Darrin Henson: Choreographing The Stars, Latino Influence & Acting Intentional

World renowned choreographer turned actor Darrin Henson joins us for a powerful, culture rich conversation about legacy, purpose, and the Latino influence that helped shape his life and career.

Raised in the Bronx, Darrin opens up about growing up alongside Latinos in his neighborhood and how Latino culture, friendships, and community played a lasting and positive role in his upbringing. From early life lessons to lifelong connections, he reflects on the moments that stayed with him and continue to guide him today.

Darrin shares behind the scenes stories from working with some of the biggest icons in music history, including Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, Christina Aguilera, and the ultimate GOATs Michael Jackson and Prince.

He also opens up about being first cousins with Taraji P. Henson and how talent, faith, and perseverance run deep in his family. One of the most jaw dropping moments of the interview is when Darrin reveals why he walked away from choreography at the height of his career, right after winning a VMA for *NSYNC’s iconic “Bye Bye Bye” routine, a dance he owns as his intellectual property. The very choreography later appeared in the film Deadpool, and for which the production had to properly compensate him for its use.

Darrin also breaks down his transition into acting, starring in beloved series like Soul Food and The Family Business, along with his evolution into an author and motivational speaker focused on purpose, ownership, and spiritual alignment.

 This is a must listen conversation about culture, creativity, faith, and knowing when to pivot.

 🎧 Subscribe for more interviews spotlighting culture, legacy, and voices that move the world.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Grass Come Again a podcast by Honey German.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to another episode of Grasses Come Again. Today we
have a very special guest. Darren Henson is in the building.
He's rubbing the Bronx. Actor, choreographer, author, director, motivational speaker.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
What else can I add to your resume, Darren.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
I don't know. It's I think that's enough. That's that's enough.
Hats only have one head. But I wanted to say
that I'm very thankful for them all, you know, and
it's great to be here with you all at me
hand it I'm just I'm thankful you know that that
I get to wear all of those hats at different times,
not at the same time. It's, you know, growing up

(00:48):
in the Bronx realizing that humble simply means for me,
That's the meaning that I give. It is remembering where
I came from and why I came. That's what makes
the difference. Remember where I came from and why I came.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
So when I say told you why you came? Who
told you? Why you can't?

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Spirit? Spirit spirito right, it speaks to you. And I'm
here to make a difference. I'm here to bring change.
I'm here to allow light to come through, you know,
like you know Latinos they say loose, and so it's

(01:38):
for me, it's it's that it's living in the light,
speaking light, speaking life. And you know, growing up in
the Bronx, I was my my His name was Francisco Ponte.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
You baptized his kid or he baptized.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
He's my because he just became that. There was no
baptism or anything. He was my my best friend. Dom
Missa Ponte, he was his father. And you know a
few blocks here from the radio station. He he worked
in the Hilton Hotel and he was a tailor. Yeah,
and everybody came to him to get their suits done

(02:20):
and and just you know, look sharp. And so when
I was a kid, I learned to speak Spanish, you know,
through him, through the through through the Apontes, and I
remember I grew up on Yeah. Yeah, we live next
door each other, you know, Domi, which we we called him,
but his name was Tom Thomas Uponte. His dad was

(02:41):
Francisco and we used to we used to hear something
every day. His mother Josephina, May she rest in peace,
May he rest in peace. We'll go sue suet. And
we used to be like that. It was like time
to get upstairs. And so you know, I was they
called Meleano, so I was the little one and she

(03:05):
was like Elenano. You know. I would come upstairs and
you know, I would eat with them, I would play
with them, and it was like I was.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
I was welcome.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
I was their son too, you know. So he was
my godfather, was his godson. And that's how they treated me. So,
you know, I grew up with latinos BOIQUI was you know,
I didn't learn what a Dominican was until years later.
And then I realized I dated a Dominican woman when
when I was in junior high school, I was like, oh, Clod,
can see when I found out.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Junior high school, Dominican was aware that you were dating one.
She was best women.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Shout out to lay.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
I'm pretty sure she grew up to me a fine Diminic.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Beautiful and amazing. And I remember and then you know,
my my children are half Dominican, so they're much older.
They're much older. They're they're thirty years old, they're twenty
seven years old.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Children, adult children, and they're all half Dominican. Yeah, oh no,
you Dominican.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah, all right, Okay, they do for them, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah. Are you still with their mother?

Speaker 1 (04:15):
No? No, no, no, no, no no no.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
But she did what she had to do it she we.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
We we had a great run. And you know, people change,
things change, life changes, and it's all love.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
For children, it's all love.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
I have children, Okay, I have three children with her.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Okay, three.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
They're amazing. They're adults, you know, New York, they're they're
still here in in the Tri state area. That's why
you're always here, and you know, it's it's you know,
they're I'm very, very proud of them. They went to
college on scholarships and did very well in life. One
of my sons is a school teacher and.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
He's giving back.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Yeah. So it's that's amazing.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
So much careers that I respect and admire the most.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, I'm blessed.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
And then your girl, you have a daughter.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she's she's twenty two and you know,
she's in fashion. She went to one of the School
of the Arts in college for fashion and photography. And
you know, we're just proud of them. Where you know,
we're thankful and we're proud of them.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
How do they feel about you being their dad?

Speaker 1 (05:25):
We don't talk about it, really, not at all because
one of the things, you know, I didn't even name
my children with my last name, really no, because I
didn't want them to have to suffer by other people
commissioning them to walk in my footsteps. It can be

(05:48):
very difficult. Think about Michael Jordan's son, think about the
life that he has, right, Like, you know, some people
didn't even know Michael Jordan had a son, right, but
he does. So imagine your dad being, you know, one
of the greatest basketball players in the world, and then
you're a basketball player. I didn't want that for my children,
so we gave them very special names, names with intention

(06:11):
love it, and but I didn't. I didn't give them
my last name intentionally so they could live their own
lives and blaze their own paths.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
I love that. Yeah, I love that because I see
what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
It's just the expectation are you going to live up
to the expectation of you know, let's say al Pacino's
your father, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Like, it's just like, think about all the stuff that
Will Smith's children go through, right, just being his children.
I didn't want that for my children.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
But then it kind of like also opens doors, like
let's think of like Sophia Coppola.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Absolutely, oh my god, absolutely absolutely, but but I think
that it should be it's like getting your ears pierced.
Some parents don't pierce their daughter's ears because they're like, well,
wait till she determines whether or not she wants it pierced.
And that was very important for me that they could
become independent thinkers and they will decide their path and

(07:07):
we will support it.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
I see where you're at. And it's bringing back the.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
Whole story and how he was just Enrique. So he
became a pop star, and then she was like and
by and then he was like, by the way, my
father is, you know the I and then he started
using Julio's last name and then but at that point
we just like, this guy's a pop star.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
We don't care whose dad was.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
But it's very interesting because now that you mentioned Enrique,
I mean, I think by now people know that that
I am a world renowned choreographer. Yes we so Enrique,
who I Love? I choreographed by Lamos, No I choreographed

(07:51):
by Lamos for then Enrique, that's mine, that's mine. So
everybody knows bye bye bye but bye bye bye Love
don't cost a thing by Jennifer Christina Aguioletta Genie in
a bottle.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
I mean, so the way he just started flexing and
dropping like I was, I was just not ready to
get into the choreography.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
But Amos's mind really yeah, Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
I still remember the video and anything.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
By Almost's mind and and and it's so amazing because
I remember spending time. I spent a lot of time
with Endrique and you know, one of the things he
didn't want to live in his father's shadow. That's what
I'm talking.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
About, you know, And that's what she wanted for your kids.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
I want my children to be who they choose to be,
not my shadow.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
I respect that. I respect that.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Darren Henson, I respect you.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
Now.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Taraji, I know the name probably always my cousin first cousins,
like my cousin.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
If you look at Taraji and you look at my dad,
they have the same face. They have the same face.
It's so amazing. I just met somebody recently that's a chef,
and then he was cooking for Taraji. I was while
in New York, you know, I visited a school and
it was so amazing because he had a story about

(09:11):
Taraji and she loves him. He loves her, and so
it's always nice when you hear great stories.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
I've had nothing but great interactions with t She's just
so dope and she's just so real and so down
to earth.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
It just feels like you to homie.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, And that's and that's how she lives.
You know, she knows where she comes from and who
and and and who she comes from? Does that make sense?
It's like, you know, she she she knows her purpose.
And again, I think she's another one who who believes
in creating change, whether it's socially, economically, spiritually, we come
to change things, you know. Going back to my ancestor,

(09:46):
Matthew Henson, who discovered the North Pole.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
Right are you kidding me? Right now?

