Speaker 1: Gracias Come Again a podcast by Honey German.
Speaker 2: We get right into it. J W. Cortees, Yes, how
Speaker 2: are you feeling today?
Speaker 1: I feel great. Thank you for having me. I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to this one.
Speaker 2: Ah where do we start? It was like marine first
Speaker 2: responder actor father. I'm like, you were's marathon runner. I'm like, wait, wait,
Speaker 2: where do I even start with?
Speaker 1: J W.
Speaker 2: Born and raised in New York.
Speaker 1: Born and raised in Brooklyn to two amazing parents who
Speaker 1: who indoctrinated me in all things of Puerto Rico and
Speaker 1: being Latino.
Speaker 2: Was Mammy Pappy Mammy born and raised on the island.
Speaker 2: So and then they migrated to Brooklyn.
Speaker 1: They did their bodies there, but not their hearts in
Speaker 1: their minds, you know, to them, they're still in Puerto
Speaker 1: Rico mode, which I love.
Speaker 2: Are they still with us?
Speaker 1: They are God blessed, bless is right?
Speaker 2: Are they still in Brooklyn?
Speaker 1: No? No, so they're my They're my neighbors. We lived
Speaker 1: together in the sixth Borough of New York City, Jersey City,
Speaker 1: so beautiful.
Speaker 2: I love that. I love that for you. Now, when
Speaker 2: you do your acting, is that the West Coast?
Speaker 1: No, you know, it's It's interesting. When I first started out,
Speaker 1: you know, many moons ago. Yeah, that was always like
Speaker 1: the kind of like the urban myth, right, like, if
Speaker 1: you want to make it in this business, you got
Speaker 1: to move to la that's where all the action is.
Speaker 1: But that's just not true. I mean, I starting theater,
Speaker 1: I started singing in this business. I wanted to be
Speaker 1: the Boutiqua Luther v Andros.
Speaker 2: I could see it.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I think that's good, right, yeah, yeah, fat Luther,
Speaker 1: fat Looth.
Speaker 2: No no no no no no no no no no, I'm
Speaker 2: thinking just an artist.
Speaker 1: I'm not thinking yes, yes, yes, yes, So that's kind
Speaker 1: of how it started for me. But you know, staying
Speaker 1: here in New York, you know you just mentioned right, theater, theater,
Speaker 1: this is the mecca for that. So what what came
Speaker 1: from that is is that here you also have the
Speaker 1: best acting schools. In my opinion, we do London, you know.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so you started singing, started out singing.
Speaker 1: It didn't really work out for me. I couldn't find
Speaker 1: the right users. But I also had this acting bug
Speaker 1: in me that I got from doing high school musicals.
Speaker 2: So this started early for you, super early. Yes, what
Speaker 2: was your musical that you did?
Speaker 1: Like the first one that kind of got me in.
Speaker 1: I did The Wiz, and I'll tell you that. So
Speaker 1: I went to school in Coney Island, benson Hurst, really Lafayette,
Speaker 1: and I went out for this new thing called The Whiz.
Speaker 1: I had only seen the movie, but there was a
Speaker 1: part for the Tin Man and he had a song
Speaker 1: called if I Could Feel.
Speaker 2: And I saw The Wiz on Broadway.
Speaker 1: Reason I saw on your I g yes.
Speaker 2: So I know exactly you know you no, But that's
Speaker 2: that's that's that was like the first taste of like, Okay,
Speaker 2: I gotta go out there and I gotta win this part.
Speaker 1: I wanted up being casted as the Wiz, but I
Speaker 1: just said, man, if I could ever get to play
Speaker 1: the tin Man, I'll be complete here right. But I
Speaker 1: was kind of the precipice of that.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. I love it because I was talking your
Speaker 2: social media also, and I saw that your son is
Speaker 2: on Broadway.
Speaker 1: He is doing off Broadway. He's in now. Shout out
Speaker 1: to marry me. Shout out to my son Jaden, who's
Speaker 1: now done about ten musicals in his eight nineteen years
Speaker 1: of life. This kid is phenomenal. Yeah, no's he's he's
Speaker 1: on his way.
Speaker 2: You had a lot to do with that or was
Speaker 2: he born with that?
Speaker 1: I think it's interesting my son is so he's so
Speaker 1: assured of who he is, right, and I didn't have
Speaker 1: that at that age. I was still trying to figure
Speaker 1: myself out. Sometimes I still am right. But he at nineteen,
Speaker 1: he knows who he is. He knows what he wants,
Speaker 1: what he wants to do, but he also knows what
Speaker 1: he doesn't want to do. And theater, I think gave
Speaker 1: him a lot more of that, that comfortable space to
Speaker 1: kind of explore that. So he knows who he is,
Speaker 1: he knows the kind of artist he wants to be.
Speaker 1: I think I may have had some influence, but I
Speaker 1: can't take full ownership because he has yet to ask
Speaker 1: me for any help. I've tried. I've tried to be
Speaker 1: that dad without being overbearing and just be there for
Speaker 1: him and kind of like kind of guide him into
Speaker 1: business because it is a tough business, it is, but no,
Speaker 1: it like, no, I got this, dad.
Speaker 2: What are the biggest differences you see between your son
Speaker 2: and yourself? Like when you started in this business, fear
Speaker 2: you were fearful, oh god it and he's fearless.
Speaker 1: He's fearless. Yeah, and it's ironic because I'm the marine,
Speaker 1: I'm the combat veteran. I'm the guy that would strap
Speaker 1: on the gum belt, go out there, work midnights in Harlem,
Speaker 1: and do all these other things that people would say, Wow,
Speaker 1: you must have no fear. But the one thing I
Speaker 1: learned in my acting training is the one person that
Speaker 1: you have to deal with the most can be sometimes
Speaker 1: the scariest, and that's yourself.
