Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. You are tuned into
Speaker 1: the Vitamin D with dwn Day podcast and I am
Speaker 1: your host, Dawn Day, here to get you excited about
Speaker 1: your life so that you can live life on purpose
Speaker 1: and for a purpose. And this is your first time
Speaker 1: tuning in and welcome Vitamin D. It's the fun of
Speaker 1: my name. My name is Dawn and you get Vitamin
Speaker 1: D from the sun. So I'm here to share light
Speaker 1: into your life. And I do this with inspirational insights
Speaker 1: and conversations with celebrities and everyday people like you and me,
Speaker 1: Because if you want to be better and you want
Speaker 1: to do better, then you're going to have to be
Speaker 1: able to see better. So join me on this journey
Speaker 1: of living our best lives and understanding and realizing how
Speaker 1: you are your greatest dasset. What's the best compliment that
Speaker 1: you've ever received? And I'm not necessarily talking about a
Speaker 1: physical thing. I mean, although that does feel good, I'd
Speaker 1: say for myself one of the best I've received as
Speaker 1: someone saying like, Hey, John, I really appreciate your energy.
Speaker 1: Don't you really make me feel welcome? Don't you make
Speaker 1: me feel comfortable? Don't I feel safe? And for myself
Speaker 1: that is the biggest thing for me to feel safe
Speaker 1: around you because to me, that says peace and when
Speaker 1: you look around it, what's all going on in the world.
Speaker 1: Peace is the promised land. So many things spell from peace,
Speaker 1: and I think you ought to surround yourself around people
Speaker 1: and situations that allow you for that piece. We're compliments
Speaker 1: are no longer a visual thing. It's something that you
Speaker 1: can feel. It makes me think of uh nd R
Speaker 1: and her tract truth. She says, you know the truth
Speaker 1: by the way that it feels. How do you feel now?
Speaker 1: If your compliment is based on looks or an outer thing,
Speaker 1: that's all right too. But for me that was a
Speaker 1: big thing because energy and presence around people are so important.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're not gonna be able to exist on
Speaker 1: this earth alone. That's not how we function. But I
Speaker 1: want to charge you to make peace your priority and
Speaker 1: having every extension of you be that of peace, enjoy
Speaker 1: and love, because let me tell you something, it feels
Speaker 1: good to feel good. Hell, it feels good to feel
Speaker 1: good when everything around you ain't looking so good. And
Speaker 1: it's a beautiful thing of knowing that even when you're
Speaker 1: going through the storm, you know what they say, you
Speaker 1: ain't got to look like what you've meant through. Get
Speaker 1: your rightem andy right with me and get excited about
Speaker 1: your lives. Man, we got Erica. People's up here here.
Speaker 1: Do whatever doubt that's you try. You know, welcome to
Speaker 1: my dream. Thank you. I've loved being a part of
Speaker 1: a dream I know, and I'm grateful to have been
Speaker 1: part of your dream. Thank you, Thank you. You know
Speaker 1: as we manifested this because we're here together. Come on,
Speaker 1: you know, somebody said this quote, they said, we're living
Speaker 1: the days that we want to pray for. How amazing
Speaker 1: is that? Amazing? Like? Really, when we think about nothing,
Speaker 1: that's why it's like you know, they say, gratitude is
Speaker 1: everything that is. And the more grateful you are, the
Speaker 1: more things that you have to be grateful for, the
Speaker 1: more abundance you're tracked. Come on, this is the part
Speaker 1: of the lifetime. Listen here. Abundance. That's what we're calling for.
Speaker 1: Nothing but abundance, exceedingly and beyond. And you know, talking
Speaker 1: about this abundance, you know, we have things to be
Speaker 1: grateful for. What are you grateful for today right now?
Speaker 1: Right now? Oh well, I'm grateful to be here. I'm
Speaker 1: grateful to be alive. I'm grateful that I just had
Speaker 1: a very successful movie, a very successful movie and trophy wife.
Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, you have. Everybody needs to watch
Speaker 1: some two. We're gonna real delay, Jereliah. When we had
Speaker 1: the conversation, come on, come on, okay, But you know what,
Speaker 1: sometimes it's like that, right. You may think it's a delay,
Speaker 1: but it's always right on time. You better talk about it. Listen,
Speaker 1: you better bring it up. We're on this hike and
Speaker 1: we had to sell that lady that she thought she
Speaker 1: was going too slng. She did this. This lady was
Speaker 1: a reference. We were at running and there was an
Speaker 1: older woman coming up the hardest. When I tell you,
Speaker 1: I've never taken the left side of running, I thought,
Speaker 1: I was, oh, I've done running. What do you mean?
Speaker 1: We went up the left side of running, which is
Speaker 1: to me the hardest side because this hill out the
Speaker 1: hell is here and it's steep, there's really no steps,
Speaker 1: and saying just up there. So we get on this
Speaker 1: hill and there's an older woman, she had to be
Speaker 1: in her late seventies maybe eighties, trying to get up
Speaker 1: the hill and she was like, y'all just go past
Speaker 1: me because I move a little slow. And what do
Speaker 1: you say? Said, No, you're right on time. Hey catch
Speaker 1: it at you man, So like I said, I have
Speaker 1: Erica People's here on the podcast, um Eric is an
Speaker 1: actor as a poet, a DJ, and acting teacher. Uh
Speaker 1: A manifest a magnificent, beautiful being. Thank you. I am
Speaker 1: from Detroit, I represented Hard Hard. I am from Detroit. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: from Detroit, and uh, we didn't know each other in Detroit,
Speaker 1: not each other out here in l A at the
Speaker 1: parlor Rest in peace. You know it's closed down now.
Speaker 1: We were actually there for the closing of it the
Speaker 1: last day, last day, me, you and Anton. Yeah that
Speaker 1: was dope. Anton's her brother, the other the other half
Speaker 1: of the Magnificent People's due out. But it was so dope,
Speaker 1: you know, to talk. And even on that first day
Speaker 1: we realized, along with being from Detroit, that we both
Speaker 1: studied at Mosaic. Mosaic for those of you who don't know,
Speaker 1: do you remember the slogan? Do you remember the motto?
Speaker 1: Mosaic is a multicultural arts organization who's mission is to
Speaker 1: develop young and performing artists. The comprehensive theatrical and musical
Speaker 1: training and to provide high quality performances for audiences of
Speaker 1: all ages. Catching Now, y'all, remember you know Jamal Mallory.
Speaker 1: Jamal was on the podcast Jamal You know, did I
Speaker 1: just make that up? Thought he studied that I was
Speaker 1: a No, we were in school together. I made that up.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, I remember Jamal though that was
Speaker 1: at Mosaic, Jamal Mallory. I don't know if Mallory was
Speaker 1: his last name. Oh man, I wonder if I made
Speaker 1: He's gonna Detroit. So shout out to Jamal, shout out
Speaker 1: to Jaman. But along with study of the Mosaic. So
Speaker 1: you went on like you did, really the real deal,
Speaker 1: like training with acting. I did. I went to Columbia
Speaker 1: for a years, Columbiago in Chicago before me year at school,
Speaker 1: and then I left there. Did you for Juilliard? Got
Speaker 1: accepted to Juilliard, went to Julliard, graduated from Juilliard, and
Speaker 1: then I came to I love that you said I
Speaker 1: went to Juilliard. Then you had to make sure you literated.
Speaker 1: I graduated from Juilliard. I did. Did you know they
Speaker 1: have a well when I was in school, they had
Speaker 1: a cut system. So your second year which is your
Speaker 1: hardest year at school. They put you on probation if
Speaker 1: you don't meet certain quiteria for for the program, meaning
Speaker 1: you could be tardy, you could be not as talented
Speaker 1: as everyone else, you could just not really be focused,
Speaker 1: and or they could put you on probation to make
Speaker 1: you better because you might think you're too good, to
Speaker 1: scare you a little bit in a sense, to humble you.
