Actor and rapper Yasiin Bey, once known as Mos Def, puts politics at the heart of his music

Few people receive such constant praise for their work in two different art forms as Yasiin Bey, the artist formerly known as Mos Def. An actor since childhood with numerous film, television and stage appearances to his name, he is also one of the most respected figures in hip hop, a laconic purveyor of some of the most articulate, insightful lyrics in contemporary music. It's in the latter guise that he'll be appearing at Volar on August 21.

The 40-year-old, who was born Dante Terrell Smith, grew up in Brooklyn's tough Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and '90s. This was the time when hip hop was first emerging in New York as a local urban phenomenon that, back then, must have looked an unlikely candidate to take over the world's airwaves and become one of its dominant pop music idioms.

A fan of hip hop since his youngest days, Smith didn't take up rapping until his early 20s; his first love was acting. He was acting professionally by the age of 14, getting his first major role in a sitcom, You Take the Kids.

He secured a steady flow of acting work through the early 2000s, including a small role in Monster's Ball, but his biggest breaks came with the roles of Left Ear in 2003's The Italian Job and Ford Prefect in the 2005 film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. On TV, he was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of pioneering heart surgeon Vivien Thomas in Something the Lord Made.

He's also taken a regular role as an ex-convict in the serial killer drama Dexter, and was the long-term host, music supervisor and co-executive producer of the HBO spoken-word poetry series Def Poetry.

He's also been a regular on stage, including a lead role in Pulitzer-winning, Tony-nominated play Topdog/Underdog.