It's easy to ascribe his buoyancy and aplomb to his recent successes. Even at Harvard, not many kids go from president of the Black Students Association to a lead role in a Spielberg film. But his cocky assurance--and his intensity--have more to do with the fact that Derrick Nana Kwesi Abaka Ashong is Ghanian, royalty at that, and knows well his responsibilities to himself, his family and his community.

Turning on the Charm

People at Harvard were charmed by Ashong even before he won the role of younger brother to the lead of Spielberg's upcoming historical film, "Amistad."

"I noticed Derrick his freshman year, just because of his potential," says Dr. S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations. "He's tremendously popular."

Ashong's time at Harvard has been full. Along with Kuumba and Black C.A.S.T., he headed the Black Men's Forum, ran track and served as president of the BSA.

His efforts seem to have garnered him both respect and a certain measure of local fame.

At Loker Commons, every young black passerby stops by the booth Ashong occupies to say hello, high-five him, or give him a hug. Ashong has a few white friends, but he is not immune to Harvard's segregated social life.

People are eager to laud his accomplishments. "Derrick did an excellent job addressing the issues facing the black community and he gave his full effort," said current BSA President Luanda M. Williams '99 earlier this year.

"Everybody knows Derrick. Everybody loves Derrick," says ex-girlfriend Kishka K. Ford '97.

Still, he's endearing, not intimidating. Friends call him "a big kid" and say that if his six-man suite in Currier was a family, he'd be the youngest brother.

He's been at Harvard four years, long enough to make friends, even long enough to find a few people outside his family to whom he can really open up, a rare occurrence for the deeply private Ashong.

But his suburban New Jersey high school was a different story. He had two friends and his cousins, who are considered siblings in Ghanian culture, but he could relate to few others.

"I wasn't one to conform, and that was somewhat problematic," he says. "I was new and I was different. I spoke with a different accent and I had a different mentality."

Born in the urban tropics of Accra, Ghana's capital, Ashong moved to the United States when he was three. He lived in Cambridge while his father earned a master's degree at the Harvard School of Public Health and in Brooklyn, in a one-bedroom apartment on Lenox Road, close to Kings County Hospital.

When he was eight, Ashong moved to Saudi Arabia and later on, Qatar, while his parents ran pediatric emergency care centers. There, Ashong went to international schools and spent his days among students who spoke four or five languages. His parents made an effort to expose Ashong and his sister to different cultures, and the family traveled all over the globe, from Canada to Thailand.