Speaker 1: And then they cut you out of the school if
Speaker 1: you don't make it past probation, and during the whole year,
Speaker 1: the whole year you're on probation. Luckily, thank god, I
Speaker 1: was never on probation. But there were six people that
Speaker 1: were cut checked out of school the year that I
Speaker 1: went to school, so they did not graduate. Like, what's
Speaker 1: the estimate of the class eyes Comma specifically, typically they
Speaker 1: have sixteen twelve to sixteen people per class. My year
Speaker 1: had the most. We had twenty two people and then
Speaker 1: we lost six. That's into sixteen. Yeah, Like people that's
Speaker 1: their dream, like I'm going to Julie are like blood
Speaker 1: sweat and tears, Like, oh yeah, and it's still blood
Speaker 1: sweating tears once you get in exactly. So then you said,
Speaker 1: all right, I didn't dabble those in New York. I'm
Speaker 1: about to go to the l like what the stars are? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: well that kind of happened, not really. So I graduated
Speaker 1: from Juilliard. I stayed there because I did a lot
Speaker 1: of Broadway off Broadway and Broadway shows that did a
Speaker 1: couldn't it was supposed to turn into a Broadway show,
Speaker 1: but they call it off Broadway. And so I did
Speaker 1: a lot of theater when I first graduated, and I
Speaker 1: traveled around a lot. In fact, I did Joe Turners
Speaker 1: Coming Gone with uh, but directed by del Worry Lindo
Speaker 1: in California. Actually I did that at Berkeley, California for
Speaker 1: three months. It was the best time in my life,
Speaker 1: best job out of school ever. Del Worry Lindo was
Speaker 1: amazing to work with. I learned so much from him,
Speaker 1: and he's so passionate. And to see him as a
Speaker 1: director and know him as the actor that inspired me,
Speaker 1: and then to work with him as a director was
Speaker 1: just an honor, uh and a privilege. But then I
Speaker 1: did I did an episode Law in Order, and then
Speaker 1: I also did a couple of commercials in New York,
Speaker 1: and then I decided to come to l a, okay,
Speaker 1: so before we get salary, since we've now you're booking
Speaker 1: gigs and stuff, do you remember what it felt like
Speaker 1: what you were doing the first time you either saw
Speaker 1: yourself on television, heard yourself on the Brady, or tells
Speaker 1: like the first time you experienced you weren yes, I
Speaker 1: do um. The first time was Law and Order, and
Speaker 1: that was that was a hot mess. It was almost
Speaker 1: because literally, I think I had decided I wanted to
Speaker 1: cut my hair. It was the first time I cut
Speaker 1: my hair, which most of you don't know. My hair
Speaker 1: is normally short when it's not in braids, and I
Speaker 1: cut it right before right, like think you before I graduated,
Speaker 1: and I was going through this weird hair stage right,
Speaker 1: So it's like my hair was like kind of perm
Speaker 1: not pern. I didn't know what I was doing. I
Speaker 1: was trying to find myself, trying to figure it out,
Speaker 1: and I book Law and Order with this hair. So
Speaker 1: the first time I saw myself, I was like, so,
Speaker 1: we're not going to do that again, right, But it
Speaker 1: was exciting because it was it was my first time
Speaker 1: to see myself on screen and at the time, Lawn
Speaker 1: Order was one of the biggest shows, so That was
Speaker 1: kind of your rite of passage coming out of Juilliard
Speaker 1: was if you make it to lawn, order made it
Speaker 1: wow and you did it fast. Yeah, that's something about accomplishment,
Speaker 1: ghost is it is? It really is? You know. It's interesting,
Speaker 1: is though, staying focused and accomplishing your goals also, Uh,
Speaker 1: this has been coming to me a lot of staying
Speaker 1: in the moment and being present and enjoying the journey.
Speaker 1: It's just as much as important as it is to
Speaker 1: accomplish your goals, because once you accomplish them, you still
Speaker 1: have more goals. So you're like, yes, I did that,
Speaker 1: but I'm trying to do this now and I need
Speaker 1: to do this. But if you're like, wow, this is
Speaker 1: happening right now, and I'm gonna sit in this and
Speaker 1: live in it. And even when it's not happening, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna live in that because I know that it will happen.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a beautiful thing everything. My former barber
Speaker 1: Shotts Low, what it does Low, he's the journey is
Speaker 1: the experience, and the experience is the journey. That is
Speaker 1: very true. You know, I was told in school over
Speaker 1: and over again that it's a marathon, not a sprint,
Speaker 1: and that just reminds you to slow down a little bit,
Speaker 1: stay keep running, don't stop running, but know that you
Speaker 1: got You may have some ways to go, and that's okay,
Speaker 1: because you need to pace yourself to make it through
Speaker 1: that journey. Because if you try to sprint to the
Speaker 1: end and you still got twenty more miles, you're gonna
Speaker 1: fall out. And then if you're not being president, you're
Speaker 1: gonna be so caught up on looking so far ahead
Speaker 1: and then psyching yourself out versus Okay, one step of
Speaker 1: the time, they say, what's the fastest and the best
Speaker 1: way to eat the elephant one bite at a time.
Speaker 1: I've never ate an elephant, but I'd love to try it,
Speaker 1: all right, So all right, so you book law and
Speaker 1: Order and then you you you skirt out of your
Speaker 1: way over LA. Now, did you come to l A
Speaker 1: with a job or you would come seeking a job?
Speaker 1: So the thing is for me, I'm led by my
Speaker 1: intuition and I'm led by God more than anything. And
Speaker 1: for me, no, I did not come here with the
Speaker 1: job as the answer. But I did feel like I
Speaker 1: needed to be in l A. And I felt like
Speaker 1: it was time we were told coming out of Juilliard,
Speaker 1: especially when you do a showcase. You do a showcase
Speaker 1: in l A showcase in New York, and that's when
Speaker 1: all the agents and all the casting directors, directors, they
Speaker 1: come and they watch you and they're like, we want
Speaker 1: this person. You did great, you get up. You get
Speaker 1: an envelope at the end of your showcase, which is
Speaker 1: very scary and embarrassing because if you have a small envelope,
Speaker 1: guess what, nobody wants to see you, right, we have
Speaker 1: a big envelope and everybody's that you're the one. You're
Speaker 1: the pride of choken, token child or a student. So anyways,
Speaker 1: long story short, I left New York and I had
Speaker 1: a boutique agency and a very big commercial agent. I'm
Speaker 1: signed with Abrams and leading artists, and I was booking
Speaker 1: commercials and I was doing well leading artists with theater.
Speaker 1: But they didn't want me to go to l A.
Speaker 1: They told me that if I went to l A,
Speaker 1: they would have to drop me, which means I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have an agent come into l A. And I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: it was hard, it's a little scary, but I felt
Speaker 1: like I needed to go to l A. I just
Speaker 1: felt like it was time. So I had a job.
Speaker 1: I was working at Disnease Jazz Club. Disnease Disseease Jazz Club.
Speaker 1: It's in um It's kind of uh Central Park. It's
Speaker 1: in the New York, in New York, and I bought
Speaker 1: a car for five hundred dollars. My dad found me
Speaker 1: this car. Now, this car was your typical like g Poopy,
Speaker 1: made a loud noise when you turned it, like the
Speaker 1: side door was bent in. I didn't give up. Excuse
Speaker 1: my language, don't give a fuck. I was going to
Speaker 1: l A and I just need a car to get
Speaker 1: me there. So I said to my money, my friend
Speaker 1: who I went to Juilliard with, shout out to Max.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Max had Um had an extra apartment and
Speaker 1: he was trying to rent it. He had a room
Speaker 1: for his department, and he let all of us know.
Speaker 1: I'm like a Juilliard chat. Hey, you know I got
Speaker 1: a room for win. Anybody in l A want to come, right,
Speaker 1: And I said, I on it. I wasn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: even leave New York yet that I wanted. I sent
Speaker 1: on the money like two months before I left. I
Speaker 1: was just paying rent over there to keep my place,
Speaker 1: to cure my place until like a save up enough
Speaker 1: to get from l from New York to l A.
Speaker 1: And so I saved up. It wasn't a lot, I think,
Speaker 1: I said up like six thousand dollars or something. I
Speaker 1: thought that was like enough. I didn't know you just
Speaker 1: second one step at the time, right, I just needed
Speaker 1: to get here, come on, So I got in my car,
Speaker 1: drove my brother actually jove with me. He didn't move
Speaker 1: at that time, but he wrote with me, and we
Speaker 1: drove from New York to l A two day trip,
Speaker 1: two days to not busted in two days. Y'all busted
Speaker 1: it out in two days, two days because say, there
Speaker 1: were three of us, my brother and his friend, and
Speaker 1: we took turns like one person was sleep drive, fault,
Speaker 1: get sleepy, next person drive. So we just kept rotating.
Speaker 1: I heard the hell lot of that, and we made
Speaker 1: it in two days. Got here, got into my apartment,
Speaker 1: and that's say I knew I had to get a
Speaker 1: job because my six thousand dollars was already halfway go, right,
Speaker 1: my little six about half way go. So I literally
Speaker 1: just my stuff in the car, just like packed up bags,
Speaker 1: like got rid of my apartment, left the furniture In fact,
Speaker 1: I left my apartment until very close friend of mine,
Speaker 1: miss Jessica Beett's, she was in New York. That's why
Speaker 1: I left my apartment too, and I said I'm out.
Speaker 1: He and I came, and then I had to get
Speaker 1: a job because it was expensive in l A. Not
Speaker 1: that New York wasn't, but it was a different kind
Speaker 1: of expense. And so because now I had gas and
Speaker 1: I had insurance, I had to pay for. Now I
Speaker 1: had my rent had to pay for. I don't think
Speaker 1: I've ever told this full story, by the way, So
Speaker 1: this is this just like foreshadowing or going back, I
Speaker 1: don't know what you call it. So anyways, I got
Speaker 1: a job at Wolfgang Puck as a waitress. That wasn't
Speaker 1: enough though, because they didn't pay as much as they
Speaker 1: pay in New York. I was making like five hundred
Speaker 1: dollars a night in New York as a waiter with tips. Here,
Speaker 1: I've made like a hundred and fifty if that on
Speaker 1: good two days, and you gotta share your tips with everybody.
