Mind Over Matter: Mindset Development
Venting about life while trying to navigate through it and sharing what I’ve learned with the world through enlightening conversation. This podcast was made and carefully curated in the essence of myself Deja Wallace. I will take you on my journey of self-discovery through a video journal-type podcast that guides you to self-discovery as I evolve with every episode. Mind Over Matter is the power to govern how you feel internally through mindset development. This podcast is essentially for dreamers, deep thinkers, optimists, and anyone who’s on the journey of self-discovery. RATE COMMENT SUBSCRIBE
Mind Over Matter: Mindset Development
Navigating Fame and Identity (ft. Hollyw00d)
Join me, Deja Wallace, as we welcome the actor Hollywood to this episode of Mind Over Matter. Hollywood takes us through his journey in the entertainment industry. Hollywood opens up about the real meaning behind his name and his mission to redefine the negative connotations associated with Hollywood.
We also dive into the moral complexities actors face when offered roles that conflict with their values. Hollywood shares his personal experiences on setting boundaries and staying true to himself, despite the pressures of the industry.
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DEJA @deja.waja
Me outside can do no harm. If you're able to internalize and overcome the internal battles that you have inside of you or whatever you're going through, you can overcome that, the demons and other obstacles you're facing inside your own mind. If you can overcome that, nothing outside can hurt you and nothing outside has any dictatorship over what you say or can govern you at all, because in the end you've overcome and you've battled and you've won the victory in your head. So if you truly get to a place where you're comfortable in your own skin, nobody outside can tell you hey, listen, you're fat. If you're fat and you're comfortable with that, okay, that's cool, you look good too. Bro, now I hope you get to the point where you get this comfortable in your skin. You don't have to be in good shape to be mentally good, but whatever you're comfortable in inside and whatever you've conquered inside, it will show on the outside, because the little step outside the world won't affect you anymore. What's good, nothing much. What's good with you, my love.
Speaker 3:I'm here. I'm here, blessed and highly favored by the time I see that Mm-hmm. Welcome to Mind Over Matter. Baby, I'm your host, deja Wallace, and if this is your first time joining me, welcome. If this is not your first time joining me, welcome back. I appreciate you. You really came back to listen to another episode like like big up to you. I appreciate that. So we have a very special guest in the building. As you can hear from my visuals on the youtube. If you're watching, you can see already we have the lovely hollywood.
Speaker 1:Hollywood in the building. Sure, thank you thank you, thank you. I appreciate For sure. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you for pulling up, of course. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's a lot to get down.
Speaker 2:It's a lot to get through. It's a lot to get into for real.
Speaker 3:But we're going to get into it. On this episode we're going to talk about your acting career, we, your journey, your mindset, trials and tribulations, your faith. It's a whole bunch. It's a lot to get down. It's a lot to get down. So if this is something you're interested in, kick back, relax and enjoy this episode definitely mr hollywood, tell the people a little bit about yourself. Let them know what you're about Absolutely.
Speaker 1:So my name is Hollywood. That's really my stage name. It's not my real name. I don't act like it at all, I promise you. I just really try my best to get into the acting scene when I was young. I do jewelry cleaning. I do YouTube on the side. I still have my day job. I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a jack of all trades. I'm a jack of all trades, so I try to do my best to stay active, be in the gym, keep my body right, my mind right, every aspect. I just came from church today. I had to come from church, came here. I was like I can't miss this. I definitely wanted to get on this podcast for a minute. So I hit up my girl and she was like, yeah, you can slide. So I was like, all right, for sure.
Speaker 3:Yes, I like how, um yeah, and I specifically wanted to get into, like, what, what even brought you to acting, and was this something you always envision yourself doing?
Speaker 1:so I wouldn't say I always envision myself doing. I wanted to be an architect actually at a young age, I know how to draw.
Speaker 1:I went to architecture school for real. I wanted to do that until I found out you had to do math. I'm like, yeah, I don't want to be a stockbroker, but ultimately, when we would do plays in my school, I did one one time I think I was like Frosty the Snowman, which is one of the leagues, and I was like, oh, this is fire, like I like the attention being on me, so I'm like all right. One time. So my parents just like, yeah, nah, never again. So quarantine came around and, fortunately enough, I was able to sit down with my agent and my manager, go to a showcase and then really be able to see what the acting industry is like okay yeah, so I fell in love with it.
Speaker 1:From then I was like all right, but you know I could do this. You know I'm sitting at home all day watching tv. Might as well be on one. That was really the motivation for me.
Speaker 3:So this'all- so this Hollywood name right? How did that come about? Was this just something you've always?
Speaker 1:Mhmm, I wouldn't say. It's something I always had in my head. It started off like a little nickname. When I first got on TV my friends were like, oh Hollywood, Mr Hollywood, and I was like, all right, I'm going to go with it, it's nice. I want to change the stigmatism behind it. That's why I always, whenever I introduce myself as Hollywood, I promise I don't advocate at all. I want to show them through my actions the name. It definitely can be, if nothing else, intimidating, or definitely it has a bad stigmatism behind it how Hollywood carries themselves or how they have the actors doing things behind the scenes. I definitely want to change the narrative behind that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because definitely like growing up people who were. They just acted like they were higher than everybody. I hate that we just call them Hollywood.
Speaker 1:Like that's Hollywood over there. I hate that stigmatism behind it, but that's what I'm here to do. I'm here to change that for sure, in the best way possible.
