Living the Legacy Of African American Art
Nephew of Alex Haley Picks His Own Path -- or Several

By Michelle Betton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 16, 2006

Chris Haley is sitting in a cafe in Greenbelt eating his lunch -- spinach quiche and gingerbread chai tea latte. He looks relaxed in a button-down plaid shirt, jeans and sneakers, but he's not.

The second annual Utopia Film Festival had begun the night before, and as filmmaker and festival director, he had lots on his mind.

Independent films were premiering all day long, prompting him to wonder constantly if he was supposed to be somewhere. His cellphone was ringing off the hook.

His directorial schedule of making speeches, introducing movies and participating in forums seemed exhausting, but Haley, an outgoing man who likes to crack jokes, was showing no signs of fatigue.

One might expect the nephew of the late Alex Haley, author of "Roots," to be involved in some form of creative arts. After all, his uncle wrote the famous book that traced the late author's history from his ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to the freeing of Kunta Kinte's descendants. The book led to a television miniseries. But Haley, a Landover resident, insists that he spends more time making his own way than trying to live up to his family legacy.

"I have often felt that people think more is going on with me because of my name," said Haley, who declines to give his age. "People always looked at me as Alex Haley's nephew before looking at me as Chris Haley. It can get you in the door, but you have to warrant staying inside."

To that end, Haley works hard at his craft in hopes of someday breaking into the business of major motion pictures.

He has had a good start: He has made several short movies and has acted in film and on stage and television. He also serves on the board of directors of the Kunta Kinte-Alex Haley Foundation, an organization that works to preserve African American history, culture, genealogy and archaeology, as well as the Annapolis Arts Alliance.

The Utopia Film Festival tied up Haley's time most recently. The festival late last month featured debuts of movies made by local, national and international filmmakers.

Haley said he became involved in the festival through his older brother, Alan, who works for Greenbelt Access Television. His brother premiered several films in the festival as well.

Haley himself premiered several short films, including "Birds Gone Wild," about a paranoid man who is afraid of birds.

"It's guerrilla filmmaking," Haley said, referring to the very low-budget works that make up the festival. The event is by no means a Sundance or Venice film festival. But Haley hopes that his work someday will be in lights at one of the big screening parties.

'Is This Really My Family?'

Haley recalls his uncle as a distant figure in his life, who would give talks at the Library of Congress and then come to his house to visit.

"He was a suave man," Haley said, adding that his uncle was sophisticated, self-assured and "always around pretty women."

Chris Haley, a native Washingtonian, recalled a trip he took to Savannah, Ga., as an adolescent during the filming of "Roots." He went to see the movie set that was staged as his ancestors' African village.

Later he watch the miniseries and compared the actors to his living relatives. He said he got a thrill out of seeing the film but thought at the time, "Is this really my family?"

Haley remains close to his family and the place where he grew up. He attended Takoma Elementary School and Archbishop Carroll High School in the District, and studied English and drama at the University of Maryland at College Park.

After college, he moved to Landover and performed for three years in dinner theater. Acting jobs followed in Connecticut and Florida, then a move back home.

Haley works in Annapolis at the Maryland State Archives as director of the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland. His latest project there has him researching the underground railroad in Maryland.

"We've been looking for unsung heroes in fighting slavery," Haley said. The study focuses on the antebellum period between 1830 and 1860. The staff is looking for people who may not have become as famous as Harriet Tubman but who made a contribution to the effort.

"We've been able to pull up over 100,000 names related to the fight against slavery," Haley said. "We want to bring their stories out."

Immersed in Inspirations

Sitting in the cafe, Haley smiles easily and gestures a lot as he speaks. Perhaps it's the actor in him. As he tells it, he has been interested in history and writing since he was young.

He cited the plagiarism controversy in which Alex Haley was accused of lifting material for "Roots" from other authors as a reason he got into research. After that incident, Haley said, "I'm going to learn how to do research myself," so that he would not become the subject of the hurtful accusations that he said his uncle endured.

Despite Alex Haley's celebrity, his nephew said he gets his outgoing personality and love of performing from his mother, Ida Dolores Brown Sherrod Haley. "Definitely, the performance and acting thing came from my mother."

Haley traces his acting career to elementary school, where he played a pilgrim in a show. "I got applause and I thought, hey, this is not bad," he said.

He continued to act onstage in high school, where he met a teacher, Jim Mumford, whom he described as his strongest mentor.

To date, Haley has acted in several films. He was in "Partners of the Heart," a television movie, and had a role in an episode of "The Wire," the HBO police drama. Haley has also acted in his own productions, including "B&B," about a man and a woman who meet in a bed and breakfast and fall in love. The film premiered at last year's Utopia Film Festival.

Haley said he prefers to produce short pieces, lasting an hour or less. "Doing a one-minute movie, you can see the process that will get you to the end," he said.

He's interested in producing documentaries on famous African American singers such as Marvin Gaye and Sam Cooke. He's also thinking about embarking on several film projects, including one about the transformation of Prince George's from its slave days during the Civil War to its standing now as an affluent, predominantly black county.

His projects, he said, are part of a plan to work in all aspects of the film industry. "That's how I can put the history and the cinema together," he said.

Still, Haley said his true love is performing.

"An actor starts out waiting in shadow in the wings, and when you come out, you are born," he said. "It's kind of electric."