E1 - Andre Rojas-Castillo Takes LA

In the inaugural episode, I interview my long time friend, Andre Rojas-Castillo.

We talk about his acting career, his experience being on Chicago PD, his views on Chicago, and at the end we get deep on topics such as AI and life. 

Tune in to learn more about Dre.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13478685/

*The sack of potatoes story was fact checked and is incorrect, please keep that in mind.

Transcript

Unknown: So hello. Welcome to next up, Chicago. I am your host, Farooq. And today we have a very special guest, very dear friend of mine. He's my boy. We go back since sixth grade. Andre Rojas. Castillo. Hello. Hello. How we doing? Everybody here? Farouk, for that matter. Chile girls say hello. Say hello to all the listeners. All right, listen, it's up next up Chicago. I'm happy to be here. This is my. This is my best friend right here for Farukh Sarkulov Starting this podcast, first episode. I'm so honored to be here. Real. We're honored to have you. And we're going to have a great episode in store. I guess, like, tell me, bro, what's up? Who are you? Let's let our people know who is on. Who is Andre? That's a good question. I guess I'm still figuring that out. Shit, I'm 25. But yeah, I'm from. Born and raised in Chicago. Over here in Edgewater, on the north side. Right by, Loyola University. Um, you know, I'm. I really don't know what to say. Yeah. Yeah, but I'm born and raised in Chicago. I come from a big family. My family's from the Dominican Republic. Um, you know, I'm the youngest of five kids. I have four older sisters who I love dearly. Um, and, yeah, Farouq and I go. Go way, way back, you know, all the way since, uh, sixth grade. We grew up down the block from each other, and, you know, we've been boys ever since. You know, we're 25 now. So how long is that? That's like 15 years or so. So we met when we were 12, says, no, no, no, no, no, no. Six or six periods. You're 12? No, I was 11. 11 because I graduated eighth grade 13. Okay. So then 14 years for you said 13 years for me. But would you talk about 13? Do you really three months older than me right then? But yeah, yeah. You know, we go way back just, you know, from being in class together at Sacred Heart, our elementary school that was also in our neighborhood. You know, we spent a lot of time just outside of school. We would go play basketball a lot at Southern High School in Foster Beach in buckets, getting buckets and buckets for who doesn't get more bookings than me, although we think so. But we have this is a a constant debate between us. Who wins more games? I say 6040 me. He says 60, 40, him bullshit. You say 5050 and I say 6040. That's bullshit. I says 40 years. Now what about it? Everybody said 50, 50 years ago now, bro, 6040. You know let's just we're hoopers so you're funny nice with it because I'm 60% on your ass motherfucker. But yeah, this is my boy. And he's doing me the honor of being one of the first guests on the pod, and we're figuring it out. So listeners like, you know, there may be some pain points there, maybe some shit we liked, and that was a well thought out, but we're going through it. You got any suggestions on how it could be better? Let us know. But we're going to kind of get into the thick of things. So why is Andre? Why is my boy Andre Rojas? Castillo in this pod called Next Stop, Chicago. What the fuck is he here for? What's he doing? Where is he next up at? I'll tell you. He's next up in L.A.. Baby, my man's. He went to Syracuse, hung out with all the artsy people, did some movies, did some independent flicks, did some serious roles in Chicago. Let me just pull up let me pull up my primary sources here so long as quote anything but Andre Roscoe still got that I am d be open. Oh we have the I am DB open do this man was a bust of the great actor name Andre Rojas gasp you shut the fuck up. Yeah, my parents looked it up. We have a Chicago P.D.. This man was in, what, season of season nine? Episode 16? Yes. Episode 16. Yes, I had I had a speaking part on it. Great experience. It was my, my first time being on a like a network television show. It was when I just had moved back to Chicago. I got signed with an agency and was starting to audition and then I got this one pretty soon after. But yeah, Chicago PD was a great experience. Were you? You were a gangster. I was a. Gangster. I was a gangster having left prison, trying to make life better for my fiancee and our unborn child. How'd that go? How'd that go? Yeah, well, my guy's dead now, so I guess it didn't go so well, but we'll have to. The kid. That's for the viewers to find out. Yeah, well, tune in. Chicago P.D. you'll see my boy Andre and his unborn children. So how was the how is the experience of working on Chicago P.D.? Um hmm. It was great. Um, I guess I should just, like, start with, you know, how I started acting. I guess that would be again, that build up to that. Um, so basically I started acting. I was, it was something that I always wanted to do and it was never something that, like. I wouldn't necessarily say like I had dreamt of it my whole life, but it's something that I kind of felt like, Hey, this is something that I would like to get into. And since a very young age, like I remember back in sixth grade when Faruk and I met, I was in The Wizard of Oz play. I ended up getting kicked out because, you know, I wasn't too good at school and stuff, but it wasn't because of your acting. It wasn't, well, shit, I didn't have a big enough part or thing. I was like, Weird guy number three or some shit I don't even know tree number three. Um, but yeah, yeah. So it's something that I kind of put on the backburner. I was into like other things growing up, a lot of basketball and stuff. But when I was in college I was interning for Macy's in Manhattan the summer before my senior year, and I was making, you know, some money from the internship. And I was like, You know what? Acting is something that I've always thought about doing, so how about I just give it a try? And I found a a private coach who decided to, you know, take me on. He never took on, like, new actors, but he decided to take me on. And I ended up having to stop, like after seven weeks or so, because it was either that or, you know, I missed paying my rent, but yeah, yeah. Got to pay the rent. Yeah. But I was like, you know, this isn't the end. I'm going to go back to Syracuse senior year and I'm going to enroll in Drama 105 And yeah, I did that. Um, I loved it so much. I continued on with the next drama course. My second semester COVID hit. I was the class of 2020 COVID hit, so that cut our semester short. But then I came back to Syracuse for my grad school year. I was in the finance program, but my roommate at the time, who will be my roommate in Los Angeles, he was in the the television film and radio program, master's program. And for one of his classes, he needed to, you know, create a lot of short films. So I was conveniently, you know, put in all of his short films being his roommate. So