Speaker 3:What was your first role you landed in? How did you get about going there? What was your mindset, even auditioning for that big role? He was on Power y'all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say, yeah, he was on Power y'all. My first role that I booked like officially. This was before I had my agent, before I had my manager. I had booked it on an app called Backstage and I was actually booked to be a background dice player for Power. Power Book 3, raising Candy, episode 5. I'll never forget it was amazing. That's amazing Because I was able to. So what happened was lately she had texted me. She was like listen, the dates you got to be here, we're going to take you for your fitting.
Speaker 1:The whole process was just amazing because before I even got on set, they had me doing things to get myself ready. So I had to go get my size in so that I could take the right wardrobe sizes for what I was going to be wearing that day. They had to tell me what I was going to be doing and basically I showed up that day not knowing it was going to be so much fun. I showed up at like I think 5 am in the morning and it was crazy because I'll never forget. I'm sitting here. I'm like this could really be my life. So I'm sitting here just getting ready. They're feeding us breakfast. I'm like yo, listen, they already put food on the table. I'm doing what I want to do. I'm like this is amazing for me. So then they end up putting on our costumes. We had to wear that day and I'll never forget. We had to walk to the actual location and and we're getting there, we're setting up, we're waiting for the actual actors to come.
Speaker 1:Well, not actual actors, but I mean Makai Curtis, the main actors. Makai Curtis he's a cool guy, by the way, that's the lead. He plays, kanan. So he came on the set and it's crazy because at the time you don't understand the basis of the episode or what's going on. You're just there to fill in with him. I'm like, okay, it makes sense. I'm just a background dice player at the time, I'm not thinking like you know. And then they start fighting. I'm not knowing why they end up fighting him and Scrappy and it was just cool.
Speaker 1:It was a cool experience because they were very nice. They talked to us, they treated us like we were one of them and I forgot his name, I forgot the actor who plays Scrappy, but he was veryikey. I don't know I'm bugging, I'm bugging, but he was cool. He looked at me and we were talking and he said listen, I need you to hand me the dice because it's hurting me when I go down. I'm like, oh, you chose me. I'm like I have that. That was like a said. I said I'm gonna get up there with you guys one day. He said listen, bro, you're already here, you just gotta keep pushing. You feel me now right, there was a big opening for me. It's just like you gotta want this bad enough, anything like you gotta want bad enough. And then you train yourself, you push yourself to get to that point where you can be able to obtain it so that auditioning process, were you competing with other people face to face?
Speaker 1:yeah, so that was so. When you do auditions like that, you don't compete face to face. That's really an online thing.
Speaker 1:It's like so the cool thing, with backstage is you get to upload your headshot and your resume and then they decide whether they want to choose or not. I've definitely had to compete for a couple of roles on face to face and that's that's really challenging, only because you're going against people who look exactly like you, if not with the same skill set, a better skill set than you. So you have to really be able to stand out in a room full of yous and that's. Some people may think it's easy to say, okay, I bring something different to the table, but you can be the best where you're at. But when you get where the best of the best are at, it's like okay, maybe you're not as good as you thought. I of the best of that, it's like okay, maybe you're not as good as you thought I feel like. That was definitely a humbling moment for me.
Speaker 1:I had to go into an audition one time in the city and I walked into a room, not to the literal sense. Everybody looked at me, but everybody was African American or from different ethnic backgrounds, but there was some type of similarity between all of us. Basically, one at a time we got called into the room. There were the directors, the producers, and we had to audition in front of them. Now I was loaded in already.
Speaker 1:I had programmed myself to the character I was going to be. I had been watching Snowfall the day before and the day of, actually, how I wanted to portray my character. I think I portrayed my character after what's his name? I forgot, but it was one of the actor's older brothers, not Leon's brother, but it was one of the actor's older brothers, not Leon's brother, but it was one of the character's older brothers. And I betrayed myself because he just got out of jail and he, you know, he was a hard-headed thug and I was like, all right, but this is where I want to adapt, this is where I want to become, and I just added my own little spin on it. I go into the room. I thought I killed the audition. They said you didn't get the role. They just won't contact you again and say oh okay, I didn't get the role.
Speaker 3:All right, I'll just keep it pushing, keep trying. What mental frame are you in when you're looking for, like, how to just portray these characters on screen?
Speaker 1:It's really the character synopsis they give me. So it's like if I'm given the role of a drug dealer, you know I go to my go-tos. I'll be like, you know, power or Snowfall or BMF, something like that. Look at the characters individually, break them down individually and then see what I bring to the table from my own past experience or anything that I've been through that could be relatively similar to it. It's the same thing with anything else. I feel like with acting. You have to really just tap into what you see yourself as being in that moment when you're given that character role and then just relating it the best way you can to the synopsis they've given you, entirely making it a new character. You just want to be able to bring new things to the table and not new in the sense that, oh, it's like, oh, I'm going to come in with pink hair, right, that's something different that my character does. No, it's like the way you, your tonality, the way you talk, the way you articulate, like a walk. Exactly, it's a walk.
Speaker 3:Like think about Franklin Walk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, exactly, that's exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and.
Speaker 1:Snowfall, that walk, you just got to be able to own like, um yeah, exactly, good work how do you feel about the scope that black men are being portrayed in the media?
Speaker 1:that's good, I'm happy you asked that. That's what that question. I was like, yeah, I need that one. It's so when you look at a lot of these shows, right, um, things like power and such and I say power because Power was a driving factor for me In quarantine I did want to get on that show so much.
