Caribbean Heritage and the Power of Representation | Ft. Robert Christopher Riley

This week, we are talking di tings with Actor and Producer, Robert Christopher Riley.

Known for his dynamic presence on Broadway, television, and film, Rob shares his journey from his childhood in Brooklyn to a celebrated actor carrying the rich legacies of his Trinidadian and Bajan heritage. From Broadway to television, Rob continues to carry his Caribbean roots into every role, and in every story he tells. 

In this episode, we explore the intersections of Caribbean culture, identity, and artistry; and how these elements have shaped his career and personal life. Rob discusses his transformative role as Michael Culhane on "Dynasty," which brought him international recognition, and his current role as Javon on "Divorced Sistas," showcasing his versatility as an actor. With humor and authenticity, he speaks about his unconventional journey into acting (credting his professor & mentor, a Jamaican woman, for seeing his talent), some of his favourite Soca artistes, the importance of cultural representation in television and film, the wisdom he's gained throughout his life, thus far, advice for persons interested in being an actor, and so much more!

Whether you're an aspiring actor, a lover of compelling stories, or someone in the Caribbean diaspora looking for inspiration; this episode is for you.  So grab your tea, coffee, or a glass of wine, and let's talk di tings! 
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week, we explore the intersections of identity, artistry, and
heritage with actor and producer Robert Riley. Rob has built
a career that bridges heritage and Hollywood. He is a
storyteller whose journey reflects the richness of Caribbean identity and

(00:23):
the rigor of American artistry. Born in Brooklyn, New York,
to Trinidadian and Beijan parents, Rob embodies the balance of
multiple worlds. His presence on Broadway, on television, and on
film is magnetic, not simply because of his talent, but

(00:43):
because of the truth he brings to every role. His
performances remind us that acting is not just the art
of portrayal, but the art of embodiment, of taking lived
experiences and transformed them into something universal. What makes Rob

(01:04):
remarkable is not only his versatility, but his grounding. He
carries his roots with him, allowing his Caribbean heritage to
inform his voice, his choices, and his sense of responsibility
as an artist. His journey is a testament to resilience, representation,

(01:26):
and the belief that storytelling is one of the most
powerful tools we have to connect through our differences. Rob's
story is one of exploration of identity, a meditation on truth,
and a reminder that to walk between heritage and Hollywood

(01:48):
is to walk with both history and possibility in hand.
If you're listening to the podcast on Apple Podcast, please
remember to rate and leave a comment below. Also, don't
forget to follow us on Instagram at Let's Talk the Tings. Now,
grab your tea, coffee, or a glass of wine and

(02:11):
let's talk the Things. Hello everyone, Welcome back to Let's
Talk the Things, where we discuss personal growth, travel, music,
beauty and wellness while encouraging you to live fearlessly and fabulously.
I'm your host, Ash and this week we are talking

(02:35):
to Tings with a Bayesian Trinidadian American multi talented actor
who has graced Broadway television and film with a kind
of versatility and conviction that makes audiences stop and feel,
and most notably, someone who has carried his Caribbean heritage
with pride. Robert Riley, Hi, Rob, how are you?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Hi? Am fantastic? How are you, my dear?

Speaker 1 (03:00):
I'm well, Thank you, thanks so much for coming to
talk to Things with me.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Thank you for having me, of.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
Course, of course so as a first time guest, and
for persons that are listening for the first time. We
begin each episode with our listener's favorite segment, and it's
called that no Sound safe.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
I love it already. I love it already.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Now, don't be frightened. It's all in good fun, nothing crazy.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah no, I'm all right, I'm all right. I'm ready
for it. All right.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to
read messages or social media posts that our listeners sent in.
And if you think it sounds crazy or a little concerning,
you'd say that no sound safe and explain why. And
if you agree, you say you agree, or say that
sound safe and explain why. Sounds good?

Speaker 2 (03:51):
All right, sounds good?

Speaker 1 (03:52):
All right? Perfect, all right. The first person said, buying
your boyfriend a PS five knowing that he needs a
leap frog is outrageous.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
I mean, I'm not sure whether that sounds safe or not.
But they're making sense. They're making sense. How old is
this boyfriend? And it sounds like questions, Yeah, so many questions.
It sounds like something that's more parents and child than
boyfriend and girlfriend, right right, If your boyfriend needs a

(04:33):
leap frog? Yeah yeah, yeah, now you know what that
that that that that sounds safe. No, no, I worried.
I worried. I worried. I worried about children, and I
don't know what's going on. There were some people reading
abilities and sing I know, somebody hooked on phonets. Okay,

(04:58):
it's a real confusing You confuse me first one on
the gates. I confused.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
I don't like this game, right exactly. I think from
the fact that we're just confused and perplexed, it's already
as safe.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah yeah, yeah, well plex perplection, it is not safe,
so exactly exactly.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
That's hilarious. Okay. The next person said, Scooby Doo is
basically a show that teaches kids that the villains in
our lives are usually not strangers, but rather persons we
know and trust.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
That sounds safe, and that is oftentimes very true.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah. I like that analogy though, Yeah, yeah, yeah, very interesting.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
I've never thought about it like that, But obviously I
watched Scooby Doo growing up in my big growndes that
I am. It was very popular when I was a child,
and I never put those two together. But yeah, the
villain was always somebody that they knew.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yep. And it's so funny. I remember, you know, Caribbean parents,
they always have these sayings or proverbs that they just
spittalk to you at any time. But once I always
remember my mom saying and still says to this day,
is when your friends become your full to the world,
your secrets will go, you know, because it's never your
enemy that knows all of your secrets or deep thoughts.

(06:18):
It's usually your close friends.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
You know. That's very very, very very true. I like
that when I've never heard that, but that that is
that's one hundred percent you thanks mommy.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah right, yeah, every now and then you have to
draw for some of those things that they used to
say while you were growing up, right, yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, no, that's very true. I was raised by my
mother and my grandmother, and my grandmother was born in
Trinidad in nineteen ten. Ma, she rest in peace.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
So I grew up with all of the old trainy sayings,
all of them. And I still don't put people pick me. Yeah, yeah,
well people pick me. I still don't. I don't put
hats on beds, you can't put purses on the ground,
you can't sweep somebody's foot, all these things.

