An Artist on the Rise—Kai Thomas Knight

Today we are sitting down with someone whose story is still being written—but trust me, you are going to want to say you heard him here first.

Our guest, Kai Thomas Knight, grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina—a place with a surprisingly deep creative lineage. This is the same city that gave the world icons like Michael Jordan and Sugar Ray Leonard, and home to the Thalian Association, one of the oldest theatre companies in the entire country. So maybe it is no surprise that Kai found his way to the stage.

But what is remarkable is the grit behind his journey. Kai is one of those actors who is not waiting for permission—he is building his craft, chasing the work, and carving out his own lane. And recently, he made the leap so many dreams about packing up, heading to New York City, and throwing himself into the heart of the industry.

Today, we are talking about that leap. The hustle. The heartbreak. The hope. And what it really means to chase a dream when the world does not know your name… yet.

 This is a conversation with an artist on the rise—Kai Thomas Knight.”

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi everybody, it's Mimi from Be Heard, Empower Yourself. And welcome back to the show, everyone. Today we are sitting down with someone whose story is still being written. But trust me, you are going to want to say you heard and hear first. Our guest, Kai Thomas Knight, grew up in Bomington, North Carolina, a place with a surprisingly decreated lineage. This is the same city that gave the world icons like Michael Jordan and Sugar Rain Leonard, and home to the Tham League Association, one of the oldest theater companies in the entire country. So maybe it's no surprise that I call his way to the stage. But what is remarkable is the grit behind his journey. He is building his craft, chasing the work, and carving out his own lane. And recently he made the leap So Many Dream Up about packing up and heading to New York City and throwing himself into the heart of the industry. So today we're going to talk about that leap: the hustle, the heartbreak, the hope, and what it really means to chase a dream when the world does not even know your name yet. This is a conversation with an artist on the rise. Hello, Mr. Kai Thomas Knight. Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Hey, thank you for having me. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Good. Of course I'm gonna have you. You're my grandson. Full disclosure. Full disclosure. Okay, so let's get into the meeting's interview. So, Kai, you were drawn to movies at an early age. Do you remember going to the blockbuster with me?

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Of course I do. Yeah, of course I do.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

Would you like to tell them if people that don't know what the blockbuster was, because it's pretty much gone? The last one was in Alaska.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

A little trivia.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Talk about that trip to the blockbuster.

SPEAKER_03 2:19

Uh I to be honest, like I I was very young, so I don't remember it completely. I know what happened, though. I know uh we were out there, and which was the one where you were like saying you you have to take me to the Oscars or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

You said it. You said it, you said, man, uh, when I win an Oscar, I'm taking you.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah, yeah. But so you were really young, and um, we had a connection because I'm a movie book, and as you were growing up, you know, we could have the whole family in the room, and there'd be a line in the movie we were watching, and we'd look at each other and say, Godfather, like a line that they stole. And like we would always find the Easter eggs, right?

SPEAKER_03 3:04

Of course, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Which was our bond movies that was our bond. So what first drew you to acting, and when did you realize it was more than a hobby?

SPEAKER_03 3:17

Uh the probably when I was like in middle school, uh, or no, it was a little younger. I think we were doing a little small production in like elementary school and third grade of series one fortune events, and I remember like doing that, yeah, getting one of the leads. I think they just handed it out randomly, and I did it. I just remember liking being on stage, and that was kind of it. Um, and then didn't do it for a little while, kind of just played sports a little bit, and then got back into it around high school, end of middle school, and kind of have been fall fell in love with it ever since. Yeah, just do it.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

And um, how do you think uh growing up in Wilmington and working in Wilmington shaped your early career and your understanding of the industry?

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Um very interesting because I worked both in film a little bit and I worked both in uh theater, so both industries that are there. How would it help me understand the industry? Um I don't know because when you're growing up in theater and you grow up in such a tight-knit community like that, I think the main thing that you learn is that it's about more uh uh connections. Uh talent is very much needed and it's very much should be uh developed. Work ethic is huge, that's a big thing. Being early, having a good reputation is probably more beneficial than being the most talented person in the room or trying to get the most attention in the room. I would say those are the two big things I learned while working in film and theater in uh Wilmington. There's a lot of things because it's so small. Um, you know, you can it's it's I wouldn't say it's easier to get into because you can there's a we'll get into that later. How like the scene in New York, I feel like there's a lot, there's just so much more opportunity here. Um, but you get humble because there's only so many parts you can get, there's only so many productions of anything there in my hometown of Wilmington that you kind of grow a bit of a thicker skin because there's only so many opportunities, and you kind of have to be creative in that way.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Well, you were involved with the palium theater, right? Did you do something like that?