Speaker 2: That's very, very, very true. Now I want to go
Speaker 2: back because I feel like we skipped over a lot
Speaker 2: of things because I was wondering. I said, how did
Speaker 2: he end up a marine and an actor simultaneously? When
Speaker 2: did you enlist?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I knew. So. I grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn,
Speaker 1: on the block that the NYPD had nicknamed Little Vietnam. Right,
Speaker 1: So the block was hot, right, I'm talking about the
Speaker 1: early eighties, right, mid eighties, so the height of the
Speaker 1: crack and Aids epidemic. My older brothers one of the
Speaker 1: leaders of one of the worst street gangs out there.
Speaker 1: He had a huge influence on me. But in Gosa,
Speaker 1: Mommy and Poppy were like, you're game more than I
Speaker 1: play any game. So you got to figure something out.
Speaker 1: So at eighteen, I enlisted. But it was more, I
Speaker 1: used the other E word. It was more of an
Speaker 1: escape right from a really bad situation.
Speaker 2: That was and maybe still is, you know, for a
Speaker 2: lot of black and brown young men who don't have
Speaker 2: another outlet or absolutely don't want to go to college.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, so it isn't for everyone, But for me,
Speaker 1: it kind of gave me the structure of discipline. It
Speaker 1: just got me out of a really bad situation. So
Speaker 1: I wound up serving, and I wound up staying in
Speaker 1: a lot longer than I thought. I saw fast forward.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and three, America was first starting out
Speaker 1: in this new war called Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom,
Speaker 1: and my unit was tagged with being part of the
Speaker 1: invading force of Iraq. And out of all places in
Speaker 1: the world, I'm in Kuwait. The war is literally about
Speaker 1: twenty hours old. It's super brand new. We come under
Speaker 1: a very we have the scud missile attack. They said,
Speaker 1: your life flashes before your eyes, and it did for me.
Speaker 1: I had this out of body thing, I called it
Speaker 1: like an epiphany, where I vividly saw at Ortiz's funeral
Speaker 1: home on Fourth Avenue fifty thirsty. I saw it packed.
Speaker 1: I saw my mother and father crying over my my,
Speaker 1: my casket. It this is kind of grim, but it's
Speaker 1: the truth you visualize. I visualized it so clearly. And
Speaker 1: then I came back to the moment as the scud
Speaker 1: missiles were landing around our position, I said, Wow, I'm
Speaker 1: an idiot. I have squandered these twenty seven years of
Speaker 1: my life, always saying that tomorrow Maniana Mayana. Always I said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna start pursuing these dreams and I'm gonna explore
Speaker 1: these gifts, you know what, Tomorrow, next week, I'll start Monday.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's a lot of us.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of us, you know. So for me,
Speaker 1: of all places, I had that awakening and I just
Speaker 1: prayed hard and I saip up my the oh please
Speaker 1: not here, not like this.
Speaker 2: I'm not ready. You know.
Speaker 1: It's interesting, you know, when you so close to death,
Speaker 1: whether it be an accident or an illness of some sort,
Speaker 1: you're forced to kind of come to that realization like
Speaker 1: you did this. You had a hand in this moment somehow,
Speaker 1: some way, you know, And so that's what that's what
Speaker 1: ignited that thing in me, and it's been burning ever
Speaker 1: since two thousand and three. So to answer your question,
Speaker 1: that's where the acting kind of finally started to get
Speaker 1: some sort of form, became malleable for me, was coming
Speaker 1: out of Iraq.
Speaker 2: So while you were in the service, were you doing
Speaker 2: anything acting related or you were just focused on serving?
Speaker 1: You know what I was doing. I was protecting American
Speaker 1: embassies and I loved it. I got to live and
Speaker 1: thank you.
Speaker 2: Listen. I was, I was stalking your career and I
Speaker 2: was like, wow, he's put in some serious work.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: I was like, I gotta thank him. I said, you know,
Speaker 2: all of our veterans and you know, shout out to me.
Speaker 2: The second man that has sat here, you know and
Speaker 2: told me, you know, he's risked his life and gone
Speaker 2: to war for our country, and then he also ended
Speaker 2: up an actor. And I'm like, what am I doing
Speaker 2: my life? These men go to war a country, then
Speaker 2: they come home and then become actors, and you.
Speaker 1: Know, but that's not it's interesting you say that. So
Speaker 1: you know, I'm giving you like the ways version, right listen.
Speaker 2: I already don't I got your whole life. Yeah, I know, wait,
Speaker 2: hold on, hold on. I was already acting. What's happening there?
Speaker 2: What happened to the thirteen years? What's going on here?
Speaker 2: But acting? What was your first once you left the service? Yes,
Speaker 2: what was the first moment that you booked a role
Speaker 2: or you auditioned for a role.
Speaker 1: So this is a true story. I come home and
Speaker 1: I had this burning desire to explore it. I need
Speaker 1: no actors. I had heard that a long time ago
Speaker 1: Rosie Perez was also from Sunset Park, but that's like
Speaker 1: an urban legend to me. I don't even know this chick, right,
Speaker 1: And so I didn't know where to begin. So I
Speaker 1: started my new career. I was a beat cop and
Speaker 1: there was a Hudson you stand on my beat. I
Speaker 1: would sit there and I'd look at these newspapers and
Speaker 1: there was one that they used to print called Backstage,
Speaker 1: And so I didn't want nobody to know that I
Speaker 1: was looking at it because I'm, you know, doing this thing,
Speaker 1: And so I grabbed it. I paid, and I remember
Speaker 1: the guy behind the count and was like, officer, you
Speaker 1: realize what it's not The New York Post's I go,
Speaker 1: you know, like, just give me the damn paper so
Speaker 1: I can get out of here, right right, and so
Speaker 1: I very quietly went to the back and I started
Speaker 1: to circle what I thought was like this help wanted
Speaker 1: to ask for these actors. And I remember my first audition, honey,
Speaker 1: I literally it was. It was it was I show
Speaker 1: up and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just
Speaker 1: happy to be I'm not a kid in the candy.
Speaker 2: What did you audition for? I want to know it
Speaker 2: some really.
Speaker 1: Bad short film that hopefully no one will ever see.