Speaker 1:I was like yo, if I get on that show, I'm just like, I'm lit, I'm valid. But when you tend to get young African-American actors like myself who get into these roles, they're it's like okay, I see you as a drug dealer, that's all I can see you as. And I can definitely say, throughout the process, it's taught me a little bit more of how to be diverse, because in the beginning it was just like yo, I want to be on power, I don't want to defend, I want to be lit. You know, I want to be shooting guns. And then it's like where's the diversity towards yourself? It's like be able to be somebody who is a man of all talents and can be able to portray different characters, not just the same character, because I know there'll be some times you'll see a character and he plays the same actor in every movie, and it's not that he's doing that. It's just that's what his agents are pitching him out for, because that's his best leading role.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think of course Denzel does that very well. Definitely he can be anybody.
Speaker 1:He's a great man. He's a great man, great actor. I've seen his variety and his ability to just capture the character he's going to become in any film that he's in. It's amazing. It captures me. It makes me want to look in lock in any type of aspect, any type of way, shape and form. I'm just like I want to be better. I want to be able to get to a point where I'm like I can act like Denzel.
Speaker 3:Do you feel like the media also plays a role into how society is ran in a way? Definitely, especially in America. No, definitely, society is ran in a way especially in america.
Speaker 1:No, definitely, I feel like if you're not doing what's portrayed or typically viewed as being cool, then the media is definitely gonna have something to say, and that in itself can get in your head and make you second guess what you're doing. And now, all of a sudden, you're starting to look at different things and want to do different things differently because of the media, not. And then in that process you're losing yourself because, entirely, whenever you get a role, whenever you get anything in life, you know it's because you wanted it. But let, for an example, let's say I get a pair of sneakers right, and I think they're cool, no matter what nobody else says.
Speaker 1:If I wear them one day, I'm just getting a whole bunch of negative feedback. Of course it's gonna, you know, influence me to not wear them. Come like okay. Well, even if I do like the, I can't wear them comfortably in the fact knowing that, oh, this is what I really want to wear. Because, at the end of the day, you know you're always going to have somebody else's opinion and, whether you're locked in or not, it can play a factor in you. Since I to my day job I'm actually a waiter, but we always make the saying you can have 10 good compliments, that one day or within one hour, that one bad compliment will mess up your whole day. It's just that severe. It's like people don't realize how much negative energy when they put into the world and when they put it into a single person, how big, how majorly it can affect their day or whatever they're going through.
Speaker 3:It's a lot. It's a lot there, definitely. It's a lot. It's a lot there, definitely. You mentioned before that when you first started, you wanted the fame. You wanted to shoot guns. You wanted to be outside, just you know lit Just lit Exactly what took you away from that being your ultimate goal in acting.
Speaker 1:I just say personal growth. You know, going through things separately from my acting life, that just showed me listen like you can get there and still not be happy. You feel me Like, you know, be able to be content where you're at in life right now, but be able to want more because you don't, like everybody says, I want to be the biggest. I want to do the small things, like you know, take care of your family, take care of yourself, be able to be financially free.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's the ultimate goal in the end, because if you're continuously putting strain on yourself to be the best, to be the best, there's always going to be somebody younger than you and hungry that will eventually take your spot.
Speaker 1:So if you're continuously, you know, getting ready to be the best or training to be the best, you lose time and you lose track of what's really important, which is the ones around you, which is your friends, your family. If you're fortunate to have good friends and family, definitely take your time, definitely be able to be around them and soak up the energy they have, because life is definitely short. You know it's short, it's borrowed, people are fallible and you need to be able to understand that, because that's definitely a big one and for me, it was really sitting back and being able to get back to my family with certain things and be like yeah, listen, I like doing this, I like seeing this. I'm going to give it more than I'm going to receive. I'll receive. Don't get me wrong, I'll receive, I'll take gifts, but I do like giving them.
Speaker 3:It's just like to see the joy in their faces so have you ever been presented with a role that didn't fit your values of?
Speaker 1:where you want to go. Definitely, that's actually. Um, that was. It was a recent role I was given by my agent no, no, not by my agent, but by my manager and I had to turn it down. I was just like yo, like it. Basically it was I can't speak too much it because they had me sign a confidentiality form, but it's. It was basically a role where I'm gay and I'm with another cast member that is, that would be gay in the scene, of course, yeah, of course, but yeah. So they had me be portraying a gay thug and I was just like that's wild. I know I was. I got the ring for it. I'm like hold on, and I was going to do it.
Speaker 1:I didn't read it fully, though, so I had read the script and I was like, ok, this is cool. I just read my lines. I was like I have mine, that's cool. And the name of the other character I was supposed to be with, it was something where it could be unisex, right, like a Tyler, exactly. I'm like all right, bet, oh, no, tyler kind of masculine, but it was something.
Speaker 3:I know a lot of female Tylers. Yeah, I know two female Tylers and two male Tylers. That's crazy.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm going to bump into Tyler. What's up, tyler? Just dab him, hug him. Alex too, no, no, alex is okay, I've definitely seen Alex's, but I got to reading it. I'm like, oh, hold on. So I look at the name because in the scene it says you know, I'm sneaking out to go meet up with blank so-and-so. And then I look at the breakdown of the characters that are going to be in it and I look in the name. I'm like, okay, this is still a unisex name. And I'm reading this as male.
Speaker 1:I'm like, oh no, I can't do that. I'm just because, again, it's nothing against the LGBTQ, but my personal preference and my personal morals forbid me from doing things like that. Because, again, I lose. I feel like if I were to do something like that, I would lose too much of myself. Like. I feel like me compromising my morals for the sake of money or for the sake of fame. It's only going to lead me down a spiral of feeling unworthy or unhealthy mentally to do things going forward. And it's just like, no matter how much they were offering, whether it be a million or not, I'd rather be intact with the ability to be like hey, listen, I was able to turn this down because it didn't, because it conflicted with my morals. I want to be able to be somebody who's well-respected, and that's big. Definitely that's huge. Definitely I had to.