Speaker 1 (06:59):
Yes, yeah, absolutely true to this day.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
I don't look at my wife's purse. I just handle her,
and I still call it a pocketbook, which doesn't make
any sense. And nobody understands what.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Right or instead of trash, you say the bin like
certain things people just don't get.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
No, no, yeah, yeah, no, it's very very true. But
you know, thankfully my wife is Puerto Rican and that's
just up the up the road. Yes, just up the
road from us. So we grew up basically the same way.

Speaker 1 (07:28):
Nice. That's always good, but we don't have to explain
those little nuances too.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Right, No, not at all. Worst comes to worst. I
need to translate something, you know, she needs to translate
something English.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
I love that. I love that. Okay, the next person,
this is hilarious. The next person said, believe in yourself
like all Caribbean people believe in vicks.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Oh gosh, that's sound safe. Sorry, I don't know. I
don't know what it does, but it makes you feel better.
I can tell you that one.

Speaker 1 (08:08):
Exactly exactly, A little big, a little ginger tea and
you're yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
And then in America it has used ginger ale because
it doesn't have it doesn't know how to make ginger.

Speaker 1 (08:18):
Tea right, it's not the real thing. Listen, all the
time I asked for ginger tea, people laugh at me
because I guess it's like an old people thing. But
I have to have tea after I eat, like I
have to. I can't like, I can't not have it.
And my friends are always like so embarrassed because I'm
like a little old lady. But it's fine. I still
have my ginger tea.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
It aims with digestion.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
See exactly, Yes, I get it. I get it all right.
Two more so. The next person said, first day living
in a Caribbean neighborhood. I went to Caribbean Walk. I
tried to ask them a few questions about the men
you and the lady was so mean that she made

(09:02):
me cry. The food was delicious.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, okay, sounds like you went to the right place. There.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
There's a theory. There's a theory once you get that
attitude at the Jamaican restaurant, and then you have that
the food.

Speaker 2 (09:15):
Is good, the meat. The more mean the person serving
you is in a Caribbean restaurant, the better the food
will be. Because they don't have time. They don't have
time for your strippingness. They're too busy cooking the.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Food exactly what you need.

Speaker 2 (09:30):
Yes, come, yeah, you see I back back here jerking
and curry and chicken. I had time for all this foolishness.
Please come place your order and let me go on.
Let's see what behind you. Look at the line. Look
at the line you're over here talking about. Maybe do
you have can? I look, it's in front of you.
You know the thing. There's always there's always glass, there's
always good you can see. You can see what we have,

(09:51):
the macaronic finish. Stop it pressure that.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
Oh gosh, I'm in tears. That's hilarious.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
That's our culture.

Speaker 1 (10:07):
That is too funny. One hundred percent absolutely okay, the
final one. All right, When people reveal themselves, it's a gift.
Now you know what you're dealing with. Don't pretend you
didn't hear it. Don't ignore it or try to explain
it away. It is what it is.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
That sounds safe. That's very very prescient advice. You must
always pay attention to who people reveal themselves to be. Yes,
and don't and don't and don't pretend because you're only
fooling yourself.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yes, yes, and It's like I said it in a
previous episode, the Maya Angelou quote, when people show you
who they are, believe them. I always forget the first time,
and I think a lot of us forget that, right
Like so, especially if you're an empathetic person. So someone
could show you who they are and you could say, well,
you know, John had a bad day. Yeah, you know,

(11:03):
it's kind of raining outside, so maybe he had an
attitude because through the rain and the traffic. But some
things are mistakes, yes, But if someone keeps showing you
that constantly, at that point, that's their character and you
have to believe what it is that they're showing you.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
I agree. I agree, you have to leave room for
people to grow, Yes, But at the same time, you
one of my good friends I was not obviously not
my wife. So this was back in the day. I
was dating a woman and she had all these problems
and she's always working on something, working on something, And

(11:40):
my friend said to me we were practicing basketball. This
is back when I was on hit the floor with
my friend McKinley Freeman, and he said, well, I understand
that she's always working on stuff, but how long do
you want to live in a construction zone.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
That is a word.

Speaker 2 (11:57):
Who Yeah, wow, Yeah, he's a very man. He's one
of my closest friends. And uh and that that made
sense and helped me to take a different path. And yeah,
and in understanding and allowing this person the ability to
grow and find themselves but not around me.

Speaker 1 (12:22):
No, that's so true. And I think a great observation
is you also, it's also important to have friends around
you that can drape you up every now and then
and tell you things like that. You know what I mean,
Because yes, I think so many persons are in unhappy
just situation because they have friends that are like, oh,
it's not that bad, I went through worse, or it's

(12:44):
I mean, that's normal.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
You should just family to family, family family two.

Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yes, that's so true, very very much. So they don't
want to get in the way household.

Speaker 2 (12:54):
Absolutely absolutely. I was hanging out with some of my
cousins yesterday from the Green Canadian side of my family.
Oh yeah, well my my my uncle who passed away,
His wife is Grenadian. She is one of nine. So
I grew up around nothing but Grenadians in Brooklyn when

(13:16):
I grew up. Yeah. Yeah, so my extended family is very, very,
very spicy. It was all in greed. Yeah, me too.
I brought that up to say that I was. I
was in his wedding many years ago, almost ten years
ago now, and he reminded me that I pointed out

(13:37):
that I did not like his girlfriend, but not not
who is now his wife. I had no problem telling
him that I don't like this woman. I don't like
her for you, I don't cousin that I know this intelligent,
respectful gentleman should not be with this woman. And he
reminded me. I don't remember saying it, but it clearly

(13:59):
mattered to him. I don't think the chilly remember telling
me not to live in a construction zone. But I
do think it's important to tell people that to be
as honest as you can, if you really care about somebody,
you love somebody with your family and your friend, to
be as honest as you possibly can with them and
let them know that you're seeing things that aren't that

(14:21):
that that in the sound safe.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Hello, that yet true? It's true, you know. And it's
like sometimes I feel like as Caribbean people, we have
this thing where people just don't sit right with our
spirits like we can just feel it, you know. And
sometimes you do have those people that maybe they're saying

(14:44):
that and they have ulterior multi. Yeah, I think that's
more the exception and not the rule. I think typically
if it's someone you're close to, especially like a cousin,
it's probably because, like you just said, you're not being
your best self, so they don't want that for you,
you know what I mean. So, yeah, I do think
that's definitely very important. Yes, I have to take a

(15:05):
second because I love Grenada so much. I'm not Grenadian,
but on the inside I feel like I am.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
Everybody has a little jab inside them, don't worry.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Yes, And I went to Spice Mass for the first
time this year and I haven't time ever. Yes, so
you have to go next year?