Speaker 1: But that's not the point. The point is is that
Speaker 1: I show up at this office somewhere in midtime Manhattan.
Speaker 1: I put my name on a piece of paper. I'm
Speaker 1: sitting in a room and I'm just like I'm I
Speaker 1: am now mimicking what everyone else is doing. Everybody's very short,
Speaker 1: so I'm like, fuck, I gotta be serious too. I
Speaker 1: got to like fun because I got just some acting stuff, right.
Speaker 1: So I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just
Speaker 1: pretending like I know what I'm doing. And no one's talking.
Speaker 1: And finally the door opens up and the lady looks
Speaker 1: at the paper she's crowsing off a bunch of names.
Speaker 1: She goes, Okay, who's next?
Speaker 2: This sounds like a movie.
Speaker 1: She's like J W. Cortez and I'm like, right here,
Speaker 1: how you doing? What's going on? Right? And so I'm
Speaker 1: all old cheery and she goes, okay, headshot And for
Speaker 1: a moment I looked at her and I'm like, does
Speaker 1: she know that I'm a marine combat veteran and that
Speaker 1: a headshot for a marine means that I get down
Speaker 1: in the prone position? And like, does she want me
Speaker 1: to simulate what that would look like? And she looked
Speaker 1: at me and she says, you don't know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about. I said, this is my first time.
Speaker 2: Man, you didn't have a headshot.
Speaker 1: I didn't have a headshot. I didn't know what a
Speaker 1: headshot was. I didn't know where to get one. But
Speaker 1: you know, ignorance is bliss. And because I was so ignorant,
Speaker 1: I was unaware of how hard this thing would be.
Speaker 1: And so I went and that was my first time
Speaker 1: ever auditioning. And I went from that and then finally
Speaker 1: many bumps and bruises, and I found myself what was
Speaker 1: probably the biggest blessing of my career. I met a
Speaker 1: guy named Jose. That's what I said. Jose is like
Speaker 1: John Smith in the Latino community, right I'm like this, dude,
Speaker 1: long story short. Josetveda is the first Puerto Rican ever
Speaker 1: nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. He wrote
Speaker 1: a film called Motorcycle Diaries. I did a reading for him,
Speaker 1: and after the reading was done of one of his plays,
Speaker 1: he pulled me to the side. He says, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know you, you don't know me, but you've
Speaker 1: got something in you. I think you really need to
Speaker 1: think about exploring this thing. And then I ended up
Speaker 1: in an acting school that wound up saving my life.
Speaker 1: It wasn't therapy, it was acting school and meeting Terry Nickerbocker,
Speaker 1: who said, all this armor is hurting you.
Speaker 2: Take it off and take it off.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, what that is such a dichotic statement.
Speaker 1: Body armor is supposed to protect you. How is mind
Speaker 1: hurting me? He's like, you'll never get to the true
Speaker 1: self that you need as an actor because everything that
Speaker 1: you do is always being protected by this armor that
Speaker 1: the Marine Corps gave you, that Sunset Park gave you,
Speaker 1: that being a Latino male figure and your family has
Speaker 1: given you. And it gets in the way, it's blocking you.
Speaker 1: And so that was a journey for me to learn
Speaker 1: what does that mean? And how do I get rid
Speaker 1: of this thing so I can be my true, authentic self,
Speaker 1: so I can embarrass myself without any criticism, because that's
Speaker 1: what you need, right You got to be able to say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm going to do whatever it takes,
Speaker 1: so that I can fully live out this character that
Speaker 1: I'm trying to embody.
Speaker 2: How does one even take off all that armor, you know,
Speaker 2: being inner City, being black and brown, being Latino, and
Speaker 2: then on top of that fighting for our country for
Speaker 2: so many years? How did you even peel back those layers?
Speaker 1: I wish I could give you, like a a a
Speaker 1: sick short answer. I will tell you that it is
Speaker 1: through the grace of God. It is through family support.
Speaker 1: It is you really seeing and and and just having
Speaker 1: letting go of the parachute sometimes and go, I notice
Speaker 1: it's going to be bad and I have to get
Speaker 1: through the bat to get to the good. It's like
Speaker 1: he would always say, You're trying to go from New
Speaker 1: York to LA and along the way it starts to rain.
Speaker 1: Do you stop driving?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: What do you do? You put on your windshield wipers?
Speaker 1: The sun goes down? Do you stop driving? No, you
Speaker 1: put on your headlights, you stop for gas. I'm full
Speaker 1: of them. This is all lived my life.
Speaker 2: You give me all the gems. I really really really
Speaker 2: love that. Now, did you stop down and say I
Speaker 2: need to start a family or how did your two boys?
Speaker 1: My two sons? So I met a young lady when
Speaker 1: I had come came back from from the war, and we, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, I'll credit my ex wife with saying to
Speaker 1: me and and and these exact words, what kind of
Speaker 1: asshole wants to go back to war?
Speaker 2: She's a Latina, she uses latina.
Speaker 1: Yes, she says, straight up, straight up, because I was
Speaker 1: volunteering to go back. Why, because I was suffering from
Speaker 1: some severe PTSD I was unaware of. And I just
Speaker 1: knew I don't really belong here. I'm not ready to
Speaker 1: be back here. I think I want to go back.
Speaker 2: Did you feel like out in the field is where
Speaker 2: you belong.
Speaker 1: Anywhere with the Marines is where I felt I belonged.
Speaker 1: I was good at what I did.
Speaker 2: To the point that being with your family no longer
Speaker 2: felt normal.
Speaker 1: It didn't feel normal because I think they didn't have
Speaker 1: the tools and the vocabulary to understand how to communicate
Speaker 1: with me. Without triggering something in me. So, for example,
Speaker 1: one of my buddies who his book became a film
Speaker 1: called American Sniper. He has since been he was murdered.
Speaker 1: But Chris Kyle the American Snipers said to me, we
Speaker 1: went to war in America, went to the mall, and
Speaker 1: that could have a negative connotation for guys who went
Speaker 1: multiple times over there, but he flipped it on me.