SPEAKER_03 5:49

Oh, I did. I was multiple productions with them. I was in plenty of musicals in the ensemble. I would most, but my start where I started to get leads, um, I feel like Thalion they prioritize the leads for like kids who were kind of have more of a legacy. Like, let's say they started when they were four and like kind of worked their way up a little bit. Um, and so it wasn't it wasn't until I got to other um theater companies that I started to get leads, so it would be theater now was a a huge stepping stone for me because my acting mentor at the time, Zach Hanna, he got me into that, and so I was kind of like his protege growing up, and so that was getting I'll talk about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Now, is that the um guy that had you in that play, Killer Diller?

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah. My first big lead, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

That was your first lead, and your grandparents made the trip from Florida, of course, and um what's his name again, Zach? Zach Hanner treated us like royalty, yeah, he gave us it was like a dinner theater type place, and he gave us the best seats, and he introduced us my it was a good time too. Yeah, it was great, and you played Wesley Benfield, I believe. Uh, prime candidate for what was called in the play project promise, and uh it was pretty much a Baptist type uh organization that Wesley was involved with. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 7:36

Yeah, I uh yeah, it's been so long at this point.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

Um, I probably remember more than you do.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

I still have the playbill, honey. I got it all.

SPEAKER_02 7:45

You do?

SPEAKER_00 7:46

That's beautiful, but um, you were great, and I don't say that with prejudice, maybe a little, but you played the guitar and sang in that twice.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

I still do, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:00

But you that's where you also did, I believe, your first on stage kiss.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Was it my first?

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Yeah, but too sure. You were parked in a car.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

I remember no no no, I remember it. I remember for sure. Yeah, first on stage kiss it was with Horatia, my uh co-star.

SPEAKER_00 8:21

Yes, yes, and it was late to the game to be honest. It was late in the game, but the other things you were in didn't call for it. Excuse my voice. So I love that play. I didn't understand most of it, but you did a great job, and I just loved it, and then I also got to see you and your grandfather saw it in Romeo and Juliet.

SPEAKER_03 8:49

Oh, I forgot you guys, you guys came to Romeo and Juliet.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Oh yes, I did, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:53

I had like a prominent, I had a prominent part in Romeo and Juliet.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

Yes, but not the part you should have had.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Romeo, no, it wasn't Romeo, I was Paris.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

I was Paris, I was one of Juliet's, yeah, and I would I sat through that whole play whispering to your mother and grandfather, he should be Romeo. Yeah, the whole play.

SPEAKER_03 9:15

I think it was already cast it by the time I was so I don't think I auditioned for that one, if I'm remembering. I think I got a call. Oh asked me to be in it. I uh maybe I auditioned, I don't know. It was a while.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

You were great as Paris, and um the the sword play was amazing, and like did you have to choreograph that?

SPEAKER_03 9:41

I didn't choreograph it. No, well, we did some there was like we didn't have a lot of rehearsal for the sword um fight scenes, but we it was like the first play I had where there was like where we had to um go to do uh sword rehearsals, so yeah, we had to do that, and that was actually um that was so much fun.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

That was so it was.

SPEAKER_03 10:04

I didn't get I have a very short, I remember how I had a very short um sword fight in that play scene, but it was it was very fun. I I loved that. I would love to do more more fighting.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

I have a picture, you do I'll send it. It'll be on you know, at the show notes and stuff. I'll be putting some pictures, and the podcast is also broadcast on my YouTube channel. Uh noticize a channel not show because I have my own channel and I have 200 episodes. People are blown away by that. And what I'm finding in my business is that the more like podcasts you have, the of course the more you're gonna get noticed even accidentally, because there's always somebody out there looking for a platform for their product, you know, their clients, whatever. So when I started getting stopped looking for people and they start coming to me, I went, oh, I think I'm I'm getting there. I'm getting down. And uh I have high standards. So if they you know, if they're gonna talk about an oil company or something, I'm like, no, you're not right for my show. I don't just take anybody. I have to have a backstory, and everybody has a backstory, but everybody doesn't admit to it. Um and it's usually from becoming from heart, it could be dysfunctional family, which every family is dysfunctional, or you know, their own addiction or poverty or whatever. So let me ask you this. I think you already answered it. Um but tell us, no, you didn't answer this one. Tell us about your time at the famous Stella Adler School of Acting.

