Boots, Bullets, and Blockbusters: A Devil Dog Takes on Hollywood with Maurice P. Kerry

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Warriors fall in.
It's time for formation.
Today, on the Morning Formationpodcast, we're connected with a
man who embodies resilience,style and the spirit of creative
hustle.
Maurice P Carey is anaccomplished actor, model
entrepreneur, whose journey fromhumble beginnings to the
entertainment industry isnothing short of inspiring.
Oh, and let's not also forgetto mention that this is a combat

(00:24):
veteran, a Marine Corps devildog, now in the industry of
acting.
So, maurice, I want to tell youthat I am highly appreciative
of you giving me thisopportunity to talk to you today
.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
And I am highly appreciative of you actually
wanting to speak with me, man,thank you so much.
Thank you, that was such a warmwelcome, mike.
That was amazing.
I appreciate, man, thank you somuch.
Uh, and thank you, that wassuch a warm welcome, mike.
That was amazing.
I appreciate that, thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
You know and that's the thing I think a lot of folks
out there really don't thinkabout um their overall
experiences and who they are.
I mean, a guy like you, you'rebusy, you've got a lot of things
going on, you're a combatveteran, um.
So for folks like me, man, it'slike I'm honestly humbled to to

(01:12):
sit with you, and it's nice tomeet other guys that are just
down to earth and are just inthis, in this life, to make a
difference, but also share theirstory at the same time, man,
because there's other people outthere that really don't ever
see themselves on the big screen.
So I want to give you anopportunity to just introduce
yourself and then we'll get intoyour career transition and how
you got into that.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Thanks.
So you know, first and foremost, maurice P Carey, I am an actor
, producer, writer, director.
You know, former United StatesMarine Corps Iraq War combat
veteran decorated.
So I did fight in Iraq in 2004.
After work, I was actuallyhomeless for about a year,

(01:55):
living in my friend's car, goingfrom, you know, the Marine
Corps and transitioning intocivilian life.
It's a lot of times verydifficult for people, but one
thing I will say that themilitary gave me was that
resilience and that willingnessto fight and fight for myself
and fight for the people that Icare about.
And you know that that servedme well in an industry where

(02:18):
it's really 95 percent rejection, 95% rejection.
And the fact that I grew up onRocky movies where Rocky wasn't
a good fighter but he just keptgoing until he chopped those
trees down that sort ofmentality, you know, stuck with
me, like just keep going, keepgoing, keep going until
eventually the tree falls.
And so if there's anything thatanybody wants to do, all you

(02:41):
have to do is make the decisionto do it and go for it and and
push toward that goal, and mostof the time you'll make it Just
keep going.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, I love hearing about the resiliency, about
getting knocked down andbrushing yourself and getting
back up again.
And you're right, Growing up inthe 80s that's what most action
movies were about was gettingyour ass kicked and then getting
back up again.
I don't want to really go overthis Karate Kid.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Oh yeah, what's another one?
I mean there's so many.
But you're absolutely right,the thing with a lot of that was
resilience.
You know, you get knocked down,you get back up.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, yep, even the little guy.
You know, you, you know,because rocky was the, was the,
uh, the small american, anddrago was the.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
yeah the big crazy soviet union guy right yep, yep,
yep, and and that was the youknow the theme of that film,
like, um, but uh, that thosetype of things really stuck with
me and I find them to thoseideas of just fighting for
yourself.
You know, I, um, I live bythose and you know, I teach them
to my daughter.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
So, before anything, you know, I'm a man, I'm a
father, I'm a Marine, and thenI'm an actor, you know, and so
yeah, you know, it's importantfor men to really know what
their priorities are, I thinkbecause some people really don't
know, like, who am I, what am I?
And I live in a big city, in LA, and I find that there's more

(04:10):
people here that don't know whothey are.
And the way you listed that, Ilike that.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
Yeah, if you don't know who you are, you don't have
any idea where you're going,and you also don't have any any
moral compass to just say no tothings you know, say things that
I'm unwilling to do, or or, or,or, um, uh, um, what's the word
?
I'm looking for?
Um, uh, things that you're notwilling to compromise.

(04:39):
Right, If you don't knowdefinitively who you are, you're
more likely to compromise yourvalues and your ideas for the
sake of winning or success orwhat you deem as success.
In that order, the things thatI will not compromise is I will

(05:04):
not compromise being a man.
I will not compromise being afather.
I will not compromise being aMarine.
In order to make it in theindustry, Somebody has to stand
on something, and I'm going tostand on what I believe.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Right, I love that because it helps in the
decision-making process.
Mm-hmm Right, just analyzingeverything and decision-making
process and in a sense life kindof has an operations order and
that part is in there.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Correct and I do believe when we try to outthink
nature or outthink the order ofoperations of things, I do think
we have problems.
You know, I think society, asfar as society is concerned, as
far as how we are internally, ifwe can all remember our

(05:54):
humanity at the base of things,first things, we're human beings
.
Start there, start the factthat you are a human and
understand that you are fallible.
You will make mistakes and bewilling to look at yourself in
the mirror and say I'm human,I'm a man, I'm a woman.
I'm going to make mistakes, I'mgoing to get some of this stuff
wrong and it's okay and be okay.

(06:16):
Being honest with yourselffirst.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Right.
I got to remind peoplesometimes too, like, hey, like
it's okay to fail.
I had a niece that called methe other day and she was going
to meet up with the.
She's looking at going intoseveral different branches, so
I'm helping her with the processof that.
And she was going to take aphysical fitness test night
before.
She's so nervous because therecruiters got her thinking,

(06:40):
like all right, you got to, like, do well in this, Otherwise
we're not even going to talk toyou anymore.
And and I told her, I saidyou're only in competition with
yourself.
Like as long as you're willing,even if you fail that test, as
long as you're willing to getback up again and show up the
next day, that's all thatmatters.
That's it Like.
I felt a lot of things in mylife.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, and.
And so, even with the wordfailure, you only fail when you
quit, like there's one thing tobe set back, there's one thing
to lose.
You can lose, you can get setback, but you only fail when you
stop trying.
So if I get, if I'm in a fightand I get knocked down and I

(07:19):
just stay there, the fight'sover, I lost.
But if I get knocked down and Iget back up, the fight's still
on.
The fight's still on until it'sover, I lost.
But if I get knocked down and Iget back up, fight's still on,
yeah, the fight's still on untilit's over, until it's
absolutely over.
And so you don't fail when youget knocked down.
So if your friend were to, shewere to not pass the test, go
get stronger, get better, comeback again.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Exactly A hundred percent Were you in sports in
high school.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
I wasn't, I wasn't, I was, I'm actually.
Uh, I'm actually a gamer nerd.
People don't people don't getthat.
People don't get that from me,cause I got muscles and I'm six
feet two, 20.
And they're like you're a gamer, I am a gamer nerd.
But if you look back, here Withthe action figures and the hat.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
I love it.
I actually have my.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
PS4 right here.
I got my PS5 upstairs.
We a Switch gamer.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
Where were you stationed at when you were in
the Marines?

Speaker 2 (08:14):
So my first duty station was Iwakuni Japan, CSSD
36.
So shout out to them over inIwakuni Japan.
If I knew then what I knew now,now I'd probably still be in
the Marines and probably stillbe in Japan and then I left
Japan and I went to CampPendleton.
I was with 1st Combat EngineerBattalion maintenance platoon,

(08:39):
so that was 1st CEB.
That was where I did.
That's where the good stuff andthe bad stuff happened.
You know, I was whew loved it.
Oh man, I bet you got somestories San Diego, California.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Oh man, I love San Diego man.
I live up in LA, but I wouldrather be in San Diego if I had
my druthers for sure.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
Oh, absolutely You'd be closer.
Yeah, sure you'd be closer.
Yeah, you'd be closer toeverything, and then people
would understand you would bearound people who understand.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
You know right, and that's the thing too, like being
around it's.
It's funny being up here in lalike I don't know a whole lot of
military veterans that live inmy community, in my neighborhood
, and it's a little frustrating,uh, sometimes, because I know,
living closer to the bases andstuff, you have a tendency to be
closer to that culture ingeneral.
Is that who you deployed with?
Did you deploy out of Pendleton?

Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yes, csis-836.
I'm sorry, first CombatEngineer Battalion.
So yes, I was with First MardifWent to Iraq 2004.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
So I was there in 04, or five at the end of oh four.
So you were there, uh, duringFallujah.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
So let me ask you this Did you when did?
What month did you get there?

Speaker 1 (09:52):
I got there in December.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
I had just left.
We left in September.
I just left you just missed meCause.
So you, you were probably at uhAl-Asad right.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
No, I was up in Mosul .

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Okay, cool.
So we wouldn't even havecrossed paths because, yeah, I
was like the only welder forabout a.
It had to be like a 30 or 50mile radius.
I was literally welding for theArmy, the Navy, the Marines and
Air Force, and so they basicallyhad me centrally located in
Al-Asad and if something neededto be welded I had to convoy out

(10:25):
.
And that was really where mostof my anxiety came from was
convoys, because I didn't mindthis Like I can mentally, I can
handle this.
It's like it's you, it's me,we're doing our thing.
But convoys that sneakyguerrilla warfare where anything
anywhere could happen at anytime, like that, that used to

(10:46):
drive me crazy because theywould bury ieds under the road
or in carcasses next to the side.
It's like you can't even drivepast a raggedy car without being
worried, like you know.
And so, um, yeah, yeah.
So I did a lot of convoysbecause I was, I was, was the
welder, the you know and I don't.

