‏Ray Strasser King‏

Raymond Franklyn Strasser-King Jr. was born on October 26, 1989 in Penge, South East London. He was the only child of a catering supervisor mother, Marcella Cole, from Sierra Leone and the first child of an absent Father, Raymond Strasser-King Sr. from Sierra Leone, and resides in California, USA.

Ray moved to Sydenham, South East London at the age of 5. He went to St. John's Primary school in Penge and made the decision while in secondary education at St. John Rigby to follow a career in medicine. Ray took up jiu jitsu, football and drama as his extra curricular activities as well as boxing, a skill that ultimately aided his part in Aml Ameen's short film "12".

He found his passion for acting spoke loudest when attending Duff Miller, a private college that specialises in medicine. Along with his science subjects, he took Theatre Studies and excelled in performance and wanted to continue down this route. Although his mother struggled financially to pay for the private college tuition, she fully supported his decision to pursue a career in acting after seeing the production "Life Goes On" at the Hampstead Theatre in which Ray excelled as the lead character, Micheal.

Ray went on to study at City of Westminister, Paddington, the only college that offered a performing arts course linked with a professional working theatre, The Cockpit Theatre. He achieved a triple distinction, the highest grades one can obtain before going onto a one year course at East 15 drama school.

Upon completion of the course at East 15, he was accepted on the BA Acting three-year degree course at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. He was stretched as an actor in his numerous roles at the drama school, including his Southern American depiction of Pinocchio's Mr Fox. He was selected for the part of Othello in his second year during the Shakespeare season. In his last year and final show he was cast as the lead in Matthew Dunster's play, "The Litter", performed on the South Bank at Bargehouse Theatre. Ray went on to graduate from Rose Bruford with upper second class honours (2:1) in September 2014.

Ray has also worked closely with Talawa Theatre Company, co-creating and performing as the only male actor in "Sold" (2010) as well as being personally requested to collaborate with members of TYPT:13 on the short film "Sweet Taboo".

Ray has always been heavily involved in his community, being a part of Lewisham Youth Theatre before his time at East 15 and has since become a member of the Catford Broadway Theatre committee after returning to host an evening in 2011.

Ray came straight out of Rose Bruford into Michael Grandage's debut feature film "Genius" (2015).