Speaker 1: The differences you get paid hourly, So I made more hourly,
Speaker 1: but I didn't make more on the daily. Right, So
Speaker 1: I remember, and I'm gonna make this story short. I
Speaker 1: had to get a job. I get two more jobs,
Speaker 1: so I was working at Wolf Game Puck. Then I
Speaker 1: got a job of Kitchen twenty four and I worked
Speaker 1: the overnight shift, so I would leave from Wolf Game Puck,
Speaker 1: go to Kitchen twenty four, worked from nine pm till
Speaker 1: nine am, get up. And then I found a job
Speaker 1: dog sitting, and then I found a job working with babysitting.
Speaker 1: So I had like four jobs at one time just
Speaker 1: to maintain that's hobby. Something people don't tell me it's
Speaker 1: not possible, because this is how bad do you want it?
Speaker 1: And you'll know your desires and your wants based on
Speaker 1: your choices. Yeah. Wow. It's also faith more than anything
Speaker 1: because I couldn't really see, but I could see, m
Speaker 1: hmm what was for me? I knew what was for me.
Speaker 1: I was just like, Okay, that's what I gotta do
Speaker 1: it for right now until it happens. That's so important.
Speaker 1: You gotta have a vision. And you know, I showed
Speaker 1: this to everybody, and I remind myself all the time,
Speaker 1: don't let what you see make you forget what God said,
Speaker 1: because it's if if it's put inside you, it's inside you.
Speaker 1: For a reason. God hasn't sold the tease. He doesn't
Speaker 1: tease to take away. There's nothing that you're lacking because
Speaker 1: it would not have came to you that part, that
Speaker 1: whole part. But you gotta stay committed. What are you
Speaker 1: willing to do it for it? How uncomfortable are you
Speaker 1: willing to get? Well, here's this, God said, he will
Speaker 1: make you uncomfortable in order for you to grow. Hey,
Speaker 1: they said, I asked God to go and started raining.
Speaker 1: I mean, you planted the seed and now it's time
Speaker 1: for the harvest. But what's it gonna take for that
Speaker 1: water to come? What that looks like it can't be
Speaker 1: actually the form of literal tears. It's a cleansing, it's
Speaker 1: a washing away. That's huge. That's huge. And trust me,
Speaker 1: I did a lot of crying. Yeah, and go ahead,
Speaker 1: Oh you did some crying. And we just say. In fact,
Speaker 1: the night before I got trut the game, I was
Speaker 1: on my knees crying. I had a breakdown. I breakdown
Speaker 1: because I was like I had left l A at
Speaker 1: that point, moved to New York, and I moved back
Speaker 1: to New York. Oh, back to New York. How long
Speaker 1: did you say like before you got from New York
Speaker 1: seven years, seven years and I was doing you know,
Speaker 1: I found an went to acting classes, I found an agent.
Speaker 1: I was a manager. Sorry, I was getting callbacks, but
Speaker 1: I wasn't booking anything. And I was like, why am
Speaker 1: I staying here? Just go back to New York where everybody,
Speaker 1: you know, they loved me and I was working. Go
Speaker 1: back to New York. Your friends living there and moved
Speaker 1: back to New York. And you moved back to here
Speaker 1: with Jessica. No, actually, Jessica had moved out somewhere else.
Speaker 1: She was still living in New York, but she moved
Speaker 1: somewhere else, and then I moved with my friends. Now
Speaker 1: what's she playing? What she doing music or was she acting?
Speaker 1: She was doing music music. We actually met through Mona Scott.
Speaker 1: She was doing music. Another story another day. After seven years. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but went back to New York, New York, and I
Speaker 1: said I'm gonna I said, I wasn't gonna work. I
Speaker 1: didn't put my whole entire faith into my career at
Speaker 1: this point, and I was gonna figure it out, but
Speaker 1: it was only going to be through acting, and I
Speaker 1: was gonna make money. That's what I said. And It
Speaker 1: was hard because I wasn't making any money for like
Speaker 1: a month or two. But luckily I had a friend
Speaker 1: who was looking at who let me stay with them
Speaker 1: until I can get on my feet, you know. Um.
Speaker 1: But anyways, I had a breakdown. I was crying and
Speaker 1: I was talking to God and I said, you know
Speaker 1: what is got to give because I need to I
Speaker 1: need a door to be open. I need I need something,
Speaker 1: I need some help. And I thought I was doing everything.
Speaker 1: I was fasting. I was, you know, putting my all
Speaker 1: into this so it has to work. And nothing happened.
Speaker 1: And then I got a phone call that same night
Speaker 1: from my friend Country calling me to get me in
Speaker 1: touch with Columbus Short because they couldn't find me. And
Speaker 1: we were friends. We were all friends and anyway, so
Speaker 1: he calls me. I get ahold of him and he says,
Speaker 1: I have I feel so honored to be a vessel
Speaker 1: of God and give you this opportunity. Real life. I
Speaker 1: couldn't I couldn't write this. It's a movie. Real life,
Speaker 1: this really happened, really happened. I said, Okay, he said,
Speaker 1: I've been trying to find you, but I have this
Speaker 1: role for you, have this part that you're perfect for
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna put you on the phone with the
Speaker 1: producer so that we can get you out here. The
Speaker 1: producer was Manny Hayley. Manny got me on the phone
Speaker 1: and said, yeah, you know, let's just you know how
Speaker 1: many times and say hey, how you doing? You know,
Speaker 1: I said hey. He said, um, Columbus has been talking
Speaker 1: about you. I'm gonna put you on a plane right now.
Speaker 1: I just need your day of birth. I need your name,
Speaker 1: full name, day of birth. Said okay, I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is really happening, and Columbus is back on the phone.
Speaker 1: He said, you're ready. I said, I'm ready. Let's go.
Speaker 1: I'm ready. Thirty minutes later, I had a plane ticket
Speaker 1: to come to l A, come back to l A,
Speaker 1: came back to l A. On the plane, I had
Speaker 1: no idea what I was going to audition for, what
Speaker 1: I was going to see. I just knew I was ready.
Speaker 1: I knew who I asked for it, and Guy said,
Speaker 1: Guy said, And I said, yes, Yes, got on the plane,
Speaker 1: got here. Columbus picked me up from the airport and
Speaker 1: he said, we're going directly to the director's house. Now
Speaker 1: get that. This is the funny part. Too. I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's the movie about? Like, what am I doing here?
Speaker 1: You know? Um? And so he said, it's about this
Speaker 1: girl's a book. It was based off a book and
Speaker 1: the bestseller and Terry Woods wrote it. And you're gonna
Speaker 1: be the lead and vivicusin and and it's gonna be great.
Speaker 1: Just trust me, Just trust me. We're going We're going
Speaker 1: to go to the director. So I said, okay, ready
Speaker 1: and with it, get the director's house, which is Preston Whitmore.
Speaker 1: Preston is from Detroit. What Preston? What up? Though Preston.
Speaker 1: I did a co read for Preston. I'm just not
Speaker 1: even knowing what's going on. Just yeah, I'm ready. I'm ready.
Speaker 1: I'm ready. I said, if you stay ready, you ain't
Speaker 1: gotta get ready to that part. So I read the Corey.
Speaker 1: He said, I like you. I'm gonna send you to
Speaker 1: Manny right now. Send me to Manny. I meant Manny
Speaker 1: in person. Then he looked me up and down. He said, okay,
Speaker 1: I like you. I'm gonna send you to Lea Daniels.
Speaker 1: Lea Daniels. I've auditioned for her before, but this would
Speaker 1: be my first time. Like really be introduced to her.
Speaker 1: So I go straight to her reading the sides on
Speaker 1: the way, reading back with Columbus Columbus, and are in
Speaker 1: the car going back and forth from these sides, like
Speaker 1: you got this, you got this, you got this, fighting
Speaker 1: for me, you know. We get to Leah Daniels and
Speaker 1: we go in the room and it's like it's on,
Speaker 1: cameras are on. She's ready to see what I got.
Speaker 1: We get in Columbus is like, you got this. We
Speaker 1: get up. I'm sitting down. There were two other people
Speaker 1: I can't remember who they were with. The two other
Speaker 1: people in there are auditioning as well for the same movie.
Speaker 1: And I was just I just remember I was sitting
Speaker 1: there and I was just patient. Put the side down
Speaker 1: and I just said and they asked me to get up,
Speaker 1: and then I got up, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: the director Preston wentmore Manny and Y'landa Haley, who is
Speaker 1: Manny's wife, walked in to watch me do this audition.
Speaker 1: This is this. This doesn't happen like this in real life.
Speaker 1: That's not gonna happen, folks, but this happened to me.
Speaker 1: So I was like, Okay, I didnt feel intimidated that.
Speaker 1: I just knew I had to tell the truth and
Speaker 1: do my job. I did it right, I did it.