Speaker 1: You know, he said, how great is that that our
Speaker 1: children could still continue to thrive in America with out
Speaker 1: fear of oppression or of something terroristic happening on a
Speaker 1: daily basis like it does in these other countries. How
Speaker 1: great is that? And he kind of began to kind
Speaker 1: of start to shift in me on how my perspective
Speaker 1: needed to kind of shift in that way.
Speaker 2: So she said, what kind of asshole goes back to.
Speaker 1: War volunteers, you know volunteers, And you know, I was like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I think I'll stick around, but only
Speaker 1: for a few more months. And then after I got
Speaker 1: to go back right and I wound up, you know,
Speaker 1: we wound up getting pregnant, and I wound up sticking around,
Speaker 1: and and then I started to pursue these these careers
Speaker 1: simultaneously as at the same time as trying to be
Speaker 1: a dad and just trying to be a better person
Speaker 1: and a better version of myself for her. For me,
Speaker 1: it was a lot. It was a lot.
Speaker 2: It was It sounds like a lot, you know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. But you got your two boys, and that
Speaker 2: is an amazing blessing.
Speaker 1: Yes, the best, the best, the best role I ever played.
Speaker 2: Now, let's talk about Gotham. That is where I know
Speaker 2: you from through and through. How did you land this role?
Speaker 2: Like I remember when Gotham was it was just such
Speaker 2: a big deal, like we were all so hype. How
Speaker 2: did you end up getting up in there? Talk to me?
Speaker 1: So like every other actor, you know, I'm I'm literally working,
Speaker 1: I'm working a graveyard shift and literally go in midtime Manhattan.
Speaker 2: Okay, because now you're a police officer.
Speaker 1: I'm active, I'm working every night. But I knew that
Speaker 1: I had to get to acting school during the day.
Speaker 1: I had to figure out when I was going to eat,
Speaker 1: when I was going to sleep, like you name it.
Speaker 1: But everything was focused on I need to get off
Speaker 1: this thing, and I want to do this because you.
Speaker 2: Were like, I don't want to, I don't want to
Speaker 2: want to do that more.
Speaker 1: I want to do this.
Speaker 2: You had a dream.
Speaker 1: I had a dream, right, and I wanted to honor that.
Speaker 1: So the one thing the Marine Corps taught me is
Speaker 1: if you slept, then you had time right sleep, my man, right,
Speaker 1: like yeah, like let's get let's go, like you know,
Speaker 1: like I can push past most of people's ring, you know,
Speaker 1: at least my own comfort level.
Speaker 2: Can I stop down for one second? Yes, I hate
Speaker 2: when people sleep. I just do it because I feel
Speaker 2: like that's time wasted and you can be if you
Speaker 2: have a dream and you have a passion and you
Speaker 2: can take a two to three hour nap. To me,
Speaker 2: that equates to those are two three hours that you
Speaker 2: didn't pursue your dream.
Speaker 1: That's correct.
Speaker 2: Is that what the Marines was talking about?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? Absolutely. We don't stop when you're tired. You stop
Speaker 1: when you're done. The job wasn't done. So I'm I'm
Speaker 1: literally running up and down New York City, going from
Speaker 1: casting office to casting office, getting lucky every so often,
Speaker 1: getting a lot of callbacks, so close a lot of times.
Speaker 1: This is a career of many false starts, is what
Speaker 1: I see, and the biggest lessons that I'm learning in
Speaker 1: those like three four years that I'm grinding it out
Speaker 1: doing really bad short films, really bad stage work, like
Speaker 1: really bad. I'm learning that the hardest thing I have
Speaker 1: to deal with is the silent no. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: never learned about the silent no.
Speaker 2: That's when you know, that's when you don't get any callback.
Speaker 1: Is that what.
Speaker 3: Happens is you go out and you know you killed
Speaker 3: the audition, and so you're just gonna wait now because
Speaker 3: at any moment that email is gonna come through, and
Speaker 3: so let me just check my wife I just in
Speaker 3: case it's not strong enough.
Speaker 1: Let me reboot the phone, just in case the signific
Speaker 1: yeah right, And so you know the second day and
Speaker 1: now a week goes by and you're just checking the
Speaker 1: junk box because you never know. Maybeam maybe you want
Speaker 1: to spam. That's probably what happened, don't maybe my number maybe,
Speaker 1: And so you start thinking about it, and then what
Speaker 1: happens is two weeks go by, and that's the silent no,
Speaker 1: and that is your career and you must contend with
Speaker 1: that because what you want is a verbal no. At
Speaker 1: least tell me I didn't get it. At least tell
Speaker 1: me that mark Fierra got it. I can live with that, right,
Speaker 1: But to not know and have to deal with yourself
Speaker 1: and go man, this is where act just get in trouble.
Speaker 1: Maybe my nose is too wide, maybe my eyebrows are
Speaker 1: too thick. Maybe, but you know maybe females right, especially
Speaker 1: women maybe right, which is all not.
Speaker 2: True, all not true, because we tend to kind of
Speaker 2: like put the blame on ourselves and project it.
Speaker 1: You know, as you were looking for answers, what tell
Speaker 1: me what I can do to improve it? No one's
Speaker 1: going to tell you that. This is where you have
Speaker 1: to be so self assured. You have to know what
Speaker 1: I do, what Honey German does, no one else can
Speaker 1: do it. If you're looking for that, no one could
Speaker 1: do that better than me. And that's how I had
Speaker 1: to feel about j W. I had to learn that, right.
Speaker 1: So long story is, I'm auditioning. I go out for
Speaker 1: this thing, and I just felt really good about that
Speaker 1: particular addition.
Speaker 2: Do you know what it was?
Speaker 1: It was for this character named Alvarez? And what I
Speaker 1: did was I took a chance. And I always tell
Speaker 1: young actors.
Speaker 2: Did you know it was Godam? Did you know something Gotham?
Speaker 1: But I didn't know like the full spectrum of it.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, that is maybe batman ish, but I
Speaker 1: don't really know. And I don't know about Alvarez either.