Speaker 2 (15:25):
I know, I know, I was. I was in Barbados
for crop over and I'm I'm too old to do
back to back Okay.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
Yeah, I know that's true. Those two are close.

Speaker 2 (15:34):
Yeah. I can only do maybe one one and a
half carnival seasons a year at this point between Yeah.
Yeah and age with you?

Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, you know, with you.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
The whole the whole thing is that is an experience,
is an exercise. You must haven't your living must be
warmed up for all these things.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Listen, I just recover last week. Okay, just for cover
last week. Okay, between the oil down and the up
and down the road and oh my gosh and the
music and the people, it's just it's so much. But
it's funny you bring up cropover because I've actually never
been to Barbados. Oh wow, I'm dying to go because

(16:18):
I'm my uncle Eddie. I don't know if you know
Eddie Grant. He lives there and he's always telling my
dad that, you know, we should come. So I'm like,
I have to go, but I preferably want to go
during cropover, yes, because I heard it's like such an experience.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
It is. Cropover is it's gotten bigger and bigger. The
first time I went was twenty thirteen, and I have
been to Barbados more time than I could count. Now
I've been. I've seen many cropovers. This is the first
cropover I went to. I was in Barbados year before,
but I left before Cadouma, which is the Monday that's

(16:53):
the actual parole for those who don't know. Cropovers this
season is the festival and then Cadu men. Cadu Men
is the Monday. The parade is they actually actually on
the Monday crop over in Barbados. Is is indicative of
the sugar cane harvest being over. So the crop is over.
That's where that's where, that's where it comes from. And

(17:15):
they still harvest sugar cane there. Yeah, and they're still
they're still king and queen of the crop for people
who pick the most cane. So Cadu men is the Monday.
There is no kind of our Monday in uh in Barbados,
it is called Cadu men or Cadu men. That is
the Monday crop over is the festival in the season
of all that is going on. But uh, yeah, it's

(17:37):
well worth it. It has grown. You know, Barbados has
one of the best Prime ministers in the entire Caribbean,
the honorable Mia Motley, who is even she's been tapped
to possibly even be the head of the United Nations.
This little tiny, yeah, this little tiny one hundred and
sixty six square miles of pure love and pure smiles,

(17:59):
as we say in Barbae, it is Yeah, it's well
worth it. It is well worth it. It's it's it's obviously
it's its own thing. It's not Trinidad, it's not Jamaica.
It's it's kind of like a hybrid of Trinidad and Jamaica,
to be honest. Okay, yeah, yeah, there's.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
A lot like in the middle.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah, it's in the middle. It definitely is in the middle.
Like I have with all of my experience growing up
as a little training basion in Brooklyn and Flatbush and
being surrounded by all of our Caribbean people, I and
having gone to all of the islands that I just mentioned,
among others. I'll be in Aruba later this year. My

(18:38):
wife and I went to Curisow earlier this year. I'm
always up and down the islands. I love going back home,
and every island is my home as far as I'm concerned.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
That's exactly how I feel.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
Absolutely yeah. So, but I know, I highly highly suggest cropover.
There's so many beautiful events. Barbados is you know, the
model of the country is pride and industry, and but
it's a lot a lot of it is hospitality. And

(19:13):
the only person who could cust you more stink than
a Beasian is a Jamaican. So we're very hospitable people.
But don't process, Please don't get me a Beau and
Bejians are also the if you're if you're talking about
talking to somebody that's indigenous vision and they do not

(19:35):
go to like a high brow school or going outside
the country to learn, they are the hardest people to understand.

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Listen, listen, Rock, I'm going to need you to have
a translator from me when I go because Baesian accent
is probably the only accent I struggle to understand sometimes
sometimes I think it's maybe like you're saying persons, But
in Jamaica we have that too. Like person that are
from deep in the country. They're very difficult to understand.

(20:03):
So I think it's something on every island for sure.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
I agree. I can. I can always tell by I
can look at my wife and see whether or not
she understands what the person is saying. And if they're
from too deep in the bush, go over there. You
gotta move around there, so and guide by the thing
I left I left on I cannot, but I love them.

(20:31):
I love two four six cheese on bread. That's my peoples.

Speaker 1 (20:34):
Oh, I love that. I love that.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
Well.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
I wasn't even planning on starting like that, but I
had to ask, and I love it. I love it. Rob.
I am so excited, as you can tell, to speak
with you today about your journey, your artistry, and the
many stories you've helped bring to life. But first, I
would love it if you could tell me about your

(21:00):
first memory of performance, so whether it was on stage
at home or just a moment where you felt the
power of expression.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
The first time that I remember being on stage, I
believe I was in second or third grade and I
played the Woodsman in I think it was Little Red
Riding Hood or something like that, and I remember I
had on I had a red flannel shirt and an

(21:31):
axe made out of tinfoil and the inside of a
paper towel. Role. That's I don't remember anything else about it,
but that is definitely the first time I was on stage.
But I have been performing, so to speak, for a
long time because I was raised Catholic as many of

(21:53):
us are on the Caribbean, and I was an altar boy.
Oh okay, yes, and as many of us listeners would know,
that's that's something that you take very seriously, and it was.
It is a performance holding that cross straight up and
down like a soldier walking down the Nile, doing blessing

(22:16):
the people with the incense, making sure the wine is
ready and the Eucharist is ready for the minister, the prese,
I should say. So I came up in that as
far as the beginnings of my performing of things, but
I didn't get into I played football in high school

(22:38):
and then my freshman year of college, so I didn't
really have time to do anything else. In high school.
I did a student production my senior year of high
school that was something that that was just for fun.
But my freshman year of college was when it really started,
and I did a production of A Raisin in the
Sun and by Lorraine Hansbury, and I was in an

(23:01):
intro to acting class and my teacher asked me to
audition because I was at I went to Lehigh University
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, which is which was and still is
ninety percent white people. And are Raisin in the Sun
is obviously a play for those who don't know, written

(23:21):
by Lorraine Hansbury that is about a black family who
is being asked to sell their house so that gentrification
can happen. It's and this play was written in like
the sixties, so that this has been happening for a
long time to all of us. So I auditioned for
this play. I was asked to audition, and I said

(23:42):
no a million times because I was a football player
and an accountant. I didn't think that that was in
my That wasn't what I was supposed to be doing.
And then I felt a sense of obligation to the
minority community at the school because the fact that they
gave us, they being the institution, allowed us to put