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Very seriously?

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Wasn't that deep?

Speaker 1 (09:55):
Yea our lineage, And it's so interesting. It's between her
and me, like who's going to do the story first?
And I think ultimately, and he was a man, Oh yeah,
absolutely absolutely yeah. I mean, look at what I'm wearing
right now. I kind of look like Matthew Henson right now,
you know.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
And so Matthew Henson. We've got to do this story,
you argy, you got to do it together.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
The man who discovered this south Pole. Yeah that No,
that's great. I love that that you just said that, honey,
that we should combine forces powers and do it together.
I love that.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Of course, that's how it's got to happen. You both
come from that lineage. I love that it's both your
story to share and you know, creatively. I'm pretty sure
you guys would work in a doe. Now when did
you decide I want to be a creative? You know,
because you're from the Bronx.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yes, you're a black man. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
It's just like we're pushed as inner city kids. We're
not pushed to be creative by a parent, especially if
you grew up you know, eighties nineties, you know, when
we were at the height of like, you know, just
crisis here in New York, whether it be you know,
our crack epidemic, whether it be our AIDS epidemic. We
didn't have it easy when it came to inner city kids.
So how did you end up being a creative and

(11:05):
not a bus driver and not a police officer and
not you know, working in a hospital. Like a lot
of our men ended up in those areas. Who pointed
you in the direction of let's say, was choreography your
first love?

Speaker 1 (11:17):
I go back to spirit again. At five years old,
I knew what I wanted to be. I had the
opportunity to grow up where the Motown era was happening.
You had the Commodorees, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight, Diana
ross Lino, Ritchie right like, I grew up in that Yeah,
I grew up in that era. So there was music always.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Around in your home, yes, okay, and mom or dad
who was into the musicum My, mom.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
My dad? You know. And I say this, and I
have to say this for all of those men who
may be listening, and the women as well. You know,
people always complain about their father's not being around. I
didn't complain about him being around. I just say he
wasn't in my way, so I could determine what I
wanted to be. So I learned to empower myself. But

(12:07):
my dad left when I was five. Him and my
mom had some disagreements. You know, my dad is a
very famous, world renowned horse trainer, so he was training
horses thoroughbred race horses. And you know, my mom was
the mom that that was in the house and she did,
you know, many different odd jobs because my dad wasn't around.

(12:32):
And I developed a relationship with my father. At twenty seven,
I wind up moving to Parkchester. I'll never forget this.
I moved to Parkchester in the Bronx and I saw
this guy. He was about six foot seven, much younger
than me, and I was like, this guy looks just

(12:53):
like my father, like the spitting image of my father.
Everybody in my family's tall on the men's side. I'm
the runt of the family. I took after my mom.
And so I looked at this guy and I walked
up to him and I said, is your last name Henson?
He said yeah, he was a basketball player and in

(13:14):
high school at the time. And I said, is your
middle name? Because all the men in my family have
the same middle and last name. I saw that, and
he said yeah. He thought I was a fan of his.
And I said, what's up. I'm your oldest brother, Darren,
And he said, what he didn't know about me existed.

(13:35):
He didn't know about me. And I told him his
father's name and he said, yo, who are you, I said,
I'm your oldest brother, Darren. I didn't realize I had
moved next door to my father. You see, God works
in mysterious ways.

Speaker 3 (13:50):
Me and you're gonna have to get deeper into this.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
God works in mysterious ways. But when I was a child,
I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to
be a performer, and at that time, the Jackson five
was big. And then I grew up clearly, you know,
inspired by the Jackson five, and then of course Michael Jackson,
and that was literally on my mind my entire life,

(14:14):
to work with Michael Jackson. Like that was it. I
said yes to that dream. I used to have reoccurring
dreams as a child that they used to always allow
me to come over their house. But I never yeah,
but I never stayed. They whenever I ate, they would go, okay, Darren,
we'll see you later. You gotta go. They always walked

(14:34):
me to the door and said bye. But I was
always at the house. I remember at least having that
dream five times. And that's my favorite number five.

Speaker 3 (14:43):
Right.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
I'm born single than mile, so I got it.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
I got it.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
So I always knew what I wanted to do and.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
You just knew you wanted to entertain.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeah, I wanted to dance. I had to dance. Dance
was yeah the expression for me. Saturday Night Fever was
out the first five dollars I ever made in my life.
I was eight years old, I think eight or maybe
nine or ten, and I imitated John Travalta in Saturday
Night Fever and I won the dance contest. I love this,

(15:30):
I love this is true.

Speaker 3 (15:31):
You were born to do this.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
I It's something that I've always wanted to do. And
then when I got to high school, I went to
de Witt Clinton High School in the Bronx, and I
joined all of the theatre workshop classes. I did all
of the young Yeah, I did all of the talent shows.
And then it started from there. It started from there.
Then when I graduated, I joined the circus Ringling Brothers

(15:56):
in Barnum and Bailey Circus. I promise, what promise you
as a dancer, because street dancing was huge at that time,
right this is nineteen eighty nine, and I joined the
group called the Live Action Squad. A friend of mine,
Frank Vincepcion, was the leader of this group, and when
I graduated, they were like, yo, we need another dancer.

(16:18):
So I went on tour. So we toured the United States,
Ringling Brothers in Barnum and Bellley Circus and we were
popping and locking, and it was a group called the
Live Live Action Squad. So we were performing in front
of sixteen thousand people right in no pressure, in the circus.
And then the following year in nineteen ninety, we moved

(16:38):
to Japan and performed in Japan for a year. So
street dancing, hip hop, you know, true hip hop, right, graffiti, rapping, djying,
dancing right and clothing true hip hop. We utilize as

(17:00):
that to work for us, not against us. And so
I was making money. I was traveling the world. I
lived in Japan, I learned Japanese.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
It was amazing the way they love, you know, the
hip hop culture and New York culture.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
Isn't that just so like endearing?

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Like wow, honey, it was amazing. We were like kings
over there, right because it was like their eye, everybody's
eyes on America, no matter what anybody thinks. Everybody wants
to come to America and experience the expression the freedom
that we have here and through dance, which is pure energy.

(17:41):
We were able to have energetic conversations and to distribute
what we were feeling inside. We were you know, Latino
and black kids from the Bronx who went through stuff.
You know, I was put out of my house three
times before I was twelve years old. You know, I

(18:02):
experienced being pad locked and put out because my mother
didn't have enough money. And I remember when I was
twelve years old, I said, I'm never going to let
this happen to me. I'm never going to allow this.
And the older I got, the more I kept reading,
the more I kept maturing and knowing what I wanted
to do. I knew what I wanted to do and why.