Speaker 1:I talked to my mom my best friend about it and then I talked to my dad. Both their perspectives were different. My mom she was like yeah, no, I'm happy. Like girl, you didn't do it. You feel me Like I'm happy. If you did, we would have to have a talk. My dad was more so on the fact. He was like okay, like that's acting. He's like what do you want to do? I was like I don't want to take it.
Speaker 3:Well, that's surprising.
Speaker 1:Your dad was. When I say, just, I was like, nah, I can't do that. And I told my agent, my manager. From the very start, I was like don't put me up for certain roles because I'm not comfortable doing certain things and your job as an actor is always to challenge yourself to an extent. Right, you don't ever want to do anything where it's like you go home and it's like I just can't live with myself and I feel like by taking that role, that's what it would have done to me in the long run, no matter if it was for the fame or the money. In the end, I have to go home at the end of the day and ultimately, you know, go to sleep and wake up and realize, listen, this is what you did for money. What won't you do for money?
Speaker 3:And I also feel like when you're acting, you're tapping into a version of yourself. Definitely, that's true, I'm not going to lie, that's definitely true. Let me be careful, let me you know what I'm saying. But I also feel like when people see you on camera, sometimes it's hard for the audience to disassociate the actor from the real.
Speaker 1:If I see somebody killing somebody or, like you know, running after somebody with a knife or something, I'm like they've definitely done that before. If they're doing it to them, I'm like, oh yeah, it definitely tapped into a part of them where it's crazy. And, like I said, those are parts like that as an actor, where you just you have to be able to differentiate what you can and cannot do. You know, it's different to portray a killer, because you know everybody gets mad. It's just the level of intensity of mad that you can display on camera. So if I get mad to the point where I'm flipping tables and stuff, it takes nothing from me to run after somebody and act like I'm trying to hurt them.
Speaker 1:But if I've never kissed a male in my life, if I've never been, you know, in a situation like that, it's just like I don't know how believable it would be. And even if it was believable, again it conflicted with who I am as a person. So it's like I don't want to get to the point where I'm now just compromising myself for money, because you do that. You know better than you know. Assure you who people be bashing for, only things. I mean they're technically getting money, but again they're compromising their morals.
Speaker 3:You do something, you feel empty.
Speaker 1:Exactly it's like you know, I got a couple of bands but it's like, nah, I ain't worried at the end of the day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, have you ever went against your moral compass, and how did that end up?
Speaker 1:So not for acting. I've never gone against my moral compass. I've been very headstrong acting. But there have been other times where I've done something that goes against my moral compass. I'm just at the end of the day. I'm like it was cool, but it's like really Like that's what we're doing. I'm just like, nah, I go home like, yeah, I don't feel too good. Perfect example. I don't like people don't know this. I really don't drink like that. I really don't prefer to. You will see, I get ready what's your YouTube?
Speaker 1:oh yeah, it's Hollywood, mitchell, or you can type the real Hollywood, but the O's in the wood are zero, so just make sure you get that, but yeah, for real tap subscribe.
Speaker 1:It appears every Friday. But is there like I don't drink like that. I've never smoked a day in my life at all where, honest to God, take my soul right now from lying but but I'll drink, but it's not to get drunk. And even if I'm presenting with it To get social Exactly so I'll socially drink. You know, one little sip of something that's not like. Oh yeah, send me the shots. If you present me with a drink, I'll most likely say nah, I'm like, unless it's like a Mike's lemonade, something soft like 5% alcohol, that's calm. But you're talking about shots and stuff, mixed drinks and mixed drinks. You can really keep that over there. It's not something I do. But back to the question. Yeah, there'll be times where I'll go up to my friends. I'll be doing a vlog or something. You know like take shots, take shots. I take a shot. I'm like, ugh, why'd I do that? I'm like I hate you. I just don't like the way you taste. I'm like it's'all, you're not even liking it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I feel like everybody's done it once in their life, definitely compromised their morals. It's just how you move forward in the future and how you combat that to a new extent of. Okay, this is what I've learned, this is what I'm going to do going forward. Life is still a learning process. You still have to try and try and try. It's trial and error the whole life. You'll never stop learning. You'll never stop gaining knowledge. But it it really depends on how you use that knowledge going forward, because if I continue to touch fire and touch fire and I get burned, I get burned. Eventually my hand will come off, you feel me. So it's like I get burnt once most people are smart enough to not do. It is as hot or hotter and it's just like bro, like what are?
Speaker 3:you doing, it's still going to burn you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's still going to burn you. It's going to be the same outcome. So it is what it is.
Speaker 3:How are you so headstrong in that industry? Because the influence can be very tempting.
Speaker 1:Definitely, definitely. I'll give credit to my mother. She's very she's a stubborn Mama. Shout out, mama, yeah, shout out to my mom. Man Shout out to my mom. That's my dad too. He both of them are stubborn. That's probably why I am what I am. I ain't going to lie. My dad is stubborn in his ways and my mom's even more stubborn, but it's definitely when, I first got into it, my mom sat me down.
Speaker 1:You know I was talking to her. Used to tell me I was like I'm gonna be on tv one day. She's like listen, you're very clear what you say. Life and death is in the power of the tongue. Because she said you could be on tv for killing someone. You'll be on the moves, right. So she was like, just make sure you're specific with it, because god gonna hear your prayers. So say I'm gonna be on tv for good reasons rather than I'm just gonna be on tv. That can mean anything so she.