Speaker 1: They were a little impressed I could tell, but they
Speaker 1: try not to show it right. So then two days
Speaker 1: later than they wanted me to come back in again
Speaker 1: and read again and read again, and I was just like,
Speaker 1: so do you know. I was talking to Clumbs and like, so,
Speaker 1: do I have a join And He's like, no, you
Speaker 1: got it. You gotta gotta trust and trust me. And
Speaker 1: then he was like, we're gonna work this, working from
Speaker 1: every angle. So we went to believe it was Yolanda's
Speaker 1: birthday and everybody in Black Hollywood was there. I mean
Speaker 1: you you name it. I'm walking in with Columbus and
Speaker 1: all of these people just hanging out. Mon Scott was there.
Speaker 1: Everybody was there. So I'm walking through. He was like,
Speaker 1: you just walk in like Gina. You are Gina, right.
Speaker 1: So we walked Another story is really long, but I'm
Speaker 1: ending it now. I'm getting to the end. We walked in.
Speaker 1: Did that next thing, I know, Columbus called Leo Daniels
Speaker 1: and Manny and they said I got the job. Not
Speaker 1: even a week later, we were shooting. That's and it
Speaker 1: turned out to be a trilogy, true to the game one, two,
Speaker 1: and three. Now, where did you meet Columbus? You guys
Speaker 1: know so So I met Columbus actually not too long
Speaker 1: after I moved to l A. Which is why the
Speaker 1: first time, the first, the first time, the very first trip,
Speaker 1: my my intuition told me it was time to go.
Speaker 1: Came here I was. I met him through mutual friends.
Speaker 1: I literally at this. I remember this I was looking at.
Speaker 1: I can't remember if it was Scandal or Stump the yard,
Speaker 1: it was one of them. But I remember watching him,
Speaker 1: and I remember looking at him specifically and saying, I
Speaker 1: want to work with him. You claimed, dude like. I
Speaker 1: was like, he's good, Like he's good, and work with him,
Speaker 1: I promised you. Maybe it was a day later, it
Speaker 1: might have been that same day, but he came over
Speaker 1: my friend's house with another friend and we were just
Speaker 1: hanging They were just hanging out, like and he didn't
Speaker 1: notice me at first, and then I remember we were
Speaker 1: sitting by the fire. Then all of a sudden there
Speaker 1: was this really strong connection. It was just like and
Speaker 1: him and I connected and we saw each other. When
Speaker 1: you and I say saw each other, I mean we
Speaker 1: saw each other's spirit. So it was there was a
Speaker 1: deep feeling of like we know each other, you know.
Speaker 1: So from that moment, from that day, we stayed connected
Speaker 1: and we were just friends. He would see me, you know,
Speaker 1: going to acting classes. He would always say, you know,
Speaker 1: I saw you putting a thousand hours, so I knew
Speaker 1: it was you deserved this break. And so we were
Speaker 1: just we were friends and and he respected that I
Speaker 1: was from Juilliardy respected you know, the craft, and that's
Speaker 1: how it happened. Yeah, And I was a big moment
Speaker 1: like would you say true to the game really changed
Speaker 1: the trajectory, but maybe the trajectory of your career completely?
Speaker 1: Should the game change my life completely? Because it was
Speaker 1: the first time Manny was the first person to give
Speaker 1: me an opportunity to be seen and the movie because
Speaker 1: it was a book that was the best seller that
Speaker 1: Terry Woods wrote and shout out to Terry Woods because
Speaker 1: she's amazing. Um it was the best seller, number one
Speaker 1: best seller. But so it already had a fan base,
Speaker 1: so people were already people already knew about Gina, which
Speaker 1: was which is what was very smart for Manny to
Speaker 1: take on the franchise. UM. So when I did. When
Speaker 1: I did play Gina and did the game, people were like,
Speaker 1: let's see what she could do? Who was Gina? Right?
Speaker 1: But then they fell in love with Gina. I fell
Speaker 1: in love with Gina. I put my heart into Gina,
Speaker 1: and that built a fan base for me that to
Speaker 1: this day is probably when this. My fans are die hard,
Speaker 1: beautiful fans that make sure I'm okay, that put up
Speaker 1: posting pictures every day. I appreciate you, guys, thank you
Speaker 1: so much. But they you know, even people I asked,
Speaker 1: I've seen the movie, They've watched it three or four
Speaker 1: times to do the game. So I changed my life.
Speaker 1: And you mentioned the other day, didn't you say something
Speaker 1: about aren't you getting an award for it? Or something? Yes? Actually,
Speaker 1: so I was nominated in Amsterdam for the International Film Festival,
Speaker 1: and so I was nominated for both Thank you, thank you,
Speaker 1: I make I want these class. Let me say something funny,
Speaker 1: just flap um. Yeah. So I was nominated for Best
Speaker 1: American Actress, which actually won two years ago the same company,
Speaker 1: the same film um International Film Festival for a movie
Speaker 1: called Fall Girls, which is amazing. That's another beat original, Yes, awesome, awesome, Yeah,
Speaker 1: your bird and then you were also on c W America.
Speaker 1: I was an All American. That was the fun. That
Speaker 1: was my favorite. Yeah, Oh, because I got to play
Speaker 1: the villain. In the villain everybody loves and hates the
Speaker 1: villain and that was the best part. You know. I
Speaker 1: got to come on there and just kind of like
Speaker 1: scared people would be a badass and like I was
Speaker 1: the one you didn't want to mess with. I was
Speaker 1: MO and I came back to avenge my brother's death.
Speaker 1: And at the end I got to shoot Coop, so
Speaker 1: gangster with it, shot her, shot her. That's amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: gratitude is everything, it is, it is and and you know,
Speaker 1: gratitude living in the moment and like receiving life, just
Speaker 1: being president as president as you can, because every life
Speaker 1: experience is going to be an experience that adds to
Speaker 1: something else, you know. Day and we're gonna add on
Speaker 1: this well, but we're gonna take a quick break. We
Speaker 1: come back, we're gonna be talking a bit about Trophy Wife,
Speaker 1: and it's Mental Health Award is month and I want
Speaker 1: to talk about your movie, your character, also um your
Speaker 1: expensive experience with mental health as well as in the
Speaker 1: acting community. All right, all right, So we're gonna be back.
Speaker 1: Erica Peoples is in the building. Whatever though. Hey, this
Speaker 1: is your girl, Surly Strawberry. How are you doing? Hi? Everybody,
Speaker 1: this is Jasmineberg coming to you from the viting indep with.
Speaker 1: Don dat you call her down? Day her loving light,
Speaker 1: keep shining down, keep shining. Great people do things that
Speaker 1: every day people don't do. You want to be great
Speaker 1: and I want to be great? Heard the hell out
Speaker 1: of that? Why be good when you're supposed to be great?
Speaker 1: M hmm, because most of you don't know how to
Speaker 1: be great and it's just being, like we are human beings.
Speaker 1: Just be that's the thing. Just you can just be,
Speaker 1: but you can you sometimes you gotta add something after that,
Speaker 1: be like, just be great. I mean, you can't just be.
Speaker 1: You gotta do something with that. Yeah, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Does that make sense? Yeah? Faith with that
Speaker 1: works is done. You know. That's what it says. That's
Speaker 1: what the worst says. Wow. So, um, you just celebrated
Speaker 1: the release of your new movie et plus Amen Trophy,
Speaker 1: What what amazing? And you had a private screening out
Speaker 1: there in West Hollywood. Dope ass Manchion and um you
Speaker 1: share the story of how you got the role and
Speaker 1: talked to We saw the film and had a chance
Speaker 1: to witness this character who was dealing with mental illness.
Speaker 1: And his name is Tony. Tony. Tony was a trophy
Speaker 1: wife who she was She was on prescription drugs, dealing
Speaker 1: with mental health issues. Yes, and what was interesting even
Speaker 1: getting to Tony, that was a blessing in itself to
Speaker 1: get casting for that role, right, yes, yes, yes, So
Speaker 1: once again here we are. I was talking to God
Speaker 1: one day. I'm talking God one day and I talked
Speaker 1: to God often. I talked to God all. I like
Speaker 1: you to keep that communication open. I do, I do,
Speaker 1: but sometimes it's you know, sometimes it's a little louder
Speaker 1: than others. And I'm like, God, can you hear me?
Speaker 1: But I said, God, I need a breakthrough. I need
Speaker 1: a door. I need you to open that door for me, please.
Speaker 1: And I was charging my car at the time because
Speaker 1: I drove in Teslas, so I charge it. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I got a call from my agent and he said,
Speaker 1: I gotta roll for you, and I said great. He's like,
Speaker 1: but you would have to be on a plane tonight
Speaker 1: if you decided to take it. I'll call you back.
