Biography

Jim Lucas has received critical acclaim across the nation for his stirring and dramatic recitations and interpretive readings depicting the life and times of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A student of the teachings of The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Lucas is an advocate of Dr. King's philosophy of non-violent civil action to effect social change. Like Dr. King, Lucas participated in local protests and demonstrations to achieve school integration in his home town of Lake Providence, Louisiana.

In August 1983, Lucas attended the 20th Anniversary of the March on Washington. It was during that march that Lucas received the inspiration to learn and later recite Dr. King's speeches. Since then, Lucas has traveled nationwide delivering various renditions of Dr. King's I Have a Dream, I've Been to the Mountaintop, excerpts from The Drum Major Instinct, The Letter from Birmingham Jail and other works in a dramatic one-man show.

His moving performance before the Diplomatic Corp and an international television audience prompted former President Clinton to call him, "The most authentic and exhilaration King I have ever seen." He has been the guest speaker for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, The Mormon Temple and National Baptist Convention; he has also performed at over 100 colleges and universities as well as throughout Germany, Japan and South Korea. His movie and television credits include appearances in Head of State, Ladder 49, National Treasures I and II, Something the Lord Made, The West Wing, The District, "24" and The Wire. Lucas is currently co-starring in the critically acclaimed play, THE MEETING, a powerful drama about the lives, philosophies, and times of The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., and Malcolm X.

His resemblance to and interpretation of Dr. King has been called remarkable, awe inspiring, uncanny, and soulful.