Actor. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he was a pioneer actor-producer best known for organizing and leading the popular painted black-faced troop of actors called the Christy’s Minstrels. In 1846, while as a performing minstrel, with his band of six performers he took the name of the Christy’s Minstrels and started performing in opera houses in New York City. With their gained popularity, they soon were doing shows from New York, east to Ohio and even on some of the western plains. By 1855, he retired from acting but continued to manager and operate a chain of theaters called Christy’s Opera Houses, in the northern and southern states, as well as on the western frontier. With the advent of the Civil War, he was fearful of financial reverses and committed suicide by jumping out of a window in his New York City house. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)