Speaker 1: I'll let you know. And I was like, what is this? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: He's like, okay, but you're gonna be the lead, and
Speaker 1: all right, you got the part. So you already had
Speaker 1: the part before you got out there. No, So he
Speaker 1: told me that he called me to give me the
Speaker 1: information about it, and then he confirmed it maybe five
Speaker 1: minutes later. Okay. So I had to be on a
Speaker 1: plane that night, that night, not the next morning, but
Speaker 1: that night. So I'm rushing. I rush home, get all
Speaker 1: my stuff together, get to the airport, and I'm flying
Speaker 1: to d C to do a part that I have
Speaker 1: no idea what it is about. I just know that
Speaker 1: the actor who was supposed to play the lead dropped
Speaker 1: out last minute for whatever reason, blessing. Maybe it was
Speaker 1: just meant to be. Maybe it was just you know,
Speaker 1: it was mine. So I get on the plane. I
Speaker 1: have no script. Oh my god, what no script? And
Speaker 1: they probably sent it to me, but I was on
Speaker 1: the plane at this point. How am I supposed to
Speaker 1: get the script? When are you supposed to found the
Speaker 1: movie the next day? The day that I got there,
Speaker 1: I was filming the following day, and I literally was
Speaker 1: supposed to film that day because that's when it was
Speaker 1: scheduled to shoot, but they had to push back because
Speaker 1: they had to get another at last minute. It was me.
Speaker 1: Production was in full script, full swing when this person
Speaker 1: dropped out. So here right here we go, and so
Speaker 1: I get so I'm on the plane, no scripting. So
Speaker 1: I just decide I'm just gonna relax. When I get it,
Speaker 1: I'll get it. And I got to the hotel literally literally,
Speaker 1: they took my hair down because I had braids at
Speaker 1: the time. Again, took my hair down and said, we're
Speaker 1: gonna figure out do your look, We're gonna take you
Speaker 1: on set to meet everybody, and they start shooting in
Speaker 1: the morning. I got the script that night, read the
Speaker 1: script shot in morning. That's that, Julie, are training right
Speaker 1: there that you can do something overnight. I definitely credit
Speaker 1: credit that to my training because I was completely engulfed
Speaker 1: in the script and focused, and I had the tools
Speaker 1: that I needed to be able to like repair and
Speaker 1: put it together. Yeah, and I'm just thinking to myself, like, like,
Speaker 1: how do you even prepare to I guess present and
Speaker 1: show up as somebody who is dealing with depression and anxiety.
Speaker 1: And the thing is that that the depiction that you
Speaker 1: did is so accurate because women are twice as likely
Speaker 1: as men to suffer from a mental illness. And that's
Speaker 1: from the CDC in the Center of Disease Control. Mm hmm,
Speaker 1: I didn't know that. Give me that one more time.
Speaker 1: It says from the CDC, it says that, um, women
Speaker 1: are twice as likely and then men to experience depression. Wow,
Speaker 1: let me give you another statistic. According to Depression and
Speaker 1: Bipolar Support Alliance dbs A, seventeen point three million American
Speaker 1: adults have depression and if you look at it, that's
Speaker 1: what seven point one percent of the US population. I know, right,
Speaker 1: it's real. But I think that's important that when we
Speaker 1: talk about representation that people can actually see not only
Speaker 1: how it affects the individual, but the people around you
Speaker 1: and some of the stigmatism because sometimes even dealing with that,
Speaker 1: you're trying to figure out what's going on with yourself,
Speaker 1: trying to seek out the right support, and then you
Speaker 1: have people that may not be supporting in the right
Speaker 1: way and kind of veering you off because there was
Speaker 1: a conflict with family members that were throwing things your
Speaker 1: way and figuring out how to navigate, and it was
Speaker 1: like a real life experience to be like what that
Speaker 1: truly looks like and what that can feel like for
Speaker 1: an individual. So I'm just curious. You know, they say
Speaker 1: our MT it's life. Do you or have you ever
Speaker 1: had any experience with depression? Me myself exam. Well, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm gonna be honest. I mean, there definitely
Speaker 1: there were times where I felt depressed when I wasn't working.
Speaker 1: You know, I think that it took it took real
Speaker 1: work on myself on a daily basis to make sure
Speaker 1: that I didn't go into a deep depression, meaning like
Speaker 1: I e. Meditating yoga. Yoga was one of my big
Speaker 1: things that saved my life, just saved me in general
Speaker 1: because it was an outlet for me, praying, going to church,
Speaker 1: whatever that was, running, exercising. But I did have a
Speaker 1: best friend who dealt with mental health issues and depression
Speaker 1: and he actually passed away. And his name was Nelson
Speaker 1: Ellis and from True Blood. Yes, yes, my best friend,
Speaker 1: my very best friend. We talked every single day and well,
Speaker 1: I mean he wasn't diagnosed bipolar or depressed, but he
Speaker 1: is very depressed and a lot of it. I think.
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing was we're taught and he
Speaker 1: went to Juilliard as well. A lot of us actors
Speaker 1: are taught how to become successful, but we aren't taught
Speaker 1: how to be successful. And I think there's a challenge
Speaker 1: and things that come up when once you're in the
Speaker 1: limelight and once you have all this money, and you're
Speaker 1: pulled on in so many different directions, and people are
Speaker 1: talking about how you look and how you act, and
Speaker 1: you know, you're validated by a yes or no from
Speaker 1: someone else. You know, that is what acting entails, you
Speaker 1: audition and it's either yes or no. And that can
Speaker 1: in and of itself, can like be mentally crushing, you know,
Speaker 1: or crippling in in a in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: So um, I think he he had a lot of
Speaker 1: demands on him. He was one of the first in
Speaker 1: his family to become very successful financially. Uh And also,
Speaker 1: you know, visibly True Blood was the number one show
Speaker 1: for a very long time, and he was one of
Speaker 1: the leads of the show, one of the biggest characters.
Speaker 1: And so he was pulled on a lot by people
Speaker 1: in the industry, by his family, people asking for wanting
Speaker 1: things and asking for money and constantly this and he
Speaker 1: was also battling dealing with his sexuality, which also can
Speaker 1: cause a very high mental uh emotional states. As you
Speaker 1: said that, I have a statistic right here. First of all,
Speaker 1: one out of five adults in the US lived with
Speaker 1: mental illness. Then on top of that, just talking about
Speaker 1: the l g B t Q plus community. According to
Speaker 1: the a p A, the American Psychiatric Association reports that
Speaker 1: l g B t Q plus individuals are more than
Speaker 1: twice as likely as had all sectual people to have
Speaker 1: a mental disorder in their lifetime. That's a different kind
Speaker 1: of pressure. Well, I mean especially for us as black women,
Speaker 1: black people, we are very very most of us are
Speaker 1: very very religious, and we are taught in church. A
Speaker 1: lot of churches they preached this homosexuality is wrong, You're
Speaker 1: gonna go to hell. It's a lot of pressure on
Speaker 1: someone when you don't even know if that's true. You know,
Speaker 1: I do believe myself that God is real and your
Speaker 1: relationship with God is your relationship with God. You can't
Speaker 1: force your relationship on anyone. And I do believe that
Speaker 1: love is real and you can love who you are
Speaker 1: entitled to love whoever you love, and there there can't
Speaker 1: be any wrong in love. Have you known anyone to
Speaker 1: die from loving. Have you know anyone to get hurt
Speaker 1: if they love m No? So you know are we
Speaker 1: are society and sadly has a lot of stereotypical stigmas
Speaker 1: that we put on it are people that are unnecessary
Speaker 1: and so we go around, we walk around like we're
Speaker 1: supposed to. Men are supposed to be very manly and
Speaker 1: women are supposed to marry a man and have babies,
Speaker 1: and that's the right way of life. But whose life right?
Speaker 1: Who are you living for? Right? Because you're the only
Speaker 1: wants dying at the end of the day. Which is
Speaker 1: why I think it is beautiful that we have people
Speaker 1: like Jessica Beetts to NISI like, you know, these these
Speaker 1: Janelle Monae, people who are not afraid to be black
Speaker 1: and be proud and love who they love because it
Speaker 1: needs to be seen. You know a friend of mine,
Speaker 1: Kiva Clark. Now I'm just gonna take a snippet of
Speaker 1: her quote, but she says, you cannot be what you
Speaker 1: cannot see. Yet when you have things like that, do
Speaker 1: not say gay bill down in Florida? What is it?
Speaker 1: Do not? So basically it was with the children, Um,
Speaker 1: I think it's k through eighth grade, Jeremiah remind me
Speaker 1: K through eighth grade that they are not going to
Speaker 1: teach sexual orientation to the children, and I guess they
Speaker 1: feel that that's something that parents would do. So just
Speaker 1: like if there was Mother's Day, Father's Day, any type
Speaker 1: of holiday, you're seeing the cards, you're seeing the pictures.
Speaker 1: But we live in a diverse world. We realized that
Speaker 1: everyone is not the same, every family unit. And just
Speaker 1: as much as African Americans have fought to have a
Speaker 1: visualization of them just as much as women have fought
Speaker 1: to have a visualization of themselves, why not have people
Speaker 1: who represent different sexual orientations have a represition representation of
Speaker 1: who they are. And on top of that, you know,
Speaker 1: Jeremiah was just saying that if children are to bring
Speaker 1: up topics about sexual orientation or sexuality, teachers are required
Speaker 1: to bring it up to their parents. But whatever case,
Speaker 1: we're shutting this down and not giving the possibility. And
Speaker 1: I can only imagine how suffocating that is. And as
Speaker 1: I understand you are a member of the LGBTQ community,
Speaker 1: how does it feel are what responsibility do you feel
Speaker 1: that you have to show up as you are? Um?