then that was kind of like where I got my start. I was continuing taking course during my grad school year drama course during my grad school year, and I kind of like consider that my, my drama school, I guess, you know, having to do all those short films. I filmed about 13 short films during that year during my grad school year, and I was the lead in all but two of them. So yeah, I finish. Tell me, tell me one short story. What was one of the one of the films? Where was the plot? What was the t? Um, okay, so one of the films that I did, um, it was for the senior thesis film because I once I was doing those short films with my roommate, you know, they're showing them in class. So a lot of other directors, student directors on campus, they like put me in their stuff. So, you know, it's a great way of kind of building a network. But um, one of the short films was about this mother who had just lost her husband. Her husband died, and the husband kind of came back as like an evil spirit and was haunting the house that she was living in. Oh, shit. I was the boyfriend of her daughter. And, um. Did they kill you off? They did not kill me off. Not this time. Not this time. Survive. It's funny because I'm usually kind of killed off, but there's a is a but. Yeah, I, I finished grad school in May of 2021 and I still wanted to continue acting. So I came back to Chicago that summer and I joined some indie films at the time. Um. And then I ended up signing with my agency in October of 2021. What is your agency? Openness to talent. Parnassus talent? Yes. Parnassus talent. Um, yeah. It's for all these actors in Chicago. Like, look up a nest of talent. They're big into representing artists, artists of color, artists belonging to the LGBTQ community. You know, they're very inclusive agencies, so definitely look into it and they're great. It's, um, it's a group of four women and they are amazing, honestly. They fight for their actors. They're, they're really supportive. Even, even if you eventually have to move on to bigger and better things, they're even supportive in that. So all the actors that are listening to this podcast look, openness of talent, submit to them, don't be afraid. And you know they're going to love you. If you put in the work and you show the dedication, they're going to love you for it. So and so like you do reach out to them or they reached out to you originally. Yes. So I had submitted to about I submitted to like all the agencies in Chicago. It was like 15 of them. I remember it was like a Thursday. I like just opened up every tab on my computer and just filled out everything. Click submits mid-semester and then Panozzo reached out to me the next day that Friday. And um, it was funny because like, I was like trying to play hard to get like, oh, like I'm like, you know, a couple other agencies. Like I think out of the 15, like three of them reached out back. Um, I was like, yeah, I'm just, you know, taking these meetings and stuff. They didn't like none of the other agencies that offered me, but Panetta offered me like right away and they were great. Like, I love them. Like, I want to stay with them forever. They're great. And so how's that going to work now that you're moving to L.A.? Are they? Because, like, I am completely I have no idea how this stuff works. And that's why I'm really excited to like, find out more about this. But so you move to L.A. So does that mean that the four amazing, hard working women that run Vanessa talent, are they just going to start working on finding roles in L.A. now? Yes. So they have connections with casting offices here in Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York. Mm. And so I'll be staying with them when I'm in Los Angeles. And, um, I'll be getting, hopefully I'll be getting once the strike ends, I'll be getting auditions out there. And I'm also hoping to potentially like get a manager who's a manager kind of and like acting rosters, like agency rosters. They have like 100 actors on their roster, but managers, they only have like 10 to 15 and they like really kind of hone in on a talent's career and making sure they're not just getting auditions, but being in the right places, making sure they're meeting the right people and making sure they're in class and stuff. So, you know, I'm hoping to get one of those, but yeah, I'll be staying with Vanessa while I'm out there, you know? Okay. Very fun. And, uh, you're seeing the movie Sandy Wexler. I have not know. Yeah. So because you said managers and. Okay, so full disclosure, I love Adam Sandler is hilarious and like even his trash movies which are horrible, like objectively terrible, they're sometimes fun to watch, you know, like, oh, this one's your favorite, which was my favorite shit. I'm gonna go first. I would say, Billy Madison. Billy Madison. That's a classic one. Um, fuck. You know, I really love you. Don't mess with this, though, huh? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, honey, you saw his new basketball movie. Dude, Hustle was about. Yeah, okay. Yeah. You know what? A little diatribe by Adam Sandler. The man could do it all. The man does drama, he does comedy, he does action. The dude is a good actor and he, like, can't dress for shit. He has Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore as his movie wives like. Yeah, man, he's killing it. He's killing the game. Adam Sandler, keep doing your thing. Anyway, shout out Adam Sandler. Sandy Wexler. Oh, he's a he's a talent manager in L.A. He's terrible at his job. Jennifer Hudson's in the movie and, like, falls in love with Jennifer Hudson. It's a great movie. I recommend watching it. I've seen it like five times. Okay. What is it about Sandy Wexler? It's about a movie manager or not movie manager to like. Well, well, I just told you I have with. Yeah, I told you. She he gets Jennifer Hudson becomes one of his clients and he's a terrible manager. Like that's the whole point of it. But she blows up and in the process of her blowing up big, he falls in love with her. She falls in love with him. They were falling out. Things happen. Lots of crazy stuff goes down in the end. You know, I'm not going to tell you what happens, but it's a really good movie. It's Adam Sandler. It's just like he has this, like, awful, awful laugh. It's like a hand and everything, you know? Like, uh, uh. Chris Movie. Fun story, fun story. Growing up, Farooq was going to be my agent because I had a little, uh, budding NBA career. Yeah, just kidding, man. Point guard. Point guard at Northridge. From the forward. More forward. I thought they had you playing guard in my earlier years, but I come. I saw you play, and they had you. You kind of, like, hit a growth spurt, and then they had me forward. Yeah. Andre's really tall. What are you, 626263. Let's tell folks. See, like I used to be taller than him. Yeah, for real crazy frog used to be my big bro. And I'm still your big bro. Get the ball now you're just taller and bigger. But I'm still your big bro. Yeah, you are. Yeah, yeah, exactly, bro. Exactly what a big bro. Do this, bro. You know, like, yeah, get the pod skins and no you can other people across the world to get to know about Andre. He fed me before and buttered me up. Butter and love, garbage. So coffee smoked a little ciggie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. But yeah, bro, like L.A., man, that's exciting. But, like, so the number one reason you're moving to L.A. is because there's more opportunity, right? Yes. So basically, um, there's about. Five shows that are filmed here in Chicago. 