WEBVTT - Morris Chestnut 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:02.360 Before we start the show, I wanted to tell you 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.600 about our brand new Fox Sports app and website, Fox 0:00:05.680 --> 0:00:10.039 Sports dot Com reimagine for the modern sports fan. Go ahead, 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:12.760 download the new app right now. You don't even have 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.760 to pause this episode. Every day on the new app 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.799 and website, you'll see the top stories in sports, plus 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:21.880 a rich world of written content, videos, social media, and 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.800 analytics to give you a three hundred and sixty degree 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.040 view of the most important stories of the day. Streaming 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:32.640 live TV has never been so easy or elegant. Every 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:35.960 Fox Sports game, including all pregame and postgame shows, are 0:00:35.960 --> 0:00:39.320 just one click away. For the extra invested fan, we 0:00:39.440 --> 0:00:43.080 also go deep with realtime wagering lines, trending prop bets, 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.800 win probability, and keep player projections. Download the new Fox 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.240 Sports App or visit www dot fox Sports dot com. 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:54.080 Now let's start the show. Hello, Welcome to another edition 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:56.160 of Club Shasha. I am your host and the pro 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.320 productor Club Shashai. Shan is sharp and the guy that's 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.080 coming by to I've a drink and talk today really 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.479 needs no introduction, but I'll introduce him anyway. He's actor, producer, author, 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:09.520 thirty years in the movie Game Some people know him 0:01:09.520 --> 0:01:14.679 Miss Ricky, I know Miss Mo Morris chefs nut all 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:19.160 my life, running all my life, sacrifice, hustle back price. 0:01:19.880 --> 0:01:23.160 One slice got the bron dice to swap all my life. 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.559 I've been grinding all my life, all my life, running 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:31.720 all my life, sacrifice, hustle back prices. One slice got 0:01:31.720 --> 0:01:34.160 the bron dice to swap all my life. I've been 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:39.679 running in all my life. More? What's going on? Bruh Man? Man? 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.039 Thirty years See, I got in it when I was two, 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.520 so I'm thirty two. Right now, I'm getting old. Man, 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:48.520 I'm getting over but you but you're still in the 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:50.680 game though I'm doing the game. Man. It's been a blessing. 0:01:50.760 --> 0:01:52.960 It's definitely been a blessing. So how have you been. 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:54.680 What's been going on? What have you been up to 0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:57.360 the last couple of months? I know the pas great, 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:00.559 I'm gonna run down a whole bunch of stuff. So well, One, 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:02.600 I just had a movie. I produced a movie that 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.320 came out on streaming U two weeks ago called Spell. 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.640 It was with Karl Hardwick and laure De Vine and 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:13.079 I was project I'm excited about Right now, I'm I'm 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.800 in Atlanta during the second season of The Resident. I 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:19.240 only came on for for one season, but because of 0:02:19.240 --> 0:02:21.680 the pandemic, you know, things got a little messed up, 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:23.600 and so I came back to wrap up the character 0:02:23.800 --> 0:02:26.680 and so that that's been fun. And I have one 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.840 of the most the projects that I'm most excited about. 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.359 I have this, uh this podcast coming out called Jesus 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.639 Versus Big Joe Okay, and it's about It's about a 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:39.040 high school football player who was you know, he was 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:41.400 one of the best lineman in the country, recruited by 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.880 Bobby Boden lou Holts. Everything he got caught up, went 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.680 to went to USC got caught up in some medical stuff, 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:52.200 had eighteen surgeries and application. It's a faith based project 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:56.839 and he it's about how he overcomes all that adversity 0:02:57.600 --> 0:02:59.959 to find guys. I'm really I'm excited about that one. 0:03:00.080 --> 0:03:03.840 Up back to what you're working on. The movie that 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:08.600 you produced us call Spell Start hard Headwick and had 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:13.080 Loretta Divine. Yeah, what what made you go on this genre? 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.520 So what happened was so the producer I'd worked with 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:21.280 the producer Gordon Gray before on another project, and he 0:03:21.360 --> 0:03:23.160 asked me. He called me into the office. Hey, hey, 0:03:23.200 --> 0:03:24.560 can you read the script? And he wanted me to 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:27.880 do this movie. So when I read this script, the 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.040 script that he had, it kind of really wasn't what 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.560 I wanted to do, Okay, So and so I called 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:35.520 my manager and say, listen, you know I'm not you know, 0:03:35.520 --> 0:03:37.120 I'm gonna do it. He says, well, let's talk to 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.480 Borton about this. So we pitched him another concept of 0:03:40.480 --> 0:03:43.040 a movie and it was this one. It was it 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.560 was spell. So we we pitched him the concept. He 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:49.680 was into it. We found the writers wrote the script. 