(18:24):
So when somebody asked me, what was your why? My
why was because I never wanted to experience lack and limitation.
I never wanted somebody to be able to put me
out of my house, and so I knew that I
had to do something to create an experience for myself mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally,

(18:46):
and economically that I would never have to worry about that.
So I focused.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
And this is why you're also a motivational speaker, because
you just motivated the.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
Hell out of it.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Right now, I love love love this conversation. Now, how
did you end up becoming a choreographer for stars? Like
you're in Japan right now, right?

Speaker 1 (19:08):
And I come back from Japan. I had an amazing
time over there. And then when I came back, I
did a show called Club MTV, which was on MTV.
That's right, and I was one of the kind of
premier dances. It was a few dances that were known
on the show and that was one of them. A
lot of camera time, a lot of interviews, and I

(19:29):
was known as pop crazy at that time because everything
was about popping and locking. So when Julie used to
interview me, she used to go, pop Crazy, I love
how you dance, so show us.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
And can research.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
It's everywhere. And I remember at that time because that's
when the movie Breaking was out. And while I was
on Club MTV, they picked some dancers to do the
Donna Hughes Show. And there was a Broadway show that
was on Broadway at that time, was called ob Oba
and it was a Brazilian dance team that was on

(20:03):
Broadway at that time or off Broadway, but they were huge.
O ba O ba and they had adulphul Quinonez on
the show Rest in Peace. Everybody else knew him as Shabbadou,
the guy from the movie Breaking Ozone, and we did
Donahue together. And I met him and I followed him
round like a puppy, and he took me under his

(20:26):
wing and he said, I got something for you. And
he made a call to a director that he had
worked with. He choreographed the show called Stand Up Tragedy,
which was coming to Broadway. I'm twenty one years old now.

Speaker 3 (20:40):
A baby, still a.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Baby, forty fifth Street in Broadway. I had to go audition.
I had ten dollars in my pocket. I had on shorts.
I went into the store and bought a pair of
pants that was nine to ninety nine. It was ten
eighty one with tax. All I had was ten. I
told the guy, I have an audition right here at

(21:02):
the Criterion, said I need to wear these pants. They
have to be baggy. I need these. He gave it
to me. I read the sides for the character. His
name was Carlos Cruz, a Dominican kid on the Lower
East Side. I auditioned. I booked the role of Carlos
Cruz and Stands Up Tragedy. When I was twenty one.

(21:24):
I was on Broadway at twenty one years old as
an actor and a dancer because of Shabba Doo Quinnones.
That's where it all started, with dreaming, with believing, with
following my dreams, and Michael Jackson was in my head
the entire time, Beat It Without you Know, Smooth Criminal

(21:46):
was hou you know the Way You Make Me Feel,
which is my favorite video in the entire world's second
favorite videos all night long, Lino Richie. Right, So I
kept that in the forefront of my head, my dreams,
and I said, I'm just gonna follow them. I'm not
going to chase them, because if I try to chase them,
if I'm chasing something, that means it's trying to get

(22:08):
away from me. I'm going to follow my dreams. Right,
Let the dreams lead and I just take action. And
I found myself at twenty one years old, a guy
from the Bronx who didn't have a pot to pissing
or a window to throw it out of was on Broadway.

Speaker 3 (22:24):
That's unheard of.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
How did that happen? And what I realized was and
my grandmother taught me this, pray keep God first, read
your Bible and believe, have faith, and that's what has
been for me, and that's why we say that. I
say the yos every day and I learned along the way,

(22:50):
follow the keys to success. Become a detective for success,
because success leaves clues. You just got to know where
to put your magnifying glass. You looking.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
I don't even want to participate. I just want to
listen to you speak.

Speaker 2 (23:05):
I love everything that you're saying. You know, it's crazy
because we want things, and like you said, we chase
things and then we're like, ah, it's not happening, and
then we gave up on things. But it's just we're
approaching things all the wrong way.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
You know. You asked me a few minutes ago, how
did I start choreography. It's really a very interesting story.
I actually started choreographing because I was frustrated with I
used to work for Salt and Pepper and I did
a video with them called Shop as a Dancer.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Oh hold up, no, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
I was in shop.

Speaker 3 (23:42):
Everybody was fine in Shop.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
I was in Shoop. If you look at Shop, I'm
the I'm the guy in the part of the song
that goes Ao Sandy. I want to like, taste you
right to pepper, and then we did what a Man Too.
But another choreographer actually choreographed that. And I wanted to
work with Salt and Pepper because they were legends. But
the guy who was choreographing it, he was different from

(24:07):
my style. But I learned the choreography, but I didn't
like the way it felt on my body. And so
I always say it was positive frustration that led me
to say I got to do my own thing, and
so I started choreographing. I was like, I wanted to
feel good to me, and so although I had done

(24:28):
those things, I wanted to feel what I was feeling.
And then when I did that, that's when new kids
on the block came along. I choreographed new kids on
the Block. Lisa Lisa came along, and I choreographed let
the beat hit Him for Lisa Lisa, huge smash hit
for Lisa Lisa. But that came by way of and
I have to shout this man out. His name is

(24:49):
Duran Ramos, who I went to school with.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
You know what keeps coming up and keeps coming up
and keeps coming up Latinos.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, absolutely, durand Raymos was a friend of mine. He's
a Bodigua. He's a friend of mine. And he was
in a group at that time called Trilogy, and I
became a part of Trilogy, which was signed to C
and C Music Factory. Shout out rest in Peace, David Cole,
shout out to Robert Clavilla's and because I was a

(25:20):
part of Trilogy and down with CNC Music Factory and
C and C Music Factory at that time were like
the biggest producers. They were producing for C and C
Music Factory. So Robert Clavilla's and David Cole got me
to choreograph for C and C. I choreographed Things that
Make You Go Home. They produced the See and they
produced Lisa Lisa's album. That's how I choreographed let the
Beat Hit Him. They were doing the remix for New

(25:41):
Kids on the Block, so I choreographed No More Games
and Dirty Dog for New Kids.

Speaker 3 (25:46):
Listen, Darren say, I did not come to play.

Speaker 1 (25:48):
I didn't come to play High five. She's playing hard.
To get SWV's first song right here, I did, and
then sew into you. You know George Michael Killer Papa.

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Essay, Yeah, you are certified when it comes to choreograph.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Yeah, and all of it really, like when you think
about the latter, all of it was to get to
the top step for me at that time, which was
Michael Jackson. So everybody else, although I loved working with everybody,
Deborah Cox, Donald Summer, George, Michael Spice, girls, everybody was

(26:26):
to get to Michael Jackson. And then in nineteen ninety five,
I'm working with Montel Jordan. This is how we do it,
the biggest song in the country, and we were doing
a movie with Eddie Murphy called The Nutty Professor.

Speaker 3 (26:45):
I still laugh at that, right.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Dave Chappelle was in that movie, so I was one
of the dances for Montell Jordan when you look at
Nutty Professor. So we're in Los Angeles. We're on the
the the the grounds of your Universal Studios, and I've
always been a loner. So during lunchtime I went walking.
They were like, where are you going? I said, I'm

(27:08):
gonna go walk. Everybody else stayed in the studio and ate,
you know, you have bunching chest sessions going on. Right,
I went walking. So I'm walking, I'm looking. I'm like, man,
I'm in La Universal Studios. This is crazy. And I
walk onto this set. It was beautiful. It was big, white,

(27:30):
massive set. This guy comes out, he goes, can I
help you? And I was like, oh, sorry, I didn't
you know, my fault, my bad. And he's like, no, no,
it's okay. But what are you doing here? I said, oh,
I'm a few studios down working with Eddie Murphy. You know,
I didn't even say montell Jordan, I said, Eddie Mursey, right,
But I said, well, we're doing a movie, Nuddy professor.