Speaker 1: You know, I think I think that's just it for me.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I have a responsibility to show
Speaker 1: up for who I am in my personal life ever,
Speaker 1: But I do have a responsibility to myself to tell
Speaker 1: the truth and to live in my truth. Well what
Speaker 1: does that mean? So for me? For that, what that
Speaker 1: means for me is that if I love a woman,
Speaker 1: I love a woman, and I'm not going to pretend
Speaker 1: that I don't. You know, if I love a man,
Speaker 1: I love a man. I'm not gonna hide it. But
Speaker 1: I'm also not I don't feel like I need to
Speaker 1: like showcase it for anybody unless I'm showcasing it for myself,
Speaker 1: if that makes any sense. So I feel if I
Speaker 1: have a responsibility, it is that I live in my
Speaker 1: truth and I all people to see that you can
Speaker 1: fully be yourself. You can be successful, you can do
Speaker 1: what you love, and you can love who you want
Speaker 1: to love. Mm hmm, and it's okay, it's okay, I
Speaker 1: think even for myself, Like it took people like a
Speaker 1: Queen Latifa just to have a representation of this a
Speaker 1: plus size, curvy woman and just being just being Dawn.
Speaker 1: I think I've always I've been saying this as of lately,
Speaker 1: like I just want to make room for myself because
Speaker 1: I can't imagine if I saw somebody that looked like me,
Speaker 1: like what that could have been like. And like you said,
Speaker 1: it isn't a thing. I guess where it has to
Speaker 1: be on the billboard that has to be shouted out,
Speaker 1: but to know that you exist. But if I did
Speaker 1: want to shout it out, that should be okay too.
Speaker 1: You know. Um, when you say I'm a part of
Speaker 1: the LGBT community, I I am a bisexual woman, but
Speaker 1: I lean more towards women, and I think that is
Speaker 1: my truth because that's what I like, is what I love.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't discriminate anyone sex. But it shouldn't be.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't have to identify with anything for anybody. I'm like,
Speaker 1: can you just be you? I'm just just Dereka. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now once I get married, I feel like that's different.
Speaker 1: I feel like I would love to like shout it
Speaker 1: from the trees, like you know, this is this is
Speaker 1: my wife or this is my husband, whichever one I
Speaker 1: decided to do. When I do it, she gotta wait
Speaker 1: till I do it. That's when hot is hot, you know. Um,
Speaker 1: But I think it's important right now, in our time,
Speaker 1: the time that we're living in, to not be afraid
Speaker 1: to be unapologetically yourself. Yeah, I think yeah, And I
Speaker 1: think especially for you know, I really think it's important
Speaker 1: for our for our black community. We have to love
Speaker 1: on each other more. We have to accept each other
Speaker 1: more and stop living in past beliefs because it's not
Speaker 1: known like people was doing this. It's like And the
Speaker 1: sad part is it takes you having kids for your
Speaker 1: kid to be like, mommy, I'm gay, for you to
Speaker 1: be like, oh my god, I guess it's not wrong
Speaker 1: because I love my child. I can never not love
Speaker 1: my child, right. And we understand that's not the story
Speaker 1: for everyone. That's the story for everyone, but I mean,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe everyone should imagine it that way. What if
Speaker 1: it were your child, Because there are people killing themselves,
Speaker 1: taking their lives, taking their lives because of how they love,
Speaker 1: because of how they love them, because of not being
Speaker 1: accepted for how they love. That's the biggest part, not hating.
Speaker 1: We didn't say that, not damaging or anyone else, simply
Speaker 1: for loving. For loving, And I think that's that's the
Speaker 1: scariest part, and that's what creates depression and that's why
Speaker 1: the statistics are probably higher for those of us who
Speaker 1: like the same sex because there's so much judgment and
Speaker 1: there's it's so inclusive that like you, you don't have
Speaker 1: the opportunity to feel like you're apart of this world
Speaker 1: right because you can't be what you cannot see. That's
Speaker 1: why we need more women to like love on women,
Speaker 1: women in love. But then you know, it comes to
Speaker 1: thing where you know, I'm not saying it's wrong, but
Speaker 1: like you said, even what your mindset of saying, like, well,
Speaker 1: it's not something it's for me, it's private, I'm not
Speaker 1: boasting it out there. And you know, I've heard people
Speaker 1: even ask the question how many times did you have
Speaker 1: to come out? Like no one has to come out
Speaker 1: of straight, but each time you have to say, oh
Speaker 1: I'm gay or I like this moment, I like this man,
Speaker 1: and it's a moment of presenting each time whether it
Speaker 1: just existing, yeah, um, that's because nobody, like you said,
Speaker 1: it's not being seen, so you have to come out
Speaker 1: because it's like how would any whatever know? You know,
Speaker 1: it's like I just can't sliding there and exists. You're
Speaker 1: just what y'll woo And it's like oh kay, that's it.
Speaker 1: But that's still coming out in a way, in a
Speaker 1: way that saying it. It's still like, but nobody comes
Speaker 1: out being straight. Nobody's like, oh my god, I'm straight.
Speaker 1: It's just because that's accepted. That isn't the norm, and
Speaker 1: that's what we have to change. That's what needs to change. That.
Speaker 1: The norm is not being straight anymore. The norm is
Speaker 1: you can be pulled to any energy. Really. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm seeing so much these days that it's a little
Speaker 1: it's it's a lot out there. So it's just like,
Speaker 1: let people live their life, let them be. And I
Speaker 1: want to shout out to everybody that's just living and
Speaker 1: being and I hope that's encouraging you to just just be,
Speaker 1: just be, just be, just be. Um. Let me see,
Speaker 1: I want to do this. I have this new like segment,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to do this really quickly. I
Speaker 1: want to give us a couple of minutes. I want
Speaker 1: you to shed light on this. Okay, I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you this and I'm gonna read it as well. Um,
Speaker 1: but basically shed light on this is a game where
Speaker 1: we're going to give give you a scenario with a
Speaker 1: person or we're gonna say character, I was dealing with
Speaker 1: a particular situation that they don't know how to handle. Now,
Speaker 1: your task, peoples, is to come up with a solution
Speaker 1: that you believe will work best for the situation. Now,
Speaker 1: there there are no right or wrong answer. There is
Speaker 1: no right or wrong answer, only what you feel would
Speaker 1: work best for the situation. And I want you to
Speaker 1: give advice based on your life experience. Okay, now the
Speaker 1: game master, So I'm at us attract what I feel
Speaker 1: is right wrong. Okay, let me let me So I'm
Speaker 1: giving you advice as a person in this This person
Speaker 1: has a scenario. I need you to give them advice
Speaker 1: based on your own experience, what you were doing. Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: Now would you like to read this along with me?
Speaker 1: Or can I read you this? Just read you? See
Speaker 1: about She said, I can catch you while this happen.
Speaker 1: So Carmen. Carmen is an actress in Los Angeles and
Speaker 1: she just found out about an acting world she believes
Speaker 1: she's perfect for. Bursting with excitement, she decides to call
Speaker 1: her best friend Mary, Yes, Mary, Mary was also an actress,
Speaker 1: to tell her about her plans to audition. As soon
Speaker 1: as Carmen calls Mary to tell her. Mary insists on
Speaker 1: telling Carmen her good news. First, okay, the news being
Speaker 1: that Mary is also auditioning for the same role called
Speaker 1: off Guard. Karma makes up another reason for why she
Speaker 1: called Mary. Okay. They both have been trying to lend
Speaker 1: an acting role for months and now Carmen does not
Speaker 1: know whether to tell Mary the truth or to go
Speaker 1: after another role. Erica, can you shot have some light
Speaker 1: on this? Absolutely? First of all, Mary and Carmen, let
Speaker 1: me just tell you that is gonna happen over and
Speaker 1: over and over again in this business. The sad part
Speaker 1: is most women, especially black women, don't like to share
Speaker 1: the roles that we're doing together, so it becomes competition.
Speaker 1: But here's the news, here's the the kicker, here's the catchup.
Speaker 1: While you're hotting, if you may, you're competing no matter what,
Speaker 1: and what is for you is for you. No one
Speaker 1: can take that away from you. And you never know.
Speaker 1: There may be something that you get because you told
Speaker 1: the person that you got it. The more you give them,
Speaker 1: more more buntance you get back. Right. It's it's a
Speaker 1: it's a trifecta effect. You put it out there, it
Speaker 1: comes back, you give it to somebody else. They received.
Speaker 1: That means they give. So I say, you let her
Speaker 1: know that you got the part and maybe you guys
Speaker 1: could even work. They weren't even talking about they have
Speaker 1: the part. She's just talking about the fact that auditioning
Speaker 1: for the part. When I say you have the partment,
Speaker 1: meaning like there is a part that you're auditioning for.