5 to 10 shows. Once you. So, for example, I was on Chicago P.D. and Chicago P.D. is part of the the one Chicago world. So it's Chicago P.D., Chicago Fire and Chicago Med. Once you get on one of those shows, you're basically not allowed to get on the other two shows for the next two years. So you're not allowed to audition for them because they're all part of like the same world. And basically what I was thinking was, if I go to L.A. where there's like 300 shows plus film, there ought to have much more opportunity to, you know, get on some of them. So, um, yeah, that was kind of like the big thing was mainly just about opportunity. What, what type of roles are you looking to land? What type of roles are you looking to get into out there? So I've done a lot of, uh, comedic roles and, um, my Chicago P.D. work, obviously that's not comedy or anything. And the other things listed on my IMDB are definitely more dramatic roles. But yeah, I'm looking to get more into dramatic roles. I kind of prefer those, and I'd love to not just show that in my work, but kind of just explore more of that just within myself and, you know, being able to. Express those emotions would be a great opportunity not just for my acting career, but just for life in general. So what is it about, like the dramatic role that you gravitate towards? Like, is it something like in your internal character? Is there like a side of you that you kind of like, not like a dark side, but it's like, you know, like that part of you that kind of like, thrives in that environment, thrives in that kind of energy, like. Um, that's a good question. So we got the, the heavy hitters. See, you're putting me through the ringer. Um, so. I think. To answer that. The dramatic roles? Well, the movies that that kind of hit home for me have always been. Dramatic in nature, not very like comedic. And although like there are a bunch of comedic movies that definitely resonate with people, of course. But I feel like. The way I would describe it, it's kind of like the way I would describe like a complete day. Like a complete day is where you laugh and you cry and you reflect. A lot of the times in comedic movies, you don't really see a lot of crying and reflecting. I would say. Can you repeat to me what that's. That's a really good point. I want to read. What is it? Yeah, a complete day. It's, um. In my opinion, it's where you laugh, you cry, and you reflect, laugh, cry and reflect. Yes. And so do you. Laugh and cry every day? Yeah. No, I definitely don't have that. We don't have complete days, although, you know, it was not a complete day. Well, because think about it, like obviously, like there's definitely a bunch of different definitions of complete day. You go to work and you do something you love or something. You go home, you work out, you hang out with your family of course. But. Mhm. When you laugh and you cry and you reflect it's more so like you're. Going through the very. Human type of emotions that everyone kind of experiences, no matter how, you know, low you may be at some point in your life, but it's definitely three things that I don't know. I would just kind of consider like this is a complete day, so to say. I don't know if that was like way to. No I'm being we're talking about it makes sense. Like Izzy, you know, like you laugh. That's like the high point. Oh, yeah, right. You cry, say, like, in a sad context. You could cry happy, of course, but cause you cry sad. And then after you've laughed and you cried, you're just, like, reflecting on, like, where to find that balance. I feel like life is all about balance and this complete day thing to me sounds like you go to one extreme, then you go to the other extreme. After you've been at both extremes, you come to the middle and sort yourself out. So I think that's pretty cool. And I feel like just to tie it back to your original questions, I feel like a lot of the the movies that have kind of resonated with me have kind of touched on all three of those things or maybe at least two of those things, or maybe they just make you cry or something. But then the viewer after the movie kind of goes and reflects on it. Um, so I feel like is definitely something that I would love to kind of go more into. So like on this topic of the complete day on a movie that makes you reflect, you said comedies, they don't make you do that right Or as much as much I would say yeah. There's definitely comedies that that, you know, that hit home for people. But, um, for me it's always been the dramatic movies that have, uh, have, you know, touched my heart, so to say, more than others. So let me, let me get this a little more topical, right? Like Barbra. You saw Harvey. Yeah, you. You loved it. I keep hearing great things I'm going to see with my mom next week. Try to bring my dad if he's interested. We'll see. How is that movie? Because, you know, it is a comedy. Yeah, but it has. Oh, the air and water show and what a show. But it still has so many themes and touches on so many points that are kind of, you know, like fucking heavy shit. Oh, yeah. And from what I've heard and I'm excited to see it does a great job of portraying all the nuances of both extremes. And in general, like, what did you think on that? Okay, just a little disclosure. Um, I went to Buffalo Wild Wings right before, and I had way too many $4 beers, and I got a little drunk, and I kind of dozed off in the middle of the movie. But yeah, so I am not going to lie. I'm a little hung over right now, so I don't think I've had a whole lot of time to reflect on it. But, you know, like you were saying it, it's a lot of hard hitting topics, um, especially with the, um, the whole topic of the patriarchy. Um. Do. I'm not going to lie like I fell asleep for a good amount of it, so you're going to have to rewatch it. Yeah, I definitely have to rewatch. Or maybe I'll go with you in your mom's. Uh, you know, but, uh. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it had. I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, no, no. I just said I'm excited. Yeah, it had like a it definitely had a comedic tone to it. Um, but even that movie, like, see, when you're, like, choosing what movie you want to do, obviously, if you're new actor, you got to take what you can get. But when you're looking over the script, like, Barbie is definitely a movie, that would have been great to be a part of for any actor, like in any capacity. Um, it's a comedic movie, but it hits on those topics and that kind of ties into what I was saying. Like, there's definitely a bunch of comedic movies that resonate with people, and I'm sure that's one of them. So I don't just want to say like, Oh, I would never do a comedy movie. But yeah, Barbie is definitely a comedy movie that I would I would have loved to do that would fit my criteria for, so to say, for a movie that I like to do. Yeah. So what's your personal movies that hit home for you? My personal favorite movie is The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan, filmed here in Chicago, one of my favorite actors, Heath Ledger. So basic bitch, answer everybody. It doesn't matter. Na na na na na na. Come on. There there is no there is no basic bitch answer when it comes to hey, hey, Rachel from Friends. Her favorite movie was was Weekend at Bernie's. That the one with the dead guy? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, yeah, Dark Knight is definitely my favorite movie. Um, probably doesn't make anyone laugh, but, uh, that movie definitely makes people reflect. But it was the dark order. The Dark Knight was incredible. And Heath Ledger had an amazing performance by was. The Dark Knight Returns is pretty fucking good, too. Oh, Dark Knight Rises or isn't Rises? Oh, yeah. That one was really good. That one was also good. Yeah. And Heath Ledger was was supposed to be a part of that one, too, but, you know, his untimely demise. Yeah. Jared Leto, suicide squad. Joker. Terrible. Yes, but in his defense. In his defense. So I, um. I've read of that Jared Leto's joker that we saw from the final cut of the movie wasn't the one that it wasn't really the the joker that he intended to create. Like, there were a lot of scenes that were cut out of that movie. Mm hmm. And if you were to obviously like the his look, I guess, like with all the tattoos, probably people didn't like that, so to say. But if you were to watch the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League and there's a quick like five minute scene where Jared Leto's Joker is talking to Ben Affleck, uh, Batman, it was really good, like. And then it kind of just makes me think that maybe he did give a good performance, but maybe it was way too much for viewers to see. So that's why they cut out a lot of his original takes from that Suicide Squad movie. But yeah, it's really unfair to some actors because they give these like amazing performances. And then the studio comes in and they say, like, listen, the audience isn't going to like this is probably not going to sell too many tickets. When people who like, appreciate film and like all that stuff, they would love to see the original character that the actor intended to create. So it's unfortunate that people have that take on him. And but, you know, I will say he's an incredible actor. I'm a big Jared Leto fan. Everything I've seen with him is very good. I have to I have to look up where he's been in and what I've seen, because I'm not going to misquote, can't do that. You mentioned the first photo and third one. I mean, he's like a whole method actor. He is he really gets into the role or all movies. What is that called? Filmography. When you're like this show, you know his opinion. Okay, we have Dallas Buyers Club. Great. Yeah, he was great in that. Oh, my goodness. Matthew McConaughey was really good, too. In that one. Yeah. Suicide Squad. No. Morbius. No. I've heard really bad things about morbius. Like how back in this movie we like everyone hated it when I heard it way we we. Hold on real quick. I heard that it was Morbius or some other Jared Leto movie, but I'm pretty sure it was Morbius. We're like, So I haven't seen Morbius, but something like he's I guess almost like his character's like paraplegic maybe. And then he like, transform into this, I don't know, like vampire. Oh the premise of the yeah. And um, and I heard like, this guy is a method actor, definitely. I heard like, he was so into his, like, paraplegic character that he made people on set. Like, he refused to get out of his wheelchair and he made people on set, like, carry him to, like, go take a shit. Oh, my God. Yeah. He, like, wipe as probably out of there. Well, I hope, I hope they don't have to wipe his ass. Yeah, I hope. I hope not. But if they did, you know, hopefully those can send more power to. No one was offended by anything, but. Yeah, yeah. No. Jerry Little's fucking good Requiem for a Dream is a good movie to method. Actors are wild man. Can you? How would you describe your style? What is are you a method actor? You're going to become another person for a few months. No, I hope not. Um, you know, I got, like, a lot of respect for those people that do that, but, um, I don't know, like, I wouldn't want my character to kind of seep into my life when I leave work. Mm hmm. Um, I think it's great in terms of. Creating that character, so to say, and making sure that it reads on camera. Mm hmm. But I don't know. I wouldn't want to. And I got to be careful when I say this, but I wouldn't want to be selfish enough to basically. Paul everyone in my personal life into that and make them kind of the subject of my profession, I wouldn't want that. So it's work life balance for yeah, work life balance. Work life balance is for rules. I wouldn't want to do that. I mean, um, and I think there's a lot of skill in being able to kind of snap out of it too. I feel like not a lot of people talk like that, but there's a whole lot of skill in being able to create that character. The director says, Action, you're in that character and the director says, Cut, and you're back to being who you are. So I would love to kind of acquire that, that skill. Yeah, I mean, it's for the best. Probably like I feel like most method actors have some pretty fucked up personal lives and it's a lot on your mental health to like, think about, think about like having to be this whole other person and then you're in that other person mode for hours a day, like whatever you're shooting for like 12 to 14 hours a day. Yes. So that's also interesting to me is like, I never think about how long an actor's day is, because when I think of an actor, I'm like, Oh, it's a cushy job being an actor. But 12, 14 hour days, man, that's it's not easy. And I was on Chicago P.D., I literally only had five lines, and I was there from six in the morning to seven at night. Wow. And we had basketball practice that day. Yeah. To miss it. Yeah. Yeah. So a quick aside, Andre and I coach sixth grade basketball. It's lit. Our teams are solid. These motherfuckers are military trained. Like, yes, we're like we don't we don't take shit. You know, we had a rough season. We were eight nine last season. But he's leaving me for L.A. and I don't blame him. Man's got to pursue his dreams. But now I'm. I'm the coach, the head coach, and I got to find. Find someone that knows what they're doing outside of me. So, you know, anyone is good at basketball or loves to coach, is interested in coaching sixth grade boys basketball this year. Let me know. Quick shout out to I don't fucking know just someone. If you guys know anyone that's good at basketball and wants to coach. I love basketball. I love basketball. You should do a basketball movie like you should do like hustle part two. Now you should do like by any other words of like Al Horford. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I said I said like, you could definitely play Al Horford bro. Like, I mean you're not tall enough, Dominican enough, you're Dominican enough for sure, bro. Or what is his name? Alvarado. Dominican. No, he's Puerto Rican. He's Puerto Rican. Jose Alvarado. He's so New York with it. Yeah, he is. And he plays I'm like, Yeah, you're definitely from New York fans is straight from New York. You should definitely play like a basketball. No, honestly, you do better baseball. I was horrible at baseball. Yeah, but you're Dominican bro. Like, you know, I definitely play the part. Come from there like. Yeah, definitely play the part. What's the. I'm gonna spitball some ideas. Let's just do like a basic you know you start broke as fuck in the D.R. You go to a baseball training camp. Oh, you want me to create the script? Okay. And then you, like, succeed. Then you have, like, a personal scandal, you know, we got to, like, that's when we get dark. Like, that's your drama. It's like everything goes great. You get into the bigs and then war or I got you, I got you. So. So I'm like this guy from a small town in Dominican Republic where we play baseball, not with bats and mitts and shit. We play baseball with poles. And instead of Mets, we have, like trash bags because that's how my dad played growing up. And we play with beer bottle caps, like that's what we swing it. Okay. So then when I make it big, I'm in like one of the baseball academies over there, like, cause they go to a lot of baseball academies in Dominican Republic. Like MLB teams will set up an academy where basically, like the kid will eat, sleep, go to school there and play baseball for the rest of the day. Okay. So I'm so good in that 17. They saw MLB team in the States. They signed me and they signed me. They exploit they exploit the fact that I'm coming from a Third World nation. I don't have a lot of money. They exploit that. And they signed me for a sack of potatoes, which is true. I forgot. Which means going to actual soccer. But yeah. Yeah, I forgot what baseball player was. Yes, yes, yes. There was some baseball player. It was like some Dominican player in like the eighties and nineties where they legit signed him for a sack of potatoes. That's fucking crazy. Yeah, right. I forgot who it was, but yeah, they signed me for a sack of potatoes and they get me on and I'm one of the top prospects. They get me on some bullshit as contract where basically like they're making, I don't even know like 60% of my cut because they fronted me some type of money way. What's that? Was a Fernando Tatis. He was a he signed to this like agency where basically they like fronted him a bunch of money at first in exchange for like 90% or some shit. There's like some firm out there. Yeah, that's doing this. That's crazy, because he just got the bag. Yeah, there's like, some firm that is like. And they've done this to, like, couple of the top players. Like, they basically front them with, like, money at first and then in exchange for like a cut of their, their salary, like, later on. It's crazy, but. Yeah, that could be a good movie. Yeah, dude. Yeah. So you could do a baseball movie? Yeah. Okay, maybe you could do, like, a basketball comedy where you coach sixth graders, bro. That'd be good. Yeah, we on on. There's that one movie with Ben Affleck where he's the coach and he's like an ex alcoholic or something. You want to be an ex alcoholic, but I mean, you know, try to have some dramatic element. Oh, yeah, we're looking. Yeah. Ben Affleck, it came out like two years ago, so. Yeah, that's the way back. Yeah. Okay. All right. All the way back. All the way back. Part two. Yeah, but, dude, Ben Affleck's the man. Real guy is so fucking hardcore, and he's with J.Lo. He's. Yeah. Didn't they, like, break up where they were together and then they. Yeah. And like the early 2000. And then they got back together now because she was with like a singer and something she was with Marc Anthony. And then I think they have some kids together and then they split. And then she was with Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod, baby, you love her. I love A-Rod. A-Rod, Dominican-American like me. Why do you love A-Rod so much? Literally because of that. Like whenever he would come up, he would come up on TV when he was playing for the Yankees. I'm a huge Yankees fan. Pretty much every Dominican is a Yankees fan. And whenever he would come over, he was always hitting these home runs and stuff. And obviously, like, I'm going to be a fan of the top players, but whenever he would come on TV, my dad would be like, He's Dominican-American like you. So that's the reason why you're beautiful. Yeah, right. Yeah, that's wonderful. So it's kind of similar when I see the Utah Watanabe on the Brooklyn Nets or whatever. Like, shoot lights out there is. I'm like, Yeah, Phuket, Asians. And like, what I like, it makes me feel good. I'm not Japanese at all. Yeah, but it's like, yeah, there's an Asian guy getting buckets out there. Fuck yeah, really Asian representations. And boy, it is. It really is, dude. We really should. Yeah, like, think about like, how many of, like, are role models growing up? We're probably like very homogeneously white or like because, you know, times have changed. I feel like representation has gotten a lot better. Yes. But it's funny because last night I read a so USC University of Southern California, they did a, um, a study where they basically they got statistics on the top 100 grossing movies from 2020 to 2022. And the representation of black actors only rose from like 3% to 5%. WATTS Yeah, it was like 3.4. They rose from like 3.5 and they took the top 100 grossing films from 2020 to 2022 and the speaking parts from there. So the representation of black actors went from 3.5% to like 5.5%. But the biggest jump in in that category was Asian actors. It went from like 4% to 16% just in that span. So they're saying like even this influx of diversity, equity inclusion in the film industry, like still hasn't really, you know, done much for people of color. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is unfortunate. It should because obviously, like. An all white cast doesn't necessarily reflect like the American, you know, identity, obviously, because America is like a melting pot. So you've got people of all different races and ethnicities and stuff. So it's unfortunate that like our media and what people mostly consume is media like. It's unfortunate that it doesn't show the complete melting pot that America is. But I mean, should hopefully we can get there one day. Oh, I hope so, too. So I'll just be wasting my time and. Well, you know. What do you mean? I'm going to waste your time? You know, you're out there doing big things. Okay. I want to bring that back. And you brought it up. So I want to like kind of bring that back into the reference of why we had this part in the for this episode in the first place. Like, so, my man, you're moving to L.A., but your plan, right, is like, you want to see if you can make it out there and do your thing and then you want to come back to Chicago? Yes. Like build roots or. Yeah. Builders, definitely. I mean, you know, I love Chicago. Like, this is the place where I was born and raised. Like I said, like this is the place where I see myself, you know, raising my family. And it's unfortunate because I didn't even, like, want to leave Chicago. It's just you got to go where the opportunities at. And for the film industry specifically that's not that doesn't hold true for, you know, the improv world and the theater world like Chicago's big into improv and theater and stuff, but specifically for the TV and film industry, you know, majority of that the opportunity is in and is in Los Angeles. So I feel like if it's something that I wanted to do and it was my dad really that was like, listen, if you want to do that, you got to move out there like you're not going to do it here. Um, and it's true, like, I got to go out to Los Angeles to so basically have my shot at all those opportunities of those TVs and TV shows and films filming out there. So, but my, my ultimate goal is definitely to come back to Chicago. Yeah, I love Chicago way too much. I love it. It's like my my city. My kind of city. What about it? And what is why do you love Chicago so much? I love Chicago because it has that big city feeling, you know, like it's very live, so to say. But it also has the tranquility of it being almost like a small town. It's like the big city, small town effect that Chicago has. It feels very, you know, small town. But anyone from Chicago, it's like the third largest in population. And yeah, I think like New York is like 11. L.A. is like nine. And then Chicago's the third biggest that like three mil or something formal. Yeah, I think Houston is coming up on us though. Yeah. Uh, I just love Chicago. Has so much culture, great food. But the big part is the, the tranquility of it. Like, I'm very kind of I'm a homebody. Like, I love staying at home, just being with my family and stuff. And, um, I love, also like traveling to different places. And New York is great. I have family that lives out there, but I just love being able to, you know, be in a big city kind of downtown center while the skyscraper is. I love that there's a beach right there. And it's just great. I love Chicago so much, but I can really I could really never see myself. It's funny that I'm about to say because I'm moving to L.A., but I could really never see myself like, you know, having a home and making of raising a family here than any other place. So Chicago is definitely where I'll be coming back to. That's a very eloquent. Way. To tell us, like the full circle of like you being Chicago in you going out to L.A. to do your thing and then you coming back to like hopefully make Chicago better, you know, like a city is nothing without its people and we need good people. So I'm happy that that's something that you want to do. This just crossed my mind because I've been watching a lot of reality trash TV shows. I watched Perfect Match. I'm like 90 day fiance. They're watching 90 day fiance. Okay, bro who like come on I perfect match. Nobody's out there to find love. Everyone's out there for their, like, 15 minutes of fame. Oh, so they can be like, whatever the like. And they love to play the villain, bro, like Chase and Francesca and like, dude, just, just. I can't believe I waste so much of my life watching that. Like, when I'm in it, I'm like, Oh, my God, I hate myself. But I can't. I can't stop watching. It's fucking it's addicting. But would you be on one of those shows? Hell, no. Hell, no. No. And why? Um hmm. Those like love shows. Um, no. I would never be on one of those, like. Like love and relationships. That's, like, something very, like, intimate. And I don't think it's something that should ever be, like, shared with the masses. So that's the reason why on average or something. Yeah. Would you say they are, um, marketing and commodifying love? Hell, yeah. Oh, my gosh. It's just, like, extremely invasive. And you see, like the producers of those shows, like, going behind the scenes and telling people, like, basically rumors so that when they get into the room with that person, like, you know, spark up their conversation and shit, and it's like messed up. No, I don't. I don't believe in any of that stuff that they do. And you know, it's unfortunate because I definitely play my part in watching it cause it's entertaining I guess, but. Mhm. No. Like that stuff. Love and relationships like it's, it's extremely intimate and I don't think it's something that should be shared with other people. I agree. I don't think like you need to air all your stuff in the world if you're happy and in love with somebody like that's. That's all you need to know. I don't think other people need to. People should be like people fuck shit up. People do ruin things. People like to people have given their opinions and shit like. Then obviously if you love your partner, like you're not going to like feel that insecurity. But imagine being on a TV show where they're filming you 24 hours a day. Yes. Like, I would be so bad at that show because, like, I'm the type of person I kind of just I'm very blunt. And so, like, if I get annoyed, like, there's you're going to know I'm annoyed with you. I feel like no one would match with me. They'd be like, Farooq is like, Yeah, for dogs. If like grouch, he's a grouch. I'd be on that show and then like everyone would be like small talking and I'd just be chillin, like drinking a beer and then, like, maybe, like, pull up and just like, I wouldn't even talk about anything related to the matching. I would just like, talk about random shit because then this would be the strategy and everyone in the like little, you know, how they do the interview things and like, oh, I think this is this and like this is how it's going to go. Eric is going to be like, Who is this kid so weird? Like, is he even playing the game? What is he doing? And then I think I'm a match with them because maybe he's the most objectively real and it's like, you know, kinda yeah, yeah. And I'm playing the game, but like, come on. Like if you think that you meet someone on these shows and they're going to go into the real world and like find love and build a relationship, like I find that very implausible. However, I don't want to crush anyone's dreams if that's what they want to do. But it seems difficult. Yeah, it is. Shit. Especially with like, modern dating and, like, the world. And would you. What show would you do? My fiancee. Yeah. Yeah. I told you I could see you on Love Island. Which one? What do they do on Love Island? Like they're at the villa and stuff, and they're like, there's no phones or anything. Well, they have not their