(27:52):
They were like, oh, okay, that's cool, that's cool. I said,
what are you doing? He said, well, we're not really
supposed to talk about it, but clearly are on the set,
but you can't tell anybody. I said, okay, okay, but
what is this? And they said Scream? I said what's that?
And they said, oh, it's Michael Jackson's new song with
Janel Jackson. I walked onto the set of Scream. Can

(28:16):
you believe that guided me the whole time? Now here's
how it translates to my life. I stayed there that whole.

Speaker 3 (28:27):
Hour talking to you know.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
I stayed there. The gentleman's name was Travis Paine, who's
everybody knows now that was Michael's choreographer. So he told me,
I promise you it happened just like that, my hand to.

Speaker 3 (28:42):
You, and the fact that the set was all white.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
Exactly and clean, clean, right.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
You to heaven. If you let me tell you that,
you promise.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
You, That's how it happened. I go back to set.
We finished, and then you know, we went back on touring.
Some stuff was happening while I was on tour, and
just stuff, and it became uncomfortable, right, and Travis told
me there were auditions coming up for who Michael Jackson
right exactly. So September rolls around, I'm having problems with

(29:18):
Montell's camp. I leave, I go to audition. I booked
the audition to work with Michael Jackson, to go to
Hungry in Budapest to film the history video. The video
you see him watching right with all the soldiers, So
I said, and I made it. I got booked as
the dancer. So I told Montell's camp. They were like,

(29:44):
who are you going to leave? Montell's the biggest artist
in the world right now. Little did they know, I
booked with Michael Jackson. I fly out to Hungary, we
shoot the video. It's called history. Everybody can see it.
You see me in the video. I'm out and hungry.
Michael Jackson calls for me. After maybe two weeks of
us being there. I'm like what. His makeup artist, Karen

(30:22):
Fay comes to me. She said, Michael wants to meet you.
He heard about you because I was always popping in
my in my uniform focused and I was like me joel.
So I go to meet him. He walks out the
winter bagel. My mouth drops. I can't talk. I can't talk,

(30:44):
and he's like, Hi, how are you. I was like,
I'm I couldn't talk. He's like, I heard you. You
are real good popper. And I was like, He's like,
I'd love to see you dance. You don't have to
if you don't want to. I said, no, no, no,
I want to. So I started popping for him. In
the video when you see him walking, he stops and

(31:05):
he goes, you are incredible. That was it. That was it.
Nothing and nobody else in the world mattered to me.
Michael Jackson said, I was indit. You couldn't tell me nothing.
That was it. It was like I was sir dubbed Sir
Darren Henson by Michael Jackson. Yeah, I was knighted, right.

(31:29):
So we come back and then we have to do
the MTV Music Awards. We're doing Dangerous. That's where he
has the black hat the red gloves. So we're coming.
I'm coming down from the rafters on a rope all
the way down, hit the stage and I come and
you see Montell's wife go, that's Darren I'm dancing in

(31:52):
front of and I'm like, in my I'm like, yep,
it's me. I was with Michael Jackson. I was with
the great it's entertainer in the world to this day.
And so for a whole year I'm performing, I'm traveling
with Michael. I wind up choreographing for him this one
thing that we did. And then after that, the following year,

(32:18):
I get hired to work with Prince. Tina Landon calls me,
She's like, we need dancers. I go to work for
Tina Landon to work with Prince, like, come on, life
is like incredible. And then Prince walks up to me
in a rehearsal, real slow. He just walks and he

(32:38):
looks at me, goes, do you choreograph? I said yeah,
and then he walks away. From me and I'm like, huh,
classic Prince right, classic Prince. A week later, he calls
me at my house. His assistant calls, he said, he

(32:59):
wants to speak to you. Remember and nobody It was
no name at the time. He said he wants to
speak to you.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
He was just a symbol at that point.

Speaker 1 (33:04):
Get on the phone and he's like, can you get
some dances together to go to England? And I said yes,
He said okay, gave the guy the phone back, gave
me all the information. Now I'm in the UK choreographing
the brit Awards for Prince. What Then he calls me

(33:27):
to choreograph a video called face Down for him, Prince
and Michael Jackson all within the same like all within
a year. What my life is incredible? But now remember
after working with Michael Jackson, after what Michael Jackson said,
I felt unstoppable.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
You were gassed beyond.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Then Jordan Knight comes, former member of the New Kids, right,
and then I get a call from Puffy Yo playboy,
I want you to choreograph. I was like, nah, I'm good.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
What why and why.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I'm asking you the choregraph? I was like, nah, I'm good.
I turned them down. Why I didn't want to work
with him. I knew what it came with. I knew
the headaches, the ego that it came with.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
You understand you had already heard about Puff, yes, in
the industry.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Yeah, right, like I don't want somebody calling me at
nine o'clock and I mean at three o'clock in the morning,
going yo, we gotta rehearse, like no, you know, at
that time, I had my first son, right, so I
was choreographing for Jordan Knight, huge number three on on
TRL give it to your video.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
Did you know Puff or someone gave him me your
phone number.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
He you know, he's very resourceful, so it was yeah,
it was like, you know, he wanted the hottest choreographer
that was out at that time. But I was working
with Jordan, like you know, to be honest, To be honest,
I had all the top artists.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
So you were saw after you know, yeah right.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Now, and then we was nominated for my first MTV
award for Give It to You then after that.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
So we all knew who you were.

Speaker 1 (35:10):
Yeah, no, not yet. So here this is the lineage
working with Prince. At that time, I was did the
brit Awards I meet the Spice Girls down there, right,
I meet the Spice Girls like, of course, I'm in
the UK the brit Awards. We exchanged numbers, blah blah
blah blah with the manager. Then I get a call
from the Spice Girls. The man called me the following

(35:34):
year and was like, the girls want you to choreograph them.
I hung up the phone because I thought they was playing.
Then they called me back. They were like, the Spice
Girls want you to choreograph for them. Then I get
a call from Markie Mark at that time, So we're
in Germany. I see this group on the TV and
I'm like, yo, these white boys are dope. Here we go, right,

(35:56):
it's insane. Here we go one more. I can't sing.
I could dance, but I can't sing be able to
do it all. So it's so it's in sync. But
then I come back. I get Britney Spears.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
So I choreographed your run is something insane.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
I choreograph sometimes video. Then I choreograph you drive Me
Crazy video, and then the manager had in sync. He
was like, I want you to do that Disney special.
That was the first time they seen him in America.
The Disney Special blew up.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
Oh that was a bag. I'm pretty sure, yes.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
And then the tour comes, and then in two thousand
they get released from Lou Pearlman and bye Bye Bye comes.
Now at two thousand, I turned into an actor. So
I'm on the Soul Food series.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
So what do you mean you just didn't want to
be a choreographer anymore.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
I lost the MTV Music Award. I lost, Oh stop
Darren to v that loca Ricky Martin. If I was
going to lose to any body, lose to Ricky Martin.
But I was frustrated. I was angry. I had I
had worked with Prince, I had worked with Michael Jackson, everybody.
I was like, I'm done.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
Oh my, so you kind of like were being spiteful
to yourself.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Yes, so watch this. I'm gonna show you how God works.
But I always wanted an MTV Music Award, because you
deserve a street dancer named Anthony Thomas run for Rhythm Nation.
He was a street dance. I was a street dancer.
I wanted it. But in nineteen ninety nine I gave up.
I was like, I'm done.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
So the industry itself made you want to no longer
be a choreographer.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
I worked with Michael Jackson and Prince and everybody else.
I was done.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Wasn't that validation enough? You ain't need no vma.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
No, I needed it. I needed it. So watch this.
So now our audition for Soul Food. I get Soul Food,
Showtime's biggest television series, Iconic. Johnny Wright calls me and says,
the guys want you to choreograph for them. I said, Johnny,
I don't do choreography anymore. I'm an actor now, Like

(38:05):
my ego is on my shoulder. The devil that was
on the left side right was talking to me. No,
you don't do that. You did it already. You work
with Michael, you work with Prince, you did everybody. He
did this price girl. You don't need that anymore. No, no, no,
So Johnny said, no, you did that special. These guys
like they want you, and I was like, Johnny, I'm
not doing it. He's like, let me send you the song.

