Sir Sydney Poitier is the reason I started acting. Originally, my goal was to be a teacher, like my oldest brother, but while working on my parent’s farm in rural Michigan, on the weekends, I would watch old movies.

Sir Sydney Poitier was the black male lead in ‘Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.’ This movie changed my life. I felt that if I could affect change in people through my storytelling, then I could do what Sydney did for me.

I was born in Chicago, the 10th of 15 kids.

I absorb a script, one circumstance at a time, and wait patiently until something happens in my heart. Following what the writer wrote, I say ‘yes’ and use my child-like imagination to play in, and create the world I live in daily.

On sets (film, TV, commercial, print, etc.), I aim to have the same energy and respect for my clients and fellow artists. I’ll lose or gain weight. I’ll cut, color, or tone down my hair. Whatever it takes “to be or not to be” what the writer wrote and what I imagined.

 

This is one of the reasons I was born.