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.360 The writers wrote the script and Kurt Wimer, who's who's 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.640 a great writer. I had some you know, I had 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.040 some uh you know, everything in the movie wasn't as 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:02.080 I wanted it to be. But that's that's movie made. 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.960 So so you went from possibly starring in the movie 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.160 to help writing and co producing the movie. Right. So 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:12.280 it was so when the producer gave me the script, 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.360 it was something completely different and it's not it wasn't 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.640 something that I wanted to do. So my writer, my 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:21.280 manager was like my Brian, Brian, my manager, Brian Wilcomes, 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.440 He was like, listen, let's pitch them, you know, this 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.960 concept and that hint that Brian and I had already 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:29.479 previously discussed. So you had already been working on this. Yeah. 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.200 So my manager and I we talk about concepts all 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:35.440 the time. Okay, okay, show for movies, for the podcasts. 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:38.400 That fact, you're gonna be in a call for me 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.120 soon because I have a concept for a sitcom with 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.840 you in mind. Okay, that's what I'm talking about. You 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:44.720 know what, I always didn't want to do a thick calm. 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:47.400 I always wanted to be be on TV full time 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:49.640 and have a thick calm. Ay man, Hey, don't just 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:51.520 talk about it. I'm telling you. I mean you're sitting 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.800 now on the camera on Club Sha Shay. You'll get 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.039 that call from the network hey saying your available, so 0:04:57.080 --> 0:04:59.560 the hey watch out now. Oh I'll definitely be I'll 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:02.880 definitely be available. I'll make myself available. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:04.720 So I talked to you about that because I have 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:07.200 a couple of concepts in one and I talked to 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.680 you about it. But yeah, so my manager and I, 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.200 so my manager was, you know, we were talking about 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.000 this concept and we pitched it to Gordon. Gordon liked it, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.679 so that's when we got it was nothing. It was nothing, 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:21.680 just concept between my manager and I and we got 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.280 the writer and Kurt Wimmer, who was an incredible writer. 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.400 I mean he got there. We met with a few writers. 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:30.240 Kurt came in. He immediately got the story and he 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.640 turned the script around really quick and h and when 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.960 its production. In matter of fact, when I was on 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.320 this show when it started going in production, but initially 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:42.960 I was attending to starting. So let me ask you, 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.320 so it's because I noticed a lot of people are 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.520 doing streaming, A lot of people are doing like Netflix, 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:51.080 not the big not the other big budget If that 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:53.599 because the COVID, if you've had to find a different 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.080 way to still do your craft, it's I can't say 0:05:57.200 --> 0:06:00.440 it's just because of COVID. Okay, you know, even the 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.200 movies that are released now is normally if they're like 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.920 the big Marvel blockbusters, you know, it's very rare that 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:10.080 the that the that the that the low budget independent 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:13.560 can find an audience. And so the great thing about streaming, 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:15.919 you know with the Netflix and Amazons is you know, 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:19.039 you get global exposure and you get a platform, so 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.040 you know, whatever you produce, you know, it gives people 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:24.120 opportunity to see what you do right back in the day. 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:28.120 I know people who've made independent movies for fifty sixty 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.719 million dollars and they're sitting on a shelf somewhere and 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.080 nobody saw this would before streaming, even streaming even you know, 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.880 you know, took over the game, right, So do you 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.359 think the streaming is like, how do I say? This? 