GIRLIE FINDS MR HANDSOME
Actor Girlie has traded his wig and female attire for a more subtle character called Mr Handsome. The actor told The STAR that he is currently seeking investors for a gospel musical, which he expects will make a good run in Jamaica.
“It surrounds a wealthy Christian couple. They lost their son at age two and the wife stopped having faith in God. It involves cheating, lost of trust, and other things,” he said.
Girlie, whose given name is Lacell Parnell, is now a Christian. He said he is now a gospel stand-up comedian.
The Girlie character, he explained, was to be a vulgar woman from the inner city.
“When I finish that show and take off that dress, I am Lacell. When I put on that dress, I become Girlie,” said the actor.
STRUGGLED
At the height of his career, Parnell, in 1996, migrated to the United States and for a while he struggled to survive, doing odd jobs here and there. He then wedded a United States citizen in 2002, but she passed away in 2004 after a gastric bypass surgery.
“When you lose someone, it’s like everything started to go down,” he said.
He ended up back in Jamaica in 2012, after being convicted in a United States court of forcible touching (three counts), sexual abuse in the second degree (three counts), sexual abuse in the third degree (three counts), endangering the welfare of a child (two counts), and aggravated harassment in the second degree.
He stated that although no one would admit it, he was often shunned because of his past conviction whenever he sought a job in local theatre.
“When my wife died, persons were spreading rumours that I died and it was hard to come back. I remember just going downtown and other places to sell CDs of my play so I can earn a living,” he said.
WASN’T ABUSED
Growing up in rural St James, Girlie said he knew he had to get out of the community as he did not want to become a farmer as most of the men in the area were. “I rebel and ran away. I wasn’t abused or anything, but I couldn’t read and write well and I realised that school wasn’t for me. I didn’t want to end up being a farmer or kill cows in the community because it was a very low income area that I lived in,” he said. The streets of Montego Bay were the teenager’s home for a while followed by Half-Way Tree in St Andrew. “I started to sleep at Half-Way Tree Playhouse, where I got the opportunity to take part in a play. I couldn’t even read the script but Orville Hall recorded it on a tape and I absorb it like a sponge,” he said. He went on to secure roles in other productions such as Twice My Age, Murder She Wrote, Hataclaps, Girlie Maternity, and the two-part Fire Inna Yuh Wire. “My biggest breakthrough in theatre was when Ian Reid wrote the play Fire Inna Yuh Wire. That’s the first time I played a major role - the straight female character known as Girlie,” said the actor.