Speaker 1 (11:08):
I want to make sure that I underline that because we
didn't get up armored levelthree, TARDAC, until I want to
say, like it's sometime inDecember, like we had to send an
entire platoon down to Kuwait.
And it was.
There was an E4 down thereduring a question and answer
session that asked Rumsfeld likewhy don't we have up-armored,

(11:29):
you know, military vehicles?
So when you were there, youwere the man.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
No, no, I was.
I was the one building the, theturrets and the up-armor.
But the.
Thing is we had.
So one of the issues that wekept running into was the fact
that we had it was aluminum, thejoints were aluminum, so they
would have me build the up armorout of steel plate, you know,
and then we would try to mountit and it just the doors just

(11:55):
come right off.
So there was that, and then Ihad to build the, the 240, 240
machine gun turrets that we willmount in the back of the
Humvees.
So I was the guy before they hada whole team 240 machine gun
turrets that we would mount inthe back of the Humvees.
I was the guy before they had awhole team me building turrets
and up armor for Humvees thatwere not built for that level of

(12:15):
armor.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yeah when you say welder man, some people don't
think about that, but your jobwas to save lives, Because when
I was there, I was atransportation platoon leader,
so that's all we did was convoysand patrols.
Um, the entire time I was thereand I remember doing convoys
several times wearing what weare having like what we called

(12:37):
ghetto metal, where we wouldweld our own stuff on the side
of like we would weld our own,uh, and we we called it ghetto
metal and it was like we, we hadour, our maintenance shop, like
basically put and makeshiftthese turrets for us and
sometimes they were great,sometimes they were raggedy but
it's all we had right.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
And it's like guys, y'all listen, y'all are
basically sending us out herenaked, right?
You know, when these guys haverocket propelled grenades, rpgs
they got ad's.
They have, uh ak's which theycouldn't shoot for shit.
But uh right, you know yeah,yeah but uh, even still, you
know, uh, and then when they hadagain, when they I was, and the

(13:20):
thing was is, I was young, Iwas 23 and I was so excited to
be the guy Like I'm buildingthis armor, and every time I
would mount it, it would lastfor about two, three days and it
just falling off and it wasnothing I could do about it
because it was literally steelplate on aluminum joints.

(13:41):
It wasn't nothing I could do.
I did what I could do, but hey,for this day you guys are good,
I got you for this day.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
No, we really appreciated all the work that
the maintenance guys did and thewelders did for us, because we
were all that we had.
Fortunately, I did the rest ofmy deployment with Oshkosh level
three armor and I'll tell youlike, after my platoon hit
several ieds, I ran over onemyself.
I mean it, it saved it like Ithink it saved my life.

(14:10):
Like I still have a piece of anied hanging on my wall over
here.
Um, that I that I ran over it'sa, it's a rubber debt cord with
like nails through it and theyput uh, electric tape to cover
it when it was on the hardball.
And I ran it over in my Humvee.
Like that's crazy to me.
Like, and just based off thedirection the mortar was facing

(14:33):
and the up-armored on the Humveeand all these other factors,
like it didn't, the most of theimpact was taken by the road and
the Humvee, thankfully so I'mstill here.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
But it's funny.
It's funny.
You said it the way you did.
You said that that I was savinglives and I never, for all of
my time, I never thought aboutit, I never thought of it that
way until, um, maybe a month ago, one of my fellow Marines who
was there with me uh, we hadn'ttalked in 20 years, right.
But on Facebook, you know,something came up and he texted

(15:05):
me and he said he said, man,thank you, you know, you saved
so many lives out there and Isaid did I?
I never thought about it likethat, you know.
So it's funny that he just saidit after 20 something years and
you just said it and it's kindof like I guess I did.
You're welcome.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
You don't even know, man, the guy that I wear on my
wrist, he was part of Task ForceIED and his job was to clear
our routes for us and he dieddoing that, and you know.
So guys like you, man, thatwere putting in the work,
putting in the expertise, I meanI'm extremely grateful for that
, for sure.

(15:43):
And let's talk about yourtransition, man.
So when I resigned mycommission and got out, everyone
thought I was crazy.
Like I was told by a lieutenantcolonel that I would be poor
and I'd be eating pizza on thefloor and all this stuff.
And I mean I can't even imagine, like, if they said that to me,
like what they would have saidto you if they would have known

(16:05):
you were getting out and youwere gonna get into
entertainment, or did you atthat time, let me and so you
know where we do honesty here,right, this is what I do.

Speaker 2 (16:16):
Um, they were actually I'm.
I think they were relieved whenI got out, because I went from.
I was one of those marines whowent from sugar to shit.
I went from sugar to shit.
Shit, because you know, youknow those stories, sometimes
you marry the right one,sometimes you don't.
Oh boy, so my story was andI'll just give you the abridged
version I came back from Iraq,the wife, you know what I'm

(16:39):
saying?
Right, and that, justeverything.
From there I just spiraledright on down.
So by the time it was my timeto get out, they were cool with
me.
You know what, you go ahead,we'll be good without you.
We're fine, we're fine, yeah,we're good.
Plus, don't worry about it,we're good and so.
But when I got out, I was, Iwas homeless, and so I, honestly

(17:06):
, at the time I was, I was doingmusic, you know.
So I, even then, I wanted to bein the entertainment industry,
but I thought I was going to bea rapper.
I really did think I was goingto be a rapper.
And there S-O-U-T-H-U-N-O-Y-Zand keep in mind that was a

(17:33):
young me, that was a young me, Iwas in a rap group for Marines
and so at that point I thought Iwas going to be, you know, a
big time rapper.
I thought I was going to be,you know, a big time rapper.
And now I ended up beinghomeless after the Marine Corps,
living in my friend's car, whoI think his last name was
Franklin.
I lived in his car while he wasin that rock and you know, I

(17:55):
did that for about a year untilhe came back and I had to kind
of get my get myself together atthat point.
And so they're so like this.
My story is just so vast fromthere, you know, being homeless
to, you know, jumping forward.
I actually lived in Kuwait forabout six years after that as a,

(18:16):
as a yeah, as a civiliancontractor.
So I could wait for about sixyears.
Then I was a firefighter.
That was the EMT.
I'm a full time single fatherfor the past 15 years.
I tell everybody my story isall over the place.
It's all over the place.
But ultimately, what I realized,and what people have helped me
to realize, is that those thingsthat I went through, it gave me

(18:38):
multiple stories to tellthrough acting, which I sort of
fell into.
I didn't realize that's what Iwas going to be.
I was going to be an actor.
I just kind of said, hey, letme try it.
And based on those, if I tryhard enough, if I push hard
enough, based on those ideas, Isaid, I can make it.

(19:00):
Because the question becomes forme this is the question that I
always ask myself If I'm lookingat another person, another
human being, just a human.
They're not Superman, they'renot Batman, they're not no
billionaire, just a regularhuman being that has made it in
the industry.
Why can't I?
What makes you so much betterthan me?

(19:26):
Why can't I have what you have?
You know what I'm going to goget what you, what you got, not
what you have, but you know, inthe same vein and so that,
having that mentality of whycan't I have it to push me to
just go further, go faster andgo harder, and also
understanding that I was late inthe acting game.
So I was, I was hitting it hard.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Right, it sounds to me like you were failing forward
and you were trying differentthings, man.
I mean, I'm not going to lie.
I have a story too, man.
People think that because I wascommissioned, I was enlisted
before that.
So, like Article 15 and thosecounseling statements I am very
familiar with, and NJPs.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Uh, I was busted down .
Granted, I still tell people,you know, I'm still listed as
lance corporal press.
Plus I got out I wasn't lastquarter, plus I went from a3 to
e2 because I ended up fightingthe guy.
That was the guy who wasmessing with my wife at the time
.
He was, uh, he was a corporal,he was an e4, so he was a nco
and I was a non-NCO and mylieutenant told me don't go over

(20:29):
there messing with him.
We know who he is, but we can'tprove that he was messing with
your wife.
I'm like bitch, I can, I canprove it, but you know, they
told me not to.
I did it anyway and so I got, Igot a awol, absolute out, leave
because I was, I was where Iwasn't supposed to be,
disobeying the direct order andstriking the superior officer.

(20:50):
They were like no, we got tobust you down.
I'm like do what you got to do.
Oh, because that dude is, hewas, he was.
Who is the story?

Speaker 1 (20:58):
yeah, for me, it was like a whole year.
It was just, it was bad whenyou first got out, did you have
problems like identifying beingmilitary, like did?
When you separated, did youjust want to throw away
everything and be like I'm out,like I'm done, I don't want
anything, don't associate weassociate me with being military

(21:19):
or anything.
Did you go through that phase?

Speaker 2 (21:21):
I never did.
I never did.
I think the one thing that Idid do is I tried to.
I tried to, you know, grow mybeard out.
I was a little bit younger, Icouldn't grow it as well, but,
um no, I, I I was proud of ofthat.
Becoming a Marine, an actualUnited States Marine, was
probably the, at that point, thehardest thing I'd ever done in

(21:43):
my life and there was no reasonfor me to be any less than proud
of that just because I had abad experience with some people
while I was in.
Like, marine Corps didn't dothat to me.
You know, I did it to myself.
I chose the wrong person and soI was still proud and I

(22:05):
understood that.
And you know, disrespectinganybody else, but the marine
corps is, is highly respectedwhen it comes to the branches,
because it's the longest, bootcamp is the toughest.
Everybody thinks the marines ohgod, you know these, these bad
mfers.
So I was.
I was proud.
I never was like, nah, I'm not,I even have it marine corps
trained.
It's tattered in my flesh.