Speaker 1:She did teach me that. She was like just make sure you're very adamant in what you're saying. And my dad is very he's like listen, just be forward thinking, you know. So it's really you gotta lock in and be able to know what you're gonna give and take. Everything is given to. You gotta give and take in the industry, but be able to know what you're willing to give up, what you're willing to take and what you're willing to compromise on. Because you just get to a point where you're compromising and compromising, you start to lose yourself, which to people doing drugs or going to other outlets to make themselves feel okay, which is not always the best thing to do, because then you get people who get depressed, you get people who are sick in the head or just need somebody else to talk to or they don't got nobody to talk to and self-harming. So it's a slippery slope. So definitely make sure you know your head's strong in the business. Make sure you know what you want to give up and not give up.
Speaker 3:It's crazy because once in a blue moon I was offered a deal to be on TV. Oh, for real.
Speaker 1:Yeah, why didn't?
Speaker 3:you take it. I did, oh, you did. I signed the NDA, everything, oh, get out. But the pilot didn't fall through, I guess.
Speaker 1:It was still in the works't, the pilot didn't fall through.
Speaker 3:I guess it was like still in the works, but the pilot didn't come through. It's a lot of that. Yeah, so it was a reality show oh, for real yeah, it was a new reality show that they had this idea of putting a bunch of versions on the island.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's crazy. I might have done something, just the versions on the island, yeah.
Speaker 3:I would have lied. It was called like Never have I Ever that was crazy. I'm glad God really like I was not ready for that I was 21 at the time, For sure, and I was not ready for that. God, really, at the time I'm like damn, I was like fantasizing about it they already gave me everything. They hype it up. Yeah, like you're about to have a free vacation.
Speaker 1:You see that I'm like you're going to travel.
Speaker 3:But then when you really read these agreements, they have your name and likeliness. Yeah, simple, they have everything and at that young age it's like, oh my God, I'm going to be on TV. That's all I was telling everybody I learned to start doing that too.
Speaker 1:That's another thing. I'm like you could be blocking me. Bless me, you are, you are. I think I was in high school and I had been telling my friend at the time. This is when I got scammed.
Speaker 1:Like I mentioned previously before, I went to a Disney audition not really Disney, oh damn, but it is what it is. They were like you have to paid to do screen testing. If you have to pay anybody, this is smarter. Well, this is just free advice, right? Free 99. If you ever have to pay anybody for any audition process, it's a scam. Your agent or your manager do not get paid unless you book something. So that's just word of the wise.
Speaker 1:But anyway, basically what they were telling me, I had made it to the second round of elimination. I had made it to the second round of elimination. I had passed the first one, the second round. They had said listen, you got to pay this amount to start screen testing. My dad and my mom they didn't have it at the time so they were like, yeah, no, it's not going to happen. I ended up going to school and I was just hoping. I was like, nah, nah, god's going to second, like I might as well finish out. I end up telling my friends I'm like listen, like don't tell nobody I might be on disney. I felt I felt so cool saying that because at the time this is when disney has probably applied to a few things on disney when I was young I was just like, yeah, why not?
Speaker 1:I think I would have been what? Maybe 17, 17 or 16 at the time, maybe, yeah, maybe it was two ages, but I was telling myself I'm gonna be on dis Disney. I got us from now on. I got us and they're sitting there like yo listen. He eat a promise one, he get a ticket, he going to get it, and then a couple weeks went by. He's like what happened when you going to leave. I'm just like hey, working on it, bro, working on it.
Speaker 3:Never happened. Be like oh, this is Debbie Ryan number.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you see me and my little gullible self. I'm like I'm going to give Debbie Ryan a call right now. It's Debbie, come on, you're on Jessie right now, like hey, it's.
Speaker 3:Debbie, yeah, like you see that and they get you. Yeah, that's crazy. People are cruel. You all live the same life. I definitely applied to a few online.
Speaker 1:I mean, like when you a kid, you get a phone and you see something like that, it's like, why not, let me go for it, especially if your parents are supportive, which mine are. So it's like I was down. My mom, my dad, you know, they took me, my brother and my sister to Orgo, and me and my sister were able to get through. Brother wasn't no shade to him. No shade to him. Nah, he be doing his own thing. He a basketball player man, he a good one too. He upcoming rapper, he doing his thing. But it's definitely a process in which you know you're going through it and at some point you're like is this real, is this not? And that's even with the real stuff. It's like I can't believe this is really happening. And the fake stuff too. I can't believe this is really happening. It's just like it's eye-opener for you in both aspects in both senses.
Speaker 3:How important is your family system and your support system to you? Oh my God, you do talk about your family a lot. They're my, everything they're my everything.
Speaker 1:I can argue with them all day, but once you step outside those four doors, those four walls, nobody is touching them. My sister, my brother, my mother, my father I love them all to death. That goes for my extended family too. But obviously, you know, you live with your media so they become your skin. They're my skin, they're my backbone. Everybody plays a vital role in my journey of becoming a successful actor. Oscar award winning actor.
Speaker 1:I think it was for when I the Raising Canaan. I had booked it and I booked the role and I got back from shooting that day and then next day I had to go back to school. Right, I'm just like, why am I here? Like I just was in a trailer, bro. I just was around cameras, Like that's my lifestyle. I walked by my sister's like you want to know what you did wrong? You didn't get the lead, bro. You feel me Not. So I get to the point where I get a big head and I'm better than anybody else. And then you got my mom in the corner. She's like who's raising Kenan? You raising Kenan.