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.520 Is this what we're going to see more and more 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.799 up until we come out of this pandemic. I think 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.520 until we come out of the pandemic. Yes. However, you know, 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:52.360 I say, I have a couple of other movies that 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.520 I'm actively producing, and I really want them to go 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.359 to the theater because to me, there's nothing like you know, 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.680 I have a comedy experience, experience experience. You know, everybody's 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.520 there sharing the same thing, and after the feeling, there's 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.360 nothing like that experience. So I can't wait. I can't 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.840 wait for it to come back. The smell of the popcorn, 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:16.080 you know that, the people talking in the background. You know, 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.840 it's like for me, I mean, I'm a movie guy, 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.440 but I just find myself if I'm watching a movie 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:24.560 at home, I'm like, I wonder to whet us as 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.200 own television where if I'm at the movie, I can't 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.320 I can't just flip back. I can't just get up, 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:34.520 and I'm gonna stay very It's a very captive audience. 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:36.760 That's why, you know, for a long time, you know, 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.480 when you have when you have people as quote unquote 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:43.040 movie stars, because you go into this, you go into this, this, 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.960 this theater is blacked out, and you're just so captivated 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:48.680 on that screen for you know, twenty half hours. That's 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.160 why it's you know, as an artist sometimes you know, 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.920 we're very responsible about, you know, the messages that we 0:07:55.000 --> 0:08:00.040 send because people are really absorbing disorbing those messages. So 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.240 you're also doing the Residents. You say you were only 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:05.520 gonna do one season, but you came back because of 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.760 the pandemic. You came back fulfilling the obligation. So are 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:10.960 you done after this season? Are you gonna have a 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:15.960 reoccurring role? Well, so, you know, things are always fluid. 0:08:16.000 --> 0:08:18.960 I mean, you never know what's happened. I love listen. 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.040 I love the cast, I love the producers. I love 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.520 the environment. You know here telling people about your character, 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:29.400 telling people your neurosurgeon. Yes, I played a neurosurgeon. And 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.000 what attracted me to this character. I played a neurosurgeon 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:34.280 that's based off of a real life person. I say 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:41.400 a couple of people, please don't say it's Big Carson. No, no, no, no, 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:45.640 not being Carson. But I wasn't gonna say something. I'm 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.120 gonna say no. So it's based off the character. And 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:49.959 so the one thing I really wanted to one of 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:51.720 the reasons why I really wanted to play this character 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:55.040 because it's completely different than anything I've played before, and 0:08:55.160 --> 0:09:00.240 this character, out of probably everything that I've done, the 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:05.319 response when I'm in public is most passionate about this character, 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:10.120 really in a negative way. Oh yeah, because I play 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:14.920 I play a doctor, right, is a nerro surgeon who 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.840 is basically he's more concerned about the bottom line of 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:23.720 the hospital instead of the patient. Right, come in and 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.320 I see that you you don't need this invasive surgery. 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.120 Invasive surgery, but it's good for the bottom line of 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:32.160 the hospital. I'm gonna recommend that you get there. Well, 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:36.160 you found like a real doctor to me, Well, I mean, 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:38.679 what's the problem. No, no, no, they're just supposed to 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:42.640 be well being in the patient. Yeah, So, but I 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:44.920 remember you on the fire you did a Fox show 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:50.240 called Rosewood, Yeah, where you were a forensic guy, right right, right, right, right, 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:55.440 So you you like playing these doctors roles? Well, you 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:57.240 know one thing I love one thing I do love 0:09:57.280 --> 0:09:59.720 about playing doctors because it does they do. They convey 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:02.760 us certain amount of intelligence. You know, they make me 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.040 sound smarter than I am with all that dialogue. I 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.640 have to rehearse that dialogue all night, but I get 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:10.160 it down. Yeah. But yeah, So the one thing about Rosewood, 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.160 the one thing that really drew me to this character, 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:18.000 because the Rosewood character was extremely optimistic about every single situation, right, 0:10:18.160 --> 0:10:20.120 this character is not so much. So it's playing a 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.440 doctor in a different light when you played when you 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:27.400 played Rosewood, did you meet with any forensic guys to 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.640 understand what they do, how they do it, how they 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:33.079 go about their business. Did you meet with anybody to 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.000 learn how to better play that role. Yes, Yeah, we 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:39.080 had a technical advisor on set all the time and 0:10:39.640 --> 0:10:42.400 asking you know, I was always asking him a ton 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:44.880 of questions about it. It's a very it's a very 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.320 interesting job. But one of my I mean my favorite shows. 