(22:26):
And I tell people that's myfair warning and I put, if I put
I never was like no, I'm not aMarine, I even have it Marine
Corps trained.
It's tattered in my flesh.
And I tell people that's my fairwarning If I put my hands up,
if you can read, you know whattime it is.
I love it, man.
Yeah and so no, always proud,always faithful, always a Marine
, Till the day I die.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Yeah, we talked before the podcast and that was
the one thing when I was in thatthe Army was trying to mimic or
copy was when you walk up to anArmy you know NCO or you know
lower enlisted or whateverofficer when you ask them, like
what do you do?
A lot of times the Army personwill say whatever their MOS is.

(23:02):
But when you walk up to aMarine, no matter what their MOS
is, they always say I'm aMarine.
Exactly, and that's why theystarted doing that soldier first
thing and that's why theystarted making the officers go
through like this little miniinfantry course and all this
stuff to try to instill likeyou're a soldier first and
foremost because during Iraq andAfghanistan, people were

(23:24):
getting placed in different jobsand it wasn't their job.
So they're like, well, that'snot really my job and it's like,
well, you're a soldier first.

Speaker 2 (23:31):
Right, right, absolutely.
And it's so funny that you saythat, because other branches,
when I talk to them, they askyou know what was your?
You know your MOS?
And I said, well, I was a 13,16're.

(23:52):
Like, oh, so you weren't agrunt, you didn't, you didn't go
do anything.
I was like, yeah, nah, bro,right, that's not how it works
in the marine corps.
I don't know, I don't know whaty'all do, right, we're going as
soon as they say, hey, gear up,let's, let's rock out.
You know, I'm saying it's timeto go.
So, um, just because I was ametal worker, that was that
would.
Being a metal worker was myside job to being a rifleman.
Right, I was a rifleman first,then I was a metal worker, not

(24:13):
the other way around yeah, andthat's how it is in war, like in
war, like we.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
I know the unit that replaced us um a transportation
unit was, uh, field artillery,so we had.
They were completely like outof their, out of their realm,
like it wasn't their thing.
But I love how you talk.
You had accountability at avery early age, whether you
realize it or not, man, becausewhen I got out I didn't have the
best leadership, I didn't havethe best time in the army.

(24:39):
My deployment was okay, but itwasn't.
I don't know, man, and some ofit was I brought on myself and
some of it was just thecircumstances.
But when I got out I was likeI'm out, Like just, I don't want
to, like, I just want to moveon with my life and go on to the
next chapter.
And it sounds like to me youhad a lot of accountability with
yourself, where, you know, Ichose who I married, I chose to

(25:02):
make my decisions, like that,you know.
Do you think that reallycarried you down the stretch to
be where you're at today?

Speaker 2 (25:13):
No, that is where I landed now, that ability to look
at myself.
So part of what got me into theMarine Corps in the first place
was the fact that I could seeissues with myself that needed
to be adjusted and I neededsomething drastic.
So I was like I'm joining theMarines All right, fix me Okay,
cause I don't want to end upwith a F on my record, a felony.

(25:35):
I don't want to end up with afelony on my record.
I want to be a better person,to have a, a fruitful and
productive life.
You know, I want to be.
I want to be a good person.
I want to be the good guy.
You know, the guy, um.
Again, going back to thoseeighties movies, I wanted to be
the Superman, the good guy.
I want to be the, the, the, theguy who protect her.
I wanted to be that and so, um.

(25:58):
But when I got out, going backto it, um, um, part of what
fueled me was spite and anger.
Spite and anger fueled me formany, many years until I grew
out of that, because I wanted toprove that person that you
chose wrong.
You chose the wrong person.

(26:19):
You know, you should have stuckby me.
I wanted to be successful andmake it and be this big time
rapper and be like ha, you chosewrong.
So, to be honest with you, whenI was homeless, I could have ran
home to my mom.
My mom was in.
She's still in Douglasville.
I think she was still inDouglasville at the time when I

(26:39):
got out.
So Douglasville, georgia, I wasin San Diego.
I could have ran home to mom.
Now, granted, at the time I was24 years old, I was a grown man
.
I'm not running home to my mama.
I'm going to figure this thingout.
I did my time homeless and alsomy ex actually coined this term
for me or gave me this term.
I wasn't aware of it.

(27:00):
It's called a hobosexual.
Do y'all know what that is?
A hobo sexual?
I don't know what that is.
Let me break that down for you,because when she explained it to
me I was like, oh shit, I was ahobo, sexual Hobo, we know.
Hobo moves from place to place,right, right, right.
And then I think you can add inthe sexual part and figure out

(27:21):
what I had to do to survive forfor a while, back and forth,
okay, you know.
So back then we still had aMySpace.
We still had MySpace back then.
So I would hop on MySpace.
Yeah, man, Remember that,that's how far back we're going.
I do.
So I would get on MySpace andyou know, I would just be
talking to a different girl andlike, hey, yeah, I'm a Marine, I

(27:42):
just got out, but I'm homelessand I'm going through this stuff
.
My wife is going through adivorce.
Oh so where do you stay?
I stay in my friend's car.
You don't have to do that.
You can come stay on my couch.
Sure, I'll come stay on yourcouch and I will stay on the
couch for a while.

Speaker 1 (28:05):
I love that term, man .

Speaker 2 (28:06):
That's funny yeah yeah, yeah, so yeah, but
ultimately, like I said, it camefrom, like I said, spite and
anger.
I wanted to prove that personwrong, but then also I needed to
prove that to myself, thateverything that has happened
happened for a reason.
Like I'm going through all ofthis struggle, all of this

(28:28):
strife, all of this I have towin.
So that way, I know that thispain meant something, because
the worst thing you can do is gothrough pain for no reason.
The worst thing you do is whoopyour child and not tell them
why.
You know you give your child aspanking.
You need to explain to them whyyou gave him a spanking.
That was the same thing I wasthinking about with my life.

(28:49):
Is life is whooping my assright now?
Now I need to get to the end ofit.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
So I not in life but the end of this struggle to
understand why am I getting myass kicked?
So that's what it was.
Yeah, yeah, and I can wow youlike you.
Hit the nail on the head withme.
I can identify with everythingthat you said.
As far as like proving otherswrong, I mean, I was a special

(29:13):
ed growing up up until likeninth grade was told by, was
told by counselors like I wasn'tcollege material like straight
to my face, man, and I was likeyo, bitch, like I'm gonna show
you like college material like,and that was that was the early
fire.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
So every time I'm like, yeah, man, like that's
like and and to be honest withyou, the reason why, you know,
I'm able to say these things,because I'm not afraid of
mirrors.
I have, no, no problem lookingat a mirror and going, damn damn
, that's fucked up with me.
Oh, that's that's.
That's something in me thatneeds to be fixed or adjusted,
or that's the reason why, eventhough it might not sound good

(29:49):
or look good, this is why I'mdoing this, the same thing that
people find out about themselvesin counseling.
I can find it a bear, I just go.
Hey.
I can find it at bear, I justgo.
Hey, I'm probably mad becausesuch and such said this and I
don't like this, and I don'tlike it because of this.
It's just, I don't know, it's,it's.
I don't need counseling formyself, I just need to sit down

(30:12):
and meditate and go.
Why am I upset or why am I sador why am I angry?
And when I do that, I'm able togo back and go, hey.
This is why these thingshappened.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
Right man, I tell you like, and I I've, I've told
people before cause I've beenthrough.
They always say you're not inthe military until you get
divorced and it's like, it'slike you know and and and you
know, working in law enforcementand military like being in
those rooms.
You have to have thick skin andI always used to tell people

(30:47):
like there's not anything thatyou can say to me that I haven't
already said to myself.

Speaker 2 (30:52):
I am my own worst critic.

Speaker 1 (31:02):
I'm not going to get offended by anything you say,
because I've already told myselfthat I screwed up and I take
accountability and thatself-awareness you're talking
about, man.
Some of the most successfulpeople that I know are
self-aware of their weaknessesand then they join the military
to try to fix those weaknessesor they're aware of, like their
surroundings, their upbringingsare not the best in the world.
So then they joined themilitary to try to get out of it

(31:24):
, you know, and they stumble andfall but then they get back up
again and that sounds like sortof where you were.
You were very self-aware, veryaccountable at a young age and
you wanted to do better, andthat's that's where it all
starts, man.

Speaker 2 (31:37):
Let me say this just to kind of piggyback off of that
.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
If you haven arts man .

Speaker 2 (31:42):
Let me say this, um, just to kind of piggyback off of
that.
Uh, if you ever figured out,I'm a black american man.
I don't know if y'all picked upon that, but I'm that and I grew
up, uh, I was born in the 80s,grew up in the 90s and, uh, a
lot of the and I, you know, mymother was a single mom, you
know, um, I didn't have apredominant male figure for the
majority of my life to kind ofguide me and go, hey, you know,

(32:05):
this is, this is not what fellasdo, the same way we do.
So I went to Entertainmentmusic and you know my, my, my
friend group and movies to seehow a black man is supposed to
conduct himself.
You know, in what was populararound black, you know black

(32:26):
culture and how to be black.
And what I found, you know, andI'm able to even look back now,
what I found, is that a lot ofthat stuff that I was watching
and a lot of the music I waslistening to, not all the music.
Not everything I watched, but alot of it was not the best and I
can see it even now in ourculture.

(32:47):
Now I can see the way that itaffects and tanks our children.
I'm not going to speak.
I'm going to speak specificallyto the young men because it
happened to me, you know, and Iwanted, I wanted so badly to be
real, to be hood, to be that,you know.
Oh yeah, I've been to jail.

(33:07):
I didn't did this, notrealizing that's not.
That ain't cool, man, that ain'twhat you want to be.
You don't want to mess yourlife up for what?
To prove what to who?
Who do you want to prove thisto?
That person ain't doing nothing, that person ain't nobody.
And so the, the being self-awarestarted then going.