SPEAKER_03 12:08

That was great. I did the summer intensive in Stella Adler in the summer of 2024. Uh my first time living in New York. It was like the first big move before my big big move. Um yeah, uh, we that was in the it was a summer intensive. So we had, let me count this. This is for three months straight, five days a week. We would meet uh at the Stella or Estella Adler School. Um you know, famously like one of the building blocks of American acting and American theater as we know it. So uh, you know, she came from the uh you know, the three buildings of uh like with Meisner and all them. And when they broke off, Stella Adler created this other school, famous for having plenty of actors, but Marlon Brando's the big one. There's like a bust.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Well, it's lent to see Stella Adler because I think there's another big one.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

There's a there's a ton of big ones. I've you you'd be surprised. So uh Benicio del Toro, um Mark Ruffalo.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Oh, love them.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

Like it's it's you if you do the list, I think Warren Beatty was in the Stella Adler at one point. Um yeah, I think it the list kind of goes on and on, even like make new players like Rachel Sennette went. Uh I think Maya Hawk did some stuff there as well.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

So there's all Did you learn a lot there?

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Oh my god, yeah. You know what's the funniest thing is you think you would learn like techniques, and and sometimes you do. Um, but the main thing I just learned is like learn your lines, or it's like just learn your it sounds stupid. No, no, no, it sounds very simple, but it's one of those things where it's just you it's not just learning your lines, it's learning the context of the play. You get a piece of um, you get a chance to play a part. So especially if you're doing a play, read the whole play because you want to read the context of whatever you're reading, even if you're doing just a scene study and you're doing the scene, read the whole play. Because you're I'm in a scene study right now where the performance changes dramatically where you've come from as a character and where you're going.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Um, and that's the biggest thing I took from that. That and they say also instead of there's a lot of each teacher, I feel like had their own style of acting. Um, and it wasn't intensive. We were taking like what is it, like eight classes uh the week. So each class, each day, so five days a week, would have a minimum of two classes. Um, and I think the heaviest day would have four classes in one day, and we'd be there from nine to five or six. Um, and we always by the time the finals came around, we had like six monologues we had to remember, and you know, we had scenes that we had to remember. Um there was some wild stuff we had to do. We did animal work, which was crazy, where we pretended to be an animal. That was that was interesting.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Now you got some regular college in before you jumped two feet into that.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

Yeah, I was studying psychology.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yeah, how many years did you get her semester or whatever?

SPEAKER_03 15:33

Uh, before I switched to film, I actually was studying psychology for a year and a half to two years, and then I decided to just switch to film and kind of go for it. So then I studied film at the Cafer Community College, which is the best uh film program in in Wilmington, because that's what got me jobs. They got me jobs in film because they're more of a hands-on uh film, they're more of a hands-on school, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Um I remember our conversation, you probably don't, but Anna remembers all of the conversations with all our grandchildren, and it was on the phone, and you were talking about making that decision. Should you go to a regular, like full term, four-year, whatever college, but you really wanted to go to this acting theater college or whatever you want to call it. And I remember saying to you, well, Kai, where's your heart? What do you love? I said, To me, there's no decision, go to the theater college. Like I was always on board with you 100%. Is that right? Oh, yeah, oh yeah. I mean, always, always. In fact, the other thing was um we had a conversation, and I remember saying to you, now can I look you can't stay in Wilmington because you know, people don't realize Wilmington used to get a lot of film companies, Walking Dead, I believe, at one point, right? Was the film there was a Walking Dead?

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Maybe briefly, but I think the big ones were Conjuring, Iron Man 3, and you know, of course.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

They did, they did, and all of a sudden Georgia kind of stole their uh their thing.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

I had said to you, you know, Wilmington opportunities are a little dried up. Uh, you need either to move to LA or New York City. I don't know if you remember me saying that too.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

But I think I do.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

I think so, and I knew you took New York City because you're more of a theater actor right now.

SPEAKER_03 17:53

Right now, yeah. Yeah, I think it's more accessible and it's fun.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Yes, and many, many, many, many movie stars had started out as theater actors. Many, you know. Um, so you're in the right place. So how do you stay grounded in a city that moves so fast?