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.600 I mean, if I'm not watching sports, I'm either watching 0:10:51.720 --> 0:10:55.240 for forensic Files with the dateline. Yeah, you know, so 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:58.120 those so Rosewood was right up my alley in that sense, 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:00.400 it was a humor. There was a lot of humored 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:02.800 to it. But Rosewood was right up in my alley. 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:08.480 And being able to talk to that for forensics professional, 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:12.600 it was very Uh it's a very I definitely couldn't 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:14.720 do it in real life. I'll say that you're basically 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:16.760 a black Quincy. I don't know if you are you 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:21.040 all enough to remember Quincy? Oh, come on, man, I 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:25.160 definitely remember Quincy. Yeah. You mentioned your faith your faith 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:28.720 based podcast Jesus and Big Joe, and it's based loosely 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:33.800 on our USC formerly USC football player. What made you decide? 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:36.439 What made you decide to go this route? So? Okay, 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:39.920 So I'm always always looking for something because I did 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:44.120 a movie with TD Jake's called Broken about a number 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.199 of years ago, and that was one of the projects. 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:51.320 It was basically a project about this married couple who 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:53.839 his wife got to an accident and their relationship, their 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:59.640 marriage was being tested financially, emotionally, sexually, and she had 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:01.240 one of her you know, her mother was in the 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:05.000 house with us. So it was about you know, their 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:09.080 marriage bows being tested, not easily broken. And it is 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.000 one of the projects that I said, people come up 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.520 to me for various projects. That project. People really come 0:12:14.600 --> 0:12:16.360 up you know, brothers come up to me all the time. Man, 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.079 you know what. I was going through some situation just 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.200 like that, and I saw that movie and my wife 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:23.600 and I watched that movie and we kept the faith. 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:25.760 We kept the faith. So I always knew I wanted 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.880 to get back to doing something faith based. I recently 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:33.320 before everything came out. Now it's about two years ago. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.599 I saw I heard the podcast Gladiator. I don't know 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:41.120 if you Aaron Hernandez podcast. Yeah, okay, yeah, yes, And 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:43.200 I didn't know all the information. So I'm listening to 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:45.240 this podcast and I'm here in the store. I said, man, 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:49.560 I really enjoyed that podcast. Okay. So I met this 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:55.200 this young passionate, very very talented producer named Kyle Hogan, 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.480 and he we sat down at lunch and he told 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:03.360 me the story or a Big Joe, and that's why 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:05.960 that the project is Jesus Versus Big Joe. And it 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.080 was something that it was a space that I always 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:11.040 wanted to get back into. And when I heard the 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.120 passion of Kyle, I met Big Joe, and I said, 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:15.440 this is it. This is the one I want to do. 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.440 Speaking of USC football players, you play a role in 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.679 the Hood classic. Now it's a Mount Rushmore in the Hood. 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:27.680 But Friday maybe how Party I don't know. I don't 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:29.680 know the other guy, but I know those three is 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:35.120 gonna be on everybody. Rushmore. When I mentioned Boys in 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:38.600 the Hood and Ricky your first feature role, what what 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:43.400 goes through your mind? Oh? Man, you know, uh, it's 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:47.840 uh first honestly now, Uh you know John Singleton is 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:50.080 you know, rest his soul. I mean, he gave me 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.679 an opportunity. Uh so, it's it's it's it's sad in 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:58.480 that regard. But I always go back to, uh, you know, 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.640 just when I was just starting out. I was just 0:14:00.640 --> 0:14:03.120 starting out, and I just wanted to be involved in 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.280 a project that people would see and people would see 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:09.240 me and recognize me for and he gave me an opportunity. 