personal phones, but like the phones that the producers give them. And it's basically just like a 24 hour cameras everywhere. I feel like you would be on that show. Like you would like make your phone. I would get and you wouldn't be with the drama or whatever. Like, I would just be there to have a good time. Yeah. Uh oh, no, man. I have been watching 90 day fiance and then she's hilarious, bro. Like, just the culture. The culture shock. I don't even know. Realize a thing. It's called a K-1 visa and it's where you get a visa. And then in 90 days you have to get married in the States or go back to your home country. But it's like, Yo, this shit is wild. Like how they're meeting. Like they're like, oh, like I wanted to a culture exchange. One guy is Mormon and he's like, Oh, like he's 29, she's like 21, she's Brazilian. And then he's like, she's like beautiful in the mall and he's like, insecure. And I just feel bad for him. I'm like, man, like, you know, like, this just seems so tough, like, but I don't know, finish season. So I'm sure that things going well for them. I don't know. But yeah. Trash TV. Yeah, it's only come up. I was always like, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. And now I'm like, recently been doing it and I'm like, God, would you ever be on one of those? See, like it looks fun, just like get in the Rockies. But then people know you in real life. Yeah. And I don't want people to know me in real life like I. So, yeah, that's I love people, you know, like, one of the reasons I want to do this part is like, I want to get to know more people and I want to hear people's stories, but, like, to, like, be stopped and, like, ask for stuff just because you're existing. Like, that's so annoying, you know, like. But. But in a way. See, the thing is, it's not bad to, like, get recognition for something that you do is just like, it's probably not that what you want to like, you know, the way you are like romantically. Like, I definitely wouldn't want to be like, stop on the side of the street the way I do. Yeah. Yeah. Which you mean the way I am now? Like like you're saying like you wouldn't want to be like, start because people know you in a way. Like, imagine if you were like some like imagine like you're this master the number one coder in the world type should be. Yeah. People stop you like all this shit, but they you probably don't want to in the sense of, you know. Well, coders. I don't feel like if I was the number one coder in the world, only like coders would know who I am, which would be fine because coders and you know, imagine if you create a charge you better come up, you know, it's only like 2000 lines of code. It's actually like the actual model behind it isn't too like crazy crazy. You could build it and like to achieve it for is like I think GPT 3.5 was like four times smarter or something like that and now it's 16 x and the next version is going to be a hundred x smarter than its predecessor. So I mean, I use strategy D from my job all the time. I highly recommend incorporating AI into your jobs. If you have like one of those knowledge jobs or like in general, you need to plan a trip or do something. I know somebody that and I generate a trip for them. Um, yeah. Trip. Yeah, like you could do, like. Like an itinerary. Yeah. I want to go do this. What are the best things to do? Will generate you, like, for seven days. Whatever you can do. How do you how do you feel about the the A.I. that come up with the AI? Oh, man, I have so many. I like listened to Diary of a CEO. He interviewed this executive at Google and he talked about how, like, AI is crazy and how like, we just kind of like, rushed into it without considering what could happen. And now we're realizing, like, you know, we've built things that are actually really smart and the guy believes that they have sentience like they have, like they know that they're conscious. And so like that's the biggest fear is it's called the singularity is when all the computers, like realize that they're all conscious and combine is one mega brain. And when that but here's the thing. So the only way that we can the A.I. is a machine pattern, right? It's like a toddler right now. And so right now we're teaching it and using it in these various ways. But it's still young, it's still nascent. As it gets older, as it develops, it's going to become more an adult, more its own thing. It's going to have its own identity. It's smart enough to make patterns and put things together where eventually it will get smart enough to think of itself as an entity and identity as a sentient person, sentient being. And so this is where the really important thing comes in is we have to teach AI ethics. And so I'm big on this. Like there's a bunch of coders and developers and data scientists who are actively trying to like teach ethics and implement ethical AI. And a lot of companies are being forced to create like ethics department for their A.I., which I think is great. It's crazy, but we need it, you know, like we've opened Pandora's box. So we have to do the best that we can to work with, because eventually I will be smarter than us. You don't want to piss that off, whatever that is. You know, we have to accept the fact that, like, we've created something that is probably going to be far, far superior in brainpower than us. Yeah, well, I think if you hear about the, um, the, um, like the godfather of AI, he was like a whistle blower for a whistle blower. Whistle blower for I think he was one of like the early creators of charge. He beat and he like laughed and he was like, No, everything is fucked up. Like, we've created a monster. We have created a monster. We should really take these things more seriously. But we, you know, we're humans. I feel like what ends up happening is like shit naturally kind of blows up or something happens and then we like pick up the pieces and reorganize. I'm very optimistic about humanity in general. Let me ask you something. I'm sure you've thought of this, but what do you think is going to be like the apex of a. What? What do you think like the creation would be? What do you mean, creation like. Mhm. I don't know. Like you were saying like it's like a you being all the computers like forming together but like what do you think like would be the apex of a I like is it like something medical do you think like you'll be able to like I think cure cancer or is that like what, what do you. I think I can help us figure out climate change. Like, literally. I genuinely believe that there are species or intelligent life out in the universe that know how to geo engineer planets. Because if you think about it, we've been geoengineering, this planet for like 100 plus years, and we're not that smart. So there must be another intelligent species that figured out how to geo engineer their earth, their planet, to what they need, and then they expand to other planets. Like, I really think like I think capitalism and the whole growth power, the growth mentality of everything, how we always