(33:29):
I don't want to fail.
If I follow this person, thesepeople, I follow these people
down a path that I can see the,the end result, then it's on me.
It's my fault.
I chose that path.
So what I'm going to let youguys do.
I'm going to let you guys godown this path, because that's
where all y'all want to go.
I'm going to do just like thiswhat's over here?

(33:52):
Hey y'all, it's cool over here,there's no problem, nobody want
to come, that's all right,y'all go, y'all go ahead.
I'm going to go over here andtry something different.
Right, you know?
And?
And there are people who areafraid.
There are people even now, tothis day, they, they, you know,
you've sold out and you went togo fight the white man's war and
you're standing other and I'mlike I hear the same thing from

(34:16):
family and friends.
I didn't want to be a stereotype.
I don't want to be easilyidentifiable.
I don't want to be easilyidentifiable.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Yeah, yeah, it's heartbreaking.
I have a nephew that's fromAtlanta and he got involved in
gangs and he eventually gotkilled.
And it breaks my heart to thinkthat.
I mean, I remember going downto the detention center down
there when he was locked up andI tried to talk him into
something else.

(34:46):
I said, look, you got to getinto boxing or jujitsu or you
got to get into some positivitywhen you get out of here.
And I remember he put aFacebook post up talking about
you know me going down there andtaking the time.
But when he got out, man, hejust fell right back into it
again and then he eventually gotkilled.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
And it was familiar.
It was familiar and it was safe, and I think that's all we ever
really want is something that'ssafe and that felt safe because
he knew that.
He knew the devil, you know.

Speaker 1 (35:14):
Right, so much that you've touched on man.
It's just like it hits home forme because I I I'm with you,
like I know what you're talkingabout Exactly and I've gone
through the same thing, man.
So I'm so blessed to be on thisconversation with you today.
But I want to get back to likeyour, your career, and talk
about, like, what inspired youto first pursue acting and

(35:36):
modeling, because this is kindof a unique industry in itself.
Was there a specific moment orinfluence that set you on this
path?

Speaker 2 (35:42):
There was.
There was so and I talk aboutthis all the time A friend of
mine.
He was.
He's also, I think, his formerarmy, but we were contractors.
I was saying I lived in Kuwaitfor about five and a half, six
years.
We were contractors out there.
His name is Dexter, emery HiDexter.
His name is Dexter and he wastalking about a small role that

(36:03):
he had in the Bourne supremacy.
I think he said the role gotcut, but he had pictures and
stills and this is.
This is back in 2018.
I still had dreads, braids andI had long hair.
And I'm talking to him andshowing me these pictures and
I'm like Interesting, how do Iget into that?

(36:24):
And he was like and this iswhat he says he goes well, I'm
doing this little independentproject with this guy.
Maybe I can possibly get you arole.
I was like sure, I'll give it atry.
Never took a class, nothinglike that.
Just, the guy comes out.
I can't remember his name, buthe comes out.
He has a little camcorder onhis shoulder.
All right, this is what I wantyou to say and these are the
lines.
All right, and come out here.

(36:45):
You know, I don't think I gotpaid for that.
I don't remember anything, butit was literally my first time
on camera, um, and it just, itjust kind of blew up from there
because I, you know, I just hungout in Miami with Dexter, I
think like two months ago, amonth ago or whatever, and
people recognize me from beyondthe gates and we're in Miami,

(37:08):
and so he's not acting anymore,but he's just like he says dude,
I don't even know, I'm so proudof you, you really just took
off.
And I was like, yeah, I justmade a decision, that's what I
wanted to do.
And so, you know, shout out toDexter.
The reason why I'm here isbecause he said and sometimes

(37:32):
you'll have that person who willsay the right thing at the
right time to the right personand he was the right person to
say the right thing to me atthat time.
He was like, hey, I can try tohelp.
Yeah, now I've worked withMorgan Freeman, chris Maloney,
viola Davis, brian Tyree.
I'm on a hit soap opera andit's like all that came from it

(37:56):
was a group of us, a bunch ofmilitary, former military
sitting in a cabin.
And he just pulls out a pictureand goes, yeah, I was in a
movie and now I'm here.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yeah, I met Chris Maloney once and I didn't know
who he was and I think it was inIndianapolis at the Super Bowl.
And we're standing in line forStarbucks and this guy's in
front of me and some girlswalked by and was like, hey, we
love your work.
And I was like in back then Iwas in law enforcement and I was
.
He had like a scarf around hisneck and so me being curious,

(38:33):
george was like.
I was like oh, or are you an,an, an artist or?
and he goes I'm an actor and Iwas like, oh, I'm like, what
have you been in before he goes?
Well, for the last 11 yearsI've been in Law Order SVU and
I'm like, oh, I'm like, I'msorry, I didn't know, I didn't

(38:57):
watch that.
But he was a really nice guy,though, really nice guy.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
I did two episodes of Law Order OC.
I played a Marine with PTSD onthe show.
I did two episodes of that show.
I got a chance to work withChris.
I got knocked out on the showby Chris.
It was great.
He's a he's a very, veryintense actor.
I loved working with him.

(39:23):
I would love to do it again.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
Yeah, yeah, it's so awesome, man.
Um, and then before you youstepped into the spotlight.
What were some of the biggestpersonal or professional
challenges that you had toovercome?
That you realized really quick,cause I know, being in
different industries, you haveto take on like new challenges.
Um, as far as like when you'rein the military, you got to have
, like, you got to be able totake criticism and things like

(39:47):
that.
What about the industry you'rein now?

Speaker 2 (39:50):
So what I will say, the most difficult thing for me
is but it's still, it's stillsomething I work on is emotions.
You know, being a man, being ablack man and then being a
Marine, you know we don't accessthat shit too quick, you know,
but thanks to my acting coach,Johnna Nagley, here in Atlanta,

(40:11):
she helped me to, you know,break into that and to access
those and to be able to emote.
There was a show I did calledOrdinary Joe, where my character
was saved by the Lee'scharacter, his father, during
9-11.
And if I had not been savedthen my daughter would never
have been born.

(40:32):
And so, because I'm a girl dad,I was able to tap into those
feelings.
And then I remember 9-11.
I was able to tap into that, andso that's actually been the
most difficult is just tappinginto more vulnerable emotions,
but now it's.
Part of the reason why it wasdifficult was because I didn't
want to be seen as weak or lessthan.

(40:53):
But then I understand that weall have emotions, we all have
feelings, we all.
And then part of my craft is tobe seen.
People are going to have to seeyou here and they're going to
have to see you here.
They're going to have to seeyou, you know.
And then the other part of ittoo, and this conversation that
I have with people.
They ask me you know, how doyou get in front?

(41:13):
How do you just talk to people?
How do you get in front ofcameras?
And my fear, the fear that Ihave, is not the same fear that
other people, that the averageperson or the person who has
never been in military or neverbeen to combat has seen or may
feel.
My fear is at a higher level.

(41:35):
The things that it takes tomake me afraid, things that that
were that it takes to, you know, make me afraid, and so I
created a, a sort of a mantra orsaying of mine, and forgive me
for using profanity, but what Itell people when they, when they
, how are you?
How do you do this?
I say, in iraq I was shot atand bombed and my enemy couldn't

(41:55):
kill me, so what the fuck doyou think your opinion can do to
a man like me?
What do you think your opinioncan do to a man?

Speaker 1 (42:06):
like me.
Yeah, yeah, what's?
I guess it's kind of likewhat's your idea of a bad day,
exactly.

Speaker 2 (42:15):
And I have this conversation with my daughter,
I've seen kids who don't havewalls on their homes or don't
have shoes walking around on hotrocks and glass, and that's
their day to day life.
Oh, but you want to complainbecause you don't have Wi-Fi.
Get out of here, right?
You want to complain becauseyou don't have Wi-Fi.
These kids eat food with fliesall over it, but you don't have

(42:37):
cream for your latte.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
If you don't shut up.
You're right, man.
What's your idea of bad day.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
Right, there's levels to this.
There's levels.
You didn't meet my requirementyet.
I'm sorry, you just didn't.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
I love the experience , man.
I feel like back in the daymore people, especially in the
entertainment industry, servedin the military.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
So to some extent they had to eat shit, and some
people never do that nowadays.

Speaker 1 (43:04):
It's like you have no idea.

Speaker 2 (43:07):
The other thing, too, is I think you and I came up in
a time where this did not exist, social media did not exist.
So we also live in an age whereanybody can say anything at any
time, behind an anonymous face,a made up name Anybody could.
And the fact that they can dothat and that people will

(43:30):
believe them and follow them,and you know, oh yeah, that that
sounds like it makes sense.
I think it's a detriment.
I think the fact that peopleare not accountable, don't have
to be accountable for theaftermath of the things they may
say, because they can just hide, right, they can just hide, and

(43:55):
I think we live in a cowardsociety where cowardice is
rewarded in.
I think we live in a cowardsociety where we're cowardice is
rewarded.
I don't think cowards should berewarded, I think I think
people should strive to bestronger, mentally, physically
stronger, better.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
So I love I love how authentic you are, man, because
at the end of the day, like I, Iget I mean I agree 100 with
what you're saying.
People can say whatever theywant, because they would not say
it in real life.
And then also, too, like you'vegot a lot of people out there
that are just fake, like peoplethat are portraying themselves
as something online that they'renot in real life, and that

(44:34):
irritates me too.

Speaker 2 (44:36):
And it absolutely should irritate you, because the
thing is that they call thosepeople influencers.
Their job is to influence youto move in a certain direction,
even if they don't believe inshit themselves.
You know, going back to I'msorry, real quick, going back to
what I was talking about before, about having something that's
standing on, something believingin something you know and not

(45:01):
giving up your morals and yourvalues.
Right, some people will do thatsimply for money, for money.
And it's like it's morecourageous to just say no, I'm
not saying that, that's a lie,I'm not going to lie or I don't
agree with that, so I'm just notgoing to say it.