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:11.640 And you know, the one thing I just love, you 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:15.120 know about being involved in that project. I mean, you 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:20.800 know to this day, Nia Fishburn, Regina Cuba, you know, 0:14:21.040 --> 0:14:25.040 everybody is still Angela, Everybody's still going. And it was 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.600 a special special project. Obviously it's my first, my first 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:33.520 big screen, first real movie actually, and it's it's something 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.840 I'm always gonna hold. Dear. How did you lay in 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.880 the role? Yeah, so I just got an agent, and 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:42.960 actually it was it was a little bit of I 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:45.000 got a little bit lucky for the role, of course, 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:49.480 but here's where the luck is. So I when I 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.600 was coming up as an actress, I started after I 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:55.320 graduated from high school, I started acting and I was 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:59.000 taking acting classes at this junior college in Long Beas, 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.800 Longby City Junior College, and I said, okay, So I 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:03.560 was getting some pretty good feedback. So I said, you 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.920 know what, I want to go to Hollywood and take 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:09.360 an acting class there and see what people think. Now, 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:13.120 at that time, Marla Gibbs, who was on The Jeffersons 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:17.440 two two seven seven, she had an acting studio right 0:15:17.520 --> 0:15:20.240 in Lamert Park. It was right right in the hood. 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:23.400 And so I said, I but her acting studio the 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:25.560 people from the Jeffersons and two to seven they would 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:27.320 come teaching a class. So I said, I want to 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:31.440 get in front of the people who actually do it exactly. 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:36.080 And so I went there and so cut to my 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.360 agent gave me the information to go to this audition 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:41.800 for this movie Boys in the Hood. I get excited. 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:44.160 I go meet the cash director Jackie Brown, get the 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.280 callback's John Singleton's in the call back. So I'm like, 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:49.320 oh man, this cat he's my age and I got 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:51.840 this jong Katt. So that was a little bit easier then. 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.960 But then after the second meeting when I met John, 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:59.120 my agent calls me like, listen, you have a screen test. 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:02.320 And I'm like, oh, so, back then, Hollywood screen tests. 0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:04.640 You go down to the studio. They have all the 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:06.960 cameras and all the crew and everything just for a 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:10.640 screen tests. I'm like, man, it's my first big Hollywood 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:12.800 screen tests. So I'm getting all excited. I had a 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:15.640 pager back then. I was exciting and something. And so 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:18.640 I'm trying to say, okay, so where is it. I'm 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:22.680 thinking he's gonna stay Columbia, Warner Brothers, someone like that. 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:28.040 He says it's at Crossroads Academy, LAMURK Park. I'm like, 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.360 Lamur Park Tests Acting School. That's that's that's what the 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.120 screen test is. And he's like, yes, where it is. 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.840 And so you know, John wanted to keep everything in 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.680 South Central but where that played into my favors because 0:16:42.320 --> 0:16:44.960 when I had to go for the screen test, I 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.600 was already in a comfortable environment. I had already school, 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.640 I was already comfortable there, and so that played into 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:54.960 me getting the park. Did you know it would turn 0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.240 out to be what it is? And here we are 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.880 thirty years later and people are still talking about that movie. 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:02.320 I'm sure that's one of the first thing when people 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.040 meet you. That's one of the first things they talk about. Man, 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:06.439 I remember you in the Boy in the Hood? Boy 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:09.600 you were great? Yeah, you know what, it's two things. 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.920 So it's one of the movies that people from I 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:16.520 hit people literally from around the world say they learned 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:19.639 English from watching Boys in Hood one movie and they 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.520 see that. But at the time I didn't. I was 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.520 literally on set. I'll never forget. I was absorbing everything 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:30.760 at the time. You know, que had an album, you know, Fishburn. 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:32.639 He wasn't fish at the time. You know, he had 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.800 worked and Cuba had been in a few holding deals 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:37.760 or some studios, but he hadn't been on the show 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.840 that last long. So I'm like, so I'm looking around, like, okay, 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:43.800 you know, it's a movie. I'm a lead in the movie. 