(24:03):
on this play, or attempt to put on this play
involving a black family at a school where there are
barely any black people. If we didn't have enough people
to do it, then, as far as I'm concerned, I
couldn't complain for the next four years that I was
in the school because here it is, Look, we gave

(24:23):
you something and you couldn't even do it. So I
auditioned and I got cast as the lead Walter Lee Younger,
and I promptly told them that they made a mistake
because I I did not know how I was going
to remember all these words. I was eighteen and I'm
supposed to be playing a thirty five year old man

(24:45):
with a child. But my mentor, she was just my
professor at the time. She later became my mentor, a
Jamaican Cassie Johnson from Queen's He was like she told me,
I was more talented than I could ever possibly imagine,
and she had my back and I basically did a

(25:09):
play with her every year until I graduated. I got
a bachelor's in theater and then I went on to
graduate school, got a Master of Finance and acting from
Ohigh University, and you know, a couple of Broadway shows
and TV shows later, here we are. So that's the
short version.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Wow, that's so amazing. And how are your parents through
all this? Because I know we've had so many persons
on this show, and you have some Caribbean parents that
are very much for it, and then some that are
traditional in that like, oh that's a hobby, like you
need to do something real. You know, how were they
in their support?

Speaker 2 (25:45):
My mother? I was just raised by my mother. It
was the latter for sure. My mother worked at the
New York Stock Exchange. She wanted me to go into business.
She was very she went. She went from completely against
it to being my biggest supporter in like, you know,

(26:05):
it took it took a while. It took Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
because when I when I stopped playing football, Yeah, I
stopped playing football and I stopped and I and I
transitioned to the theater school and the College of Arts
and Sciences as opposed to the College of Business at
Lehigh University. And uh, I she was not happy. I'll

(26:29):
put it that she she said, and I quote, I
did not leave my home to come to this country
for you to be some blasted, starving Austin.

Speaker 1 (26:37):
I was waiting to hear that speech. Yeah, that's yeah, that's.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
What it was. Yeah, and yeah, and you know it's
it's uh. It took a while, but my senior year
of school, I did a play with I wrote a
play with Cashime, my mentor, and we did it. We
did it at a local theater in Bethune, Tensilvania, called
the Touchstone Theater. And it it was it was called

(27:05):
Untold Truths while we always sit together, and it was
it was about the minority experience of predominantly white institutions
of education. And my mother came to that and we
sold out our entire run. We had standing ovations every night.
She came that, my uncle came from came up from
Virginia to come see the show, and she said she

(27:29):
met my advisor, Augustine RepA, who just retired, and she
she got it. She she was like, I see, I see,
I see what you guys see. Now I see it.
And on that day we were awarded cash and I
were awarded these plaques from the theater that told us
what an artist was like. We were honored as artists.

(27:51):
And I never even thought of myself as an artist
at the time. And it was to be uh, it's
to provoke dialogue where communication is blocked, and to be
a force for change in society. And so we're on
stage and we're volunteers and my mother and my uncle

(28:13):
or an audience and and she met my advisor outside
and she said, just promise me that he'll graduate with
a degree. And and my my advisor promised her, and
I did, and she she has my She has my
bachelor's degree, and I have my master's degree because the

(28:33):
first one was at least one. Yeah, the first one,
the first one is her. I agree, I agree completely.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
I remember when I graduated from Harvard. My dad was like,
so Ash, you're not sending me the degree. I mean,
don't I get to keep.

Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yeah, that's that's their own. That's their own. You want,
you want one, go and get another.

Speaker 1 (28:57):
One, exactly, get a car.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
Yes, it's mine because they got us there, they got
I was just about to.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Say that, I was just about to say, it's like
on one side we all laugh about it because, like
I said, I've heard that story several times, not only
in my personal life, but on this show, a person
saying the same thing about what their mothers or fathers
had said, had said. And when you really think about it,
like coming here from another country, mind you, a small iseland,

(29:26):
right and doing what it is, making the sacrifices that
they did so that we could have a better life,
I could see how scary it might be to think
that it's a possibility that their child might do something
that will have them not living the life that they
work so hard to provide for them, you know what
I mean. So I could see that I don't have kids,
I don't know that feeling, but I can definitely know

(29:48):
that I'm older, understand that more. But I love hearing
the stories where they just needed to see it in
action to feel like they can relax, you know, like
they can say, all right, he knows what he's doing.
I can breathe a little bit easier.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
You know, I have two kids twenty one and twenty.
I understand the stress and how and how much that
that matters, Like how much you you you you want
your children to succeed and yeah, and feel and could
feel like well if they don't that it's partially your fault.

Speaker 1 (30:22):
No, for sure, for sure. So growing up with Beijing
and Trinidadian heritage, how was your cultural background shaped not
only your identity but the way you approach your craft
as even an actor?

Speaker 2 (30:36):
Passionately we are We are very passionate people, as you knows,
as you know right, that's yes, we we we live
life to the fullest. We we work hard, we party hard,
we love hard, we fight hard. So you know, so
I have no problem going to one hundred really quickly and.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Beija anchorny be free it for somebody that tried to
take you there.

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not a good not a good idea,
not a good idea. Would not recommend zero at zero
at ten, would not recommend Yeah, no, I I I
you know we we also the way that we even
though if you look at the way that we fat right,

(31:25):
the way that we party, especially when when we were
like I'm forty five, I'm going on forty five. So
I grew up in bash men dance hall, basement parties
in Flatbush, where you messed up somebody wall, where there's
too many people whinding on the wall. The jeans got
the dye from the denim done rubber rub across the wall,

(31:48):
and somebody might have gonna be mad in the morning.
Like and all our our choreographed dances from the peppersin
to the heel and toe to the bruck up all
you know, all of the we we did all that stuff.
We we are natural born performers as far as I'm concerned,
and we we like to put on a show. We play,

(32:09):
we play a mass. We play mass like everybody else
has a parade, and we play mass like it's anybody
could come and play mass. And that's why kind of
oll is so is such a thing in our culture.
We we we every everybody has a performer inside of
them and we nurture that. I believe, as Caribbean people,

(32:31):
we nurture that from very young and I mean up
and down the Caribbean, from the from all Cuba, all
the way down to turn that we nurture that performance,
like it's okay to show to be colorful, to show out.
You don't have to be shy about that in any way,
shape or form. So I I think that had a