Speaker 1: But I remember taking my sides and I had it
Speaker 1: in my hand and I do my lines, and I
Speaker 1: had a moment where I'm getting into a fight and
Speaker 1: I just I threw my sides at the the reader
Speaker 1: and they bugged out. They're like, this guy's into the role.
Speaker 1: And I just I went with it, you know, and
Speaker 1: I took a chance because it wasn't written that way.
Speaker 1: I said, this is how I'm going to paint this,
Speaker 1: because you and I can paint the same thing with
Speaker 1: the same colors, but it's gonna look different. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: paint my way. And so I did that, and then
Speaker 1: a couple of days later, I'm in Puerto Rico celebrating
Speaker 1: my birthday.
Speaker 2: I'm in Culebra Island, hold.
Speaker 1: And my phone is working. Look at this, And that's
Speaker 1: when I learned that I had I had booked this role.
Speaker 1: And I didn't even know this until like a couple
Speaker 1: of months into the production, that I would be a recurring,
Speaker 1: heavily recurring because you had a lot of that I did,
Speaker 1: and then I found out that I was the first
Speaker 1: human to play this comic book character. I didn't know that,
Speaker 1: so I go, better, hold on, let me look at
Speaker 1: this comic book you know, I look like this, dude,
Speaker 1: I'm like.
Speaker 2: Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: I got to.
Speaker 1: Google it like this. So that was how that kind
Speaker 1: of like that was the that that was like the
Speaker 1: first like, ah, we're onto something. We can do this
Speaker 1: and we can hold our own and he's a Latino
Speaker 1: and I'm a Latino and that doesn't happen all the time.
Speaker 1: We're character never And that was like my first taste
Speaker 1: of like, oh, okay, now I get it. When you
Speaker 1: get to come in and play and do what you love,
Speaker 1: all right, that's the feeling that we get addicted to.
Speaker 2: So you feel like all those nose or all those
Speaker 2: roles that didn't work out or that you didn't feel like,
Speaker 2: you know, we're up to. Part was leading up to Gotham,
Speaker 2: because honestly, Gotham was big.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think I remember the rollout. We were so hype.
Speaker 2: It was like everybody was yeah that trailer. I was, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: trailer has like eleven million views, Like I watched it
Speaker 2: again today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think I think that the show did
Speaker 1: a lot for a lot of different things, for a
Speaker 1: lot of different people. For me, I can tell you
Speaker 1: that I was just not aware. To me, it was
Speaker 1: just another joke.
Speaker 2: You were not aware of what it was doing.
Speaker 1: No, not at first, you know, I just I just
Speaker 1: saw the hype and stuff. And then once I got
Speaker 1: into the DC comic book universe, because now you belonged
Speaker 1: to this universe, and I started, for the first time
Speaker 1: in my career getting an actual like fan mail, all parts
Speaker 1: of that was dope, And I go, I'm a kid
Speaker 1: from Sunset who took a chance, and now this is
Speaker 1: happening the way I'm now right. So you know, so
Speaker 1: anyone that's listening, I would say, you know, it's.
Speaker 2: Oh there's people listening. Don't do that, j W. Don't
Speaker 2: I know they're listening.
Speaker 1: Just you know, you've got to trust sometimes and just
Speaker 1: really take a chance, take a chance.
Speaker 2: Getting head on. When they saw Young Goth, I'm like,
Speaker 2: how happy were there?
Speaker 1: You know? It's funny. Our parents always want the best
Speaker 1: for us, so I know why they were. They were like,
Speaker 1: you know you sure, you sure you want to you
Speaker 1: know it's hard you know, I think there's a Latino community.
Speaker 1: I think that over bearing love is it comes from
Speaker 1: a good place.
Speaker 2: Oh, it always does.
Speaker 1: And I think now, like I just recently booked probably
Speaker 1: what's going to be the biggest movie in my career.
Speaker 1: It will be on twenty five congratulation, Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: It's like got them on steroids all over again for me.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think now after so many years
Speaker 1: of being successful, that now they're like, yeah, yeah, how.
Speaker 2: Many times have you made them proud? Though with the service,
Speaker 2: we're becoming a police officer, we're becoming an actor. I
Speaker 2: don't know if you throw the boxes already listened, because
Speaker 2: some of us don't even make them proud one time.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, you know, I don't know. It was never
Speaker 1: like Okay, I'm going to do this to make them proud.
Speaker 1: I think what has made them proud is that I've
Speaker 1: been true to what it is that I've always wanted
Speaker 1: to do and I just haven't quit. And I think
Speaker 1: when you see someone go after something and they don't quit,
Speaker 1: it's hard not to be proud, like, you know what,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, you know, look at you, You're still
Speaker 1: at it. You know, good for you. You know, because
Speaker 1: I think most of us do quit somewhere along the way.
Speaker 2: It is tempting to quit when things get hard, you know,
Speaker 2: for us to keep pushing forward and be like, now
Speaker 2: I'm gonna try again, and I'm gonna keep going no
Speaker 2: matter what, no matter how many nos I get, no
Speaker 2: matter how many rejections. It is definitely hard. Now, speaking
Speaker 2: of hard, the New York City Marathon, there's nothing up there.
Speaker 2: I'm just thinking right, right, right right, the New York
Speaker 2: City Marathon. Was that your first time running it?
Speaker 1: So it's yeah, that was my first time running the marathon,
Speaker 1: and I did something that I don't recommend. I gave
Speaker 1: myself ten weeks. How are your niece maneuhel?
Speaker 2: And they never never the same, They're never going back
Speaker 2: to normal.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 2: But that's what That's why I gave myself ten weeks.
Speaker 1: I gave myself ten weeks. You woke up one day
Speaker 1: and you're like, you know what, Yeah, well, no, right.
Speaker 1: What happened was I was I do a lot of
Speaker 1: fundraising for the families of our fallen children. I do.
