WEBVTT - Morris Chestnut 0:00:01.990 --> 0:00:12.619 R & B Money! We are, Jake, Jake Valentine, we 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:17.229 are the authorities on all things R & B. Ladies 0:00:17.310 --> 0:00:20.430 and gentlemen, my name is Tank. I'm Jay Valentine. And 0:00:20.890 --> 0:00:25.790 this is the R & B Money Podcast. The authority 0:00:25.970 --> 0:00:34.000 on all things R & B. And what else? I'm 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:39.000 talking 30 years plus in this thing. Ten toes down. 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:43.849 Stumped down. Came through here godly. Yeah, yeah. With his 0:00:43.970 --> 0:00:47.950 cream on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He acted like he was 0:00:47.990 --> 0:00:50.450 like one of the most beautiful men who already lived 0:00:50.510 --> 0:00:53.000 in the world, man. I think he won one year. Jay, 0:00:53.100 --> 0:01:01.680 he's alive. What? He's alive! Ricky! Ricky! That's hilarious. Listen, 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:03.700 we normally do the long intros, but I don't want 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.680 to label before you long, man. The man is here. 0:01:06.700 --> 0:01:09.410 The best man. V. Chestnut is what they call him. 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:14.209 Morris Chestnut! In the building! Yes! Thank y'all for the intro, man. 0:01:14.250 --> 0:01:16.750 I'm quitting. I'm quitting. I don't even... Come on! I 0:01:16.810 --> 0:01:19.250 don't like a lot of attention. Thank y'all. Cut it out! 0:01:19.270 --> 0:01:24.520 We didn't brought the boy back to this. Yeah! Yeah! Morris, 0:01:24.580 --> 0:01:27.080 my brother. Yes, sir. I mean, we've been doing this 0:01:27.140 --> 0:01:30.600 a month of Sundays. You know, I remember at one point, 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.420 you know, I had a couple hit records on the radio, Jay. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:38.080 A couple hit records. And what you thought you was doing? 0:01:38.100 --> 0:01:41.119 You know, I thought I was doing it. Okay? You 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:43.660 know what it means. And then. You know, and so 0:01:43.970 --> 0:01:46.970 we doing the celebrity basketball game, and I know the 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.310 ladies is here to see me. You know what I'm saying? 0:01:49.370 --> 0:01:52.190 In your mind. Because I got hit songs, and I 0:01:52.210 --> 0:01:55.530 can hoop. You understand what I'm saying? I'm athletic, as 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:59.250 they like to call it. It's time to call the names. 0:01:59.790 --> 0:02:02.530 You understand what I'm saying? They said celebrities. I'm like, 0:02:02.570 --> 0:02:04.430 just be careful where you put me in the lineup, 0:02:04.450 --> 0:02:06.190 you know what I'm saying? Because whoever come after me... 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:08.500 Them screams might not be as crazy. It's like when 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:11.240 they had graduation and they'd be like, you know, just 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:15.020 everybody just clap a little. Just clap a little. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.280 you know, I wanted to strategically be in the right 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.470 position so I wouldn't shade nobody after the fact. You 0:02:20.490 --> 0:02:22.130 know what I'm saying? You know how the celebrities can 0:02:22.169 --> 0:02:24.910 be a little, you know. So he announced my name 0:02:25.490 --> 0:02:28.290 and the ladies screamed. You know, I go out there 0:02:28.330 --> 0:02:29.690 and I run to the center of the court. I 0:02:29.710 --> 0:02:31.429 show them a little bit of a six pack because 0:02:31.510 --> 0:02:34.230 I have that on me. Wait, wait, wait. You run 0:02:34.250 --> 0:02:36.780 to the court and pull up your shirt? Center court 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:40.280 and pull up my shirt, Jay. That's what I do. 0:02:41.060 --> 0:02:44.460 That's the only reason why I'm here. And I get 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.100 the screams, I get the love that I know I 0:02:47.100 --> 0:02:51.490 am due, that I am warranted. And then they're going 0:02:51.500 --> 0:02:53.730 to call another fella's name. I'm like, well, good luck 0:02:53.750 --> 0:02:56.710 to this guy. He's my friend, but I was like, 0:02:56.850 --> 0:02:58.970 I don't know how this is going to go. Give 0:02:59.030 --> 0:03:11.299 it up for Morris Davis. Chestnut! So y'all like Morris? Yeah. 