Speaker 1:I'm like she's teeing me up. I love that. And then my brother, he's going around. He's like yo listen, you really did this from the ground up, boy you. It's like everybody plays a vital role in me becoming a good man, a good actor overall. So I need them. I couldn't be half of them, half of the man, a quarter of the man without them. So it's like they definitely mean a lot to me, right? Love them.
Speaker 3:Love them, y'all locked in yeah, I love that because, like I said, there's well, I didn't say this, I asked you the question previously, but I still feel like there is a limited scope of where black people are portrayed in media like that's undeniable sure. And, as this next generation, I feel like it's our duty to just break those stereotypes and those monoliths.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And just break those generational cycles that keep repeating For sure and going back to like this is like a year age, like debate on on. You know how, like people say, sometimes the music you listen to can influence definitely how do you feel like the images of? Like? I kind of already went on this, but I kind of want to get deeper into it I don't want to get deeper.
Speaker 3:Let's get deeper. Start digging, of course. How do you feel you know these powers and these snowfalls are playing a role into our community? Do you think it's influencing our community to be that?
Speaker 1:way.
Speaker 3:For sure.
Speaker 1:Because when you look at shows like that on TV, that's all fiction, right? Fiction is fake, right I'm bugging. So that's all fiction. You see something like that. You said fiction is fake, right I'm bugging.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so that's all fiction. You see something like that. You said fiction is fake. It is, it is.
Speaker 1:I used to get nonfiction and fiction mixed up all the time, but that's all fiction, right when you sit there and you see somebody killing somebody and they get away with it. That's not reality. Like you have to go into the reality of it and understand. You know, anytime something like that happens, anytime you commit a crime, there's somebody watching, there's a camera recording, there's something you're not going to get away with it. Anything you do in the dark will eventually come to light, no matter if it's years from now, if it's a day from now. So everything you do is being recorded by something, if not God, jesus Christ, or high and mighty. Jesus Christ is a high mighty, so he's never going to let anything go unpunished. And if you're that smart and that stupid to get away with anything, shame on you. So when they look at these shows and when they see certain things on Power, on Snowfall, on BMF not knocking it, although it's great entertainment, but that's what it is at the end of the day, it's entertainment. It's not reality If you do that in real life, if you try to portray yourself like that in real life and there there's certain people out there that do things like that for real, like that's really their source of income, granted, that's they know no other way, however, for people to want to get into it because of the show.
Speaker 1:It's not, it's not good, it's not smart, because what you're saying, what you're really saying is you want to be in a television show in real life and that's, to an extent, it's real, because every day we're acting. Whether you want to like, for example, like again, my job, my day job, a waiter, I have to go in to my job and serve people. No matter how I'm feeling, I'm acting, you feel me, so that's a different.
Speaker 1:That's a great point, you feel me. So it's like it's a different level of acting when you here and you're like I want to sell these drugs because I'm trying to get more money.
Speaker 1:No, you can go get a 9 to 5. You can work hard, put the time and the effort in and save your money and do the right thing with your money, rather than selling drugs and getting hurt or getting killed or getting locked up. It can go so wrong so many other ways. And since a lot of African American people are looking at these shows especially people my age, they're looking at these shows, especially people my age they're looking at it. They see the whips, they see the shorties, they see the clothes, they see the money. It's like I can have it this way.
Speaker 1:If I just tap into this, they're doing it on power, like you know why can't I do it? And it's like and I see what they're doing on power, that gets them caught up. I can do everything the opposite way and never get touched. You will always get touched. There's always gonna be somebody bigger than you, badder than you. Law enforcement is here like you're not getting away with it, bro. And eventually, if you do tap into it, you're looking at football numbers, cause the stuff they do on power. If anyone don't want to get touched, football numbers in jail it's not no one. Two years, not no, like probation. You are getting life, you know life. You're getting 20, 25 plus bro.
Speaker 3:So it's basically like where that person is mentally if they want to adopt what they see and not.
Speaker 1:But like that comes with maturity, though you grow up, eventually you have to, because I'm watching something on TV when I'm young. Of course I'm going to think it's real. It's like you know. I don't know anything else to compare it to. So I can get away with stuff. When I'm younger, when you're my age, when you're 22, when you're 21, you no longer have that ability to be able to say, oh, I'm pretending. No, it's like you're not in the playground. No more, bro, this is life.
Speaker 1:In life, you're in a playground. You hurt somebody, you're going to get in trouble. You hurt yourself, you're in trouble, you're hurting the ones around you. So there's a consequence for your action. It's cause and effect. Your whole life is cause and effect. You're either causing or you're being affected by something you know. So it's like it's give and pull.
Speaker 1:I always say that Life is a give and take, give and pull. However you want to word it, you have to give in what you want out of it, what you put into it. You be nice to somebody. You just compliment somebody when you're walking down the street. That's nice to do. You don't gotta do it, but it's nice to do. Let's say God bless you later on during the day Boom, it's good, but you put bad energy out into the world. You just picking on somebody or you're making fun of somebody. You don't even know what they're going through. You think God gonna reward you. No, it's just like you gotta be nice, be a good person. It's nice to be nice, if not for nothing else, to make somebody's day. You come and you say how you look beautiful. You don't really gotta look beautiful, but you say it because they go home and they're like listen, you know now they do gotta look.
Speaker 3:Do kids just be lying to people? That is true, that's true.
Speaker 1:Don't be lying to people like that, for like, oh my god, you're a good, you're a model, it's just like you know it can be something about them, like their energy, their presence. You know that you find beautiful. You don't gotta be specific and say, hey, listen, your energy is beautiful. I mean you can. But if you wanna be just brought to and say that you know they'll take, I'm pretty sure they're gonna take the comp, nobody's gonna be like um ew I mean you did your part. You said they were beautiful. Keep it pushing.