Speaker 2: We do have to speak about Raphile around the station.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. So I was at some event and there was
Speaker 1: this dude there, you know, who was a Medal of
Speaker 1: Honor recipient, and he's like, you know, I'm all banked
Speaker 1: up and I'm going to run this thing, and how
Speaker 1: about you, j W. And I was like, yeah, of
Speaker 1: course I'm running it right Yeah. And then it was
Speaker 1: like I got off the air and I'm like, what
Speaker 1: would I just say? What did I just do? And
Speaker 1: so I just got to it, you know, And it
Speaker 1: was I always say that if you're capable of doing
Speaker 1: at least one in your life, you should, because it
Speaker 1: is the most rewarding thing, especially in New York. Ain't
Speaker 1: nothing like it.
Speaker 2: Big Shadow Angie Martinez, she ran the marathon one time too.
Speaker 2: But I know people that ran the marathon and they
Speaker 2: were like, my body was never the same after it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, No, it's it's traumatic. I don't mean traumatic
Speaker 1: like in the mental's capacity. I think physically it is.
Speaker 1: It is an extreme trauma that you're putting on your body.
Speaker 1: It's just not a natural thing to do.
Speaker 2: What were you thinking about while you were running? They
Speaker 2: got you through that finish line. How many miles is it?
Speaker 1: Twenty six point two? I was good, believe it or not.
Speaker 1: Running through my old neighborhood.
Speaker 2: What were you thinking?
Speaker 1: I was. I was amped, like so I had two
Speaker 1: pieces of advice that was given to me. One was
Speaker 1: put your name on your shirt. I'm like, that's a
Speaker 1: little like self like, you know, But it turned out
Speaker 1: to be one of the best things, because when you're
Speaker 1: hurting in the crowd, especially New York is you know,
Speaker 1: yo bye bye, you know, you know, it does give
Speaker 1: you that extra thing. And then the second thing was
Speaker 1: they were like, don't listen to music. Instead download your
Speaker 1: funniest like most favorite comedy special. So I was listening
Speaker 1: to Mark the Whole Way, a little bit of this,
Speaker 1: a little bit of Chappelle, And I'll tell you in
Speaker 1: the Bronx when you're there for that mile twenty, when
Speaker 1: you come out of the Bronx and you see Central
Speaker 1: parking Maule twenty one, you start to have this weird
Speaker 1: laughter that's kind of like married to a little bit
Speaker 1: of that physical pain, and your in doorphins start kicking in.
Speaker 1: And it was the best thing I ever did. So
Speaker 1: I'm hurting and laughing at the same time as I
Speaker 1: was running it.
Speaker 2: So and that finish line when you crossed it would
Speaker 2: What were your thoughts like, what did you tell yourself
Speaker 2: when you crossed that finish line.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I had any like thoughts. I
Speaker 1: thought I would be a lot hungry than I was.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to eat for the next four or
Speaker 1: five hours, which I found that weird. I felt that
Speaker 1: I could have kept going even though I thought I couldn't.
Speaker 2: You want to do it again?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I said, I'm gonna do this again for sure. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a marathon runner, right, I'm going to
Speaker 1: go back to my Kenyan roots when I lived in
Speaker 1: Kenya and I ran with the Kenyans. I got this.
Speaker 1: It's in me, did I did? I did? Yeah? Two years?
Speaker 1: Are you?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: My God speaks for Heli as well? Really yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: don't ask me anymore. Ok.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, okay, now.
Speaker 1: I said, I speak some Swahili, not too much. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: the service, I was in the service. Yeah. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: the marathon it was you know, it's a test, right,
Speaker 1: But the test isn't the marathon. That's the reward running
Speaker 1: through New York City where people are just going buck
Speaker 1: while and the DJs of pumping the hip hop through
Speaker 1: Brooklyn and your I mean, that's the community.
Speaker 2: It's community. It's us just you know, we were here,
Speaker 2: it was we were working that day and we went
Speaker 2: outside and it was just everybody was outside, people eating,
Speaker 2: people were drinking and just congratulating, you know, the runners.
Speaker 2: It just felt good. It's a sense of community.
Speaker 1: It is, it is, it is.
Speaker 2: And you know, speaking of community, one of the things
Speaker 2: that I really really liked when researching you is how
Speaker 2: much you give back and how involved you still are
Speaker 2: with our first responders and with our community. Now, I
Speaker 2: wanted to talk to you about the foundation. You're the
Speaker 2: president of the foundation. Yes, what is your connection? You know,
Speaker 2: we all we all know what happened, you know, very tragic,
Speaker 2: and as a city, we mourned together. But how do
Speaker 2: you get connected to this story?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a great question. I was I was starting
Speaker 1: to experience and enjoy the fruits of my new found
Speaker 1: fame through Gotham. The NFL had very I was very humble.
Speaker 1: I was blown away. They had presented me the Hispanic
Speaker 1: Leadership Award for all of the work I had done
Speaker 1: prior to this newfound fame. So it kind of like
Speaker 1: came together and I was on the phone with the
Speaker 1: NFL and they were like, we'd like to make a
Speaker 1: cash donation to any nonprofit that you once loved that
Speaker 1: and so without a hesitation, I said the Raphael Ramos Foundation.
Speaker 1: They were like, great, do you know anyone? I said,
Speaker 1: I don't know anyone. And this had just happened. It
Speaker 1: was fresh in my mind, and I remember, you know,
Speaker 1: cops are killed every day in the United States, you know,
Speaker 1: you become somewhat numb to it. But also black and
Speaker 1: brown people are killed every day in our communities, right, so,
Speaker 1: you know, to be a person of color and uniform,
Speaker 1: it can be very very tricky. It's even trickier for
Speaker 1: my black brothers and sisters in uniform, especially during that time,
Speaker 1: right when violence was.
Speaker 2: Very small, I was very very small and as a country,
Speaker 2: and we were just mourning, and we were just witnessing
Speaker 2: so much trauma, so.
Speaker 1: Much so you know, this kind of eliminated, you know,
Speaker 1: And as I looked at the screen when breaking news,
Speaker 1: I remember sitting there looking at Raphael's face and I
Speaker 1: just I got fixated, and I go, I know this man,
Speaker 1: I don't know I from where. And it turns out
Speaker 1: that I went to middle school with Rafael back in Sunset.
