signature PAFF events included over a dozen industry panels and workshops, the PAFF StudentFest®, ChildrensFest®, SpokenWord Fest®,  Senior Connections®, and Comedy Night. 

The 2009 PAFF is taking place in Los Angeles February 5-16.  Festival information, including sponsorship information is available online via www.PAFF.org or by calling (323) 295-1706 or by email at info@paff.org. 

About Blair Underwood

Blair Underwood has established himself as a charismatic and versatile actor, with the rare ability to achieve a successful acting career on stage, television, and the big screen. His success has been driven by his underlying belief that to achieve longevity in the acting business, you must diversify yourself and become as flexible as possible. Now with the release of his new book "Casanegra" A Tennyson Hardwick Novel, co-authored with Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, and named the Essence Book of the Month pick, Underwood can add author to his list of accomplishments.

Underwood's first big screen role was in the movie Krush Groove. From there, he burst into the national spotlight in the NBC hit series "L.A. Law." He earned a Golden Globe nomination in this role. Presently, Underwood can be seen weekly in three smash hits. He appears in ABC's drama "Dirty Sexy Money" as "Simon Elder," a billionaire who tangles with the fictional Darling family. He also stars as a navy fighter pilot opposite Gabriel Byrne in HBO's new drama series "In Treatment." Additionally, he reprised his recurring role of "Mr. Harris" opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the CBS award-winning comedy "The New Adventures of Old Christine".

Additionally, he is producing the TLC series Easy Money with his partner Tommy Morgan Jr. for their new Intrepid Inc. production company. He's also co-executive producing the upcoming reality competition Stage Black for TV One.

Underwood has received 12 industry nods from the Golden Globes and the NAACP Image Awards, with five wins from the NAACP Image Awards, for his roles in film and television on City of Angels, Rules of Engagement, "L.A. Law," Mama Flora's Family, and Murder in Mississippi.

Underwood recently completed his feature directorial debut in Pittsburgh with the independent drama The Bridge to Nowhere. The film, which stars Danny Masterson, Bijou Phillips, and Ving Rhames, is the story of four blue-collar twenty-something men from North Pittsburgh who team up with a destitute prostitute to create a high-priced escort service. The dark story follows their rise and inevitable spiraling descent.

Last year, Underwood starred in two films. He played an abusive boyfriend in Madea's Family Reunion- the smash sequel to Tyler Perry's hit Diary of a Mad Black Woman-and the 'IBM' (Ideal Black Man) in Something New, the romantic comedy costarring Sanaa Lathan. He also recently portrayed Jesus in the audio book "The Bible Experience." Since its release in October 2006, it has become the No. 1 audio Bible in history.

In five episodes of the last season of HBO's hit series "Sex & the City," Underwood played "Robert Leeds," the NY Knicks team doctor who romanced his neighbor "Miranda." His portrayal earned him two NAACP Image Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor.

In the independent film world, Underwood starred in and produced the independent drama How Did It Feel? He also starred in G and Truth Be Told. Additionally, Underwood is in production for My Soul to Keep, a supernatural thriller based on the novel by Tananarive Due (Fox Searchlight), in which he will star and produce. He also starred in amazon.com's short film Do Geese See God.

In 2004, Underwood had a workshop/tour of his one-man show IM4: From the Mountaintop to Hip Hop. The play, which he created and conceived, and which was written by his brother, is the story of a rap mogul who gets gunned down. During his heavenly journey, the mogul meets the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Underwood played eight characters in all.

Underwood co-starred in the Warner Bros. comedy Malibu's Most Wanted and was the male lead opposite Julia Roberts in Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal. He starred as a Marine Captain in William Friedkin's Rules of Engagement, for which he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Film. That same year he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series for his starring role in Steven Bochco's "City of Angels." In 2000, People magazine named him one of its "50 Most Beautiful People," and in 2004 named him one of the "Sexiest Men Alive."

He starred as Jackie Robinson in HBO's Soul of the Game, for which he received another NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie/Miniseries. Underwood also starred in Showtime's The Wishing Tree and TNT's award-winning Heat Wave, as well as a powerful episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit", as an abusive husband who sets his wife on fire. Additionally, he appeared opposite Heather Locklear in the NBC drama "LAX" and the CBS miniseries "The Hades Factor."

Underwood's other film credits include his portrayals of a space shuttle flight navigator in the Paramount/DreamWorks hit Deep Impact, a death row inmate in Warner Bros. ' Just Cause, a geneticist in Columbia's Gattaca, a sheriff in Posse, and a corporate banker in New Line's Set it Off. He received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a motion picture for the latter role.

As director, executive producer, writer and star of the dramatic short The Second Coming, Underwood played Jesus Christ returning to earth. In addition, he produced and starred in the independent thriller Asunder and the short film Sister, I'm Sorry. He also has five music videos to his directing credit.
His theater credits include the recent New York revival of the award-winning musical, "Purlie," "Measure for Measure," at the 1993 New York Shakespeare Festival, "El Negro en Peru," "The Game of Love and Chance," and "Love Letters" opposite Alfre Woodard.

Involved in numerous charitable organizations, Underwood's dedicated support of the Muscular Dystrophy Association won him the 1993 Humanitarian Award. He is also co-founder of Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA). Founded in 1989 with Alfre Woodard, Danny Glover, Mary Steenburgen and other friends in the arts and entertainment community, ANSA supports a democratic South Africa with equal rights and opportunities for all citizens.

The Pan African Film & Arts Festival (PAFF) was founded in 1992 as a non-profit corporation dedicated to the promotion of cultural and racial tolerance and understanding through the exhibition of film, art and creative expression. It is the PAFFs goal to present and showcase a broad spectrum of Black creative works, particularly those that reinforce positive images and help to destroy negative stereotypes.  The PAFF believes film and art can lead to better understanding and foster communication between peoples of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyles, while at the same time, serve as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.

www.PAFF.org

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