CANBERRA-raised musical star Tim Omaji will play the role of Ike Turner alongside Ruva Ngwena as Tina Turner in “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical,” opening at the Theatre Royal, Sydney in May.

Omaji, better known around the music traps of the ACT under his stage name, Timomatic, is a former Narrabundah College student who first arrived as a 10-month-old from Nigeria with his family, who initially lived in the old, now-demolished Griffith flats.

He says: “The Tina Turner story is one of triumph over immense tragedy and I am honoured to take up the gauntlet from the amazing Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Ike in the original West End production.”

He was one of the first teachers at Francis Owusu’s youth empowerment organisation, Kulture Break, then went on to become a contestant on “So You Think You Can Dance Australia” and as a singing contestant on “Australia’s Got Talent”.

As Timomatic, he signed with Sony Music Australia and went on to become a four-time platinum recording artist.

But Omaji is now making a name for himself in musicals. I saw him last year in Melbourne where he played Toulouse-Lautrec in “Moulin Rouge! The Musical,” but he has also starred in “In The Heights”, “Fame The Musical”, “Madiba The Musical – A Celebration of the Life of Nelson Mandela”, “Saturday Night Fever” and “Rent”.

The casting is a sure affirmation of the Canberra’s role as a seeding-ground for theatre performers but, unsurprisingly, not a word about his Canberra origins appears in any of the official media so far.