(38:28):
Johnny sends me bye bye bye. I was like, yo,
this is hot.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
You felt it. I was like your body started popping.

Speaker 1 (38:37):
My body was like moving. I was like, he was like, look,
just come. They're doing the Radio Music Awards they want
you to come. They're gonna introduce it, do it for them.
I was like, Johnny, please, Darren, the guys want I go,
and choreographed bye Bye Bye.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
I think the whole world knows that.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
They went they they went crazy. And then Bye Bye
Bye comes out as a song. Then we do the
music video, and then they're nominated for an MTV Music Award.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Okay, and I.

Speaker 1 (39:12):
Get the MTV Music Award nomination.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
We're one sep closer.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
And then I win. It wins Video of the Year Award.
It wins Best Song, I think, and Best Choreographer goes
to Darren Henson. God knew what he was doing as

(39:40):
long as I got out the way and I was
listening to what was being presented to me. Can you
imagine if I would have passed on that, those dance
steps could have been completely different dance steps and the
whole world wouldn't be doing it now. Look, even Deadpool
just did it last year and resurged Bye Bye Bye.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
You know, we're recording right next to kat you and
there's a huge song for them still, and it's just
iconic that Dan's we can do it right now. You know,
we're for people in the room right now, we really
put ourselves to it.

Speaker 3 (40:14):
I feel like I want to do it.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
World right now, ain't no lie bye bye bye. It's
so amazing because Michael Jackson.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
No, no, no, Darren, Darren Dan you don't even have to
go back, like.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Oh, but but think about it, Michael Jackson, Billy Jean,
everybody in the world does that thrilla. Everybody in the
world does that bye bye bye. Everybody in the world
does it. I'm like, oh, my god, thank you, thank
you for putting me in the place. Thank you for
seeing me as worthy enough to do this. Thank you
for allowing me to dream big enough, and thank you

(40:50):
for teaching me to be humble enough that I could
accept that gift, which was the group in the song,
so I could do the work. Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Stop. I feel so motivate right now.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
I'm like, You're pouring so much into me right now,
just me hearing you tell your story, because one thing
is me getting you know, your bio and just me,
you know, reading about it, but hearing it from you
and seeing you know, the passion that you feel behind
this story, just you know, fills my cup.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
You know, honey, it's it's like what you do. You know,
we listen to you, we watch you, and we're inspired
by you as well, because think about it, you decided
to do something greater than you originally had or was
presented with. You had to become a dreamer, and then
you had to be a doer, and then you become

(41:44):
I tell people be and it comes. You know, when
we say it, I say it's come again. It's like
serving people, serving them something they may not even know
that they need. It's like thank you, come again because
because guess what. You get to eat here, you get
to breathe here, you get to live here, you get

(42:04):
to rest here because we're going to give you something
that is like vitamins. It's like minerals for the body,
the mind, and the spirit that I say, come again,
We're going to have more for you.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
No, definitely, and you're kind of like a therapy session.
And a lot of the guests tell me all the time,
like wow, it didn't even feel like an interview. It
just felt like a conversation.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
You know, we get to be vulnerable.

Speaker 2 (42:25):
And before I decided on grassas Come Again, I wanted
it to be a safe space but you know, the
company told me there is a lot of podcasts called
the safe space, but it is what I wanted to create.
I wanted to create something where I can sit down
with people and they don't feel like I'm going to
be attacked. She's going to bring up negativity, She's going
to try to dig up.

Speaker 3 (42:44):
Dirt on me.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
Like No, I want this to be a place where
you can be seen, your story can be heard, and
I can tell you how respected you are, how admired
you are, how important you are to the culture, to
our people. It's what I want. I just want to
make the person sitting across from me feel.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
Good, and I do and it's beautiful. So thank you.

Speaker 3 (43:08):
That's a lot. After you win your VMA, how do
we how do we move forward?

Speaker 1 (43:30):
So this is the interesting thing. Jennifer Lopez was a
really good friend of mine at that time.

Speaker 3 (43:36):
How do how does one become friends with Jennifilo?

Speaker 1 (43:39):
Well, remember she was a dancer before she was an actress,
So Jennifer I used to hire her all the time
as a dancer. If you look at things that make
you go home, Jennifer's in that. If you look at
the new kids on the block on the American musical Wars.
When we did No More Game, I put Jennifer directly
in the center. If you look at kom O D's
God Made Me Funky, Jennifer' is one of the lead dancers.
If you look at Richard Rogers Can't Stop Loving You.

(44:01):
She was my love interest as a dancer in the video.

Speaker 3 (44:05):
So that's the way love goes.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Was that no, no, no, she was already gone by
that time, right, So what happened was in two thousand
and one, Love Don't Cost the thing comes out. It's
her departure now right. She calls me, I'm doing soul food,
so here we go again. She's like, Darren, I need you.

(44:27):
I won the MTV Music Award already, and I was like,
jan I'm not dancing no more. I'm not choreographing the more.
She was like, man, don't play with me. I was like,
what are you talking about. She's like, I need you.
You're gonna call oh, let me tell you. She didn't
take no full answer. She's like, if you don't do it,
I'm gonna do it myself. I was like, I can't
let you do that. So she convinced me to do
Love Don't Cost the Thing. So I fly out to

(44:49):
Sweden and I actually choreograph it in Sweden because she
was doing the Sweden MTV Music Awards, and so I
choreographed it for there. The video didn't come out yet,
and then we do the music video, so you can
see in the making of the video, which I love
that MTV used to do the making of the video,
you can see bye bye bye. You can see Love

(45:11):
Don't Cost the Thing so many right, and it's so
you know, it was so close and we had so
much you know, fun and great times together that that
we did Love Don't Cost the Thing. And in that video,
it's just the danced break, right, It's just the dance break.

(45:32):
It's on the beach, right, It's like she looks at
the postcard and then try to do the dance. Yeah,
And it became one of the biggest It was just
the dance break, but it was massive. So it was
like I did that. And after probably after Love Don't
Cost the Thing is really when I started to just

(45:54):
kind of chill because I really started to seek deeper
into a thing, right, like I had done that, I
have one now I'm official, right, I I work with
Michael Prince. I did Spice Girls, Brittany, Christina, j Lo
and Singh.

Speaker 3 (46:11):
Dance.

Speaker 1 (46:11):
I was just like, you know, it was there was
nobody else. I was like, Okay, now I can act,
and so I really kind of just focused on acting
after j Loo.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Before we go into acting, I wanted to get into
your choreographer head.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
Do you imagine the dances? Do you write them down? Like?

Speaker 2 (46:30):
How does one come to like my Love Don't Cost
the Thing? How did you come up with that exact choreography?