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:16.720 I'm cool. Oh, man. He proceeds to steal all the 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:25.540 love and screams. Apparently, he looks better than me. People Magazine, man. Apparently, 0:03:25.590 --> 0:03:28.210 I should shave all my hair off and just rock 0:03:28.230 --> 0:03:36.520 the cold seat. I told you. Niggas don't listen. Fuck you, Jerry. 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:43.290 The vision board is right here. Bro, you are just, 0:03:43.690 --> 0:03:47.610 I mean, you know, you are just a living legend, brother. 0:03:47.770 --> 0:03:51.210 Just iconic in so many ways, man. More so, I think, 0:03:51.250 --> 0:03:55.230 you know, we're going to get to all the talent 0:03:55.270 --> 0:03:57.530 and the success and all of these things, man. But 0:03:58.660 --> 0:04:01.120 from what I've known about you from the beginning is 0:04:01.140 --> 0:04:04.550 you You are just a stand-up human being. Thank you, man. 0:04:04.630 --> 0:04:07.730 Just a beautiful brother, man. And so we salute that 0:04:07.770 --> 0:04:10.890 more than anything, especially in this place. You know what 0:04:10.910 --> 0:04:13.590 I mean? As it pertains to you being a family 0:04:13.630 --> 0:04:18.290 man and keeping all of those things in its proper 0:04:18.350 --> 0:04:21.870 perspective and honoring them the way you do. Like that 0:04:21.910 --> 0:04:26.070 to me, brother, that's the study material. Thank you, man. 0:04:26.170 --> 0:04:29.210 That all of us men, especially black men, Need to 0:04:29.250 --> 0:04:30.830 subscribe to, man. So I just want to give you 0:04:30.890 --> 0:04:35.570 those flowers off the top. Thank you. We're watching you differently. Yeah, 0:04:35.790 --> 0:04:38.470 for sure. For sure. You know what I'm saying? Great 0:04:38.550 --> 0:04:42.670 example for all of us, brother. Yes. Yes. Now let's 0:04:42.690 --> 0:04:47.290 go back to the beginning, man. Okay. Let's... Let's start in, 0:04:47.589 --> 0:04:50.320 because this is you Southern California born, right? Southern California 0:04:50.339 --> 0:04:53.960 born and raised. Give me the street. Okay, so I 0:04:53.980 --> 0:04:58.219 was born in L.A. and I was raised in Cerritos. Okay. 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.570 But I've always been in California. Cerritos Auto School. Yeah, 0:05:00.610 --> 0:05:03.110 Cerritos Auto School. That's where people know I'm from. That's 0:05:03.130 --> 0:05:04.990 where people know I'm from, Cerritos Auto School. I'm really 0:05:05.029 --> 0:05:10.090 from California, bro. No, it's a commercial, bro. Oh, yeah. 0:05:10.110 --> 0:05:13.659 I've been playing on the radio. For years. And that's 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:15.440 how you know what Cerritos is. That's the only way 0:05:15.500 --> 0:05:20.110 somebody knew where Cerritos was, unless you were like in 0:05:20.130 --> 0:05:23.600 the area. So back in the day... We had a 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.760 skating rink called Skate Depot. So people would come from 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.800 Long Beach, Compton, Carson, all the surrounding areas. I think 0:05:30.900 --> 0:05:34.060 it was like Friday nights. Yeah, I'm from the Bay Area. 0:05:34.300 --> 0:05:36.140 And what I learned really early is when you go 0:05:36.180 --> 0:05:39.060 to new cities, you don't go to they skating rink. 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.600 It's way too much going on. A lot going on 0:05:41.620 --> 0:05:44.299 at the skating rink. I'm going to come to L.A. 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.600 and go to somebody's skating rink. I ain't been to 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.810 World on Wheels. You ever been to World of Warcraft? 