(32:52):
lot to do with my Like, I've never been bashful.
I was a quiet child. I was a smart child.
I read my books. I study my books. Like my
grandmother would say, stop studying them girls, and study your book.
So I did that.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yes, I was about to say, you have to get
that once in your life. You take up your book from.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Money right right, study any wrong things. Yes, So I
I mean that that's been a that's been a big
part of my life. And as much as my mother
wanted me to be a business person because that's what
she knows, right, she of course she never she always

(33:30):
wanted me to come and do the dollar wine for people.
And when you know what I mean, it's one of
the other. I mean, you want me to you want
me to dance, So you want me to to pick
up a copulator? What is it? But it was, you know,
come robber Rubbie, show them. And I'm like seven years

(33:51):
old in the middle of a grown folks party going
so I never had a reason to be nervous about
being on stage. You know, it's just I've been put
on stage since I was a child. Yes, yeah, so,

(34:12):
I mean I think that has a lot to do
with it. And then the flip side of that is
also just the work ethic. Right. We are very hard
working people, and we know how to make something out
of nothing. You know, even if you look at let's
take something as simple as ox tail, right, the discarded
parts of the animal, we turned and made it delicious

(34:34):
and so much so that now it's one of the
most expensive cuts of meat you can get. Hello. Right,
it's thirty dollars for a ox tail plate somewhere, and
that's the part of the college, part of the super
sized cow that they threw away. So we worked very hard.
So for me, I was never afraid of working hard.
I'm not afraid of working hard. I'm not afraid of

(34:55):
learning all of these lines. I'm not afraid of knowing
enough lines to do a three hour play eight times
week on Broadway, which is Kat on the hots and
Roof or right now I work on the soap opera,
I work on two Well, I guess you could call
Divorces by Tyler Perry of soap opera kind of show. Well, yes,

(35:21):
that's my homie.

Speaker 1 (35:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
So but the shooting that show, we did sixteen episodes
in nine days, and that's a lot. Yes, yes, we
did sixteen episodes. No no, no, it doesn't, No, it doesn't.
And the reason, but the reason why the show is

(35:44):
good is because of the hard work that we were
willing to put in, the rehearsals outside of rehearsals, the
preparation that we did before we got to actually actually filming,
and then you know, me with being with Kadeen and
the other actors and actresses on my show, that is

(36:04):
that hard work has to be put in and it's
not something to shy away from. And I think that
I attribute a lot of that to my Caribbean heritage
and my upbringing where you know, I couldn't imagine at
my mother came over here at twenty years old to
leave my country and go to another country where I
might have a few cousins and you know, and and

(36:25):
just so that in case I have children, I can
start a better life for them. Like that's hard work,
that's you know, and scary, Yeah, very very scary. Coming
over here, haven't like the school system is different. You
got to find you find a place to live. Then
my mother had to raise me and my brother by herself,
and as a as a black woman, as an immigrant

(36:46):
in Brooklyn, you know, hard to get an apartment, so
on and so forth.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
So like if you if you need me to learn
some words, that's not that, that's not me. That's not
hard work. It's true.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
It's so true. Yeah, it's so true.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah. So, I mean I attribute a lot of that too,
to to my Cariban heritage. And that's why I have
the coat of arms tattooed on my back and I
have for a long time.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
I love that. I love that. And speaking of your
Caribbean American heritage, represent representation is a term that I
think we often hear a lot, especially these days, but
it means different things to different people. So for you,
as a Caribbean American actor, what do you think true
representation means in the media.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
I think that true representation in the media involves honesty
and and and transparency. I used to say something along
the lines of I want people to take their flags
out of their back pocket because I didn't know that

(37:59):
Tatia Ali was Trinidadian. When what I mean when we
were when we were growing up, when we were growing
up watching Fresh Princip ben Lair, we didn't I didn't
know that when I was growing up watching Fresh Princip
be Lair because I wasn't talked about. I didn't know
Romani Manca was Trinidadian until much later in life. Right,
I just learned, Yes, Okay, now, how is that even possible?

Speaker 1 (38:24):
You know, I'm not gonna lie right.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
So, but for me, it's if you if you are
a Caribbean, if you're born of Caribbean parents, and you
you know that that is so much a part of
your upbringing. So I don't understand the concept of not
putting that out there so that other young Caribbean people

(38:50):
can be proud of who they are. Because we are
different than regular black American people, right, It's a different
We have a different in culture. We look the same,
but we have a different culture. And I think it's
I think it's important to embrace that. And when I
go home, I think that's why whenever I go to
any of these islands, people are are excited to see

(39:12):
me because they know that I'm from there already. It's
not news to them. They are they are well aware
that I'm from there whenever you because I got the
Trinidad Quota arms tatooe in my back of my grandmother
passed away, and and and if there's a show that
I have that you see my tattoos, you will see
the Trinidad Quarta arms on my back, and you're gonna
know that I'm Trinidadian. Like, why else would that be there? Right?

(39:36):
You could the captain might not have even if the
character is not Trinidadian, like Calhan on Dynasty and season
one in the pilot, I let go one long chips
just one thing right, and and people from Trinidad, people
from Trinidad were like, so, now here's the thing you.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Can't teach that you can't see me.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
I can't exactly. So here's the thing when we when
when we were doing we were doing a d R.
A d R is when you go and you you
fix the lines that may have been messed up in recording.
You go, you go in afterwards and after the show
has been shot and it's been edited. Some sound may
have microphone may sure may have ruffled against a microphone

(40:16):
you might be outside, it might be windy, you going,
and you adjust the lines. You you dub the lines over.
I'm in the studio and my creator of the show
asked me what that sound was and why I did it.
And I told her why I did it and how

(40:37):
important it was to me, and she left it in
the show on purpose.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
That's representation. You see what I mean. That's the representation
I'm talking about, Like you could just break tell me something.

Speaker 1 (40:50):
Yeah, that's so funny you brought that up because that
was literally the moment I had to google you because
I knew you had to be careful. I don't know
for where once I said that that that kiss tea.

Speaker 2 (41:03):
Teach that no, no, okay, no, especially if you can
draw it out, if you can make it a long one,
if you can, yes, if you can really draw it out,
then you gotta be caribbyan.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
That's crazy you brought that's all because I've seen you
in things way before that. But I just didn't know.
But you see, when I heard that kiss te no, man,
let me go, let me this because there's no way.
It's like Alfonso Ribera pronounce he was trainy because I
saw something where he was talking in a Trainey accent.

