muMs the Schemer (born Craig Grant; 1968) is an American poet and actor best known for his role as Arnold "Poet" Jackson on the HBO series Oz.

Biography

MuMs the Schemer was born in New York City. He was raised in Bronx, New York. He first gained attention as a poet and performer when he was featured in the documentary SlamNation, which followed him and the other poets of 1996 Nuyorican Poetry Slam Team (Saul Williams, Beau Sia and Jessica Care Moore) as they competed at the 1996 National Poetry Slam.

In the book Words In Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, author Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz wrote of muMs's time in the poetry slam, noting his writing "was street poetry at its purest. Thoughtful, precise but not without humor, his work spoke honestly about the life he and his friends and family lived and the city that he loved."

muMs has gone on to act in films and television shows such as Boston Legal, Bamboozled and Everyday People as well as making an appearance on Chappelle's Show as "Lysol" in the "Mad Real World" skit. He has performed his poetry on seasons 2, 3 and 4 of HBO's Def Poetry.

muMs is also a member of the New York City's LAByrinth Theater Company. In October 2007, muMs played a role in "A View from 151st Street", a play about people trying to reconstruct their lives after gunfire. In September 2014, muMs wrote and performed "A Sucker Emcee", hip-hop and slam poetry, based on his personal recollections. In February 2015, muMs' play, titled "Paradox of the Urban Cliché", about a young couple living in Harlem, was performed at the Wild Project as part of the Poetic Theater Productions's Poetic License festival. In February 2015, muMs played a role in "The Insurgents", a play about rage among the free, brave, and disenfranchised, produced by LAByrinth Theater Company.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]