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For once, it's not just black and white... Teja Arboleda's father is Filipino-Chinese, African-American/Native American, his mother is Danish & German. He was born in Brooklyn, NY, but grew up in Japan.

That's why they call him ETHNIC MAN!

This one-man show addresses the enigma of cultural, racial, and ethnic identity. Using verse, slides, humor, and character studies based on his life experiences, Teja challenges the audience to answer the question "What does it mean to be an American?"

Teja is African American, Native American, Filipinio-Chinese, & German-Danish. Although Arboleda was born in Brooklyn, New York, he lived in Germany for two years and grew up in Japan. He has a BA in Visual and Linguistic Socio-Communuications from Clark University, and is fluent in Japanese and German. His recent PBS documentary "Crossing the Line: Multiracial Comedians," won the 2009 Silver Telly Award for best documentary.

Teja Arboleda is a television producer, director, writer, actor and public speaker. He also is the founder and president of Entertaining Diversity, Inc. Entertaining Diversity, Inc. provides consulting and education programs on cross-cultural and diversity issues for educational institutions, companies, and civic groups all over the United States. Using entertainment-based formats, Entertaining Diversity's unique mix of theater performance, lectures and multimedia presentations has won high critical acclaim by institutions and at professional gatherings such as the National Association for Multicultural Education. Arboleda's highly regarded performance-lectures Ethnic Man® and Healing Racism have taken him to over 500 cities and towns in the U.S. as keynote to international organizations such as TESOL, and national institutions such as Yale University. Recognition of the importance of Arboleda's vision includes an appearance before the Senate committee on racial classification where he testified for changes in federal racial and ethnic categories, and hundreds of news stories in the media including the New York Times, Associated Press and National Public Radio.

Arboleda is a prolific television producer and director. He also acts as a liaison producer between television and video production companies in Japan and the US. In addition, he has made outstanding contributions to public television in the United States. In 1994, he won an Emmy Award for Public Affairs Programming. From 1990 to 1992, he was staff editor for the nationally acclaimed PBS documentary series FRONTLINE. From 1990 to 1994, he was assistant director/editor for minority affairs programming at WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts where he was awarded an excellence distinction for service as a faculty member in the Public Affairs program production training courses. Since 1985, he has produced, directed and filmed music videos,including 500 corporate sales and training videos, commercials, PSA's and independent films. Recent clients include: Verizon Wireless, MEDITECH, JJWild, Valco, Partners Health Care, Massachusetts General Hospital, Historical Entertainments and CELT Corp.

As an actor and comedian, Arboleda often uses a fast paced comedy style, focusing on ethnic and culturally related topics. In 1990, he played the leading role in the PBS television docudrama "Matzeliger."

Arboleda is the author of In The Shadow of Race (Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1998), an account of his personal experiences as a multicultural, multiethnic and "multiracial" American. Recently he created, produced, directed, wrote and starred in the six part, first through fourth grade educational video series, Diversity Elementary, which aired on PBS in early 2001, and is distributed by AGC/United Learning. He has produced segments on cultural diversity issues for WCVB-TV's (ABC) Chronicle and has recently completed web marketing videos for Verizon Wireless.

Arboleda is adjunct professor, teaching Race & Ethnic Relations and Media Production at The New England Institute of Art in Brookline, Massachusetts. He received his B.A from Clark University, and his M.Ed from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA.

Teja Arboleda (Ethnic Man) was wonderful, everyone who attended really enjoyed his presentation. Teja really got the students to think about issues they may have not thought about before and to reflect on their own ethnic background. He went beyond what was expected and really made an impact on people. His presentation was humorous and entertaining yet his message came across seriously as he made each point non confrontational. I believe all students should have the opportunity to hear Teja's message. It is extremely important in today's diverse population.

Sara Solloway
Activities Advisor
Texas Tech University

I would like to thank you for the wonderful opportunity that CIA Speakers gave us, in bringing Mr. Teja Arboleda to our campus. He is such a pleasant and funny person to talk to. We were delighted with his show, Ethnic Man! His show gave us an insight on real cultural diversity.

Tamara Barona-Flores
Cultural Programs Coordinator
Oklahoma State University

It was a pleasure having you at Raritan Valley Community College. Your presentation, Ethnic Man, challenged us to think beyond race and color. It offered a very stimulating and enriching dialogue that generated much conversation in our college community. The Black History Month Committee wishes to thank you for your time, your honesty and you powerful performance. May our paths cross again in the future.

Julia West-Johnson
Kim Folkes
Co-chairs Black History Month Committee
Raritan Valley Community College