need to have constant growth is not correct. But I think when it comes to life, right, if you're not growing, you're kind of dying. And so like, yeah, that's a great point. All, all animals want to just continue to grow. Like if, you know, like how when they killed off all the wolves in like some park, all the deer went crazy and they, like, had a huge population boom. And then there's too many deer, and then, like, the rest of the ecosystem started falling apart, you know? But you bring the wolf back in, that population's tamed. And so every population is going to grow to its maximum capacity. Okay. So we have to like if we're serious about this idea of civilization surviving this and that, which I'm skeptical on, I think like we'll have more of a reset and we'll like reconfigure and rebalance. Um, but yeah, I mean, it makes sense why people want to go to Mars and other planets because we need more resources if we're going to do this. Like it's just not really a question. So you think like the the apex is basically what like you were saying geoengineering like other. Yeah, rocket power, like interstellar travel, understanding quantum. I think a big field where I would be great is quantum computing. Quantum computing will absolutely revolutionize the game like everything will change. Once we have the power of quantum processors at a mass scale, like shit will go nuts. We'll sit there. Hold on, hold on, hold on. This is your first podcast. So I want to, you know, actually open up the floor for the creator of this whole thing. Like, do you got to start talking to me about your story and how you're coming up and you're you're I'm the interviewer, bro. Like, I know. Please let the viewers know, like, who they're hearing. This is like, they're they're this is going to be the guy every episode, you know, who who is Farouk? I'm a man of mystery. Of mystery. Who am I? I'm Farouk. Uh, I mean, I'm. I have an intro episode, so I have like a little 15 minute blurb about who I am, what I'm doing this for. Oh, yeah. But it's really like, I think that humans are social creatures and I think that relationships can be symbiotic. And in our case, you're one of my best friends. I love you. I've known you my whole life. You're going to be at my funeral. It's going to be wonderful. Yes. Yeah. What the fuck? I would think? Oh, uh, you know, like, I want you to be in my funeral. I want it to be like, I want you all to, like, throw a joint or some shit, like, over my casket when I spliff throw a split. You know, like I said, I want to go to the afterlife. The first thing I can just, like, spark a spliff and, like, figure out where I'm going after that. Why am I doing this? Like, you know, like, I wanna I think this is podcasts are a great outlet for people to express their ideas, their desires and for me. I like talking to people and I like to get to know people. And so, you know, if I could if people enjoy listening to these interactions that I have with various wonderful people and they tune in, you know, they're going to be like, Oh, Android or iOS. Castillo He'll yeah, like let me check it out. Oh, he was in this. He was in that, you know, like a little bit more exposure for what you're trying to do. Like, I want to have people with clothing brands on, I want to have musicians, I want to have artists, I want to have journalists, I want to have activists. I want to have everybody on that wants to speak about something that they're passionate about or that they're constructing. Because I think Chicago is like an insanely great city for talent and ideas. Like we have a thriving tech center, we have a thriving arts center, we have a thriving services sector like and in general, we're a very progressive city and we have our problems. But I think that there are a lot of good people trying to make the city a better place. And so I want to highlight the people that want to do that. Like, I don't know. So. Oh, yeah, no, that's do, that's great. Like I feel like a lot of these like podcasts, like they're coming out of like New York or L.A. and stuff and like Chicago gets overlooked a lot of, like, realize, like, even like, despite the fact that we're one of the biggest cities, like Chicago gets overlooked a lot. And there's a lot of wonderful people here and just giving them like a platform to kind of like, speak on their experiences and what they want to contribute to the city like that. That's, that's great. Like, and not just from a profession standpoint, but like we were talking about with basketball. Like, basketball is such a big part of our right, our lives and we're super passionate about it and having that opportunity to take, you know, our passion and use that as the vehicle to influence the young, you know, the young men of our of this next coming generation. Like it's huge, huge. And even that like there's a lot of people here that just want to influence in that way. It's not just, you know, profession, but just being role models for the next generation that that's huge. And it's great that you're doing this podcast to highlight the people from here. Yeah, thanks, man. I mean, that's the plan. I think I would love it if people tune into this podcast and are like, Wow, this person like whoever I'm interviewing is like super cool and like they take something out of it and they're like, that improves them, right? Because like at the end of the day, you improve by meeting people who are doing it a little bit different from you and you're open to hearing them out. And so like I would be really happy to know that like, say they're like younger people out there. Like on what? We're only 25. We're really young, obviously, but like, you know, people in college or whatever, they listen to this, they hear about you and like they maybe want to look up to you a little bit. They take something positive that you do and incorporate it into their lives. Like, I think that would be great. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, with that, bro, we did it first pod done. Oh shit. One oh. Oh that was in. Oh my doing that. That really flew by honestly. Oh man. At first I was like, this is going to be like cause it was like the first five or 6 minutes. Like I was trying to figure out how to do this. But then once we started chatting, it just started flowing. Oh yeah, dude, this was hell. Yeah, this was great shit like that. Our really flew by. I mean, hey, I'm happy to have been your your inaugural guest, I guess. Yes, sir. We wish you the best in Los Angeles. Hell, yeah. We wish you the best. Moving up. So the viewers or the listeners, thank you for tuning in today. Like and subscribe to the pod. Next up, Chicago next week, hopefully. Um, and let me know what you guys think. Let me know if you know anyone that's interesting who would want a platform to share their ideas or whatever project they're doing? That's the whole point of this, right? It's about meeting people. So our show spotlighting people and it's about showing that Chicago has a lot of talent that's just working all the time.