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:46.400 Nobody knows me. I didn't think the movie is gonna 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.760 do anything. You know, I thought it would be you know, 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:50.760 I thought we were making a good movie, but there's 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:52.520 no way I thought there was gonna be to the 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.359 magnitude that it turned out to be. You mentioned the 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:58.880 names Cuba Gooding, Junior, Ice Cube, Lawrence fish Burn, Neil Long, 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.679 Regina King, and the Baskette, and as you mentioned earlier, 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:06.720 the majority of these are still going strong. Regina. I 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:11.840 think Regina is have a show on HBO, the movie 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:16.520 she directed a movie, Yes, won an Oscar an Oscar. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:21.720 we have three. So, uh, Cuba was nominated, Fishburn was nominated. 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:26.040 I think Angelo one, and Regina one. Right, so you 0:18:26.160 --> 0:18:28.879 got hey, so what's up? I mean, what what's up? 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:32.600 Rob me? Yeah? It was one of those things, you 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.840 know exactly it was. It was one of those things 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:36.840 that I was I didn't go to a point where 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:38.200 I was like, man, I gotta I gotta get I 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.600 gotta get right when that movie came. When we did 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:45.800 that movie, I was crazy green. You know, I was 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.760 someone that was just happy to be on set and 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.600 you know, walking around and being around all these experienced actors, 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:54.720 and it's one of those things. Man, Yeah, they all 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.159 got nominated. I've never gone for that. I would love 0:18:57.200 --> 0:18:59.080 to have an opportunity for a role like that, so 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.159 nominated it. But I'm just to be honest, I'm just 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.280 happy to still be here and still be kicking you know, 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:07.560 are you? I mean you think about your first role 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.880 and it's a movie like that. Obviously at the time, 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:14.000 you don't know it's going to be a movie like that, right, 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:17.760 How does that make you feel now to know that, Man, 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:23.679 I did that. I haven't I can say I haven't 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:29.440 really reflected on it that way, Okay, you know, I 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:31.640 just when when people, like when you asked me about 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:33.520 the movie, there's things that I think about, like I'll 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.000 never forget when I'm thinking about how green I was 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:38.399 because I never had a mentor anybody in this industry. 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:40.439 As a matter of fact, you know, talking about an 0:19:40.440 --> 0:19:44.960 Oscar I literally after I did Boys in the Hood, 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:47.800 it was one of the biggest movies you know out. 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:52.160 I literally went from that to a sitcom and back 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.000 then you didn't do that. Back then, it was either 0:19:55.040 --> 0:19:57.800 you were either in movies on television show. But that's 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.439 how much guidance I didn't have. I wish I had somebody, 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:04.200 But I think back, there's a this is how green 0:20:04.240 --> 0:20:09.000 I was. My agent called me the movie was performing well, 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.560 I mean the movie was finished, and he said, hey, 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:15.280 your movie's gonna go to the Calm Film Festival. I 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:17.080 was like con I said, well, how come they're not 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:22.320 gonna release it here? You know, that's just how green 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:25.080 I was at the time, you know, and not knowing 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:27.040 that that was you know, it was a it was 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.200 a great response over there, and that was a catapult 0:20:30.280 --> 0:20:33.800 globally for the film. You mentioned that back then, you 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:36.000 know you wouldn't you know, you did the movie and 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:38.880 then you did a sitcom. Do you regret doing the sitcom? 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.240 Or would do you wish you had just stuck with movies? Why? Why? 0:20:42.400 --> 0:20:46.240 Why did you bring that up? Because it was it 0:20:46.440 --> 0:20:49.640 was a when I looked back, like I said, I've 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:51.960 never really had a mentor in the industry, like I 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.959 had an agent at that time to an agent at 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:58.840 that time who just wanted me just to do another job. Right. 0:20:59.280 --> 0:21:03.600 So when I talk about that, obviously, if I had 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.760 to go back and do things all over again, there's 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:10.520 a lot of things I would do differently. But I 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:13.600 always like to bring that up because a lot of 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:17.760 times people come up to me, especially in LA I'm 0:21:17.800 --> 0:21:19.479 at the gym working out of playing ball. Hey, man, 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:21.320