Speaker 1: We went to junior high school together and I sat
Speaker 1: there and I remember being I felt cold, and I
Speaker 1: felt the same level of grief that I felt when
Speaker 1: they killed the first service member killed in the Iraq War.
Speaker 1: His name was Lieutenant Shane Childers. I lived in Kenya
Speaker 1: with him. I served in Kenya with him. You know,
Speaker 1: when I found out that Shane had been killed a
Speaker 1: few miles from where I was in my position in
Speaker 1: southern Iraq during the war, I felt that same level
Speaker 1: of grief in my throat and my I had like
Speaker 1: restrictive breathing that I felt like an elephant was pressing
Speaker 1: on my chest. And I remember my eyes they just
Speaker 1: started to, you know, leak right like I couldn't stop it.
Speaker 1: And I'm looking at him, but I wasn't like sobbing
Speaker 1: at that point. It was just like this profound level
Speaker 1: of of sadness. And I'm looking at him, and I
Speaker 1: thought about his kids, and I looked over to my
Speaker 1: two sons, and you know, I have a Jaden who's
Speaker 1: in college, and I have Jonah, and he has a
Speaker 1: Jayden and a Justin. And then I said, what was
Speaker 1: going on? And then I learned that they were just
Speaker 1: simply having lunch in their car, and these two guys
Speaker 1: were They weren't executed, that's not the right word. They
Speaker 1: were assassinated, right, And I'm like, that could have happened
Speaker 1: to me for nothing else and simply were in that uniform,
Speaker 1: you know. It was just that, you know, and you
Speaker 1: know him being Moriqua and is part of being Chinese
Speaker 1: and killed by another man of color.
Speaker 2: It was like, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1: What's the fuck's going on? And so the NFL said, hey,
Speaker 1: we want to do this. So I said, that's the foundation.
Speaker 1: I don't know them, but if you give me a
Speaker 1: couple of days, I'm going to reach out to them.
Speaker 1: So I did. I sent an anonymous email to the
Speaker 1: foundation's website. Within an hour, I'm on the phone with
Speaker 1: the vice president and I'm on the phone with the
Speaker 1: founder of Maritza. And I said, Maritza, I know you
Speaker 1: don't know me. I'm from Sunset, but I remember you
Speaker 1: because you worked in the Costco on third ninth Street
Speaker 1: and Sunset. She's like, yes, you know me from there.
Speaker 1: I go, I do. I said, listen, this is what's
Speaker 1: going on. Can you please come to my house. The
Speaker 1: next day, she's in my kitchen where they're talking, not
Speaker 1: a dry eye, and I just looked at her eyes
Speaker 1: and I felt the profound level of just emptiness, like
Speaker 1: she had just lost him.
Speaker 2: And I said, is that his wife?
Speaker 1: That's his wife, first widow. So Maritza Ramos, I said, Maritza,
Speaker 1: you're stuck with me, girl. I'll do whatever I can
Speaker 1: because I know that could have been me, and that
Speaker 1: could have been my son standing next to you at
Speaker 1: that at that funeral. And so that's that was the
Speaker 1: beginning of that relationship, and it came from me using
Speaker 1: my platform to give back to this man and his
Speaker 1: family in the community. And let me just say this
Speaker 1: to all the listeners. The Rafael Ramas Foundation is not
Speaker 1: a police foundation. It is community based with a focus
Speaker 1: on children. Because children in our neighborhoods, neighborhoods that are
Speaker 1: under resourced, under funded, have sometimes not the best relationships
Speaker 1: or the best perceptions of those who are sworn to
Speaker 1: protect them. So we've always said we want to deal
Speaker 1: with the children parents. Sometimes they have their own opinions,
Speaker 1: their own experiences. I get it. I grew up not
Speaker 1: trusting the cops because that's what I was taught to do.
Speaker 1: But children. There's an opportunity there where we can maybe
Speaker 1: interact with them in a way that will pay dividends.
Speaker 1: Maybe they will be less fearful and break that cycle
Speaker 1: and break the cycle. It's not perfect, but man, it's
Speaker 1: a start. And that's been the work for the last
Speaker 1: eight years that we focused on doing as much as
Speaker 1: we can for these kids of those specific neighborhoods.
Speaker 2: Thank you, we need the work that you're doing is
Speaker 2: so important, not just serving our country, not just entertaining us,
Speaker 2: but also, you know, just giving back to the community,
Speaker 2: because sometimes you get to a level where you're so
Speaker 2: successful and you're so busy that you forget about the community,
Speaker 2: you forget about where you came from, and you're still
Speaker 2: very much in it. And that says a lot about
Speaker 2: you as a man, because you used to be commendable, respectable,
Speaker 2: admirable all.
Speaker 1: There's a scene right if you find yourself on that
Speaker 1: elevator to the top, right, you got to send it
Speaker 1: back down. That's me.
Speaker 2: I say it all the time. I leave the back
Speaker 2: door open.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: I work in radio, and anybody that I can teach
Speaker 2: every single thing I do, I will. And I've had
Speaker 2: about thirty different interns, and I'm like, what do you
Speaker 2: want to learn? And you know, working with interns is
Speaker 2: tricky because you lose half your day teaching. And I
Speaker 2: would not change all my thirty kids that I've had,
Speaker 2: because that's what it's all about, you know, teaching, enabling
Speaker 2: and helping, you know, the next generation. So thank you
Speaker 2: so much for what you're doing. Absolutely, I'm sure you know.
Speaker 2: The Ramo's family is super grateful for you.
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for them for the opportunity. I always say,
Speaker 1: you want to do something selfish, help someone, you get
Speaker 1: so much more out of it.
Speaker 2: Look at you, look at you. You're like, because I'm
Speaker 2: getting something back.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 2: Now, twenty two twenty five, what's the plan for twenty
Speaker 2: twenty five?
