Patti Boulaye

Patricia Ngosi Ebigwei - popularly known as Patti Boulaye - is an entertainer and politician.

Boulaye first came to the United Kingdom, shortly after the Biafran war, when she was sixteen. Although she had hopes of becoming a nun, she auditioned for a musical after seeing an advertisment on a poster, and her career as a West End actress began. She has featured in several television programmes, including "The Fosters" and "Dempsey and Makepeace", and in the early eighties,she had her own series, "The Patti Boulaye Show" on Channel Four. In her native Nigeria, she was the face of "Lux Beauty soap" for many years. She has also starred in several West End musicals including "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Hair". In 2005, her self-penned musical "Sun Dance" was a critical success.

Boulaye, a Conservative activist, attracted criticism for reportedly saying, "The boys accused of killing Stephen Lawrence, I can assure you, were either National Front or Labour." [BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/295593.stm Tory singer denies Lawrence slur] ]

In 1999 she successfully sued "The Guardian" after the paper wrongly quoted her as saying that she supported apartheid. In fact she had spoken of the importance of supporting "the party", i.e. the Conservative Party, but this was misheard by "The Guardian"'s reporter.

Boulaye has two children - Emma and Sebastian - with her husband, Stephen Komlousy; before the couple met, Komlousy had already been married twice. In 1996, her daughter Emma Komlousy represented Nigeria in Miss World after she was crowned Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria.

References

External links

*imdb name | id=0099469 | name=Patti Boulaye
* [http://www.pattiboulaye.co.uk/ Patti's official site]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20050514/ai_n14626948 Interview with Patti Boulaye]