Speaker 1: I don't even fry this moment. Right, what was the
Speaker 1: central cast? Because I had gotten into the final round
Speaker 1: or no, I was auditioning for a Macy's, a national commercial. Now. Um,
Speaker 1: I was so excited. And I remember I called one
Speaker 1: of my good girlfriends at the time and I was like, girl,
Speaker 1: it was for curvy girl plus eyes girl. And I
Speaker 1: was like, oh man, hello cheek bones, hello eyes come
Speaker 1: through Dawn. And I told her and rather her being
Speaker 1: excited or let me not say, she was not excited
Speaker 1: for me. What I received when I told her about
Speaker 1: the road. It wasn't like, oh my gosh, girl, um
Speaker 1: go ahead and kill it. She's like, oh, give me
Speaker 1: the information so that I can audition. And immediately I
Speaker 1: felt some type of way, But you know, my mama
Speaker 1: raised me, right, and whatever that means I found it
Speaker 1: in my heart. I gave her the information. Now I
Speaker 1: went on to go to the what do they call it?
Speaker 1: When you was h damn on a veil. I got
Speaker 1: on a veil. That's amazing. Why are you yelling? No,
Speaker 1: it's good. I got on a veil. But I realized
Speaker 1: I worked with so much gratitude because I had to
Speaker 1: remember the same thing that you said, what's for me
Speaker 1: is for me. I'm not gonna block your blessings because
Speaker 1: if I did not get it, it wasn't mine. I
Speaker 1: can't take. But I think offering myself a moment of
Speaker 1: grace to say, Dawn, as a human, we are still
Speaker 1: human beings having this spiritual experience. That's not an awful
Speaker 1: feeling to have in a moment, but it's how we
Speaker 1: move forward with that moment. So it's like, krmen, I
Speaker 1: feel you. I feel on that hesitation. I don't think
Speaker 1: that she should cut herself short, Like, don't cut yourself
Speaker 1: short just because you don't want to disappoint somebody else.
Speaker 1: You can't take without who's supposed to be in your
Speaker 1: mouth to eat, right. So that's that's what I said, saying,
Speaker 1: you think she should tell her yeah, absolutely, teller. But
Speaker 1: this whole situation of even entertaining the idea to go
Speaker 1: after another role, that's insane. You just discussed how you
Speaker 1: don't in the acting community, the industry. You may not
Speaker 1: book things for months. You had moments where you were
Speaker 1: in tears like God's about to happen. Yeah. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so we had to shed light on that. So that's thought.
Speaker 1: That's good stuff, Thank you, Jarre mind. So that's a
Speaker 1: new thing feature that we're gonna be putting out there.
Speaker 1: Jeremiah came up with that because you don't. Vitamin D
Speaker 1: is all about shedding life. It is you on the
Speaker 1: good and the bad. Because if you want to be
Speaker 1: better and do better, you gotta be able to see
Speaker 1: that and you gotta get in that light to get
Speaker 1: some of that vitamin D. Hey catcher, while we're about
Speaker 1: to catch this vita jass, Okay, wasn't it look yes
Speaker 1: in this chess here? Okay? Our terms okay, terms dealing
Speaker 1: with your career as far as acting, djang just life,
Speaker 1: all this kind of good stuff. And I want you
Speaker 1: to put a word out here. Right it's gonna have
Speaker 1: his Dictionary definition, but I want you to put some
Speaker 1: people's on it. What I mean by that? Say, for example,
Speaker 1: if you were a race car driver, it may say,
Speaker 1: what does it mean to put your foot to the
Speaker 1: metal or to put the car in break? And say,
Speaker 1: sometimes break means to stop, but sometimes you gotta break
Speaker 1: in life, break to just get your balanced, break to
Speaker 1: get your positioning. So that's kind of like the round
Speaker 1: this is in. Do you think you can dig it?
Speaker 1: I mean, let's go, all right, shake shake, shake, all right,
Speaker 1: here we go vitor box. Okay, just don't look, just
Speaker 1: put your hand and it don't look, switch it around.
Speaker 1: I hope you get something good. Okay, now what am
Speaker 1: I sssoited technique? I don't know what that is? Technique?
Speaker 1: Oh sorry, I can't read yo technique? What does technique mean?
Speaker 1: And how would you put an inspirational twist on? That?
Speaker 1: Technique means? For me? Um? But an inspirational twist you said,
Speaker 1: an acting world technique is considered what an acting world
Speaker 1: technique is considered? A skill set that you have that
Speaker 1: you work, that you learn to build. Um. So you work.
Speaker 1: I went to Juilliard to learn what my technique for
Speaker 1: acting is, meaning how I work best to get to
Speaker 1: my best work? Right? But what I need to do
Speaker 1: to get to my best work. And I think you
Speaker 1: can have technique in life, uh by applying your best
Speaker 1: self for finding the tools that make you be your
Speaker 1: best self. So technique, I think is one of the
Speaker 1: most important things to have if you want longevity in
Speaker 1: your career. Um and there are different techniques you can study.
Speaker 1: There's the Meisner technique, there's the Alexander technique, there is
Speaker 1: the method technique. All their different techniques that you can have,
Speaker 1: but everyone is a tool that you need to have
Speaker 1: in your tool kit. And being able to pull those
Speaker 1: tools out when you're ready, when you're ready. You know
Speaker 1: what it makes me think about like when people talk
Speaker 1: about even going to therapy. He said technique and I
Speaker 1: said technique, I'm still and I was like, you know
Speaker 1: that she capitalized it, and I really like, Oh, did
Speaker 1: you didn't write this? No? Oh, the magical person that
Speaker 1: wrote this Jeremiah. Jeremiah. But I do know how to
Speaker 1: read y'all. Some people would think otherwise, No, but I
Speaker 1: love this because I think, just like when you talk
Speaker 1: about technique, when I think about technique even with life
Speaker 1: and it being Mental Health Awareness month, of just using
Speaker 1: your toolbox, and even getting a therapist. Let see there,
Speaker 1: how what technique are you using to get through life?
Speaker 1: Everybody has their process and I think this whole idea
Speaker 1: of making room to figure out how you can fit
Speaker 1: in and take up your space, I think, yeah, I
Speaker 1: think technique gives you. It's like it's like a it's
Speaker 1: taking taking life or taking whatever you do to the
Speaker 1: next level, taking it serious. Because if you study, you
Speaker 1: have to study at the work. You know, some things
Speaker 1: do come to you. But if you in order to
Speaker 1: have a technique, I means you have to do the
Speaker 1: work to know what to do right, do the work,
Speaker 1: and the work doesn't stop because as an actor, you
Speaker 1: don't ever stop learning, right, never stop learning, and never
Speaker 1: stop doing the work of myself, you know. I mean
Speaker 1: it's a it's a constant work in life and metates are.
Speaker 1: I think I'm a better actress now because of the
Speaker 1: life experience that I've had, and honestly, the timing is
Speaker 1: so right for me to be able to showcase my
Speaker 1: art and work and receive the work that I'm getting
Speaker 1: now because now I've lived life, so now I can
Speaker 1: just reenact as opposed to trying to really act like
Speaker 1: you know, light emitates life life. Thank you for making
Speaker 1: the room for yourself for that. You know. I was
Speaker 1: talking to or texting with a friend today and they're
Speaker 1: dealing with grief. By the way, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: I was talking to a friend and experiencing grief and
Speaker 1: I didn't reply back, but in my thought process of
Speaker 1: applying back, I was like, I think like it sometimes
Speaker 1: when we're dealing with any type of mental illness or
Speaker 1: um that if we look at in the place of
Speaker 1: how it's negatively affecting us, is that in our life
Speaker 1: and what we're feeling, we want things to stop, and
Speaker 1: life is like no, we gotta keep life in and
Speaker 1: we get caught up and saying oh stop, and then
Speaker 1: that frustration of figuring out how can I deal with
Speaker 1: this moment rather than living or breaking through with the moment.
Speaker 1: I think that's what stands out. So just to circle
Speaker 1: it back, if you are experiencing something like, don't be
Speaker 1: afraid to seek out. In fact, I got a number
Speaker 1: for you. That's amazing. If you've got some thoughts, you're
Speaker 1: feeling like you're in despair, you need somebody to talk
Speaker 1: to right now. Well, there's a hotline, the National Suicide
Speaker 1: Prevention Lifeline, and the phone number is eight hundred to
Speaker 1: seven three eighty two fifty five. That's eight hundred two
Speaker 1: seven three eighty two fifty five and guess what. They're
Speaker 1: available seven in English and Spanish. Please and to be
Speaker 1: If you do not seek, please reach out. If if
Speaker 1: you really are going through something, do not be afraid
Speaker 1: to reach out to someone, anyone, because your life is
Speaker 1: worth it. You're worth it. People love you, and don't think.
Speaker 1: Don't ever feel like you don't matter to someone, because
Speaker 1: you always do. And if you can't, if you haven't
Speaker 1: heard it from anyone else, you hear from me, you
Speaker 1: matter to me. It mattered to me even if I
Speaker 1: don't know you. I need your love. So everybody needs
Speaker 1: to be loved. So don't do that. Reach out, use
Speaker 1: that number, give yourself a second chance before it it's
Speaker 1: your last chance. Hey, catch while it's hot. So um,
Speaker 1: there he goes. What's next? What's going on? What's next?