SPEAKER_03 18:17

That's a growing that you can argue that I don't.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

Um you don't stay grounded.

SPEAKER_03 18:23

That's a grow, that's a growing thing that I'm actually learning. Um it's so and it's really something I'm trying to figure out, but a lot of it will just be going walks in parks, um, trying to meditate when I can.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Yeah, you're a big meditator, I know that.

SPEAKER_03 18:38

Oh, they used to be. I used to be now, but really fell off.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

You know, you can do you can do 10 second meditations, and I get my 10 seconds in when I can, I'll tell you that. Yeah, I know it sounds to people like 10 seconds, but it's the point of stopping what you're doing or thinking about and actually putting yourself in that quiet place. That's the hard part. It's not the 10 seconds, it's a storm you can so true, so true. Okay, and you've had some acting opportunities in the big city.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

In the big city, yeah. Most of it from the improv theater, uh, a lot of comedy at the moment. I can plug in. I have a showcase tomorrow at 6 p.m. Um, doing my scene for uh this uh playwright called Matthew Gosta, uh established playwright in New York, doing primarily more intimate settings, um smaller theaters like that, uh more like off-Broadway stuff. I also have a uh improv show that I'm a part of the next day, next night around eight o'clock at Otter Shrunken Head.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:46

And I have uh I'll be performing stand-up in let me look this up. April.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Oh yeah, like comedy stand-up.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

Of course. You're a comedian. Yeah, I'll be doing that.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

I'm I'm I I never saw you as now I'm a stand-up comedian. Everything that comes out of my mouth. Quick story. I was helping this homeless girl, and she told my friend, I really like Beanie. There's only one thing I don't like about her. She makes a joke out of everything, and now I have helped her find a job and a place to live. And anytime she's in my company, she can't stop laughing.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

Oh, beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

I think that's such irony, you know. So Poppy's hard to make laughter, and everybody else is so um oh one quick, one quick.

SPEAKER_03 20:48

I'm I'm performing some comedy. I'm performing scramp stand-up comedy April 25th at the uh Fear City Comedy Club, opening from Terry Granham.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

So oh Terry, yes. She um I think she's a podcast now, too.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah, yeah. Terry was on this podcast. So she was she really yes, but she was on when she was into the bells and the Reiki and all that stuff, because she does that too. So I had her on for that, and it was great. So I just sent her a message saying, Okay, you have a podcast, let's talk, you know. So um, yeah, we have a family of uh inspirational people that are going for it. Your cousin uh Nick, you got a scholarship to Wagner, which I think is very close to you. Oh, great college, you know where it is, Nicholas.

SPEAKER_03 21:49

Uh Wagner. Uh area.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

So we'll be it's at Staten Island.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

Oh, is it that close?

SPEAKER_00 21:56

It's a very ride away.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

You better hook up.

SPEAKER_03 22:02

We'll meet up.

SPEAKER_00 22:03

Because yeah, he got a scholarship.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

Oh, brutal.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

And he wanted an A1, D1, whatever you call them, school, and it is. And um, the local news did a big story on him. He's been on my podcast. He's getting out there too. I said, if we don't end up with someone famous in this family, we got actors and writers and comedians, we got it all. Baseball players. So back to you. So are there any like when you're gonna have an audition, like, are there any like rituals or routines that help you prepare for it?

SPEAKER_03 22:48

So rituals. I tend to sometimes I get advice from my teachers that I had at Stella Adler. The one I'm really close to is uh Ian Hershey. He's my Shakespeare teacher there. Uh I just get I I just ask him to go over the script and then we go over decisions on what we're gonna make during the um audition, but I mainly just try to have the script memorized. I have an idea of the physicality that I want to um convey. And then at the end of it, I don't try to intellectualize it, I try to stay in the moment. I try to just react as natural as I can. I I don't know. I ritual-wise, I I guess the only thing that happens is I tend to get there 30 minutes early just because out of paranoia of missing the audition.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

So it's all right, and then what do you do for 30 minutes? There's your meditation time, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 23:48

Yeah, yeah. And I do sometimes, I do usually do like a 10-minute and then go over my lines.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Do you um do you remember a movie, Baby Driver?

SPEAKER_03 23:58

Yeah, love that movie.

SPEAKER_00 24:00

Okay, and do you remember when I saw that movie? I immediately told you, watch that movie because the guy that plays the baby driver, yeah, could be you. I just could see you in that role.