(45:22):
But people operate out of fear,the fear of loss.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
So wow, You're a man that really stands on on hard
ground, for sure, because youever worry about there being a
ceiling because of you havingthose specific priorities of
your life that you're notwilling to violate I so.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
I absolutely am afraid of that.
Um, um, that is something thatI'm afraid of.
I'm afraid that my honesty andmy willingness to be truthful
will create a ceiling for me.
But I have hope and I havefaith in people, in good people.

(46:07):
I have faith that there'ssomebody out there you know, in
my industry or with what I dowho gets what I'm trying to do
and gets what I'm trying tobring forth, because it's so
interesting that we profit somuch and there's so much money

(46:28):
to be made off of lies Right Ihate it.
It's so interesting.
So my curiosity becomes howmuch money could we make off of
the truth, even though somewould say that the truth is not
lucrative?

(46:48):
Right, being honest is notlucrative.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
No, I'm with you, man .
I absolutely hate it.
And I was thinking the otherday I was like you know, I
should like redact the likepersonal stuff on my DD 214.
We just have that available.
Like, look, if, because there'sbeen questions about like
people that are influencers now,whether it's the liver king or
Tim Kennedy about things thatthey said that they did but they

(47:15):
didn't do that, are coming backnow full circle to haunt them.
They didn't do that, are comingback now full circle to haunt
them.
And so you got to be careful,man, because there's
accountability out there thatwill catch up to you on the
things that you say and youclaim.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
You know, and I'm sure I'm sure somewhere down the
line, I've said somethingthat's going to come back and
bite me in the ass.
I don't know exactly what it is, but because I'm human, I've
been around for Fuck it 44 yearsnow.
So I'm sure somewhere along theline I done messed something up
somewhere and I've saidsomething that I might not
necessarily believe now or Ibelieve differently.

(47:48):
So it'll happen.
But one thing I do I was justtalking about the other day is I
hated knowingly beinghypocritical.
So when I was rapping, I wasdoing music.
You know how rappers are.
They talk about the cars andthere's jewelry and all this
other stuff.
So when I was doing it, I wasrapping about cars and jewelry,
but I didn't have it.
I didn't have cars and jewelry.
So as soon as I got some money,I immediately went and bought

(48:10):
the car that I was talking aboutand some of the liver King um,
cause, you know, you look at theguy, great physique, and I'm
all natural, I'm like come tofind out.
You've been, you know, and, uh,my, the question becomes why

(48:35):
did you do that?
Because the moment you lie, youjust admitted that you don't
deserve whatever accolades thatyou were about to receive.
You do not deserve that.
You admitted it to yourselfbecause you lie, so you know you
don't deserve it, so why wouldyou do it in the first place?

Speaker 1 (48:49):
It's all for money, yeah, and people feel betrayed
because they he, from what Iread, like he literally made
millions of dollars off of thesesupplements and telling people
like poor information.
That wasn't true to begin withright, you cheated.

Speaker 2 (49:04):
You became a millionaire and you cheated you.
Yeah, I think cheater yeah,yeah, that's.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
that's really frustrating, especially when
you're authentic and you're, youknow I.
I think in your case, man likeyou I mean you've been 100
honest with everything from yourmos to what you've done.
I mean you're not going to fallinto that category because, at
the end of the day, it's likesome of these people go so far
outside the lines, like claimingthat you have a Bronze Star
with a V device.
You know what award you weregiven specifically and that's

(49:34):
what Tim Kenny did, and it'slike why would you even say that
, why would you even tell astory about that at any point in
time?
That would be recorded andbroadcasted Like that was done
on purpose.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
Right, you know we can see you right.
You know we can hear you right.
This is recorded, sir, anybodywith any you know.
So what this tells me, whatthis tells me and what I've
noticed, and what I do believe,is that media believes that the

(50:07):
average person is stupid, stupidand lazy.
Stupid and lazy because stupidwe can just tell them anything,
they'll believe it, and lazybecause they're not gonna fact
check it.
They believe that.
Then every now and again youget somebody who goes back and
they'll they'll fact check it,like with believe it.
Then every now and again youget somebody who goes back and
they'll fact check it, like withme.
I say I'm a decorated MarineCorps veteran.
I don't have like a bronze star, silver medal, but I am

(50:28):
decorated.
So when I tell people I have mycar not my car, but we know
what a car is right and I sayI'm a combat veteran, I say yeah
, I'm a combat veteran, I havemy combat action ribbon.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
And so when you get thosepeople who just fabricate, they

(50:49):
fabricate easily Google-ablethings.
You know we can Google thisRight.
Don't lie about things that canbe easily fact-checked, you
idiot.
Yeah, but then don't lie ingeneral, but damn yeah you are
definitely.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
I mean, in my opinion , the marines are are whether
you got an award there or notlike you guys are decorated.
I I I was in the military priorto september 11, prior to iraq
and afghanistan, and I rememberhearing, like all the garrison,
like a shit, talk about, like,on Marines, the army is better,
the Marines are better, but Itell you what, when you get down
range and the bullets areflying, it changes everything.

(51:29):
Man, like I have a tremendousamount of specter.
The the.
The few times that I got anopportunity to work with the
Marines, I was impressed, like Iwas like wow, these guys are
very professional and I trustthem.
No-transcript.

(52:02):
Wow, like my perspectives havechanged now that I'm in war
versus in garrison.
And you know, that's, that'severything, man, that you really
, you really hit the nail on thehead with that one man like
that's.
And the industry is is where itis.
And I want to take it back towhere you first started.
What was your, how did?
What was your?
How did like?
What was your first gig whenyou started the entertainment

(52:25):
industry?
And how, how did how did thatopportunity come around?

Speaker 2 (52:28):
Okay, cool, so we'll we'll talk about my first
onscreen gig, my first one right.
This is after I got an agentand I was.
I was like yes, and I was likeyes, I'm an actor, I still had
braids.
You guys can find this, it wasMacGyver.

Speaker 1 (52:41):
Yeah, I saw that Season three Season three
Episode, I think it was 19.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
It was like permafrost seed and something
else, I don't know.
But no, I went through theaudition process and I got the
audition and I had a friend ofmine come read the other side
for it.
But I think the reason why Igot it was because it's on the
line where you see me actuallydoing the audition was because

(53:09):
the character was just a bad guy.
I had like four words.
You know one scene, four words.
It was real quick.
But he had a gun, you know, andI didn't know that it was going
to be like this.
My marine kicked in, so Iimmediately went like this.
So when I did my audition, theywere like he looks like he

(53:29):
knows how to use a weapon and soI'm literally swinging it.
You know muzzle, awareness andall that.
You know I'm doing my thing.
And so they were like he lookslike he knows what he's doing.
I was like motherfucker, I knowI'm doing my thing.
And so they were like he lookslike he knows what he's doing.
I was like I know what I'mdoing, I did this and so, um,
and then also I had a veryinteresting hairstyle at the

(53:49):
time.
I had, um, dread or brains andthis whole thing.
So, uh, if you guys go back andlook season three, episode 19 I
think it's something'spermafrost seed and something of
MacGyver you'll see me.
It's literally the first twominutes of the show.
Like as soon as you turn on twominutes in there I am kicking
the door, waving my gun.

(54:12):
And so when I walked onto thatset I had done background before
.
You know background, people arelike whatever background.
I, you know the background thatpeople are like ah, whatever,
ah, background, go, go, go, Idon't know.
Your, your, your, your room isbehind a toilet or something, I
don't know.
It's like background getstreated weird and um, but when I
walked in and this is CBS andI'm with CBS now, um, cbs,

(54:36):
paranormal Ta-da and um, when Iwalked in and they were like oh,
background's over there.
And look, I was like no, sir,are you the bad guy?
Yes, I'm the bad guy.
Oh, sir, well, can we make youan omelet?
Here's your dressing room.
Do you need anything?
If you need anything, just letme know.

(54:57):
And I was like nothing from you, peasant.
And I was like nothing from you, peasant.
I was, look, I was milking itbecause I was like this feels so
good and that was the moment Iknew and once we said, cut, I
done my scenes, this is all I'mdoing for the rest of my life.
It felt so good.

(55:17):
I took a picture with LucasTill and he was a star at
MacGyver and Levy Tran.
She was one of the female leadsand it just felt so good and I
knew then that this is all Iwant to do and I just went full
throttle ever since and it'sjust gotten bigger and better
after that, like even right now,I'm writing and producing and

(55:40):
starring in, you know, my ownfilm.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
Yeah, wow.
And so that whole creativeprocess though.
What's that look like whenyou're preparing for a new role
or new project?
Is it difficult to like?
Do the lines.
How do you like?
What do you do?

Speaker 2 (56:02):
So it new role or new project Is it?
Is it difficult to like?
Do the lines?
How do you like?
What do you do?
So, um, it all depends on therole.
So let's uh, for the lines.
For me, you know it, it there isdifficulty with memorization
because of PTSD and short-termmemory, uh, issues that I have
to really, really, really,really, really work hard on
memorization.
You know, like like overkill, Iliterally will go to sleep
playing lines.
I'm like, I'm like, I'm finna,osmosis, this shit.
You know what I mean, likewhatever, and so, but depending

(56:26):
on the role will determine,determine on how I prepare.
What I typically do is I try todecide what that character
wants, ultimately, like theirmain goal.
What do they want If theydidn't get it?
What would they like?
You know, would they die ifthey didn't have this?
And then that kind ofdetermines which way I go.