Speaker 3:Where do you want to take this acting thing Without giving too much of the sauce, too much of the blueprint? Where do you ultimately see yourself being?
Speaker 1:I see myself at the Oscars. I want to be an Oscar-award-winning actor. See, it's not just enough to say I want to be a successful actor anymore. I want to get to the point where people know, hey, listen, if I could just get one Oscar, that'd be amazing. Well, when I get one Oscar, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. I'm going to lock in and get it together and I'm just going to keep pushing, because the sky's the limit. If you can, you see it, you touch it, you obtain it. Somebody told me I was literally in a conference call two days, if not a day ago, and the guy basically was telling us these other bunch of actors. He was like, listen, do you have gymnasts? And these gymnasts go in there and they do what they got to do every day, right, only some of them make it to the national. Those are the ones who won it. Those are the ones that when the gym is closed on Christmas, they're at home, still working out. They're at home stretching. They're at home, still working out. They're at home stretching. They're at home focusing on how they want to perfect themselves.
Speaker 1:You've got to be able to give up a lot of things in order to get what you want. God's not going to look at you and say, hey, listen, this guy or this girl is sitting down being lazy. I'm going to reward them. It doesn't work like that. You need to show you understand what you want. You need to show you understand the sacrifice that it takes to get to where you want. You need to implement it. I have something in my room. I think it's grind hustle, execute. Not in those exact orders, or maybe it is, but I keep that up in my room as a constant reminder every time I get up. I'm chatting. Right now it's in my room, but I'm going to take my advice. I'm going to look at that every morning. Just implement it, because I do, but it's like I have it there for a reason, so I have to look at it and really remind myself to get up.
Speaker 3:Grind right work hard and execute because you can't just keep dreaming. You got to wake up and actually do yeah, I forgot.
Speaker 1:There was a great quote, but it said dreams without work is just a fantasy. I think it's like that.
Speaker 3:So if you it's also a verse that goes, a Bible verse that goes faith without work is dead.
Speaker 1:That's a good yep, okay, I've heard that one Definitely definitely.
Speaker 3:That's a good one, too, Because it's like do you really have faith at the end of the day?
Speaker 1:if you're not, Absolutely I'm in total, nothing is given to you and if it is, those are people who are born in the dynasties or born in rich families. Again, they don't know what it's like to work because they didn't build it from the ground up. I'm not hating on them. You're fortunate enough to have it.
Speaker 3:But I'd rather work for it. No, definitely.
Speaker 1:It's way more fulfilling.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Nobody can sit here and take like listen. You brought that, it's not yours I worked hard for it. You know you worked hard for it. I got up at the hours I didn't want to to get in the gym, focus on myself, put whatever emotional things I was going through.
Speaker 3:And that's where the mindset develops. Yeah, that's where it grows. That's where it's growing.
Speaker 1:It's growth. You're learning every day, every day, whether because you live today, like if you live today, like you live tomorrow, or you live today. Are you going to live the day, going forward, or yesterday? My boy, you're not learning anything. You're not progressing right. If I get up and wear the same clothes and do the same exact thing I'm doing every day, it's bad. It's that's. You're becoming content. You're becoming too comfortable on the schedule you have. You're not going to grow, but you're becoming content. You're becoming too comfortable in the schedule you have. You're not going to grow. But if you get up every day and you're changing minute things, small things, you know, let's say, you did a push up yesterday, you're going to do two push ups this morning, you're learning to continuously do better than the last day exactly that's growth.
Speaker 1:That's growth now, at the end of the week. Instead of doing a push-up, you're doing seven push-ups and it's like you're learning that throughout the days. You can only get better and better if you want to get better. If you don't want to get better.
Speaker 1:You can sit there and be perfectly calm and content with what you're at in life and just be comfortable being a nobody. But if you want to be a somebody, the option is always out there for you. You can do that and you can achieve that by putting in the hard work and putting in the pain and putting the effort it takes to get there.
Speaker 3:So the essence of this podcast mind over matter is to use your inner conditions to attract your outer reality, because I believe whatever is happening inside of you, if you're able to govern it, you're able to dictate what is happening outside of you. I agree. So what does mind over matter mean for you?
Speaker 1:Mind over matter for me in a short sentence when you conquer the enemy within, the enemy outside can do no harm. If you're able to internalize and overcome the internal battles that you have inside of you, or whatever you're going through, you can overcome that, the demons and other obstacles you're facing inside your own mind. If you can overcome that, nothing outside can hurt you. Nothing outside has any dictatorship over what you say or can govern you at all, because in the end you've overcome and you've battled and you've won the victory in your head. So if you truly get to a place where you're comfortable in your own skin, nobody outside can tell you hey, listen, you're fat. If you're fat and you're comfortable with that, okay, that's cool, you look good too. Bro, I hope you get to the point where you're this comfortable in your skin. You don't have to be in good shape to be mentally good. But whatever you're comfortable in inside and whatever you've conquered inside, it will show on the outside, because the little step outside the world won't affect you anymore.
Speaker 3:Well said, well said I ate, I did that Yo what he left no crumbs. He ate, left no crumbs. I said mm-mm-mm. What advice do you have for people who want to get?