SPEAKER_03 24:13

Yeah, Ansel Elgort, a fellow New Yorker as well, Ansel Elgort from New York.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

Yeah, yeah. It's yeah, Nana was always like interested from the time you were, I don't know how old, how old were you when you when we went to Blockbuster?

SPEAKER_03 24:29

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

You were young, younger than that. I was very young.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Yeah, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:37

Because when you you were in the backseat and you when you said, When I win an Osterny and I'm taking you to the academy boards, and I said, Well, maybe you want to take your mother, and you said, No, I'm taking you because I always had that in you know, zone in on the acting thing. I hope that still holds. I'm holding you to your word.

SPEAKER_03 24:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, um they call when they call.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Okay, you call me, I'll get a nice dress, and I won't show too much.

SPEAKER_03 25:10

That's up to you. This this is your moment.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

I can't help myself. I'm um, so anyway, you know, I think about actors out there now like uh Ryan Gosling and Leonardo DiCaprio, and I see you in that look, but they're getting old. They're getting old. In fact, I put out a reel of you playing the guitar and singing um Hallelujah. And I said something about you know, Leonardo's getting a little old. It's out there, you can find it.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:53

I think I said it too, but um yeah, they need some new young gorgeous guys out there. So how do you handle the rejection or even the uncertainty? Because it is such a competitive environment.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Yeah, uh, I don't so three things. I take the idea that the rejection is just like part of the game. There's people who are more talented than you, there's people who are have as much connections and they get rejected, it's just how it is. It's just it's such a finite idea of what casting directors would want in the role, yeah. Um, and when you deal with uncertainty, uh you just have to stay busy for yourself. So that's why I'm doing improv, that's why I'm doing stand-up, that's why I'm you know, I'm spreading my net wide because I'm lucky enough to live in a city that allows that, yeah. And just have building a community around it. And I don't look at competition as a bad thing at all. I think it's a great way for me to get better, but I also don't look at people who I would be competing with as like someone who's like my enemy. I I want if I meet someone and they I feel like they're better at acting or they're better at doing some sort of performance style than me, I talk to them because I want I want to know what they do, I want to know what's their routine.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

Your comrades, your comrades, yes, that's how I hear that. Um, and how do you balance the hustle though of personal acting with the need for a personal life and making your rent money?

SPEAKER_03 27:39

Well, I just make sure I get I go to work and I I'm able to make that rent money for sure. Uh most important. The I don't know the personal relationships. Again, I'm so new to the city and it's uh it's an ongoing balance that I don't really have an answer for at the moment, but um that's okay. Yeah, we're slowly we're we're we're we're working it out slowly but surely a female, uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

I mean about a female, okay. Meaning that there is someone that you like, and is she in the business too?

SPEAKER_03 28:15

Uh I'm single at the moment, so single, okay.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Yeah, but a lot of the women you meet are probably in the business.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

Uh sometimes. Sometimes they're just a you know, they do their own thing. Uh, the great thing about New York is not everyone's in the business, you know. It's different from LA. So it's just like you can meet people who are great painters, who are really just into who want to run a restaurant. There's uh it's a different type of mentality where you have so many different avenues that you can kind of jump into in the city.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

Yeah, it's it's all high performing and all high quality, and it's people trying to be the best at that.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Exactly. And how has the city changed the way that you see yourself as an artist?

SPEAKER_03 29:05

Oh, what a good question.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

I usually have one good question each interview.

SPEAKER_03 29:12

I think it's just to see it as like we look at this pursuit as something to gain celebrity. And I think the more I kind of have met actors who are able to work in theater and do a lot of working television and all those avenues and to be able to travel with it to places such as like London and even the great regional theater within Jersey and throughout the Northeast and the Southeast. Um look at it like any other industry where you're you're trying to build a career and you're trying to build a longevity in a community rather than trying to um achieve celebrity. So that was more that's more where it went. Like that's I think that's the goal is just to get better at the craft to to form a community. Those are like the the big changing points, the big I could understand that with knowing you.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

Um, so who are some maybe actors or directors or writers that you'd like to collaborate with?

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Plenty. Um, Darren Arunovsky. Um, I would like to do stuff with um Andrea Arnold's Lynn Ramsey. They both had movies come out this year.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Are they directors?