Speaker 1 (46:36):
The music tells me what to do, and you know,
I tell people of this and I love this, and
it's true, true, true. If you put me in a
big dance studio, I'm not going to come up with
anything because when I was growing up, I danced in
my bedroom. All the hits that I created were created
in my bedroom in a small space twin bed and

(46:58):
two dressers. Choreographed Love Don't Cost the Thing in my bedroom,
and then I flew out to Sweden to teach it
to her. All of the big dance steps that I did,
I choreographed in very little spaces because that was where
my comfort zone was.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
You feel safe.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
So when you put me in a big studio. I
didn't I couldn't feel. But if you put me in
a kind of a four x four six by four space,
I was gonna give you the business. And that's what happened.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
Now with all the artists that you work with, who
was like the hardest to choreograph? Like? Who who was
like I can't get it, this is just hard. I
can't learn this.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Believe me or not. At that time as two artists
and we talk about this. I have a documentary out
that's called The Untold Darren Hanson Story, Darren's dance.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
Group work in one stream right now.

Speaker 1 (47:49):
Honestly, it was out for two years on a network
called All Black that was a division of AMC, and
it left there and right now I'm looking for a
new home because the rights got reverted back to me,
so I own it Amazon, and I'm thinking, yeah, I'm
thinking about putting it out on Amazon so the world

(48:11):
can see it again. So that's that's what we're getting
ready to do. Either that or put it on YouTube.

Speaker 3 (48:16):
As long as the YouTube belongs to.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
You, absolutely only. We got to have the coins. Gotta
have the coin.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
I love Amazon.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
When I'm looking for something very particular I seem to
always find it out Amazon, But who are the two
people you are going to tell me about?

Speaker 3 (48:30):
It's because dancing is so hard for me. I cannot dance.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
It was Believe It or Not SWV and they talk
about it. They talk about it in the documentary. They
were like, we didn't want to dance because you know,
they're singers, and.

Speaker 3 (48:42):
The choreography their choreographer was kind of light.

Speaker 1 (48:44):
Yeah, but when we did right here, they gave me
a hard time, especially Coco, who I love so much,
but you know that was yeah, she was like subtle,
laid back, but you know, we got the video done.
It became a hit song for them and a hit
video for them. And Believe It or Not, Christina Aguilera,
while we were doing Genie in a Bottle. We did

(49:04):
a four hour session and got maybe one or two
eight counts. Because my stuff was so staccato, was unless
you knew that style, it was difficult to pick up.

Speaker 3 (49:14):
And she was new, right.

Speaker 1 (49:15):
She was very new, although she was on the Mickey
Mouse Club, but she had never done my style and
so at that time, I mean, she's an amazing artist
and a performer.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
Now listen, I can say this Gristina has one of
the best voices I have ever touched a microphone in
the entire industry.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
Oh my goodness, she's amazing.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
Her flowers.

Speaker 1 (49:37):
Yes, we give it to her. We give it to her.
But you know what's funny, there's a story that goes
along with that, because that was the time where it
was taboo. Britney was my artist, and I got called
to do Christina. So I didn't tell Brittany that I
was doing Christina.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
You know, I remember when it was you know, Brittany
or Christina.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
That's right. So I did it silently.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
So Christina Aguilar and who else s WV Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (50:05):
Coco was laid back, but we got a deal. We
got I want to.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Flex my vocals now. Who was a natural? Who was
just like, yo, this person don't even in sync?

Speaker 1 (50:15):
All in sync? They were. They were amazing to work with,
Amazing of course Michael, of course Prince. It's just all
just amazing. And then here's a little bit of trivia.
If you look at High five, she's playing hard to
get video. I'm actually in it because one of the

(50:36):
band members didn't make it, so I doubled for one
of the band members. And danced throughout the whole video.

Speaker 3 (50:42):
I would be like, what y'all do when you did
the video without.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
So much fun to do? She's playing hard to get
rest in peace?

Speaker 3 (50:48):
Tony Thompson, did you did you love? Choreography was your love?
Like that was your love? And then you were like music.

Speaker 1 (50:57):
And dances all energy, it's all spirit, it's all emotions.
So yeah, I love it. I mean, I still dance now.
I don't really choreograph for anybody anymore, but whenever I
hear something hot, trust me, I'm moving. And then I
heard it's it's very interesting, But do you dance?

Speaker 3 (51:13):
Alta? But do you dance? I'm gonna test you after
we've done. Dont me tell you.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Now?

Speaker 3 (51:21):
You definitely could have been at the COPA.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
I used to be used to dance.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
It was that guy. The other guys was like, if
this one don't get all this.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
I was the dude that had two women dancing at
the same time you was hating. Uh huh, young.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
I'm so happy. You know that we're here today and
we're talking about music, and I know all the videos
and I know all the artists, and it's just like
putting two and two together. Just feels like, Wow, I'll
never be able to watch any of these videos or
listen to any of the.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Songs and not say I know who choreographed this? Oh
my god, and there's terror. Now I'm gonna see you everywhere,
like I.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Am going home tonight to look up everything that we
talked about, and you're probably still gonna look the same.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
I always made cameos in my videos, of.

Speaker 3 (52:03):
Course, because you was, you know, a five piece of chocolate.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
You have to be in front of the camera, right,
Who's that.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
I'm surprised that modeling was that every party of life.

Speaker 1 (52:18):
When I was a teenager. I did.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Yeah, I know because when I was looking at your
pictures like these looks like modeling shots, I said, he's
into himself.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
Yeah, I don't know about that. You know what he
brings it to the when I was. When I was
younger and I was a teenager, that's where I started
in commercials and you know, modeling.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Have you lived, Darren?

Speaker 1 (52:37):
I promise you. I'm thankful because when I look back
at it, I was like, what's the comment that denominated
what's the thread? And I was like, love what you
do and do what you love and live with passion.
Then you never really work a day in your life
and do what's in your heart. Don't try to follow
what everybody else is doing, because most people are following

(52:59):
other people who are following other people. You have to
sit still, you have to close your eyes, and you
have to take a deep breath and you just breathe
and you relax, and you know that all is well,
and you have gratitude because you rose up today and

(53:20):
you just say thank you. We say thank.

Speaker 3 (53:21):
You, thank you, And when.

Speaker 1 (53:23):
You say thank you, you realize that you have everything
that you need. You are more than enough. And then
you breathe again and you say, what is it that
I want to express to the world? How do I
want to show up? And then you take another breath

(53:46):
and you realize that feels really good, and then you relax.
And the more you relax, the more you let go.
And because you let go, then you can start getting
back to yourself. And when you get back to your self,
and you go, what do I truly want? What do
I have to say? What do I want to express

(54:08):
and share with the world, And you take another breath,
you release, and then you grab a pen or a
pencil and you write it down.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
I should have had a pen and pencil and writer
or down nine.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Now and when you see what comes out, trust it.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Well, I'm listening back to this episode and I'm going
to do this exercise because it is true. You know,
a lot of the times we know what we want,
but we tend to hide it and internalize it. She's like, no,
I'm just gonna go to work now. I'm just gonna,
you know, feed the kids. Now, I'm just gonna clean
the house. And we push, you know, our dreams and
what our true calling is. We put it on the
back burner, on simmer, and we're like, I'll get to

(54:48):
it one day.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
We're scared of no, we're scared of judgment, We're fearful,
and because of that, you never get to experience the
things that you truly desire. So if you learn to
get used to people saying no and realize that when
someone says no, you're closer to your yes, think about it.
If you have something that's there waiting for you, whatever

(55:12):
you're looking for is looking for you, and as long
as you don't stop, you get to hold it. So
if you want something and you get fifty nose, then
know that you're closer to your yes because when you
get by the nose, yes, it's right there. You don't
know if it's going to be the seventy fourth. No,

(55:32):
you don't know if it's going to be the ninetieth. No,
you don't know if it's going to be the fifty first. No,
where the yes sits. But if you give up on Monday,
there is no Tuesday. So you got to keep going
so you can keep growing, and then you start glowing.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
We're gonna look at noses redirection Yes, yes, right, No, okay,
let me go that way.