Speaker 1: So twenty twenty five, So this year will mark the
Speaker 1: tenth year since Rafael Ramos and wen Ji and Lu
Speaker 1: were both assassinated. I always say, you know, leave it
Speaker 1: better than you found it. Eight years ago when I
Speaker 1: came on board, you know, four years, I've been the
Speaker 1: president of those eight years. For four of them i've
Speaker 1: been the president. This will be my last year with
Speaker 1: the foundation. I'm going to turn it over to our
Speaker 1: vice president, he's very capable and they're going to do
Speaker 1: great things. But we've definitely left it better and we
Speaker 1: found it. Listen, September thirteenth. All of the hard work
Speaker 1: that we've put into this has culminated in the renaming
Speaker 1: of PS fifty four K and Bedside to the Detective
Speaker 1: Raffao Ramos School Forreer. So I've always that was always
Speaker 1: like amazing, that is amazing. So I was you know,
Speaker 1: you had a hand in it, absolutely, And I'll tell
Speaker 1: you that it came because of acting. A teacher who
Speaker 1: was a fan of mine invited me to be principal
Speaker 1: of the day. She then years later becomes the principal herself,
Speaker 1: and that relationship continued to grow and we nurtured it,
Speaker 1: and then she was helpful in having us rename the school.
Speaker 2: After thank you for principle. She said, I got an
Speaker 2: agenda here, We're gonna make this.
Speaker 1: Amen. I mean, and it took a lot of work.
Speaker 1: It took a lot of work.
Speaker 2: But I'm pretty sure you can't just change the name
Speaker 2: of a school.
Speaker 1: No, especially in some neighborhoods. Some neighbors are like, what
Speaker 1: what you want to do? What you know? But yeah,
Speaker 1: it took us showing up time and time again for
Speaker 1: years and saying, look, we're telling you what we're about,
Speaker 1: but we're showing you it's even more important. We keep
Speaker 1: showing up, giving out exactly so then you know. So
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, I'm gonna I'm gonna separate myself. But
Speaker 1: against all that mean, what does that mean? It just
Speaker 1: means that I'm going to let them run with it
Speaker 1: and I'm going.
Speaker 2: To Okay, I tell you meant from from the public.
Speaker 1: Oh no, no, no, I'm always going to be around. No,
Speaker 1: but I do want to get back to do my
Speaker 1: love right, which is entertaining people working on music. You know,
Speaker 1: I still have that burning desires.
Speaker 2: What kind of music do you want to do?
Speaker 1: You're gonna laugh, But no, Soul, I saw that you
Speaker 1: was with Brown. Yeah, I want to talk to you
Speaker 1: about that country girl right who knew?
Speaker 2: Why not? Look at your boozy black man running country
Speaker 2: right now?
Speaker 1: Love it? Love it? I sang with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.
Speaker 1: In twenty thirteen, I did a Sam Cook number called
Speaker 1: The Change Is Gonna Come That that performs in Madison
Speaker 1: Square Garden. Changed the trajectory of my career. It also
Speaker 1: showed people that this dude may look a certain way,
Speaker 1: but he actually has a lot of soul in him.
Speaker 2: Do you want to do country?
Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean I'm open, you know, soul, right,
Speaker 1: soul I look at like Teddy Swims, I look at
Speaker 1: I mean, let's go back my favorite Donnie Hathaway, Teddy
Speaker 1: Panagrass Ltd. All that soul. You know, that's the music
Speaker 1: that I'm inspired by, you know, the al Greens and
Speaker 1: just all of that real bluesy, heavy soul. Not forget Luthor, Luthor, yes, Luthor.
Speaker 1: So that's twenty twenty five. You know one of my music,
Speaker 1: there's a movie coming out that's really I'm excited about
Speaker 1: doing more of that, you know, but music. Absolutely, I
Speaker 1: want to do a subway a showcase in a subway
Speaker 1: anywhere in New York City. Come on that. We could
Speaker 1: do that.
Speaker 2: We could do that. Listen, listen this We have nothing
Speaker 2: but subways. Okay, right right right, just.
Speaker 1: Because I think if New York is stopped and listen,
Speaker 1: then you're onto something.
Speaker 2: We to get your little band or something in the background,
Speaker 2: and you know, we'll tape it, we'll put it on YouTube,
Speaker 2: we'll put it on TikTok and that's it. You out
Speaker 2: of here.
Speaker 1: Today is the day we mentioned it.
Speaker 2: We're going to you know, manifest this. We're going to
Speaker 2: make this happen for you. Yes, I can see it. Yes,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for sitting down with me today. Man,
Speaker 2: this was a great inn Andy. Big shout out, I'm
Speaker 2: Pretty Lou.
Speaker 1: Shout out to pretty Lou who said, my girl, honey,
Speaker 1: German is going to be calling you please.
Speaker 2: You know, we were talking about you know who I
Speaker 2: want to interview and I was like, I want to
Speaker 2: interview Fat Joe and he was like, you know who
Speaker 2: you need to cortious. I was like, yeah, that's my guy,
Speaker 2: that's my guy. And I was like, you know what,
Speaker 2: let's make it happen. And you know, here we are,
Speaker 2: and it's it's all about connecting the dots. It's all
Speaker 2: about community, and it's all about helping each other. And
Speaker 2: you know, whatever you have going on, whichever way I
Speaker 2: can help, and you know, whatever Lou has going on,
Speaker 2: it's just about working with each other, you know, and
Speaker 2: creating these spaces where we can exist and where we
Speaker 2: can share our stories and where we can promote our projects.
Speaker 2: Because as latinos familiar.
Speaker 1: Now, this is a beautiful thing that you're your work,
Speaker 1: that you've created. The space is very comfortable, it's very welcoming.
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm with my prima for sure.
Speaker 2: There you got no.
Speaker 1: But yeah, let's let's keep it going.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you sitting down with me today. Absolutely, thank
Speaker 2: you for having me come again.
Speaker 1: I'll be back five.
Speaker 2: Don't play with me.
Speaker 1: Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
Speaker 1: in partnership with Iheart's Macutura podcast network.