Jot Agyeman
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
John Osei Tutu Agyeman, also known as Jot Agyeman (born 28 June), is a Ghanaian actor, media practitioner and television anchor. He began his entertainment career on stage at the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon.
As host of TV3's breakfast show Start and as judge of the highly rated reality show Hottest Host and host of political chat programem Hot Issues, he gained a reputation for being a tough, straight-talking host and judge with a firm approach.
He spent a major part of his career as a book writer and editor with Eagle Media House, London, UK, where he held the position of Director of Publishing. Jot Agyeman has written and edited bestselling titles including War on Poverty, The Concept of Love in Relationships, Being like Hannah. He returned to Ghana in 2006 to pursue a career in the media. He is the author of two books: I Have the Power (Destiny Books, 2003) and The Concept of Love in Relationships (Temple Publishing, 2003).
John Osei Tutu Agyeman, popularly called JOT, is undoubtedly one of television’s most exciting and well respected executives. His long list of television credentials is enough to rival the best in the industry anywhere in the world. With impeccable English he has over the years mesmerized his viewers with his ruddy good looks and wit which has endeared many to him. His television career started at GTV as a guest presenter on the Breakfast Show in the late 1990s with the likes of Akushika Aquaye, Earl Ankrah and Kate Addo. A year later he returned to the United Kingdom for further training returning to Ghana in 2006 and to the GTV Newsroom where he worked on the African Union Summit in 2007 among others. Agyeman’s rise to the top really took off when he was invited by one of his mentors Mr. Robert Kofi Nyantakyi to handle the morning programme Start on TV3 with Matilda Haynes and Ronald Walker. He credits Mr. Nyantakyi and Mr. Kofi Bucknor as his mentors and the two people who guided his early career.
January 2010 began a new chapter in the television executive’s life. A call from the management of e.TV Ghana saw his move to the new station as Programs Manager with responsibility to produce a competitive programming agenda that could see e.TV Ghana at the top of the ratings. He admits it was not an easy road but even before he rolled out his first programs, Exposure and eBusiness Journal, he knew what could work and what could not. Other programs rolled out under the e.TV Ghana Brand name include Breakfast TV, Awake, 100 Degrees, News Xtra, Week in Focus, The Late Nite Celebrity Show, Girl Talk and Big Screen.[citation needed] In September 2010, he was appointed General Manager for e.TV Ghana, a position he held till 31 October 2012. He was instrumental in the formation of the Ghana office of the Institute for Media Practice, a research-based institution that focuses on media training, surveys, monitoring and evaluation of the media in the West African sub-region. JOT is also Head of Media and Communications for the Joyce Ababio College of Creative Design. In November 2014, he return to e.TV Ghana as a Managing Consultant to the Network.
Contents
Early life
Born in Kumasi, Ghana, Jot Agyeman is the youngest of 10 children. His father was a traditional ruler (chief and clan head), the first ever Nkosuohene to be enstooled in Ghana by the Late Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II of the Ashanti Kingdom. He attended Prempeh College for high school, Wesley College for Teacher Training and continued to the University of Ghana, Legon, where he studied Theater Arts.
Theatrical background
His work as a director of stage and a playwright is well documented with a string of awards and work.[citation needed] He has performed in several roles on stage including Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Agatha Christie's Witness for the Prosecution and Shakespeare's Othello. His other written works include Days of Thunder (2004), I Am My Father's Baby (2007), and Sons of Destiny (2007). In 2009, he wrote and directed one of the most elaborate plays in the history of Ghanaian stage culture, Asanteman, the history of the Ashanti Kingdom of Ghana, West Africa. As a writer, he has written several plays and movie scripts including the much acclaimed satire A Penny For Your Wife, which was showcased at the Efua Sutherland Drama Studio in 2009.[citation needed]
Film
JOT is quite an elusive character, shying away from the limelight and all the glitz and glamour of the celebrity trail preferring rather to stay behind a lap top and design new concepts and develop new content for television and events. An exceptionally brilliant actor, he has starred in movies such as Fools In Love by Akorfa Edjeani, The Blinkards by Prof. Martin Owusu, Double by KSM, I Sing of a Well by Leila Djansi and Rain by Nabil Maizongo, playing the lead in movies and winning rave reviews as well as a nomination from the African Movie Academy Awards 2009 and the Ghana Movie Awards 2010. He was commissioned in 2013 to write two biopics on two of Africa's best known heroes and is currently writing a third biopic on the life of Ghana's first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Awards
In June 2011, he was named as the Best Television Programmes Director in Ghana at the Radio and Television Personality Awards 2011. In 1987, he won the best Actor Award for his role in Martin Owusu's The Story Ananse Told and was the first recipient of the Patrons' Award for Excellence at the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana. He also wrote the African Movie Academy Award for Short Film Not my Daughter in 2008. The film was produced by Akorfa Edjeani Asiedu.