Speaker 1 (55:55):
No, okay, let me go that way. No, okay, let
me go that way, And then you're yes starts smiling
at you like yeah, I'm here. Yeah. Just don't give
up because it's there. It's there. It has to be
because it's a part of cause and effect. That's universal law.
Every cause has an effect, and as long as you
are set in motion and you put emotion behind action,

(56:21):
the result is going to show up.

Speaker 3 (56:22):
Oh, I'm never letting you out of my life. This
has to be a part of my every day.

Speaker 2 (56:28):
Your spouse, your partner is blessed because if you can
wake up and have this kind of conversation over coffee.

Speaker 3 (56:36):
My day is done. I don't have to do anything else.
If we had this conversation for breakfast.

Speaker 2 (56:40):
I would feel so motivated and so ready to take
on the world. It's so important, you know, to surround yourself,
you know.

Speaker 3 (56:48):
With people like you. I feel like people no.

Speaker 2 (56:51):
Longer do this type of talk. People are so closed
off and not in tune with their emotion and they're
not willing to tap in that the way that you're
tapped in with who you are as a person spiritually.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
I know who I am and whose I am, and
I don't change that for anybody. And thank you for that.
I appreciate that comment. I I I appreciate those words
from you. But like I said, I learned a long
time ago, don't ask for validation from people because most

(57:25):
people are pretending. And so when you're looking at other
people for validation, why are you looking at them? Go
to the creator, not the created. Go to the creator.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
And when you say the creator, are we talking God?

Speaker 1 (57:40):
Yes? Of course, yeah, So so you know I don't
make jokes. When I say it, I say, like, that's
not just the saying. It's like when we get out
of bed the first thing I say is thank you,
because it's like when you realize you woke up and
you like, I'm alive.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
It's a gift.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
It's a gift, And so I really mean that, don't.
You don't need to seek validation from other people. You know,
those people that we're looking for for approval, they're looking
for approval for somebody else.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
And sometimes they're not even willing to give it to us.
Because a lot of people, if they're not happy with
who they are or where they are, they're not going
to acknowledge your gifts.

Speaker 3 (58:22):
No, they gonna be mad that they don't have your gifts.

Speaker 1 (58:25):
Some people hate on you because you figured it out.
Some people hate on you because you move faster ThM.
Some people hate on you because your light is shining.
That's why they say you can't share with everybody when
you're in the making. Look, when you put a seed
in the ground, you don't eat an apple tomorrow. It

(58:45):
has to be in darkness first. When a woman becomes pregnant,
she's pregnant in triple darkness first, before the baby comes
to the light. Right, So everything happens in the darkness.
So that means stay quiet first, stay quiet, just be quiet,
and when it's time to birth the baby, the world will.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
See here it is, meet my babe.

Speaker 1 (59:10):
That's right, but be quiet, ef firt.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
Don't put the peace stick, you.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
Know, don't show the whole world the results.

Speaker 3 (59:17):
Wait for the baby born.

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Yeah, don't don't be you know. It's like they say,
don't let everybody touch your stomach when you're pregnant, right, Like,
thank with all right, because.

Speaker 3 (59:26):
That bad juju?

Speaker 1 (59:27):
You don't You don't know the energy that people are
putting on you.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
Energy is very TRANSI real.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
I love your energy you today have been you know,
and we're getting up to like I think interview fifty something,
and the way that your energy is transferring towards me
is it's incredible.

Speaker 3 (59:47):
Like I feel like you're true, you're genuine, you're annointed.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
I don't know if you're if you're already you know,
exorcising that, but you're meantally spiritually, sooner or later you'll
get if you're not there yet. But the way you
deliver and the way that you know you can express yourself,
I'm impressed.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Thank you, And you know on screen you're amazing too.
We haven't talked much about acting and you on screen.
Not only does he look good, but the acting is
on point. Can we talk about the Family Business? I
love you on that show.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Thank you so much. First of all, I want to
say thank you to everybody that supports the show. We
love you. We are thankful to you and for you.
Because The Family Business has been number one for four
weeks in a row. We are in the sixth season.
We just premiered the ninth episode, and it's amazing how

(01:00:45):
the show has just taken off. Carl Weber's The Family
Business is probably wow. You know, I was on Soul
Food and I thought that that was a hit show.
Like The Family Business has just taken it to the
next level. Or Yes, Orlando, I love your character.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
You know, you're always in the cut.

Speaker 1 (01:01:08):
You're serious, you know, Yeah, he's passionate. You know. The
great thing about Orlando he's really smart. Of course, the
family has two different businesses, you know. They they live
at that uh you know street Street the Double Life.
But you know, the thing about Orlando is very interesting
because he's a scientist. You know, he created a product

(01:01:28):
and y'all know what I'm talking about when I say
product called heat, and you know, what I'm saying, cooks
in the kitchen. And and but he's a scientist, so
he's not just your average dude, right, Like this dude
is smart. Yeah, yeah, Orlando is smart, and he's passionate
and you know, right now he's fighting for the life

(01:01:48):
of his son, who he is looking for the donor
bone marrow Donna played by Malik Yoba, who's the uncle
of his son by way of you know, the girlfriend Ruby.
So there's a lot going on with the family. You know,
Junior Duncan is gone rogue and a lot of people

(01:02:09):
are getting knocked off on the show. And so this
Frankie g amazing actor. Man, that's my man, that's my man.
Bro Wan is so dope, and you know, unfortunately his
character got knocked off. But yeah, it's part of the lifestyle.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
Right, you know, you know, let's not forget you know,
a lifestyle.

Speaker 1 (01:02:30):
Right exactly. And you know, my dad played by Ernie Hudson,
Elsie Duncan is he's hurt icon legend and I love
him so much.

Speaker 3 (01:02:41):
How much do you learn by just being in his space?

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
Let me tell you something. The first day we started
working together, I was like, I gotta tell you something.

Speaker 3 (01:02:50):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:02:51):
I was like, yo when you played Lolly, and he
looked at me just started laughing, right because you know
that movie with Wesley Snipes, you know, sugar Hill was
one of my favorite films.

Speaker 3 (01:03:01):
It's one of my favorite films to date.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
Oh my god. And we just started talking and we
bonded immediately. Like he's like my dad in real life. Man,
I call him that. Oh, I call him all the
time and we just talk.

Speaker 2 (01:03:14):
And it's crazy how you can have a father figure
or a mother figure or.

Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
You know, a grandparent figure as an adult.

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
You know, a lot of the times we lose a
parent and we feel like that's it, and you were
able to find a parental figure.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
Yeah, he's he's very much like my dad to me.
You know, we talk all the time and he gives
me advice and we talk and you know, he's a
very funny man. And then of course we have Valerie
Pettiford on the show, who plays my mom, you know,
and also people bring this up. I forget about this
all the time, but Valerie was also in Stomp the Yard.

(01:03:49):
She played the aunt to you know, DJ's character in
Stomp the Yard. So it was like we weren't stopped
the yard together. So it was great.

Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
She's just amazing when you did something.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
I was thirty nine.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
Really you like a kid?

