Raymond Choo Kong

Raymond Choo Kong (August 5, 1949 –July 15, 2019) was a Trinidad and Tobago actor, stage director and producer. He received 18 Cacique Awards for his stage adaptations over the course of 20 years.

Career Choo Kong grew up in Arima,

Choo Kong's career in the theatre spanned 39 years. His early work as an actor was influenced by the Little Carib Theatre and the Trinidad Theatre Workshop.

Choo Kong's first lead role came as Vetsin in Ad, an original work by Roger Israel produced by the Trinidad Tent Theatre. He went on to reprise the role in a reworked version of the musical entitled Rampanalgas Sunrise. His work was described by Queen's Hall chairman Helmer Hilwig as "deeply rooted in [Trinidad and Tobago]" and that he "reflected us back to ourselves not only through the scripts he authored but also in how he adapted and localised foreign work".

Accolades Choo Kong received 18 Cacique Awards for his work, more than any other individual.

Personal life Choo Kong had two adoptive sons Ganesh Ramlal and Antonio Tiwari.

Choo Kong was gay. He described himself as having acknowledged his homosexuality through his travel outside of Trinidad and Tobago, and remained a closeted gay man until his mid thirties.

Rudolph Hanamji of PrideTT said he looked to Choo Kong as "elder of the LGBT community" and encouraged him to "come out" as a means to supporting younger LGBTQ people. Choo Kong openly identified publicly as a gay man at the 2018 Pride parade, the country's first Pride parade. At the event, he performed his monologue from Norman, Is That You? where he portrayed a father coming to terms with his son being gay. Choo Kong broke down in tears in both performances, later explaining that in performing the role of Ben Chambers, he felt he was embodying his own father struggling to come to terms with his gay son.