Other work
He is a media consultant and currently President of the Institute for Media Practice Ghana. In 2011, he founded Solaris Films, a wholly owned Ghanaian film company that focuses on the production of African documentaries and biographies. He was the host of night-time socio-political current affairs programme State of the Nation on e.TV Ghana, and Show Director for Miss Ghana 2012 pageant. His other interests include being a Resident Judge for the 4Syte TV Music Video Awards, a board member for the Ghana Fashion Awards and a judge on Miss Tourism Ghana. In 2013, he set up the Media and Broadcasting Awards to motivate Ghanaian media practitioners to adhere to good media practices.
Other credits
Television[citation needed]
- Anchor, 100 Degrees – ETV Ghana, 2010
- Anchor, Agenda – TV3, 2009-10
- Anchor, Hot Issues – TV3, 2009
- Anchor, Start – TV3, 2007-08
- Anchor, Focus – GTV, 2007
- Anchor, Africa Union Summit – GTV, 2007
- Anchor, Presidential State Visit to UK – GTV, 2007
- Anchor, Health Focus – OBE TV, 2005-06
- International Commentary, First Oil Launch, 2010
- Commentary, Fidelity Bank Go for Gold Campaign, 2010
- Commentary, AU Summit – GTV, 2007
- Producer Documentary Gleneagles G8 Summit Scotland, 2005
- Producer Documentary FT Roundtable Conference on Ghana UK, 2005
- Producer Documentary, Ghana Forum UK, 2003-05
- Executive Producer, Several Programmes ETV Ghana
- Concept Creator, The Late Nite Celebrity Show ETV Ghana, 2010
- Concept Creator, Awake, 100 Degrees, EBusiness Journal, Girl Talk, Big Screen - ETV Ghana, 2010
- Concept Creator, Airtel Magic Moments, ETunes, Exposure, Breakfast TV - ETV Ghana, 2010
- Concept Creator, 100 Most Influential Ghanaians
-
- Social
. Local Producer, Cinevideo Brazil - African Presidents, African Women Documentaries . Local Producer, Cinemax Kenya - AU APRM Documentary
- Production Director, Fidelity Bank Go for Gold Launch and Final Draw- March 2011
- Production Director, First Oil Dialogue - December 2010
- Stage Director, A Penny for your Wife - February 2009
- Stage Director, Asanteman- February 2009
- Creative Director, Festival of Asanteman- September 2008
- Asst Producer, Burger Highlife Concerts - March 2007 and March 2008
- Director of Communication, Kentefest - September 2007
- Creative Director, Miss Elegance Universities Pageant - March 2007
- Backdrop Design, Kwame Nkrumah Centenary Concert - September 2010
- Show Director, Miss Ghana 2012
- Judge, 4Syte Music Video Awards 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
- Judge, Miss Tourism Ghana 2013, 2014
- MC. First Oil Essay Launch- December 2010
- MC. First Oil Travel Exhibition Launch - May 2011
- MC. Face of the Universe World Finals Launch - 2006
- MC. International Cocoa Conference - 2007
- MC. Cocoa Day - 2008
- President, The Writers Forum, 2007-09
- President, Association of Students of Performing Arts, 1990-91
External links
- Jot Agyeman at the Internet Movie Database http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jot_new.jpg
- www.instituteofmediapractice.org