SPEAKER_03 30:41

Yeah, they're directors.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

So I'm not in the bits, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

Uh yeah, Lynn Ramsey directed what do we need to talk about? Uh we need to talk about Kevin. She just um had a movie come out with Jennifer Lawrence, and it was very good. Uh, I mean, it's a long list actors that I look up to right now. I love Andrew Scott, he played uh a big part, he played the hot priest in Fleabag.

SPEAKER_00 31:06

Oh, I remember that show.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

Yeah, amazing actor. Um I like people, I like I just saw Ryan Gosling in in Hail Mary, and I thought that Project Hail Mary, I thought he was amazing. I love the trajectory of his career where he went from like a heartthrob action star role, and now he's doing comedy and just like the range that he can play is. I don't know, I think he's astounding in some ways, like still underrated.

SPEAKER_00 31:34

I love Robert Pattinson and the turn he's made since yeah, because in the beginning with Twilight, was it Twilight? Yeah, totally different persona than he has now.

SPEAKER_03 31:47

No, now he's doing prestige, and what's funny, I have a good story for you. Um, I one of the big directors that I would like to work with now are the Safety brothers. So there's Benny and uh Josh Safty. They got big playing it, kind of being in the big players in the turning point of Robert Patton's career, where he did Good Time, which is like one of my favorite movies. And uh they just released, they just kind of split off instead of collaborating, they did their own thing. And then Josh just did Marty Supreme with Timothy Chalamet, and Benny did um The Smashing Machine with uh The Rock, both kind of like these prestige type of movies. And what's funny, I was walking in Central Park, and there's this rock that I usually sit by, and this was when I was working with uh my other job. Um, and Benny Safty was just sitting there, and I was able to talk to him.

SPEAKER_00 32:40

Oh, that's see, that's the difference, right there. Being in New York and never knowing who you're gonna run into. I um, as you know, uh I wrote four books, but the first book that I wrote, um you are going to be in it when it's my new movie. It's called Raised by Wolves, Trapped by Demons, which I gave you a copy. Um I don't know if you read any of it.

SPEAKER_03 33:15

Yes, I did. You sent us a whole chapter through text. I've read the whole I've read the whole first chapter, I've read chapter five. Yeah, you gave me a little book notes of like the best chapters to read. Yeah, yeah, I've read it. That's good. That's good.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Could it be a movie?

SPEAKER_03 33:32

It could.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

It could be gangsters and all kinds of stuff. So here's the deal. And this is like sort of related to your acting and writing. Um I pay um in order to be any attention. Yeah, I actually introduced them in Hollywood. She has no time to read it. So I'm spending time trying to find somewhere that return the book up to a screen. And once I do that, so and I'm 77 years old. So age means nothing if you are creative. I think I said that in a good way. You know, well, some people think, you know, you get to a certain age, why are you doing anything like that? Because I love it. I love this what I'm doing now, talking to you. Um I talk to people all over the world. I love it. And uh I'm a talker. Right. You who knows the best. So and you will have a partner will be a part. So uh when you imagine success for yourself, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_03 35:04

It's for me to be able to choose doing interesting roles, for me to be able to travel, um, and for me to be able to give back to the community in some way. So those are the three hallmarks.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

Those things hit me uh thinking about different actors, and one of the biggest perks, which a lot of them will admit, is when they're filming in different countries that they probably never would have gone to. So that's a perk of being an actor. Also, the giving back. I love the actors that give back, you know, that are helping the homeless and people that are hungry and different things. And we have these manufacturing, I don't want to only I will say some names like uh I won't say Bill Gates because he did give something back. But there's a lot of people, billionaires of money that are buying airplanes and cars and all kinds of stuff, and it's like and how much did you give in charity? Like, really, that annoys me. That's one of my pet peeves. Um, but that so I'm glad you said that about giving back. That's important, and it keeps you humble. And I think that humility is a character that an actor needs.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 36:32

So um it's okay to talk to your younger self back in Wilmington. What would you tell him?

SPEAKER_03 36:40

Relax.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Just one word, relax. Yeah, that's uh cool.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

I would relax, tell him that I would say I would say build, I would have done more teen sports just to build uh a sense of community and just have what would I have done for my self-esteem. That would have been better.

SPEAKER_00 37:00

Well, you did uh long distance running, was it?