Speaker 1: So next? I have a movie coming out called lights Out.
Speaker 1: Don't stop, Kang stop you know it's exciting. Lights Out
Speaker 1: is um it's it's a fight movie starring Frank Grillo,
Speaker 1: McKay fi for myself. It's gonna be a good one, y'all. I'way,
Speaker 1: I'm excited for that. How do we see? So it's
Speaker 1: gonna come to theaters sometime in the fall, so get
Speaker 1: ready for that. I also have a series coming out
Speaker 1: that I'm doing called House of Vicious with Tammy Roman,
Speaker 1: Tiffany Hass, Tiffany Haddish Tiffany Hass, and we are doing
Speaker 1: that in sometime in the fall as well. So those
Speaker 1: two things, those two projects are coming out, which I'm
Speaker 1: excited excited about. And it was Tiffany Hass, not Tiffany Hattish,
Speaker 1: but maybe I'm gonna work with her because we've seen
Speaker 1: what you have many let's go. I'm ready for you, Tiffany.
Speaker 1: So yes, I'm really excited about those projects. Let me
Speaker 1: looking at my cute cars. I'm looking down. Nothing wrong
Speaker 1: about to say excited about those projects, especially lights Out.
Speaker 1: I think it's really going to give you a chance
Speaker 1: to see me on kind of a different caliber of work.
Speaker 1: And her movie and working with McKay was just McKay
Speaker 1: and Frank. I learned so much from them. It was
Speaker 1: just it was great. It was really great. Cry And
Speaker 1: are you working on any project with Anton? Oh? Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: we are producing something. We are producing a series called
Speaker 1: Real People's when it works with that right now, So
Speaker 1: stay tuned to find out what network is gonna be
Speaker 1: be on. But Anton, who was my brother who's also
Speaker 1: an actor, shout out to Anton. That's how I met her.
Speaker 1: The Anton time we met at a party his brother
Speaker 1: named Lame and he came up. He was over there
Speaker 1: again at Badridge. I'm beating the Bradford. I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, we we saw each other and he's like hey,
Speaker 1: he was like, I like yourself. I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: thank you so much. Then I walked over back to
Speaker 1: the gym. I said, you know, like he's like, I know,
Speaker 1: Like I was like you were at the party where
Speaker 1: he was like yeah. And then Erica at the park
Speaker 1: and it was instant connection. Instant both areas. Dang they
Speaker 1: are We love Geminis too. Yeah, I am a Gemini.
Speaker 1: By the way, every one my birthday is coming up.
Speaker 1: Who woo two weeks who makes a second so you
Speaker 1: already know it makes you hit her up and say
Speaker 1: happy birthcast. Also, my brother and I are dj. I
Speaker 1: DJ taught my brother how to DJ, so we have
Speaker 1: been DJing together. We have a we have a show
Speaker 1: we're producing coming up called Love Jones that we're doing
Speaker 1: it so whole Warehouse. Uh, and it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: night of artist renaissance. So it's gonna be some live poetry.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do this a little poetry of mine. We
Speaker 1: got some singers happening. What's what I've recorded this so
Speaker 1: so we got so soho house we're doing. It's called
Speaker 1: Love Jones, produced by my brother Anton Peoples and also
Speaker 1: Kenneth Nelson. And we are going to have some live
Speaker 1: artists and poetry. And I believe that Dawn might be
Speaker 1: stepping on the mic, might be doing something. I'm just saying.
Speaker 1: I mean, you might get a little a little vitamin
Speaker 1: D b C. But we do have some amazing artists.
Speaker 1: Let me just mentioned their names because they were amazing.
Speaker 1: So we got Dawn Day and myself, Erica Peoples. Of
Speaker 1: course I had to jump on and do some of
Speaker 1: that little poetry skill. We had q who goes by
Speaker 1: q Roy q u x r i O, Alonso Slater
Speaker 1: he killed it, and Tom Peoples, Josh McCoy, Joey Manuel,
Speaker 1: Mike mctroget, Erica Rane and Lauren Lott handled it, handled
Speaker 1: it killed it. So for some of them, that's gonna
Speaker 1: happen often. This is something we would like to keep going.
Speaker 1: Right now, we're doing it as so whole house. Uh.
Speaker 1: The next place will probably be at a restaurant called Verse,
Speaker 1: one of my favorite spots in l A. Actually. Um yeah,
Speaker 1: and we we do a little jam session, live poetry
Speaker 1: music and then we DJ at the end. It's fire
Speaker 1: fire Um. So okay, we got that. Not only anyways,
Speaker 1: other ways that we can support you. Yes, you can
Speaker 1: follow me on Instagram please at Erica People's as pe
Speaker 1: e p l E s no Erica People's Instagram, Facebook, everything,
Speaker 1: Erica People's follow me. Shot me out, Send me some love.
Speaker 1: I need it. I love it. I love to give it.
Speaker 1: I love to receive it. So and right now you
Speaker 1: better check out on b et plus Trophie Wife, Trophie
Speaker 1: Wife it is. I'm so proud of this movie and
Speaker 1: so proud of the work. I think you guys will
Speaker 1: all enjoy it as all kinds of plots and twists.
Speaker 1: You think you know what's going on, but you have
Speaker 1: no idea. I'm telling you, I'll listen to it. And
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, Blesten, let me stop. Okay, thank
Speaker 1: you so much for coming. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: I can wait to come here. What's We're both from Detroit.
Speaker 1: It's an opportunity to really talk and just let people
Speaker 1: know who I am, where I come from, what's going on,
Speaker 1: and get people tapped into other things that are important,
Speaker 1: like me to health and being a representation for the
Speaker 1: queer community, like love you lots, love is going led show.
Speaker 1: I'm glad that we are connected. I'm glad. Thank you
Speaker 1: me too. I think you're pretty great. You're the dawn
Speaker 1: of the dad. When it's a new dawn, it's a
Speaker 1: new day. Hey, um, I appreciate you for listening to
Speaker 1: UM and joining this conversation. I hope you got something
Speaker 1: from it. I did. I hope you guys didn't. I
Speaker 1: hope you did, and I hope if if anything is
Speaker 1: going on, if you feel like you can't identify, you
Speaker 1: don't know who you are, you feel lost, just know
Speaker 1: that there's someone else out there who's feeling the same way.
Speaker 1: Everyone goes through something. I go through things. I've had challenges.
Speaker 1: I've had a hard time trying to identify with my
Speaker 1: sexuality for years. And I am okay, and I am
Speaker 1: happy and I'm loved. Hey, so listen, you got an
Speaker 1: idea for us to talk about, or perhaps you want
Speaker 1: to be on the show. I want you to email
Speaker 1: us Vitamin D at dawn day speaks dot com. We're growing,
Speaker 1: we're getting better for evolving, and more importantly, we want
Speaker 1: to hear from you. Okay. And then also you know,
Speaker 1: um about our Vitamin D advice letters. If you need
Speaker 1: advice on love, relationship, your career, purpose, anything, shoot me
Speaker 1: an email. And you know I'm gonna keep it real
Speaker 1: with you, because what do I say? If you want
Speaker 1: to be better and you want to do better, you
Speaker 1: have to be able to see better and that shed
Speaker 1: and light on the good and the bad or what
Speaker 1: we can say they're not so good? Okay, Because I
Speaker 1: want the best for you. Plus if you're seeking it
Speaker 1: for me, hey, I'm ana love on you the right way. Okay. Also,
Speaker 1: you know I plan to be here for a long time,
Speaker 1: so we might as well jump on the bandwagon while
Speaker 1: we're here. If you enjoyed yourself, if you enjoy listening
Speaker 1: to this conversation, tell somebody to tell somebody to tell
Speaker 1: somebody else that Dawn Day got a podcast. It's Vitamin
Speaker 1: D with Dawn Day and it's available whatever you get
Speaker 1: your favorite podcast, okay, and tell them come on in
Speaker 1: and have a good conversation, have some water, have a
Speaker 1: little sock, a little coffee, a little song. Song, just
Speaker 1: can't get it's some good energy, some good energy, good conversation.
Speaker 1: Let's hear the world. And if you want to see
Speaker 1: what we're talking about, you don't catch some memes, some quotes, video.
Speaker 1: We're on social media everywhere Vitamin D Dawn Day, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
Speaker 1: TikTok what have you fan base? Yes, Vitamin D during
Speaker 1: day okay, and if you want some of my goodness,
Speaker 1: make sure that you follow me. I'm back on social
Speaker 1: media right now at Dawn Day. I was off for
Speaker 1: a couple interviews. Hey y'all, so you know I'm gonna
Speaker 1: step out of here. But you know I always say
Speaker 1: I'm in the business of making dreams come true, and
Speaker 1: I damn sure I ain't gonna forget about mine. So
Speaker 1: until next time, always remember you are your greatest dass,
Speaker 1: get your right MND right here with me, and get
Speaker 1: excited about your lives.