(56:48):
I can't, I can't, so I can't gofull method.
I'm a dad my daughter'supstairs right now, so I can't
go full method.
I'm a dad my daughter'supstairs, upstairs right now, so
I can't go full method acting.
I got to stay present in mykid's life and but you know, if
it's, if it's an emotional scene, I'll find those things that
you know.
It kind of gets me there, getsme in those feelings, if it's,

(57:10):
if it's, if it's, if it's, ifit's, if it's, yeah.
So my, my wheelhouse foranybody who's watching my
wheelhouse is charm and being uh, authoritative.
So being charming and being, um, you know, like the, the
authority, that's sort of mywheelhouse, everything outside
of that.
I had to work a little bitharder at that because, just

(57:30):
naturally, I know how to be incharge and I know how to be
charming when it comes to women.
I'm fucking funny, yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
So so you know, do you think the military helped
hone a lot of that?
Because in a sense, likesometimes you gotta I always
tell people you get more withsugar than you do a shit when
you're asking for things.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
But then there are times where you have to be
authoritative, you gotta be likeabsolutely, absolutely, um,
there, there are those times, um, you know, when you know I was
in the marine corps and you knowI'd be in charge, you know, and
you have to.
Granted, those are your, yourbuddies, and some of them on the

(58:08):
same level as you, but you haveto be able to switch in and out
of being that guy like look, Iknow we're like homies, but
right now I'm in charge.
I don't want no bullshit, right, because I, because I have to,
I have to report back to youknow our corporal, our sergeant,
you know our staff gunny, sodon't make me look bad, or it's

(58:31):
gonna be on you.
I'm on, you know I'm saying,and so there's those it's going
to be on you.
You know what I'm saying.
And so there's those times wehave to be authoritative.
But then there's other timeswhere, again, you have to get,
you have to use the sugar to getwhat?

Speaker 1 (58:42):
you need.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
And then being, you know, being a welder.
So there was a couple of things.
I was a welder.
I was also the safety.
When I was in Japan, I was thesafety officer for the shop and
to get the safety equipment andthings that we needed, I had to
Granted, I was Mayor Troy'sLance Corporal Plus at the time,

(59:03):
and so they gave me a littlerespect because I was a hard
charger.
This was before I got married.
This was before I got married.
I was a hard charger.
We still had the woodlands.
Yeah, charger, we still had thewoodlands.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Yeah, we had the woodlands, I was creased, boots
was shined.
I'm talking about, yeah, I wasthat marine, you know what I
mean?
Yeah, and so I would get alittle bit more respect and I
would get the things that I need.
You know, just being charmingbecause I had to talk to the
higher ups, I had to deal with alot of, even though I was in E3
, I had to deal with E6 and up,and so that kind of gave me that
ability to go from one side tothe other.

(59:38):
You know, talking to my Marinesbut then talking to the higher
ups, like, hmm, so Same dealhere.

Speaker 1 (59:48):
Man, I was a second lieutenant when I deployed, so I
was a gold bar, butter bar,butter bar dude lieutenant when
I deployed, so I was a gold barbutter bar dude.
I was like right out of likebecause I did, I did.
I was enlisted in NationalGuard in Ohio and then I went
active duty as an officer, soand I was only like 23, 24 years
old so I was a baby.

(01:00:09):
So when I I didn't know anything, dude and like, so I, so I go
over there and like I became100% okay with like being wrong
and getting my ass chewed byNCOs Because I would have to eat
it, I'd be like you're right, Iscrewed up.
Like you know, it doesn'tmatter what rank I'm wearing,

(01:00:30):
but I've got my ass chewed byE7s, e6s and I was okay with
that man.
That's leadership, you knowlike it's.
You know, know your role.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Another thing that I love to tell people.
You know you have to be willingto.
You know, admit that you'rewrong.
And the reason being is becauseyou're not going to die.
Literally, my bars for life aream I going to die?
I'm not going to die.
Literally, my bars for life aream I going to die?
I'm not going to die, nah, youknow.
So me admitting when I'm wrong,or when I've done something

(01:01:03):
wrong, or getting my ass chewed,whatever it's like, I can
handle this because I'm notgoing to die Right.
So it's literally my bar atthis point in life.
You know, basically saying thepoint of me saying that is that
it's going to be okay.
You know, be be willing to takethose hits, you know, but you

(01:01:23):
got to keep pushing forward.
That's how, what it has done.
Another Rocky reference.
Sorry, I saw it a moment.
I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
We grew up in that era man did, that's what it was
all about.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
So I would love to work with Stallone.
Dude, just saying this, thefilm that I'm writing I have a
part that I wrote that I'mwriting specifically I want
Stallone in because I'm likehe'd be perfect.
So I make a lot of Rockyreferences because I grew up
watching those and I watchedthem with my mom and I have fond

(01:01:58):
memories of Rocky 1, 2, 3, and4.
You know and the things that itkind of taught me.
So I know I sound like a geekbut it is what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
You know it kind of hurts to watch that generation
age.
You know the guys like ClintEastwood, rocky even.

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Arnold, kind of like 90-something now.

Speaker 1 (01:02:17):
Yeah, man, it's hard to believe.
You know I want to take it backreal quick.
Man, you know the Marines doesa tremendous job as far as
putting young leaders inposition and you know your E-4s
are almost like E-5s in theMarines and at the end of the
day you take command and thenyou screw up, you fix it and

(01:02:38):
maybe you get fired.
Maybe you don't get fired,whatever the case is, but that's
what it's cutting your teethand that's what I really
appreciated about the Marines.
Man was like even theirenlisted folks had the
responsibilities that werereally high up there.
Man, that was my experience.
And with everything you'redoing in film, how do you stay

(01:02:58):
grounded and so consistent insuch a fast-paced and sometimes
unpredictable industry?

Speaker 2 (01:03:07):
Staying grounded again, being a father and
knowing ultimately what I do nowit's, it's, it's fun, you know
it's, it's something that Ienjoy doing.
But I know at any point that thecarpet can be ripped from up
under me and maybe I won't bedoing this one day.

(01:03:28):
But I know that my, my, youknow my kids need me.
I know that my, my, you know,my kids need me.
And so, you know, I work ashard as I can, I push as far as
I can and I fight as hard as Ican to succeed.
I also understand that I'm notat the level that I want to be,
and I also understand is thatthere's a fear that I will reach

(01:03:50):
the level I want to be, andit's still.
It still won't be enough.
So, you know, staying self-awareand understanding that you know
, before all of this, I'm a manand I'm a father.
I got to be somebody's daddy,you know.
So that's what keeps me inplace, because I can get lost

(01:04:11):
out mentally, get lost out therein the world.
And then my child, who did notask to be brought to this world,
she suffers.
That is not fair, especiallywith me already being the only
one she's got.
You know, I've been a full-timesingle father for 15 years now.
She's 16.
And so it's just been me, youknow, raising her, which is part
of the reason why I'm so lateto the game.
I had to get her up some sizebefore I even attempted to do

(01:04:34):
this, and she didn't ask to behere.
She didn't ask to be stuck withone parent.
She didn't ask for none of that.
So staying grounded means thatI have to protect that baby.

Speaker 1 (01:04:47):
Yeah, you know your reason why.
She's your reason why.
Wow, you know um, beyond actingand and modeling, are there
other business ventures orcreative projects that you're
real passionate about?

Speaker 2 (01:05:03):
well, most, most everything does really revolve
around the industry itself.
Like I said, I am writing, uh,producing and starring in uh
upcoming action film.
Um, we're still in thedevelopment stage but you know
plan is for it to come out LaborDay next year.
So that's the plan.
But I do love advocating andhelping you know other military

(01:05:27):
and helping them to see thatthere are other things that we
can do.
You know, we're not just boundto that.
You can be a soldier, an airman, a seaman, you know, a Marine,
and you could also be this.
So you know, advocating formental health, homelessness and

(01:05:48):
or no.
What did I say?
Unhoused, which I don't,whatever, but I'll say it.
Unhoused which I don't, whatever, but I'll say it, unhoused and
you know, just Trying to showthe world that we're, we're

(01:06:10):
still important.
You know, we, we people who arewilling, because I was an EMT
slash firefighter for a whilePeople who are willing to run
into danger for a stranger, forsomebody who doesn't know, just
for their right to to live andsurvive, a special kind of
people.
The military gets a bad rap whenpeople say oh, you know, you

(01:06:31):
want to go fight this war, youwant to go fight the war?
I don't think anybody.
Well, most people, the majorityof people, don't join the
military to go fight a war.
I think they join the militaryto be of service, to give, even
if that giving is possibly theirlife.
But they, they're heroes,people willing to go fight for

(01:06:55):
you.
Because you don't want to go doit.
And I want to bring respectback to that, like, hey, you
don't have to kiss their ass,you don't have to do that, but
just understand that thosepeople are willing to go out
there across the world, leavetheir family, leave their
friends, leave everything theylove and know, so you can be
comfortable and have your Wi-Fiand have your cream for your

(01:07:20):
latte, you know, and the factthat you're speaking English and
not German or Japanese, just alittle bit of respect.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
Right, yeah, and I tell people sometimes it's about
God and country, it's not aboutme, it's about my community,
it's about the person next to me, and I think a lot of us have
forgotten about that.
You go to the, you go tofreaking Costco, and you see
people pushing shopping cartsinto other parking spaces,
especially the handicapped ones.
That kind of stuff reallyirritates me because I'm
thinking about what about thenext guy, what about the next

(01:07:49):
person?

Speaker 2 (01:08:06):
Mm hmm, now they have to do it, so I hate that it had
to be this way, but the mostcohesive time that I can
remember in American history,can you guess what I'm going to
say?
Nobody gave a shit right, we'reamerican, they ain't fucking
with us, we gonna, we gonna gosee them.
You know, and I miss, I miss,um that, that level of, of
camaraderie, cohesion, um, Imiss it.

