- 1950 - 2020
- United States
- Actor
"His style belongs to the burlesque genre. Since Jango does not necessarily speak the languages of the countries in which he performs, his show is mainly gestural, in a grotesque way. While he sometimes utters a few sentences in his native English tongue, it does not really matter if they are not understood by the spectators.
In 1970, during a trip to Morocco, he discovered a book by the Russian esoteric philosopher Ouspensky that greatly inspired him. Once he had finished the book, he chose to devote himself to mastering the art of clowning, not as a profession, but rather as a lifestyle, a kind of religion that he likes to call ""the Church of the Smile"".
His first troupe, The London Mome Company, joined forces with The London Black Theater Company, along with several students from the Central School of Art and Design, to become The Friends Road Show, a theatre community with bases in London, Amsterdam and Detroit, which has seen the participation of some four hundred members. This organisation founded the annual International Festival of Fools, held in Amsterdam from 1975 until 1984.
In the early 1980s, he performed to acclaimed success in the Paris region, particularly at the Théâtre des Amandiers, and at the Splendid Saint-Martin from September 1987 to May 1988.
In the 1990s, he was a regular guest on the French TV programme Nulle part ailleurs, starring alongside Antoine de Caunes and, José Garcia, as well as Coucou c'est nous! presented by Christophe Dechavanne, where he became known for his pranks."