SPEAKER_03 37:04

Yeah, I would have, yeah, but I would have I would told him that I would have told my younger self to just do the basketball, no, do more clubs, uh okay, do more social activities, do more like extracurricular, okay, join clubs, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 37:20

Yeah, yeah, but you're um growing up, it took you a while to bring out your personality, and I'm saying this uh the way I observed it. So as you matured, you got less shy, like um if I had all the grandchildren at the house, you know, you're not the one I expected to uh be a bully or do anything really bad, you know, you'd be in there watching TV quietly until and his name shall remain unsaid. Another cousin would come and bully you. Well, it's bigger, so that's he was bigger, yeah. He was a year older and he was taller, yeah. And um, and his personality has changed too. Yeah, it's amazing because he has done a total turnaround now. So yeah, you had to develop your own personality, and um so you've definitely changed. And what is something that you wish uh people understand about the reality of being an actor, especially a young unknown actor.

SPEAKER_03 38:46

It's just it's um it's networking is your greatest skill.

SPEAKER_00 38:50

Oh, it is, it absolutely is. That's me too. Networking, um still doing it and not to sound uh what I just said, not humble, but I still get checks from Amazon and Audible. And I wrote that book um almost six years ago, my first book. And the podcast, I'm not able to monetize yet because it's a whole different framework, how you build your business that way. You know, you have to have like 10,000 viewers or whatever type of thing. It's it's crazy. But um when I get a check from Amazon for$20, I'm very proud of myself because some people write a book and nobody except their family buys it. In my case, all these people bought it except my family.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

We got a free copy, that's why.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

No, most of them are afraid when I wrote. I could just stand up, I really could. You should try it up, me and Terry and you should go on a tour together. Yeah, oh yeah, it could be a generational thing. You're the youngest, then Terry, then me. That would that'd be great. Well, this was um, I think a pretty thorough interview because you are just starting out, you know. But um tell me you're working on something that's gonna be on the web, some kind of a series or that is up to there is uh a web series that I filmed back in June, late June, early July.

SPEAKER_03 40:40

Um and I will give you that and you can promote it, but it's in the middle, it's uh with a coworker of mine, so he uh is in the middle of editing it. So that's the it hasn't we don't have a definitive release date for that yet.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

Do you have a name?

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Um, we're gonna we're probably gonna uh wait. I will wait for him to decide on a name, okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

It is that uh drama, comedy, thriller, horror.

SPEAKER_03 41:09

Uh yeah, honestly, it's uh a bit of a thriller. Oh, my favorite, yeah, a bit of a thriller.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

I'll tell you. Well, you tell me when it's up, so I can rot the shit out of it and uh watch it myself.

SPEAKER_03 41:21

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:22

So I leave anything out that you want people to know about.

SPEAKER_03 41:26

Oh, uh, did I um I already said it, I believe, but uh just to make sure the stand-up uh Terry Granaghan, she is performing Fear Street Comedy Club April 25th. Uh and that will be the my last performance that I have for April. So April's gonna be uh in that.

SPEAKER_00 41:51

Okay, you'll be appearing. You'll be appearing. Oh, that's wonderful. That's great. So uh yeah, so uh in September, I will have two grandchildren appearing in New York State.

SPEAKER_03 42:06

Yeah, two different yeah, two different stages.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

I sent you the video of uh Nick, right?

SPEAKER_03 42:12

Yeah, I haven't got the the his on the news where he got oh you have to you have it though, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:18

Oh yeah, you have to watch it because for an 18-year-old boy, he comes across just like you do, very confident, very sure of himself. Um, and uh yeah, definitely get together, give him some support, some buddy support when he gets there. Yeah, okay. Well, this has been great, and we'll have to do another when you get some more um work that you want to talk about or advice for other people. I loved having you, and uh that is where we will leave it today. Hi, Thomas Knight, which is his real name, and which he should, I believe he should not change. No, I'm not changing, no, because that is the perfect what a name for an actor. You do not need any silly name they offer you.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

Right, of course.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

Hi, Thomas Knight. It rolls off the tongue. So, my young actor from Wilmington, North Carolina, standing on the edge of possibility in New York City, and your story is raw and unfinished and full of fire. And if you felt that spark, my listeners, keep watching because every great name starts as an unknown until it does not. So thanks for sharing your story, Kai.

SPEAKER_03 43:44

Oh, thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Oh, I loved it. So of course I do. All right, so until next time, my viewers, stay hungry, stay bold, and keep chasing the story. Only you can. Yeah.