(01:08:27):
Yeah, genuinely, genuinely missit, because we didn't care, we.
We knew somebody came at us andwe're American, I am black,
white, spanish, asian.
You know, nobody cared.
We just know we're together now, we.
So I would love for us to havethat level of cohesion again and

(01:08:51):
just be American again, yeah,without the tragedies.
You know, you know, granted,I'm sure people are watching
this, like, have that level ofcohesion again and just be
American again, without thetragedies.
You know, you know, granted,I'm sure people are watching
this.
But well, you know, thisconspiracy theory, this, this,
this and the other, whatever,whatever, whatever, I don't, I
don't care, that's not what.
My point, right?

Speaker 1 (01:09:18):
My point is it was almost like we were family,
right 100 man 100, I agree withyou 100 on that one, you know
and talk about you signed up ata time when we're at war.

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
Actually, you're before I signed up.
I was in the depth program when, when night 11 happened, I was
just waiting to go.
I had already signed a contract.
I was sitting at my mom's housewhen the towel was here.
I was sitting on my mom'sliving room floor when she
called me from work and saidturn on the TV.
I had already signed up.
I was just waiting for the bus.

(01:09:44):
That's when I I signed up at atime directly before 9-11.
I sat there and I was just likeMe too.

Speaker 1 (01:10:03):
Yeah, I was enlisted in the National Guard at the
time and 9-11 happened and Idecided because I could have
gotten out and never have goneIraq or Afghanistan and I
decided that I would getcommissioned and I knew that I
was going to deploy, I justdidn't know when and I didn't.
It happened like right as soonas I got to Hawaii, to Schofield

(01:10:24):
Barracks, they gave me my 30days you're going to and I'm
like I'm a butter bar, like Idon't know anything, and I was
so scared man I was like I'm abutter bar, like I don't know
anything, and I was so scaredman.
I was like you but again, likeyou, find that intestinal
fortitude and that God andcountry and community and man.
It was the hardest thing I everdid in my life.

(01:10:46):
Was it difficult for youknowing that once you get
through boot camp that you couldbe going down range and going
to war?

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
Well, difficult ain't impossible, but I lucked out.
I actually got a year reprieve.
After I got out of the bootcamp I went to my MOS school at
Aberdeen Proving Ground.
Yeah, I was there, you were,yep, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:11:10):
I went there for my OBC.

Speaker 2 (01:11:12):
Look at that, see, I was there.
The Marine Corps WeldingProgram is in Aberdeen Proving
Ground.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
It's Ordnance right.

Speaker 2 (01:11:19):
And so I actually went to Japan.
I went to Iwakuni, japan, for ayear Now.
During that time now, granted,I could have stayed, but during
that time I got married and theywouldn't bring her over, so I
ended up going to Camp Pendletonand that's when I deployed and
did all that and so.

(01:11:39):
But by that point, no, I wasn'tafraid.
I trusted my you know, myfellow Marines around me and I
had a great command at the time,shouts out to Sergeant Pelham
and Sergeant Taylor and, yes, Iso I wasn't afraid.
You know what I mean.
I knew my fellas had my backand plus, I had something else.

(01:12:02):
You know, I was newly married.
So I felt like I had somethingelse to fight for.
I was going to fight for mywife.
You know, wish she would fightfor me while I was gone.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
Boy.
We got some stories, I gotstories.
Oh boy, so yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:12:19):
So, no, no, I wasn't afraid.
I didn't feel my first bout offear until May 17, 2004.
So my birthday is May 17th 2004.
So my birthday is May 16th.
Remember I told you I built theturrets, yeah, so on May 17th

(01:12:49):
we lost Bob Roberts.
I'll never forget, because itwas the day after my birthday.
I turned 23 and he was KIA andthat was the first time I got
scared.
When the realness hit, you knowthe finality of mortality hit

(01:13:13):
the squad.
That's when I got scared.
And then it kind of lingeredhere and there.
Every time we would takeconvoys I was like damn, I don't
want to go.
In my head I'd say, you know,even verbally I'd say I don't
want to go.
But obviously I went.
You know, I'm the guy, I'm allthey got.
I got to do my job and justhoping that I came home safely

(01:13:36):
and I can get home safely to mywife.
That's all I wanted to do.
Get home to my wife, get hometo my wife.

Speaker 1 (01:13:42):
Man, you give me goosebumps, bro, like I feel you
on so many levels, man.
I remember sitting in theUrimic traffic circle and the
night before another lieutenantjust like me was shot right in
the middle of a sappy plate witha .50 cal .50 cal.
That is uncalled for Dude.
So these guys had .50 calsniper rifles.

(01:14:02):
I mean they were, and that'sthe thing, man.
Like that was real, like I satthere with MVGs on in the turret
because I was the type oflieutenant that would.
I would get up in the gun, Iwould drive.
I wouldn't just do convoycommanding and sit in my in my
beautiful like passenger seatand do whatever, like my squad
leaders were.
They're the ones that taught meeverything.

(01:14:22):
My ncos taught me everything Iknew because I didn't know
anything.
Um, and that was the scary partfor me was I didn't have that
camaraderie prior to deploymentwith anybody.
It was just go over here andyou're going to meet everyone.
Yeah, you're in charge andyou're going to meet everyone as
soon as you get in country.
And the day I landed that waswhen we had the Chauhal bombing

(01:14:42):
in Mosul, um, which was followedby a bunch of motors and
rockets.
So my first few weeks was spentunder concrete bunkers with my
Kevlar and uh, living in one ofthose, uh, those Connex like
makeshift places and man, it'slooking back on it.
Man, like everything you'resaying like as far as like when
it really hit home for you andyou probably were standing at.

(01:15:04):
You probably had a memorialservice with the with the boots
and everything.

Speaker 2 (01:15:09):
Yep, kevlar, we lost other guys but I, you know, I
was closer to Bob.
He was part of my squad.
Plus, I actually knew himlonger than everybody there
because he was in Iwakuni Japanwith me as well.
Well, we weren't together inIwakuni Japan, but I would see
him in the child.
He was tall, he reminded me ofGary Busey, that's what he

(01:15:31):
reminded me of.
He kind of reminded me of GaryBusey with red hair, and so he
was just, he had a memorableface, and then just to lose him
the day after I turned, the dayafter I turned 24.
23.
So I'll never forget that.

(01:15:52):
I'll never forget that day.

Speaker 1 (01:15:55):
I sat and I cried, I'll never forget.

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
That day I sat and I cried like I, straight up.
I was standing outside.
I'll never forget I wasstanding outside.
We were at ASP Wolf, ammo,supply Point, wolf, and you know
we were protecting thecontractors as they were like
blowing up ordinance.
You know, they kept findingordinance in these bunkers and
they were just blowing upordinance.
So we were out there, you know,protecting them and we lost Bob

(01:16:17):
and this is a real name, bobRoberts.
We called him Bob, bob and youknow I stood out front of our
barracks and I was listening toSwing Low, swing Chariot, the
Beyonce version from theFighting Temptations, on little

(01:16:37):
CD player.
You know that's what we had backthen and I just I bawled out,
like you know, because I was, Iwas genuinely scared, I was like
shit, he ain't coming back back.
And there's a good chance that,you know, because we were maybe
just barely over, we were justover about halfway through the

(01:17:00):
deployment and I was like Istill got time here and I do a
lot of convoys as the welder, Ido a lot of convoys.
I'm like crap.
So, yeah, that one hits andthen that one, that one hits and
then you know, it still hits,cause yeah, Coming back here.

Speaker 1 (01:17:22):
Man, it probably drove you nuts.
I know it drove me nuts.
Whenever people would ask mewhere I was and I would say
Mosul.
And, because of the news,everything they would label as
Baghdad.
They'd be like they would sayoh well, it sounds like you were
in a safe place.
There's no safe place.

Speaker 2 (01:17:45):
I was in Haditha Dam for a while.
I was there with the Israeliarmy and shout out to the
Israeli army because good Lord,like they, everybody goes with
them.

Speaker 1 (01:17:51):
Like like they don't mess around.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
No, they don't mess around, they're quiet.
And what messed me up was, letme tell you, they had these
funny helmets or whatever.
But what messed me up right isI'm going to hit Haditha Dam.
I was doing some welding overthere.
I don't remember what I waswelding.
I was building something overthere and these gorgeous women
were just walking around inuniform and I'm 23.

(01:18:15):
I'm like who are they?
And the guys were like, theywere like, dude, that's the
Israeli army.
I'm like the women.
They were like, yes, I was likegood God, they just walk around
, fine, they just act gorgeouslike that, you know.

(01:18:36):
So, uh, that was hilarious tome, you know, and I spent, um a
number of months at haditha dam.
Um, I don't remember what I did, but I just remember I was
there building stuff and everytime I walk around I'm like, oh,
I'm so married, though somarried Little did.

(01:18:57):
I know I could have cheated, itwould have been just fine.

Speaker 1 (01:19:04):
Man, people don't people.
I can't tell you how manypeople I knew that left to go to
war, do something honorable,and then when they came home
they didn't have the whitepicket fence.
They they lost themselves.
While they were there.
I had a couple of guys thatbegged me at the end of the

(01:19:24):
deployment.
They said I want to extend,just keep me here.
And it come to find out, likewhen I started thinking about it
and started asking them morequestions.
The reason was was because, youknow, when I left, I had the
house, I had the kids, I had thedog, I had the white picket
fence.
But now when I go home, I'vegot to talk to a divorce
attorney, I've got to move inwith my parents.