0:05:50.940 --> 0:05:53.680 Hell no. I went during kids' times. Yo, you went? 0:05:53.779 --> 0:05:56.880 I went during kids' times. Oh, right, right, right, right. 0:05:56.960 --> 0:05:59.880 Special event times. Niggas just don't be like, you want 0:05:59.900 --> 0:06:02.440 to go skate? Nah. Right, right, right, right. Even where 0:06:02.460 --> 0:06:05.099 I'm from in Maryland, D.C. I thought I got the setup. 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:08.240 Skating rings is always where it was. They couldn't wait. 0:06:09.100 --> 0:06:11.140 Back in the day. Back in the day, yeah. But 0:06:11.220 --> 0:06:13.670 I respected that, you know, the other people around Southern 0:06:13.690 --> 0:06:15.810 California went there, but no. No, you were not. All 0:06:15.830 --> 0:06:17.510 I know about is Cerritos Auto Square. That's what I 0:06:17.529 --> 0:06:21.170 know about. Okay, yeah. And what was the call out 0:06:21.210 --> 0:06:24.160 for you as a kid in terms of like the 0:06:24.339 --> 0:06:27.940 arts of it all? See, that's a great question. It's 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:32.380 interesting when I look back on it. So for me, 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.460 what it was, was, so I was, I played football. 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:38.240 I didn't play basketball growing up as a kid. I 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.980 didn't play basketball until, pick up basketball until I was, 0:06:41.500 --> 0:06:44.210 couldn't play football anymore. So I was playing high school 0:06:44.230 --> 0:06:47.750 football and I was in, I was in advanced classes, 0:06:47.890 --> 0:06:49.410 but I was never doing the work. So I was 0:06:49.450 --> 0:06:53.690 a C student in all my classes. And I had 0:06:54.190 --> 0:06:57.430 one of my advanced English classes in 11th grade. We 0:06:57.450 --> 0:07:00.700 had to do a scene. And I did the scene. 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.420 My English teacher was like, oh, that was really good. 0:07:03.540 --> 0:07:05.960 I thought that she was just trying to encourage me 0:07:05.980 --> 0:07:08.800 to do better, to get better than a C, BIA 0:07:08.860 --> 0:07:12.440 or whatever. And then, so then I was in 11th grade. 0:07:12.460 --> 0:07:15.210 Then I graduated my first year in junior college. And 0:07:15.230 --> 0:07:18.150 then my neighbor down the street, he came to the 0:07:18.190 --> 0:07:19.990 house one day and was talking. He said, yeah, man. 0:07:20.030 --> 0:07:23.230 He said, yeah, I was in Mrs. Meadows' class. And 0:07:23.290 --> 0:07:25.700 he said, we got these scenes and she brought you up. 0:07:25.710 --> 0:07:29.000 I was like, Mrs. Meadows brought me up? He's like, yeah. 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:30.550 And she said that you were one of the best 0:07:30.580 --> 0:07:33.990 seniors she had seen. And I was like, oh, okay. 0:07:34.410 --> 0:07:37.530 All right. That's cool. That's cool. And so at that point, 0:07:38.030 --> 0:07:40.150 I was going to a junior college. Were you playing 0:07:40.170 --> 0:07:42.610 football at the junior college? I know. So my thing was, 0:07:42.970 --> 0:07:45.800 for me, was if I never got a scholarship, I 0:07:45.820 --> 0:07:47.080 wasn't going to try to walk on it. It was done. 0:07:47.100 --> 0:07:49.360 It was done. Because football is too brutal. You got 0:07:49.420 --> 0:07:53.050 hell weeks. And it was just a thing to where– 0:07:53.700 --> 0:07:55.960 you're just not good enough, you know? And so I 0:07:56.000 --> 0:07:57.560 was looking for something else to do. So my first 0:07:57.600 --> 0:07:59.940 year in junior college, I was always looking at the 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:03.140 occupations manual handbook to where they say, okay, a pharmacist 0:08:03.180 --> 0:08:06.820 makes 56,000 a year. I was always looking at, then 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:09.410 a friend of mine in my English class and not 0:08:09.450 --> 0:08:11.290 my English class. And yeah, he wasn't my English class. 0:08:11.530 --> 0:08:13.850 He said, come take them out in this play. So 0:08:13.890 --> 0:08:16.010 I said, okay, I went and checked them out in 0:08:16.050 --> 0:08:19.290 this play. And literally I had, this was my second 0:08:19.330 --> 0:08:23.900 date with this chick. And, um, And I took her 0:08:23.940 --> 0:08:26.280 to the play and I'm like, he was doing his thing. 