My experience acting: year 1
Films with F808Z releasing this year! (Paper Made might get pushed to 2027)
Last year (2024-2025) was the beginning of my acting career, and I must say, it has taken my overall entertainment career to some interesting spots. Initially, stunts were all I really saw myself doing in Hollywood, unless I could pull a Jackie Chan or Scott Adkins and become an action star as well. In fact, I was actually opposed to doing any acting in the beginning because I was worried what it might do to my stunt reputation (that very much a real thing, stunts has a weird thing about people who do both), but in the end I just figured, why not? Acting probably wouldn’t do any more damage to my rep than my own personality would, and in a way, anything that helps with my screen presence should be a boon to my skillset. And so, I began to say yes to possibilities that came my way.
↑ shots from The Interview by Kai Kim. I play Marcus, a rough & tough brawler who tests the protagonist
The first opportunity I got, like the many that would come after, tied my acting to my stunts. “We want you to fight, but also to be a character, can you do that?” - the pitch I would hear for the next year. Now I’ve become adept at playing what I call Black Guy Roles, you know, the thugs, dealers, gangsters, prisoners, killers, and myriad of other positive role models that we in the Black Community get to look forward to playing, but other than those, I’d never done much else. That actually ended up being fine because I basically just went from playing the silent version of those roles to the speaking version (with some mild flair) right up until October of last year.
Torian Tarrant cast me as Dom Cross in his short No One Left to Kill, my first leading role. Dom was a scorned mercenary who was out for revenge against the PMC who betrayed him and killed his team; not super far off from the villains I’d usually play, but this was the first time I really had to lock into my character in a way that the audience would be able to connect with to some degree as well. Guns are also not a strongsuit of mine, so I had to learn that one on the fly on set, but I spent weeks getting my speaking lines and character work down to as close to “natural” as I could. This is also when I first started going to improv classes as an easy way to get some acting practice without needing to commit to a conservatory or months-long course that I wouldn’t be able to complete. I also began reading some books and essays about Meisner technique, and that is where I learned that to act I would need to react, and a genuine reaction must come from somewhere real. A fine riddle.
Almost immediately after wrapping up NOLTK in Baltimore, I was cast as Yunis in Stronghold by Reggie Johnson II, a psychological martial arts short film. Another lead role! And this one also had the incredible Peter Mensah cast as my Master, so I took every opportunity to ask him for tips/critiques/advice to supplement my lack of experience. He taught me that one’s essence lies in stillness, and that in this meditative state, it becomes far easier to connect with your role. I think that advice was too smart for me at the time, but I did my best to apply it, and I hope the final product reflects my efforts. This was also my first time playing a character that was not a monster or monstrous in some way or another, so we’ll see just how good I can be when it comes down to it.
The next month was all stunt previzes and mocap, and the month after was when I was in India working on that gigantic Tollywood film, but almost right after I returned to Cali it was right back to that acting grind. I had a couple mocap gigs in February, but I was also prepping for my first full acting role in a feature film to be shot in March: Paper made. Originally, I was pinned for a minor role in this movie years back, but, as coincidence would have it, Ryan Watson (director) is Torian Tarrant’s cousin, and word of my “acting acumen” was brought up and bumped me up to supporting character! This was huge, and I really did not want to mess this up because this film is going to be big, mark my words.
As much as I possibly could, I went to acting classes (improv as well as dramatic), ran lines with my actor friends, and did tons of reading and research to supplement my skills. When I got to Tampa and walked on set, I met Myles Truitt (the star) who ended up being the biggest aid of all and actually got me into the zone. He taught me that the interactions between actors start in the eyes. If you can have a conversation with someone eye-to-eye, the nature of that conversation will be dictated by the emotions one lets slip from their eyes. We’ve all experienced trying to hold back fear, laughter, tears, rage, and a whole spectrum of feelings, and we can all naturally see it in others when they try, and so we must open those “windows to the soul” to be able to act. In some of my biggest scenes, I could feel it for the first time; I was reacting, and not as myself, but as my character, Lloyd. It was like discovering a new sense, suddenly I was able to slip into a new consciousness and walk & talk as that person! It was in no way natural or easy, however, I had to really dial in and the conditions had to be right, but I was still doing it, and that was huge for me.
I can’t share any BTS photos yet, but soon!
What I learned from this first year or so of acting is too much to put into words on a blog no one reads, and if I’m being honest, I don’t fully comprehend everything I’ve been taught yet. I plan to come back to this in another year to see how my comprehension has improved and how that will have affected my competence as an actor. For now, though, I am thankful for the opportunities, the people I’ve been around and learned from, and the communities in which I’ve worked. The three films cited above will all be out in the next year, they’re all from Black directors with primarily Black casts, and I hope I’ve done my part satisfactorily to make them great and enjoyable for all of you.
We acting now!