(41:36):
That's the only way I knew. But so many persons
on that show. Even I can't remember his name. But
the guy that plays Jeffrey on Freshman, she's from I
think Saint Lucia.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Yeah, something like that. Look at how many people? Look
at how many? Right? And we grew up watching that.
So I'm watching it. I watching it, watching it, and
I don't notice my people.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
There didn't know. It's true. It's true. And you know
what I meant to say earlier when you were talking.
I recently had an actor on here a Soundra Oakley,
and she played in One Love. I don't know if
you're familiar with her, but she talked about playing in
One Love, the Bob Marley movie. She's in a series
on Hulu called Washington Black, and she's very proud of

(42:16):
her Jamaic on heritage, like jamakon to the Max. You
know you're gonna see the colors on her black, green
and gold. You're gonna see it. She's gonna speak in
her accent. But I asked her, is there a sense
of when you go in for auditions that you don't
want them to hear an accent, because then maybe they
don't think you're capable of playing you know, an American

(42:38):
basketball player or you know, just any other type of role.
So I would ask you the same thing.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
I mean, for me, it will depend on the character
that I'm playing and what that what that character calls for.
But however you meet me in real life like back
in the day, well, I mean we don't, we don't.
We don't really go into rooms anymore in audition. Most
things are done. You're recording it and in your house
and sending it to someone. So but when we used to,

(43:09):
we used to before the pandemic, we would go into
rooms and audition. So you you walk in as yourself,
and then you put and then you present the sides
the selected scenes or parts of scenes that they want
you to perform to show that you can do the role.
And that's how they choose. But who gets it? And
so in that, in in that, in that that change,

(43:34):
I walk in and I'm me and whatever you're getting
to me. And if if if I was listening to
Soko on the way in here, I might my my
accent might be there, you might hear a little something.
But but when I but when I start the role.
I'm going to play the role the way it is,
but I will I will never not be myself. You

(43:59):
know that's a double negative. I will always be myself.
I am very proud mean, yeah, yeah, I'm very proud
of who I am. I'm very proud of all of
the people that came before me in order for me
to be where I am, in order for me to
have gotten here. For my my grandmother was born in
nineteen ten, my great grandfather had to abscond from a
ship from France who was he was half black, half white,

(44:24):
and met this a cook on the ship from Anguilla,
Brenette Jiett, and they decided to get off the boat
in Trinidad and stayed there and make a life for themselves.
How am I going to turn my back on them
and pretend that I'm not you know, you know, I'm
not going to pretend that I don't come from those people.
They made it so that I could be here. So

(44:46):
if you if you you know they are, yeah, you know, if.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
I was doing they couldn't dream of exactly.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
So if I was eaten a rotie before I came inside,
and my finger tips a little orange, you're gonna have
to deal with it.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
It's okay, gosh, you have no sense and I love it.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
It's just we'll wash off in a couple of days,
exactly a couple of days saying everything, Oh gosh.

Speaker 1 (45:17):
Two more questions before we get into our final segment.
So you've played characters who are flawed, strong, ambitious, hilarious,
sometimes even conflicted. What role has been the most transformative
for you personally and why?

Speaker 2 (45:35):
I guess it depends on how I look at the
word transformative. I would say that the role of Michael
Colhayne changed my life. I mean, Terrence Wall changed my
life first, but Michael Colhayn changed my life in a
much larger way. It it brought me to Atlanta, It

(45:57):
found me my wife and my children, and uh and
it's it was such an international success. That is not
a country or a city that I've been in where
people don't recognize me as that guy from Dynasty. You,
even even if they don't speak English, probably they will,
they will. I've been in Budapest, Hungary, and people are like,

(46:18):
it's excuse, excuse me, excuse me in this show. Yeah,
it's voice dubbed in all these different languages. So that
that transformed my life and allowed me to fulfill I
think what is part of my calling for being here,

(46:40):
which is to put smiles on people's faces for as
long as I'm on the planet. And uh so, I
would say that that is undoubtedly the most transformative from
my personal life. Career wise, it's probably Javan that I'm

(47:01):
playing now on the Sisters because I've been a good
guy for twenty years and now I'm the bad guy.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
That is, yes, because Javan not have no manners at all.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Not at all. No, no, not at all, now, mind you,
mind you. He could some could say he's justified. Some
could say he's justified. But he's going about it the
wrong way. We don't know if that's his baby yet,
that is it. We don't know if that's his baby yet.

Speaker 1 (47:27):
Wait about it the wrong way? The wrong way?

Speaker 2 (47:30):
If that's his baby, about it?

Speaker 1 (47:32):
If that's his his child, that's true.

Speaker 2 (47:34):
Yes, she has every right to be mad.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
I wonder if mister Perry did that on purpose, putting
the two Caribbean people together with this kinde of conflict,
you know, because that's so very Caribbean.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
Yes, it does.

Speaker 3 (47:48):
Wait a minute, outside child is yes, yes, that is
that is.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
Yes, hilarious. I never thought about that to know, but no,
I'm thinking, wait, wait a minute, it's something in plan.

Speaker 2 (48:02):
Yeah, yeah, maybe maybe, But I mean I so I
say that's transformative, and that I for the first time.
And thankfully a lot a lot of people, a lot
of people that are watching the Divorces have seen me before,
so they they say it and in jesting and jokes.
But I get a lot of people telling me that
they hate me now when they see me. Gee, a

(48:27):
lot of there's a lot of Javon hate in the world.
And you know what, that's okay because I want to
play him as authentically as possible so that I can
show you to not be like that.

Speaker 1 (48:38):
There you go. That is it. And also, I think
it's actually really great that persons can see you in
a different light because, like you said, you've played the
good guy all these years. Yeah, so I think sometimes
well not I think I've never been an actor, but
sometimes I've heard actors talk about how it's difficult for
them to transition, especially from that good, good person role
to like a bad guy. Yeah, you know what I mean. So,

(49:01):
I think that's great that they can see you like that.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
Yeah, I agree s Yeah, I'm I'm enjoying it. And
I always remind people when I meet them that you know,
I'm a good person in real life. Ask my wife. Yeah, no,
I'm not out here doing no nonsense. You just everybody
calm down.

Speaker 1 (49:24):
For many younger artists looking up to you, you represent
both possibility, as we spoke about, and proof that you
know it can be done. So what lessons or words
of advice would you offer to someone navigating the challenges
of breaking into the entertainment industry?