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:28.220 He was doing his thing on stage. And I'm like, 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.320 I'm looking at her. She's like mesmerized. Oh, she was 0:08:31.340 --> 0:08:33.260 into it. She was into it. She was into it. 0:08:33.300 --> 0:08:36.959 I was like, okay, okay. And then that combined with, 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:38.660 you know, my boy down the street telling me that, 0:08:38.960 --> 0:08:40.700 you know, my English teacher said, I said, okay. So 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.380 the next semester I, uh, I, I took an acting 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:48.079 class in junior college and, um, and just started pursuing 0:08:48.100 --> 0:08:51.700 it from there. The interests of the woman, um, in 0:08:51.820 --> 0:08:57.460 said activity. That's always part of it. Always. That's always 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:00.750 part of it. We don't come with a woman. Why 0:09:00.770 --> 0:09:03.170 are we doing it? But, you know, it's funny, too, 0:09:03.190 --> 0:09:06.130 because the interesting thing, too, because I was, you know, 0:09:06.150 --> 0:09:07.840 I talked to my mother the other day and I 0:09:07.860 --> 0:09:12.800 started thinking back And so I was, so I'm not 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:15.730 really like of the group of friends that I ever had. 0:09:16.150 --> 0:09:18.809 I'm never really the one that's like, cause we grew 0:09:18.850 --> 0:09:21.650 up when bagging, you know, you bag, everybody bag. And 0:09:21.710 --> 0:09:23.650 I was the one that was trying to instigate. So 0:09:23.670 --> 0:09:25.970 everybody stay off me. Right. Cause I can have no, 0:09:26.030 --> 0:09:28.260 I never had no jokes. Right. So I'll be, if 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.360 you said a joke about him, Oh, so you keep, 0:09:31.380 --> 0:09:34.060 keep you going. But I was never like the, the, 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.300 the kid with the attention, the kid with the jokes, 0:09:36.340 --> 0:09:38.420 I kind of was just like there, you know, I was, 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.660 you know, I was, decent football player whatever and then 0:09:42.210 --> 0:09:44.170 um but when i was talking to my mother the 0:09:44.190 --> 0:09:46.609 other day i realized that she she was telling me 0:09:46.650 --> 0:09:50.770 about years when i was in elementary school i did 0:09:50.790 --> 0:09:52.890 this i did this thing in church you know i 0:09:52.910 --> 0:09:54.670 just got up and recited something i did it at 0:09:54.710 --> 0:09:56.310 the last minute i said oh yeah i did do 0:09:56.350 --> 0:09:59.840 that and then i thought back and me and me 0:09:59.860 --> 0:10:04.120 and a buddy of mine, but in my elementary school, no, 0:10:04.140 --> 0:10:06.850 it was junior high school. We did this thing to 0:10:06.910 --> 0:10:09.630 where we did a dance to Michael Jackson. So I 0:10:09.630 --> 0:10:11.890 was like, okay, I did, I did do that with him. 0:10:12.330 --> 0:10:14.770 And then the buddy of mine in high school, we 0:10:15.470 --> 0:10:19.210 were in like this talent show to Roxanne Roxanne, you know, 0:10:19.270 --> 0:10:20.890 back in the day. So I was like, I was 0:10:20.950 --> 0:10:22.830 doing all those- You were finding your way. I was 0:10:23.230 --> 0:10:26.559 just doing them, but not- Not knowing it was- Not 0:10:26.700 --> 0:10:30.620 knowing that it was something, yeah. But what really triggered 0:10:30.660 --> 0:10:33.559 it though, even before I saw my dude in the 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:35.760 play that was in my English class, was when he 0:10:35.820 --> 0:10:37.300 told me, because I really didn't know what I was 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:39.179 going to do. You know, I was working at the bank. 0:10:39.929 --> 0:10:41.329 I thought I was going to have a career in banking. 