Jamaal Rolle

Jamaal Rolle, also known as "The Celebrity Artist" is an award-winning Bahamian visual artist known for his portrait depictions of famous political, entertainment, and sports figures. Rolle has received wide attention and critical acclaim for his depictions of notable people ranging from U.S. President Barack Obama, and Prince Harry, to entertainers Sir Sidney Poitier, Oprah Winfrey, Johnny Depp, and Michael Jackson.

Jamaal Rolle of Nassau, Bahamas, was born to Harry Rolle, an artist and bronze sculptor, and to Judy Rolle, a conch shell artist. Rolle has been a professional artist since 2001, both drawing portraits and making caricatures for tourists on Paradise Island. Rolle was first inspired to become an artist after a teacher who found a caricature drawing Rolle had made of him in class and purchased it for $10.00.

Rolle was inspired by then presidential nominee Barack Obama and started the "Bahama for Obama" campaign, which used the phrase "I am the dream" (an allusion to Dr. Martin Luther King's famous 1963 I Have a Dream speech) during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Obama also "inspired him to do an oil portrait on Super Tuesday. He displays this portrait at the location where he works in downtown Nassau and it has received heavy attention from the thousands of American tourist that pass by on a daily basis." During President Barack Obama's 2009 Inauguration, Rolle presented a portrait to Reverend Al Sharpton at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Rally in Washington D.C. The portrait depicts side by side portraits of Obama, Sharpton, and King.