Speaker 2 (49:43):
So it's things are a lot different now than they
were when I started twenty years ago, okay, and there
are a lot of different avenues. I would say, first
and foremost, don't compromise your integrity because you can't ever
get that back. You got to be mindful of the

(50:03):
things that you put out there. I'm not a big
believer in sharing my personal business with the world in
order to monetize it. I know the people that do
that and I and I have and to each his own,
but that's not my thing. So I would say be
careful of doing that. And and also in terms of acting,

(50:32):
I say that if you've heard any interview Mike, I'll
say it till I'm blue in the face. Just tell
the damn story. Tell the story. That's all you gotta do.
If you start, if you start thinking this, it would
look cool if I did this, It would be cute
if I did this, Then you're not telling the story. Yeah,

(50:53):
you're not telling the story. Just tell the story. What
is the story that is being told? Once you once
you get you hone in on that, the cool stuff,
the funny stuff, the cute stuff comes out within the story.
Don't worry about the sprinkles and the frosting. Focus on
baking the cake. If the ingredients for the cake are

(51:13):
good enough, you don't need frosting.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
I like that. Yeah, sometimes you just need a little
nute meg, you know, yeah, sure, yeah, I like that.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
And then but but then that, but then that yellow
cake tasting good, you know, you don't need you know,
you don't need no frosting. That's like. That's like even
when we when we when we the bread that we
just making the Caribbean. How many different bread we making
the Caribbean. You have to put on the bread. Well,
that bread come in on the oven. The bread, hot bread.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
That's all you need.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (51:44):
Milk milk bread, sweet bread bread.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
You don't need nothing because you focus on the ingredients.
You focus on what was there. You know it's not
hot cross buns and your high icing on it, and
then you focus on the ingredients. You put the love
and the care into the ingredients themselves, and the bread
is good.

Speaker 1 (52:07):
Just so that's one hundred percent true. You know, I
thought lyrical was my most I guess that didn't have
the most sense, but I think Nick and.

Speaker 2 (52:19):
Nick that's one of my that's one of my favorite artists.
I love Devon. Devon is one of my favorite people
in the world. Yeah, yeah, I interviewed Devon like ten
years ago. I love Yeah. Whenever I see Devon as
big hug up and saying Liro is my guy.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
Oh he's amazing, it's too hilarious.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
Yes, he's a great human being.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
Did I own it together? No? I won't be able
to manage.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
Well sell them away in the same place for too long.
That overdose. We don't want that.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
For our final segment, I'm going to ask you a
few rapid fire questions, and I would like you to
answer with the first thing that comes to mind. So
I don't think it just the first thing that comes.
What is the first play, movie, or show that made
you fall in love with acting? Ooh nice, Okay, name

(53:18):
your It's gonna be a little hard. I'm just telling
you from them, name your top five favorite Soca artists
and you just name one.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
So yeah, So since we were literals already on there,
he's got to stay on there.

Speaker 1 (53:34):
Okay, kess.

Speaker 2 (53:38):
Okay, Patrice.

Speaker 1 (53:43):
Oh for Trice Roberts.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Yes, Michelle nice a right, four, that's all. Who's gonna
take Who's gonna take the fifth slot?

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Give you a bonus? All right?

Speaker 2 (54:03):
Bungeee? And then.

Speaker 1 (54:07):
Alison Hines Oh and Nice I love her too?

Speaker 2 (54:11):
Yeah, yeah, I was. I was. I grew up in
love a thousand Hines. And my first, my first connival
ever was two thousand and Trinidad. I was there for
my grandmother's funeral. She my grandmother passed away in time
for us to go to Canaval, which is the most
trinny thing anybody could ever do. Yeah, we had. We

(54:36):
had the funeral in Trinidad on on the Thursday and
kind of out was the Tuesday, so we all stayed
at Wemp. Yeah, ridiculous, but that.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Is so triiny.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
But yes, I was walking by Square one was with
was was was the band that was playing with Legends,
the Mass band, and my cousin was playing in Legends,
and I was walking alongside the band and with a
sign that said I love aliceon Hines, So she's got
to be on the list.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
I love that. I love that, love that.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Love that.

Speaker 1 (55:11):
Okay, Broadway stage or television set Broadway?

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Hmmm?

Speaker 1 (55:19):
Coffee or tea?

Speaker 2 (55:20):
Tea?

Speaker 1 (55:21):
What kind of tea?

Speaker 2 (55:22):
Regular orange peicle and cut black clipped and tea. Okay,
there's the tea. The tea, the only tea that we
have in the house. Okay, that tea.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
That tea, all right, got it? Okay, what is hm? Hmm, See,
you're so mixed up. I can't say Caribbean food because
that's going to be hard for you. All Right, that's
your favorite journey food and favorite Beijing food.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
Favorite Beijian food is fishcakes. Okay, fish cakes and Barbados
are bar none. I think they make the best fish
cakes in the entire Caribbean. One time and crop over,
they saved my life. I was doing a lot of
work and I hadn't been eating, and somebody noticed that
I hadn't been eating and they thought they thought I
was going to pass out, and they had a bag

(56:16):
of fish cakes. So fish cakes is life for me.
I love, I love. Yeah, No it was it was not.
I was working too hard. I was working too hard,
doing to doing too much, as they say, too much.
And then trinny is is just curry chicken rotia. I'm
a sucker for some bust up Shut, which is what

(56:37):
I'm about to have. As soon as we get off
the phone, you.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
Have to remind me.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Sorry, sorry, I I like I like it.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
I like it, you know, Oh my god, it's my favorite.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
And my Puerto Rican wife made bust up Shut for
the first time yesterday and it was delicious. So yeah,
we crossed and cults over here, up and down the
Greater and Lessler, And you.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
Guys need to invite me over because me love my belly.
He loved to eat. Why do I need to go
to a restaurants? I'll just go on there you go,
all right? Two more questions because you brought up your
Grenadian si what is your favorite Grenadian Soka song?

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Oh well, I mean I don't. I don't think is
he from Grenada? Greasa down is the Yes, I don't
know from ok So that song is amazing. However, my
favorite song from Spice Mass this year is jab Decisions

(57:42):
by Vaughn Okay, I.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
Love that song too. Yes, yes, those two are definitely viral.
Oh you were about to sing I get.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
So find me all over? You know, job decision, under
the counter decision.