0:10:41.450 --> 0:10:43.730 You was the educated brother from the bank. I was 0:10:43.770 --> 0:10:45.710 working as a bank teller. Well, no, but see, there's 0:10:45.730 --> 0:10:51.290 something to that though. So when I was working at 0:10:51.350 --> 0:10:55.160 the bank, so it was right at the time to where, 0:10:55.660 --> 0:10:58.819 so I have always, thanks to my mother, my mother 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:01.580 was a grinder and she always had multiple jobs, but 0:11:01.700 --> 0:11:03.820 I always had a job that was paying more than 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:06.140 minimum wage when I was coming up. I started out 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:09.280 with Sears, whatever minimum wage was, I was $ 2 over. 0:11:09.770 --> 0:11:14.090 And then when I started working at the bank, when 0:11:14.150 --> 0:11:17.570 the bank was, they were phasing out full-time tellers. So 0:11:17.590 --> 0:11:19.890 they were phasing out full-time tellers. So instead of the 0:11:19.929 --> 0:11:24.360 wage being, you know, $ 6 an hour, that's like 15. So, 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.099 and then back in the day, the banks, when I 0:11:27.140 --> 0:11:29.920 was coming up, they would close at three, Monday through 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.120 Thursday and six o'clock on Friday and one on Saturday. 0:11:32.140 --> 0:11:34.060 So you had, I always had my Friday nights and 0:11:34.100 --> 0:11:36.440 my Saturday and my whole weekends. And I was making 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:38.740 more than just a, you know, just a regular minimum 0:11:38.780 --> 0:11:40.860 wage job. So yeah, so I was, I was at 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.939 the bank. So I just figured that I figured that my, 0:11:44.420 --> 0:11:45.970 I thought I was going to be like a bank manager. 0:11:46.010 --> 0:11:48.290 I was just going to go up the thing. But 0:11:48.809 --> 0:11:52.829 then when, yeah, so that's how it happened. And so 0:11:53.150 --> 0:11:56.360 what is your first acting moment? What is your first, like, 0:11:56.630 --> 0:11:59.220 once you start getting in this acting class, like what's 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:01.420 the first thing you do? Don't tell us. What do 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.440 they do? What do you do? So me and my boy, 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:05.860 so I had a couple of dudes from my acting class. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:08.670 We say, hey, let's try this. You know, we started 0:12:08.710 --> 0:12:11.650 going out trying to get agents and stuff. And so 0:12:11.970 --> 0:12:15.530 I got an agent and here's where I knew this 0:12:15.550 --> 0:12:18.130 is what I wanted to do. So I got an 0:12:18.230 --> 0:12:20.470 agent and he was sending me out on stuff. And 0:12:20.510 --> 0:12:25.250 so I went to an audition for A Different World. Now, 0:12:25.510 --> 0:12:28.760 in this audition, it was in the cafeteria. The girls 0:12:28.820 --> 0:12:31.380 are at the cafeteria line and I'm back there serving food. 0:12:32.179 --> 0:12:35.839 And the girls walk by and I was one line. 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:38.079 I was supposed to smile and say hi. So I 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:39.880 did that in the audition. I smiled and said hi. 0:12:40.730 --> 0:12:44.329 And so that was it. My agent called me a 0:12:44.330 --> 0:12:45.829 couple of days later. He says, they want to put 0:12:45.870 --> 0:12:47.150 you on a veil, which they want to check and 0:12:47.170 --> 0:12:49.530 see if you're available for those dates. And they said, 0:12:49.770 --> 0:12:51.550 if you do the job, it's going to pay $ 1, 500 0:12:51.450 --> 0:12:54.450 per week, this, that, and the other. All I heard 0:12:54.470 --> 0:12:56.510 was $ 1, 500. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. 0:12:56.870 --> 0:12:59.170 I said, how much? I said, $ 1, 500 a week? He said, 0:12:59.270 --> 0:13:02.030 I said, so he said, yeah, $ 1, 500 per week. You 0:13:02.050 --> 0:13:03.710 get this, you get that. And I was like, okay. 0:13:03.730 --> 0:13:06.250 So I'm going to start doing the math. So I'm like, 0:13:06.530 --> 0:13:09.390 wait a minute, wait a minute. So if I'm saying hi... 0:13:10.010 --> 0:13:18.880 For $ 1, 500 a week. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's Dwayne Wayne doing? Right, right. 0:13:19.050 --> 0:13:22.179 What are they getting? So I said, oh, I got 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.839 to go after this. And so that was it. That 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.540 was really what. That was what. So at first we 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:28.959 were just kind of having fun. Oh, let's try it. 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.220 Let's go down to Hollywood. Let's do some stuff. But 0:13:31.260 --> 0:13:32.610 when I heard that, I was like, oh, yeah, yeah. 0:13:32.660 --> 0:13:34.370 I got to go after this. So did you land that? 0:13:35.330 --> 0:13:38.270 They wrote the script. They wrote that rollout. So I 0:13:38.290 --> 0:13:40.380 did not get that, but they wrote that rollout. I 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.720 didn't get that. And then, um, and then I just started, 0:13:43.980 --> 0:13:47.520 I started just auditioning. So I auditioned. And what's the 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:51.750 first one you got? So, so what I did was 0:13:51.790 --> 0:13:53.429 back in the day, they used to have a thing 0:13:53.450 --> 0:13:56.410 called the drama log. So the drama log every Thursday night, 0:13:56.630 --> 0:13:59.010 they would have, well, it would come out on Fridays, 0:13:59.470 --> 0:14:03.010 but they would have like auditions for movies, auditions for, 0:14:03.110 --> 0:14:06.850 you know, TV shows. Most of it was non-union. So 0:14:07.010 --> 0:14:09.120 I started booking those. I was booking student films, but 0:14:09.150 --> 0:14:13.400 the first, my first SAG card was the television version 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:15.820 of Nightmare on Elm Street. It was a, it was 0:14:15.860 --> 0:14:18.650 a TV show that came on at like, 2 o'clock 0:14:18.690 --> 0:14:24.030 at night, and it didn't have a regular cast. Each 0:14:24.090 --> 0:14:27.550 episode had a new cast because they would kill the cast. Gotcha. 0:14:27.690 --> 0:14:30.430 They killed you. They killed me. No, no, no. Yeah, 0:14:30.460 --> 0:14:32.590 they killed me. You're black, so I know they killed you. 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:35.360 That was definitely when they killed me. They killed me. 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.240 But the episode was about my father, and he was 0:14:38.300 --> 0:14:41.080 investing in me. I was just a young athlete, and 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.620 he was investing in me, and because of whatever stuff 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:45.400 he had did, they took me from him, so they 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:48.190 did kill me. Yeah, but that was my sad card. 0:14:48.970 --> 0:14:51.010 That was my sad card. So, athlete from the beginning. 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:56.740 Athlete from the... Well, yes, because at that time, now, 0:14:57.180 --> 0:14:59.580 there was a... You know, it was kind of like 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:02.060 the gang explosion. Like, a lot of roles were like 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:04.780 gang roles. I would never get those. You know, I auditioned, 0:15:05.020 --> 0:15:07.360 I would never get them. And then, you know, there 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:10.060 were a couple things throughout there, but, you know, but 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.030 when it came to the athlete, you know, I would 0:15:13.050 --> 0:15:16.410 get those parts. What's a role that... you didn't get 0:15:16.430 --> 0:15:19.480 that you can remember that people that you might've auditioned 0:15:19.540 --> 0:15:22.220 for early on, which could you, could you had it 0:15:22.260 --> 0:15:27.720 been rocketing colors? No, I wouldn't be rocking colors. I would, 0:15:27.860 --> 0:15:31.420 I do remember I got close on, there was a Friday, 0:15:31.460 --> 0:15:35.030 the 13th role brother was in Friday, the 13th. I 0:15:35.070 --> 0:15:38.530 got close on that role. I didn't get it. And 0:15:38.570 --> 0:15:40.570 then there were a lot of stuff I auditioned for, 0:15:40.670 --> 0:15:42.229 but I, you know, that is cause I ended up 0:15:42.270 --> 0:15:45.120 going to, I mean, everything, when I was first starting 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:47.680 out as an actor, everything was just so, I was 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:49.540 taking in everything. I remember there were a couple of 0:15:49.580 --> 0:15:52.380 times when I did go back to a different world. 