​​​​Cornell Hubert Calhoun III​

Cornell Hubert Calhoun III is an accomplished and widely applauded actor, producer, director and an award-winning playwright and filmmaker.  He holds a BA in English from Talladega College, Talladega, Alabama and a MA in Education from Ursuline College.   He is the former Arts & Culture Coordinator the City of Cleveland, Ohio, English/Drama teacher and Girls’ Basketball Coach at CMSD’s South, Collinwood and Glenville High Schools. Cornell is currently a talk show host of TV20 - We Are Cleveland’s Creative Focus, Conversations with Cal & Cleveland’s Hollywood Kids. Also, Cornell has written and directed empathy training videos for the World Famous Cleveland Clinic Medical School.

He has had many successes over the life of his career, and has recently received international and national acclaim for his screenplays, Longwood, Blooz 4 an Early Autumn, Van’s Ice Cold Lemonade, A Raging Silence, Savannah Sweets and Bullies “n ‘da Midst. To date, his films have received over 250 Film Festival Recognitions! Cornell was selected for the prestigious 2022 Room in the House Fellowship Program sponsored by the Karamu House (Theatre) for his film Blooz 4 an Early Autumn (Lupus Down for the Count). The film received its World Premiere at the Shaker Square Cinema in May, 2024.  

To his credit, Cornell has had many other successful endeavors, such as The Mighty Scarabs (An East Tech Story) which received its World Premiere at the Karamu Performing Arts Theater in 2015. The play was selected by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as one of the Top Ten Plays during the 2015-2016 Theater Season. The Mighty Scarabs is published by the Original Publishing Company in Los Angeles, California.  TMS also is part of the Cleveland Public Library System. 

Cornell received a writing fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center in Johnston, VT.  His play, Blues Theme for Talladega was selected for a reading at the prestigious John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.  Laurel was a semi-finalist at the Playwrights Foundation in San Francisco, California.  His films A Raging Silence, So Here We Are, Selma, Alabama, Van’s Ice Cold Lemonade, Silent Story and Paradise, Blooz 4 an Early Autumn, Bullies ‘n ’da Midst,  Longwood and Savannah Sweets were selected for the film festivals all over the country and abroad including the Cannes Cinema International Film Festival, Munich Film Awards, New York Movie Awards,  Paris Movie Awards, Brussels World Film Festival, Dubai Independent Film Festival, London New Wave Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, Sicily Art Film Festival, Prague Underground Film Festival, Florence Indie Film Festival, Chicago Indie Awards, New York Independent Cinema Awards, Los Angeles Sun Film Festival, Hong Kong Indie Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, Stockholm Short Film Festival, Denver Movie Awards, Rio De Janerio World Film Festival,  Lebanese Film Festival, International Cosmopolitan Film Festival of Tokyo, Atlanta Children’s Film Festival, Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival, Boston Children’s Film Festival, Dublin World Film Festival and many others.

Among a long list of acting credits, Cornell was last seen as the fierce bandleader Cutler in the Blockbuster Karamu production of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. He credits much of his success to his mentors, Shedrick Lyons of Talladega College, and Cleveland Theater legends Dr. Reuben and Dorothy Silver. Cornell is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Inc.