(01:19:45):
My stuff is in storage right now, Like I have to face the music
and that's that's somethingpeople don't think about, man.
It's like when you come home,things aren't always the same.
People here went to springbreak, people here live their
lives, but you and I, we weretrying to stay alive, like
trying to avoid IEDs, trying toavoid rockets and mortars and

(01:20:07):
things like that, and that'swhat we did for a year, and
that's that's crazy, man.
Like just to just to put it inthat perspective and I try to
get people to understand thatabout me the most.
Maurice, I wanted to ask youbecause I'm sure there's other

(01:20:29):
creatives out there that areinterested in break into the
entertainment industry,especially those with
connections or those without aclear starting point or any
connections yet.

Speaker 2 (01:20:43):
Okay.
So just like I tell anybodywith acting step one, take
classes.
A lot of people say that I eventhought this before I started
acting.
I have a great personality, I'mfunny, I'm charming, I could be
an actor.
It takes more than just beingfunny and charming and all that.

(01:21:03):
You got to take some classes.
Another thing, too, is doresearch on people and find a
mentor, and it might be a mentorthat doesn't even know that
they're mentoring you.
And I say this because a coupleof people that secretly
mentored me that didn't knowthey were mentoring me Will

(01:21:25):
Smith, he secretly mentored me,he doesn't know it.
Chadwick Boseman I wasfollowing Chadwick Boseman, I
was following.
So basically, what I mean bythat is, the path to success has
been laid out by numerous,numerous actors, numerous people
in whatever the field is.
Find that person who you wouldlike, whose career you would

(01:21:46):
like to emulate, even maybesurpass, and just start where
they started.
I was looking into the schoolswhere Chadwick Boseman had
studied at British American Arts, I don't know, but it's, that's

(01:22:12):
right.
British Arts Drama Academy.
I think that's what it is, butit's it.
Oh, that's right, british artsdrama academy.
I think that's what it is, butit's.
It's actually in London and I Iwanted to go there I couldn't
afford to go there, but I wanted.
I was a dad too.
I couldn't just go by thispoint.
But, um, yeah, you know, doyour research, Don't let people
scam you.
Um, and and do take classes.
And if you're not sure and Isay this very honestly to people

(01:22:34):
if you're not sure what to do,my DMs are open.
If you don't know, I'll let youknow free of charge, like, hey,
that's stupid.
Don't do that.
They're trying to scam you.
You'll end up missing yourkidney.
Don't do that.
I'm like come on.
So yeah, I'm very open to helppeople.

Speaker 1 (01:23:13):
So, yeah, i'm't be afraid to give advice to people.
Talk about your failures, yourwins, your trials and
tribulations, all that stuff.
Man, try to create a clear pathfor the generation behind you.

Speaker 2 (01:23:24):
I feel like that is a huge uh role to take on for
folks and I appreciate yousaying that, like the mentorship
side of it and your willingnessto help others out over the um,
I think you know, and it's thisis gonna sound really cliche
and I'll just make it quick butI think the world and not just
the world, but specifically ourkids, you know, I think our kids

(01:23:46):
need heroes, somebody to lookup to, um, but human heroes
meaning somebody who's fallendown.
I've been to jail when I was akid, between the ages of 17 and
20, I went to jail a couple oftimes, but that's not where I
ended up in life, just humanstrying to figure it out.

(01:24:08):
So if I can save somebody sometime and some heartache, if I
can save someone some time by,you know, telling them my story
and showing them the path that Itook, I am so willing to do
that.

Speaker 1 (01:24:22):
Yeah, I think the best advice I've given someone
before that's fallen down is Iwill tell them like look, this
situation doesn't define you,Like your book is not finished
yet.
This is just a chapter of yourentire book.
So some people feel like, ohman, I really messed up.
My world just crashed down ontop of me and I don't feel like
I can be like this situation,this, whatever it is that you're

(01:24:42):
going through, it doesn'tdefine you.
You know, and people need toremember that.

Speaker 2 (01:24:48):
You're still breathing, Like literally again,
the bar for me is death.
I'm still breathing.

Speaker 1 (01:24:57):
Yeah, that's so true over the over the years.
Um, who have you looked up toin the industry or in just life
in general?

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
um, I would say if I had to say I looked up to
anybody, I would say um, I wouldsay probably viola davis.
I would say viola davis, Iwould say Viola Davis.
I got a chance to work with heron the First Lady.
She was playing Michelle Obamaand she and I worked together.
It was a pretty physical sceneand she walked into the set and

(01:25:30):
I felt like I could have beenmisinterpreted.
I could have saw it wrong.
But I felt like I could havebeen misinterpreted.
I could have saw it wrong, butI felt like she was uncertain or
unsure of what.
You know what we're going to dowith in the scene because we're
boxing.
And I immediately said to herhey, miss V, I got you, we're
going to make this work.
And the fact that I was able tosee her vulnerability, knowing

(01:25:52):
that she is who she is, likedude, that's Viola.
It let me know that justbecause you up here, you're
still a human, you're still aperson.
Literally everything startswith the idea of human humanity.
Start with that, start withhumanity, start with empathy and
humanity.
And you know, I learned thatfrom her and that sort of eased

(01:26:16):
the pressure off of me to um,that I had to be this.
You know, I had to know it alland do it all if I wanted to
make it.
No, you know, and I I'd look upto her, I look up to her career
and how hard she fights forherself and and, um, yeah.
So I would say Viola, she don'teven know this, like I was, I'm

(01:26:38):
very much inspired by her andher story.

Speaker 1 (01:26:41):
That's interesting, maurice.
What's one message you wantyour audience, fans and
followers to remember you by?

Speaker 2 (01:26:47):
That if I.
If there was one thing, onemessage that I want people to
take from me, is that if you seethat I did it, and if you see
that I can do it, then you cantoo.
There is no difference betweenbetween you and me.
Again, everything stems inhumanity and empathy.
So if I can do it, you can doit.

(01:27:09):
So just nike that thing andjust do it Just execute right.
Just execute you see your goalyou identify, your target,
execute, that's it, that way.

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
So what's over the horizon for Maurice?
Anything exciting that weshould be watching out for man?

Speaker 2 (01:27:29):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
As you know, I'm heavilyrecurring on CBS's Beyond the
Gates.
I play Randy Parker there.
So if anybody wants to checkout a soap opera which I was
shocked, I'm on a soap opera,you know check that out, randy
Parker.
I am currently in the works ofwriting well, co-writing,

(01:27:51):
co-producing and starring in anaction thriller called Labor Day
, so we're working on that.
I have two horror films comingout this this year as well, as
I'll be doing an episode ofStranger Things that comes out
season 5, so I'll be in StrangerThings season 5 playing

(01:28:13):
military.
So there's that.
So there's a few things.
It comes out in season five, soI'll be in Stranger Things
season five.
So I'm playing military.
So there's that.
So there's a few things.
I tell everybody just and Idon't mean to sound like that,
but Google, Because I beforgetting sometimes, you know,
and then go check out my catalog.
Go check out like, oh gosh, Ididn't know that was you back in
the day, it was me, it was thatguy.

Speaker 1 (01:28:32):
Wow, man, you're a busy man.
You got so many movies comingout and whatnot.
I don't know how you do it all,man, but and be a father and
and, first and foremost, that's,that's the most important thing
.
Before we round out the episode, I just wanted to ask man, do
you have anything else that youwant to mention that I didn't
mention during this podcast?

Speaker 2 (01:28:48):
Um, you know what?
One thing I definitely want tomention is that I want to say
thank you to everybody that satwith us and watched, and I just
want to say thank you to you foractually taking the time to sit
with me, work with me on mytech here and my sound, and we

(01:29:09):
did the best we could do andjust to give me an opportunity
to talk about a little bit aboutmy story about the military and
just bring a little bit morelight.
So I just want to say thank youto that, thank you to CBS,
thank you to Betty Diaz.
Betty Diaz she is was withParamount Veterans Network and
she is very, very, very big onhelping veterans and bringing

(01:29:33):
attention.
So just much love to her andthank you.
But thank you as well.

Speaker 1 (01:29:38):
No man, I'm honored.
I'm honored and I was surprisedwhen I got a message back from
you, Like I was not expectingthat at all, man, and I
appreciate you representing theveteran community as well.
I think a lot of times, thefurther we get away from 9-11,
Afghanistan and Iraq, I feellike we're sort of fading into
the fog a little bit.

(01:29:58):
So it's great to meet someonelike yourself, man that's been
there and has real lifeexperience with an incredible
I'd say we had an incrediblelast 20 years man when we were
in both those wars.
So, Maurice, thank you, it'sbeen an honor and I'm blessed
man, and sharing your story andyour honesty in your heart and

(01:30:20):
your journey is a powerfulreminder, with focus, faith,
fearless creativity, the ideathat anything is possible For
those listening.
Make sure you follow Maurice onInstagram.
Maurice, are you also on othersocial media accounts as well?

Speaker 2 (01:30:34):
Yeah, literally everything is Maurice P Carey.

Speaker 1 (01:30:45):
That's M-A-U-R-I-C-E-P-K-E-R-Y on all
social media.
Okay, and then make sure youstay locked in with everything
he has coming up as well.
He's a busy man.
He's got several movies comingout this year.
He's got more on the horizon.
Maurice, thank you so much.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
I mean, we really went downcertain little short rabbit

(01:31:05):
holes about the military andgoing to war and everything, and
for everyone else out there, Iwant you to stay tuned, stay
focused and stay motivated.
Warriors fall out.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

24/7 News: The Latest

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Boots, Bullets, and Blockbusters: A Devil Dog Takes on Hollywood with Maurice P. Kerry

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

24/7 News: The Latest

All Episodes

Boots, Bullets, and Blockbusters: A Devil Dog Takes on Hollywood with Maurice P. Kerry

Stuff You Should Know