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
I was thirty nine. No, you're lying to me, I
promise you crazy, Right, that is crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:04:11):
We're able to play, you know, a young adult crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:04:15):
Everybody thought, like, you know, I mean those that no, no,
but you know I passed for a college kid in
that film.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
It was great Grant Grant, Yes, right, your character, that's
right hot.

Speaker 3 (01:04:28):
People treat you.

Speaker 1 (01:04:29):
Like they hated me.

Speaker 3 (01:04:31):
I hate you.

Speaker 1 (01:04:32):
They were like, I hate you in that film, and
I was like, you know, you know what's.

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
Out in public. I hate your ass.

Speaker 1 (01:04:38):
So that's an interesting perspective. I'm gonna tell you I
went through something mentally because of that, because of them.
So that movie came out in two thousand and seven,
became a massive hit. So think about it. I played
an antagonists in that.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
Film were pain in the ass.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
We hated and everybody told me for years, and that
does something to the human psyche. I'm sorry, I just
come up to you and they go, I hate hated
you in that film. What happens is is you here,
your subconsciousness here is I hated you. I hated you,
I hated you. Over the years, it becomes compound interest
on your mind and you start to develop this thing

(01:05:14):
until you realize they're talking about the character. They're not
talking about you, Darren, They're talking about the character. The
interesting thing about that film is the director asked me
to play the character that way.

Speaker 3 (01:05:28):
It was guidance. It was you were told.

Speaker 1 (01:05:29):
They asked me for whatever was going on with the
character that I was playing opposite of. He said, look,
I need you to do this for me, And I thought,
you know, I'm working with the director and they're asking
me for a favor. So I'm going to play him dogmatic.
I'm going to play in with a huge ego.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
You went in.

Speaker 1 (01:05:46):
I went in, and it kind of backfired because whenever
you play a character, you should play him with empathy,
meaning nobody should have a clear choice. We should make
the audience fight for who they want. Right. It shouldn't
be clear that he's an asshole and I'll go with him.
He's a nice yeah, and so I don't know if

(01:06:08):
I can say that so, but it was clear, you
know that that his ego was so massively big, and
it took me a while. It took me a few
years to kind of snap out of it because everywhere
I went I heard that same thing. And but you know,

(01:06:30):
it comes in, it into changes. Now everybody's like, oh
my god, I love Orlando. Right, So it was first
I love lem on the on Soulfo, then it was
like I hate you and stop the yard, and I
was like, I love you Orlando. So you know, it
comes with the territoryblic is like that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:48):
You know, we sometimes tend to gravitate, like when Louis
Guzman came, we were talking about Pachanga.

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
To everybody, everybody and he's done, you know, the Count
monte Cristo, he's done, you.

Speaker 2 (01:06:57):
Know, Wednesday, but he's but Yan got to everybody and
he told me. He was like, you know, people be
like why you do?

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
Like it's real, Like they come up to you like
it's real. Like people come up to me, they were like, yo,
how could you treat Megan good? Like that? I'm like,
are you joking right now? Like that was a movie?
Let it go. You know, it's so funny, but people
really they just hold on the stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
But it goes to show you the way we connect
to film.

Speaker 1 (01:07:24):
Yeah, now. So I'm very careful now with roles because
I don't want, oh, definitely, But you know, I'm glad
I don't do comedies because I don't want the Gilligan curse.

Speaker 3 (01:07:36):
What does that mean?

Speaker 1 (01:07:37):
The Gilligan curse? The actor from Gilligan's Island couldn't do
anything else? Okay, right, It's like it's like, you know,
Steve Erkele, like he's always rkle, right, Like that's the
it's called the Gilligan's curse.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
And so well aren't we glad that didn't happen to
Will Smith? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
Well, yeah, you know it could have. But I think
that's one of the reason since why he took such
dramatic films to shake that, you know, But me as
a dramatic actor, none of that will stick, you know
that way. But I think we live in a society
because we are so much heavily into what we watch.

(01:08:20):
It's who we are that we start to you know,
they say art imitates life, but life also imitates art,
and so what happens is is we get drawn in
and we start to believe it because we watch it
so intensely, So you become the character to them when
they see you on the street. You're not an actor.
Back in the days, they used to go, you're an
amazing actor. Now you are the character. Does that make sense?

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
No, it definitely makes sense. Because I was driving and.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
I looked at the side, I'm like, oh, my god's
mixed mister Big from Sex and the City. I didn't
even see him, and he was coming out of one
of the theaters he's doing Broadway. But I was like, oh, shit,
is mister Beg. So I understand where you're coming from.

Speaker 1 (01:08:58):
Yeah, that happened, and so you know, it's it's just
a part of where we are in life now. You know,
there's so much mechanics and mechanical and technology that I
think we stop thinking when I ask people do you
know this phone number? And they're like, nah, I gotta
go on my phone because they're not using that part
of the brain anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:09:18):
I know, like five phone numbers, you.

Speaker 1 (01:09:20):
See, but only five. Back in the day, everybody you
knew twenty numbers or however many you needed to memorize.
Now it's only five, right, And so I'll be honest
with you, this is very very very sad and very
very true. The only telephone number I know is my own?

(01:09:40):
That is it?

Speaker 3 (01:09:42):
Really? I know? Five one Darren, get it together?

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
Come on, can you believe that?

Speaker 3 (01:09:46):
Get it to you?

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
You know you got my number, you memorized, you believe that.
So if you ever get stuck anywhere you honey like Honeyney,
I'm not gonna say bail me out because I don't
want you to.

Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
We don't want we don't want to use the word bill.
We don't want to go there.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
Family Business for anyone listening, they want to stream, they
want to watch what are.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
We doing Family? Family Business? The first four seasons was
on Netflix, okay, but since we started the sixth season,
they took it off of Netflix. So if you want
to watch family.

Speaker 3 (01:10:20):
So we can focus on the new season. B E
T Plus, Yes, that's a good app.

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
We're next week. We are on the tenth and last
episode and then it will probably play on regular b
E T in March. So if you don't have BT
plus and you don't want to pay for it, then
you gotta wait till March to watch it on regular
b ET plus.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
We can watch it all right, listen, listen. Absolutely, we
have a lot of streaming services. If you're not using
Peacock canceling. You're not using Hulu, cancel it and get
you BT plus so you can watch The Family Business
because it's a dope show. You know, it touches on
a lot of different things. Family, you know, new generations,
older generations. You know, it's like you've got like gen Z,
you got some millennials, you got some boomers, everybody's in there.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
So it's something that you can watch with the family.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
Yes, it's something for everybody on the show. And it's
a family experience. And so you've got the love, you got,
the passion, you got, the street stuff you got and
you know, you've got great Latino actors on the show
as well, Emilio Rivera. You also have Yachti Rivera on
the show. And of course lu Ski is on the show.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
You know, we're represented. Listen, Latinos, we are represented on
The Family Business.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (01:11:36):
It definitely makes sense, you know to watch. Make sure
you get yourself to BT plus.

Speaker 3 (01:11:40):
And you know, Darren, this.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
Has been an amazing, amazing, amazing conversation, and I feel
like we have to explore it a little bit more.
You know, we need to do an episode more about
you know, spirituality, even that little meditative moment that we
had there felt good. And I know that my listeners
when they listen to this episode, they're gonna be like,
we want more, Darren, And I feel like you have

(01:12:04):
a lot more stories that you can share, but for today,
we're going to take what we were able to take
because they were gems. I appreciate you coming up here
today and Grassiers Come Again, Thank.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
You so much. Grassiers Come Again is a production of
Honey German Productions in partnership with Iheart's Mike When through
that podcast Network.