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:55.420 And I'll never forget, when I went to this audition, 0:15:55.910 --> 0:15:58.270 Martin wasn't Martin yet, but he was there at the audition. 0:15:58.310 --> 0:16:00.850 And he was in outside, you know, everyone's got their 0:16:00.870 --> 0:16:03.590 papers outside. And of course, he's holding court with all 0:16:03.630 --> 0:16:06.050 the commies and everything. So there were roles on a 0:16:06.090 --> 0:16:07.850 different world that I didn't get. There were a lot 0:16:07.870 --> 0:16:19.960 of roles that I didn't get. Wow, for sure. Mommy, 0:16:19.980 --> 0:16:22.210 let's get to the roll. Come on, buddy. We got 0:16:22.230 --> 0:16:24.920 to go there. You did get. We got to go there. Oh, 0:16:24.950 --> 0:16:28.470 you got the roll of rolls. Boys in the hood. 0:16:29.750 --> 0:16:34.730 Boys in the hood. Yeah. Yeah. How? Yeah, you got 0:16:34.750 --> 0:16:37.890 to walk us through that process, bro. So, you know what? 0:16:38.250 --> 0:16:40.170 For me, I think it was four years before you 0:16:40.190 --> 0:16:44.210 and I talked about that. So, what happened was this. So, 0:16:45.750 --> 0:16:48.800 I had been going... So, I started... So... when I 0:16:48.850 --> 0:16:50.810 went to that acting class at junior college, it was 0:16:50.850 --> 0:16:53.250 Long Beach city junior college. So I said, okay, I'm 0:16:53.270 --> 0:16:55.229 getting some pretty good notices here. So let me go, 0:16:55.610 --> 0:16:59.210 let me go into Holly closer into Hollywood and see if, 0:16:59.650 --> 0:17:01.950 you know, see if I, you know, if they think 0:17:01.990 --> 0:17:05.619 I got it, Marla Gibbs, who was the, who was 0:17:05.740 --> 0:17:08.800 on two, two, seven and, and the Jefferson's back in 0:17:08.820 --> 0:17:11.179 the day, she had an acting class that was in 0:17:11.220 --> 0:17:14.560 Leimert park, right, right in the hood. And so, but, 0:17:15.130 --> 0:17:18.140 Her thing for the acting class was she had everybody, 0:17:18.380 --> 0:17:20.980 everybody from TV shows actually teaching the acting class. So 0:17:21.260 --> 0:17:22.899 I said, you know what? Yes. I said, you know, 0:17:22.940 --> 0:17:24.500 I got to get in that class. These are people 0:17:24.540 --> 0:17:26.540 who are working in the industry. I got to get 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.159 in front of them so they can give me direction 0:17:28.180 --> 0:17:31.070 of what I need to do. So I started going 0:17:31.130 --> 0:17:32.869 to I started. It was called Crossroads. I was going 0:17:32.890 --> 0:17:35.810 to Crossroads in Leimert Park. And then I then I 0:17:35.850 --> 0:17:38.869 ventured even more into Hollywood. So flip to I get 0:17:38.890 --> 0:17:42.260 an audition for a movie. And Jackie Brown was the 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.139 cast director. I go in there, I meet with Jackie Brown. 0:17:45.300 --> 0:17:47.940 I get the, I get the call back and then 0:17:47.980 --> 0:17:50.100 they call me back to go and meet the director. 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:52.620 I'm like, okay, cool. I got called back before. So, okay, cool. 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:54.330 I got to be ready for this call back. So 0:17:54.369 --> 0:17:57.910 I go in and it's, the director is my age, 0:17:58.369 --> 0:18:00.690 you know, it's not like this old dude with glasses 0:18:00.869 --> 0:18:03.060 on just sitting like this. It's like, Hey man, what's up? 0:18:03.070 --> 0:18:04.590 I was like, Oh, what's up? You know, game boy 0:18:04.609 --> 0:18:07.050 with everything. Um, and so, you know, I do the 0:18:07.109 --> 0:18:12.630 audition and, um, with John Singleton, God rest his soul, 0:18:12.690 --> 0:18:15.750 late great John Singleton. And at the end of the audition, 0:18:16.270 --> 0:18:19.010 he grabs my hand, says, thanks for coming in. He 0:18:19.070 --> 0:18:23.430 holds it just a little bit longer. I was like, okay, oh, cool. Okay, cool. 0:18:23.450 --> 0:18:26.200 So I said, okay, I think he liked me. And then, 0:18:26.220 --> 0:18:30.140 so then my agent calls and said, hey, they want 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.360 you to do a screen test. I was like, oh, okay. Now, 0:18:33.380 --> 0:18:35.560 I hadn't done a screen test before. I'm like, okay, 0:18:35.700 --> 0:18:37.580 all right. I'm getting closer. I'm getting closer. So a 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.760 screen test, big high. So I'm thinking I'm going to, 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:42.320 you know, and at this time it's just a movie. 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.159 I don't know it's Columbia. I don't recall. But I 0:18:45.380 --> 0:18:48.050 just know it's a Hollywood screen test. And so I'm thinking, 0:18:48.070 --> 0:18:50.140 so where am I going? Am I going to, you know, 0:18:50.160 --> 0:18:51.810 Warner Brothers? I think you're going to a lot. I 0:18:51.810 --> 0:18:55.169 think I'm going to a lot. Yeah. And he says, yeah, 0:18:55.369 --> 0:18:59.470 the screen test is at this place, Crossroads Studio in, 0:18:59.710 --> 0:19:03.280 you know, Leimert Park. And that's where I had already studied. 0:19:03.500 --> 0:19:07.379 But at first I was like, Crossroads? Is this a 0:19:07.420 --> 0:19:09.500 real movie? I mean, why are we going to Crossroads 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:13.179 for a screen test? But John, what I didn't know 0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:16.080 at the time, John wanted to keep everything in South Central. 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.700 And so I went and it was like home because 0:19:19.790 --> 0:19:22.770 I had already been working out there at Crossroads. Yeah. 0:19:24.140 --> 0:19:26.220 And then I did a screen test and got the part. 0:19:26.470 --> 0:19:28.210 Who are you screening? Who are you testing with? Was 0:19:28.230 --> 0:19:32.470 it somebody from the movie or just? No, no, it was. 0:19:32.710 --> 0:19:34.470 So there was a bunch of us around. I don't 0:19:34.490 --> 0:19:37.170 think I ever I don't recall ever testing with Cuba 0:19:37.590 --> 0:19:40.830 because in the first. So the first audition for it, 0:19:40.850 --> 0:19:43.190 we all all the all the male leads read for 0:19:43.630 --> 0:19:46.550 Cuba's part. And then when I came back, they had me, 0:19:47.060 --> 0:19:49.260 as Ricky, but I don't recall. I think I just 0:19:49.300 --> 0:19:51.600 went on there and I just went in there and 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.350 went on tape. I don't recall screen testing with anybody 0:19:54.550 --> 0:19:57.389 other than the cast director. I have vivid memories of 0:19:57.920 --> 0:19:59.700 all of that. I learned, I learned a lot, even 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.180 just from, I learned a lot from people and about 0:20:02.220 --> 0:20:06.630 people being around the, uh, going to auditions and hearing 0:20:06.650 --> 0:20:09.230 people talk and everything, but I learned a lot. Um, 0:20:09.350 --> 0:20:10.669 but yeah, so I don't, I don't think it was 0:20:10.690 --> 0:20:12.030 with you. I think it was just with John at 0:20:12.050 --> 0:20:14.550 that point too. How old are you at this? When you, 0:20:14.570 --> 0:20:16.010 when you both boys in the hood? I think I'm 18. 0:20:15.990 --> 0:20:17.300 I think I'm 18. 18, 19. I think I'm 19. 0:20:17.300 --> 0:20:18.700 I graduated at seven. I graduated high school at 17. 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:26.780 And then one, two. Yeah. I'm about, 1920, I think 0:20:27.220 --> 0:20:30.930 it was 1920, yeah. Yeah. Wow. Give me the feeling 0:20:30.950 --> 0:20:35.730 when you get the call from your agent and he says, 0:20:36.130 --> 0:20:42.600 or she says, man, he says, you booked, boys and girls. 0:20:42.859 --> 0:20:46.860 So at that time, I was honestly happy to book anything. Mm-hmm. 0:20:48.330 --> 0:20:50.270 I'm just glad to have a job. Yeah. You know, 0:20:50.390 --> 0:20:52.330 I'm in the union, I'm an actor, and I can 0:20:52.350 --> 0:20:53.909