Speaker 1:into acting and become an actor. Please be comfortable being unemployed. I don't mean that in like, oh, it's never going to happen, it's just acting is a long, long, long process and most of your time as an actor you're going to have unbooked work only because they're like she said before, I think there's like 20,000, 35,000 people going for the same role you want. So if it doesn't happen for you on the first time or the first 10 times or the first 100 times, if it's something you really want to do, stay with it, Because there's a lot of people that still don't think. They think I gave up my dream of acting and it's like. It's not even like that. It's just you don't understand the mechanisms or the optics of how the acting world works. You can get 100 no's and then get one maybe, and that'd still be a no. And you still have to be on time. You have to be on call, on standby, have your training and everything ready for you.
Speaker 1:When you get the role, that does come to you and it is right for you, you execute it. That does come to you and it is right for you, you execute it. But definitely make sure you're consistent, make sure you're in classes. Make sure you're doing things to better yourself, whether it's physically, mentally, reading, picking up new hobbies Because if you're for a role that requires you to know how to box and you're a great actor but there's somebody who actually knows how to box and they're not a good actor, they'll be like listen, we can just teach him how to act.
Speaker 1:You know, it's ain't nothing. So definitely make sure you're picking up new hobbies, bettering yourself, and just make sure you're staying headstrong in what you want to do, because it's not an easy, not an easy career and if it's something you really want to do, you have to be comfortable with hearing the word no, because that's something that will be conspiring. If you're the one in a million that gets their first yes and you book like a series regular or a lead in a movie, that's great for you. I'm not saying it can't happen, because it's definitely happened before, but nine times out of ten it won't. So just make sure you know this is what you want to do and make sure you don't give up easy, because it's something that requires a lot of patience and a lot of personal growth, and that's that's where I'm at now hope y'all took those gems, hope y'all catching these gems.
Speaker 1:Y'all I want to go to for free man 399 399 man only here only over mind, over mind. That's the only way you can get it you heard it here first, thanks.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna go to some tiktok questions of course, talk to me. Okay.
Speaker 1:I'm a big TikToker? No, I'm not. My brother is.
Speaker 3:Are you not a talker? No, not really.
Speaker 1:I post, like my YouTube shorts and things like that, or my little Boohoo man videos.
Speaker 3:I'm going to go watch your YouTube and see what's up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, come on subscribe. I'm about to drop a new video out this Friday. I just got to edit that and editing be so.
Speaker 3:Oh my God, Don't even get me started.
Speaker 1:Believe me, yeah, it look way more complicated than mine. You got five cameras in here.
Speaker 3:Nah, only one is on. Only one is on. Oh really, yeah, it's. I'm like one, two, three, four, five. I'm like all right, bye, okay, I feel like you answered this, did you? How has your approach to acting evolved since the beginning of your career?
Speaker 1:Just being more open-minded, being able to accept roles where it's not the stereotypical black African-American role. Hey, you're going to be doing drugs.
Speaker 1:It's like no, I want to be a lawyer, I want to be an astronaut. Now I want to be a president. I want to do different things where it shows my versatility as an actor, not just, yeah, you can sell drugs, a whole bunch of people can sell drugs. People sell drugs in the regular day life, like Like it's cool to really become an actor or really be in the lineup acting, because at some point you have to do some actual training for the role you're in. So if I and I keep on going back to Laurica, I'm like it's something that's been resonating with me yeah, you've been saying Laurica.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've been saying Laurica I don't know why.
Speaker 1:It's like my dad actually wanted to be a lawyer when he was younger. But it's just like to be able to dress up in a suit and go to a place now where you're in front of an actual judge, jury, and you're presenting facts, you're presenting knowledge, you look like you know what you're talking about. It's cool, or it's the same. In the aspect of being a boxer, you actually you actually have to get into great physical condition. You have to know how to take a punch. You have to know how to take a punch. You have to know how to throw a punch.
Speaker 1:So, with all these different roles you're taking on, you're learning something from them and you're growing. And now when you do run into somebody who's actually in that profession, you can now talk to them on the level where it's like, okay, I understand where you're coming from Rather than you know. Just, I saw drugs in this movie. I saw drugs in that movie. Oh wait, I shoot a gun and I saw drugs. You feel me. So it's like you get to be versatile and get to take on new life experiences. That's one of the cool things about it too, because if you didn't have a direct career path, you wanted to go in life. You get to div and dab on all of them and that's cool I want to finish off with the future of acting.
Speaker 3:It's a lot going on in the acting field, especially with the ai stuff going on, and yeah, yeah, even like the strike that happened, yeah, that was bad, it's a lot we could get into. But I want to finish with, like, the future. Yeah, how do you feel about the future of acting, especially with AI coming in and like just stealing people's faces and just doing a bunch of weird stuff out there?
Speaker 1:That's definitely weird. But I say, make sure you're at the point where you bring something different to the table. Be the best version of you. That way, when you leave the audition or you send in your self-tape, it's memorable and they're like listen, no AI can take their place. That's what I would say. Just be memorable, be bold, make strong decisions and strong character development.
Speaker 3:Okay, anything you want to leave the people off with.
Speaker 1:No, I just want to say shout out and thank you to you. She's been an amazing host, amazing.
Speaker 3:Appreciate you.
Speaker 1:Just overall, amazing overall. Make sure y'all go follow me on Instagram at TheRealHollywood.
Speaker 3:Link in description.
Speaker 1:Facts. Follow the YouTube and you know it's happening with me. I'm going up. It'll only be better than this. It'll be better every day thank you for joining me thank you for having me.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you and if you listen to the end, shout out to you like I appreciate you. I can tell you really love yourself, you really listen to the end of another episode like what tell a friend? To tell a friend mother, auntie, sister, dog that it's mind over matter baby.