Speaker 1 (58:07):
A very bad decision.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
Don't don't talk out of me, A long night, somebody
going hospital.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
I've never had it. But anything that name under the content.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
You don't. You don't seed under the counter. Under the
counters for men. You don't need on the under the
I believe you. Under the counter is for men. It
is a specifically man thing. If you know what I
saying is that is a herbal version of the thing
there so.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Okay, guys that will never see me.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Yeah, And that's under the counter. You're not supposed to
make it. And the only real one is in a
bottle with only box and roots. And then there's a centipede,
a big excuse me, a big red centipede, red red
centipede with yellow legs.

Speaker 1 (58:58):
And you as in the animal, yes.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
And they put it inside. They put it inside with
with the whichever spirit you put the drowning thing in
and you can't go find the centipede. You have to
just come across it. And you have to come across
the centipede, and then you put the centipede in the
bottle alive and it stings itself to death and all
the things is inside. So under the counter is a

(59:23):
bad decision.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
Yeah, one, thank you for letting us know that that
is a bad decision. People like me just thought it
was a strong you know, a strong drink. I did
not know.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
No, it's got a lot of property, a lot of properties, lots.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
Lots that God, I'm talking to you, because yeah, I
had no idea. And furthermore, my tolerance is like in
the basement, so I couldn't survive anything stronger than just
a typical realm anyway, Okay, stay.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
Stay away from that. I did not know.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Yes, my dear Whoa and Greece, it don't. Yeah, that
is exactly how I felt when I left Grenada, like
a colorloo leaf in the ring.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
I bet, I bet so sad.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
It was like the best time ever. So you definitely
you and your wife have to go to Spice Math
next year.

Speaker 2 (01:00:19):
Yeah. Yeah, it's on the list. It's on the list, And.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
The final question before I do my thank you, if
you could go back to your younger self, let's say
like thirteen fourteen, what would you tell him now that
you've had so much life experience, Like, what advice would.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
You give him? Be nicer to people. M That's what
I would say. I think that we spend a lot
of time when you grow up in the hood, for
lack of a better phrase, you are very defensive and

(01:01:00):
it's a very doggy dog world. It's it's it's a
it's life is competitive, uh and and that leads to
making fun of people and uh, trying to get over all, yeah,

(01:01:20):
trying to fit in, but also trying to get over
on people. And you know, you don't have much, so
you're you're compensating in all these different ways. And I
think that I would like to think that I know
now that that is unnecessary and you could h you

(01:01:44):
can go through life leading with love and kindness and
without being worried about taking advantage of You got to
look out for yourself and pay attention of course, but
but you can lead with a big heart and love
and embracing all people from all walks of life and whatnot.

(01:02:08):
These are all things that inherently are part of our
cultures and they get kind of pushed to the side
when people are trying to make it and you you you,
so you can kind of forget where where you came from.
So basically follow your granny most grant Most granny's are

(01:02:30):
very nice people. Right, there's strict, they're strict, but typically
nine out of ten granny's are very nice, good people.
So you should be more like your granny. It's true
because your parents haven't too hard worried granny, right. Grand

(01:02:51):
grandparents don't got to worry that much.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
So that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:02:55):
That's true.

Speaker 1 (01:02:55):
And I think it's good that you give yourself a
little bit of grace, right because I think just growing
up in an environment like that, I think most persons
in that type of environment and dealing with those things
at the time, especially if you're a kid. You know,
you only know what you see and what's around you. Yeah,
you know, so when you look back and stuff like that.
I just hope anyone listening that feels the same way.

(01:03:18):
You can give yourself a little bits of grace because
you were just doing what you needed to do to survive. Yes,
but the important thing is you recognize it because you
have some persons is I'm sure you know as well
that are older and still don't think they did anything wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
Very true, you know, very true. Yeah. And if you're
like that, yeah, fix it sooner than later that see.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
No, So I hope you're not like that. Anybody listening
out here.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Please please fix yourself, fix up yourself. Please.

Speaker 1 (01:03:50):
Yeah, it's definitely okay. So it's kind of my thing
to do a thank you at the end, So I
tell everybody please and about a cry, because me and
love cry, so they not just hold it like a
g So, Rob, I want to thank you for the

(01:04:12):
openness and generosity of this conversation. I think that what
you've shared today isn't just a story of an actor.
It's the story of a man carrying multiple legacies at once,
you know, the Caribbean heritage of Barbados and Trinidad, the
American experience, and the universal human pursuit of telling stories

(01:04:34):
that really matter. And what strikes me most about the
way you speak about your craft and identity not as
separate threads but kind of as a single fabric. You know,
the kind of integration that I think is really rare,
and the kind that gives your work resonance. So you
remind us that artistry is not only about talent, but

(01:04:57):
about grounding, about knowing who you are, as you said,
and letting the truth shine through every performance of yours.
And as you continue forward, whether on Broadway, on the screen,
or in spaces that you've yet to even imagine, I
hope that you carry with you the same strength, humility,
and presence that have brought you this far. And I

(01:05:19):
hope that your journey continues to inspire all of us,
especially those that are still waiting to find their voice
or maybe their place in life, or even just the arts.
So it has been an absolute honor and hilarious talking
the things with you today, and yeah, thank you so
much for coming.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
I would like to also thank you in that same regard.
This has been one of the most enjoyable interviews that
I've ever had, and I hope that it reaches a
wide audience. I think that you have a a very
special place in this whole landscape of talking to folks

(01:06:04):
and trying to put our stories out there, trying to
highlight the the the aspects of our upbringing and our
our cultures that some people tend to skip over and
don't find important. And you've been able to much like

(01:06:25):
you said that I am doing. You've been able to
tie a lot of these things together in this conversation
that makes it more universal and in its approach and
in the way that it should be received. And therefore
I think that you know, you might need to get

(01:06:45):
some sunglasses because your future is bright.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
Oh gosh, you didn't I tell you. I'm easy to
crysh okay.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Hey, let me go. Last. I had to give you
your flowers too. I appreciate.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
Oh, I really appreciate that. Thank you so so much.
I mean, I really love for people to know that
as Caribbean people were multi dimensional. Yes we can bubble
to the ground. There is so much more to us
than that, you know. And I really really appreciate persons
like yourself that don't know me from a can of

(01:07:21):
paint really trusting me. I was saying that to my
dad the other day. You know, I really appreciate people
coming on here, you know, like you, Deborah Cox. All
these people I've had that I don't know them personally,
but once we finish talking, I feel like I've known
them forever and they trust that I'm not going to
ask them anything salacious, and that this is really a
safe place for them to be their true self. So

(01:07:43):
I really appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
You have created a safe space and we are friends now.
So now you do know me. You do know me
from a cannapaint. Yeah,