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Good morning, good evening, good night, good afternoon.
Don't give me copyright flag, though.
No, no, no.
You can cut this out.
I sounded like a zombie.
Oh.
Just.
Yeah, in order to grow, you got to have like some kind of goals.
See.
Wow.
Mic check one, two, one, two.
All right.
And we're live.
What's up?
What's up?
What's happening, man?
Good to be here.
Good to meet you, man.
Good to see you.
Likewise.
Good morning, good evening, good night, good afternoon.
whatever time you're listening in wherever you're listening from shout out to the google listenership
apple and google podcasts and if you're watching in youtube thanks for giving us a reason to get
dressed i would encourage if you're just starting this and you're not driving and you have a chance
to watch the video we have a very esteemed guest on today and we're going to be sharing his recent
acting reel so there will be you know it'll it'll still have audio to be able to hear his voice
But today we have Roy Shuler, actor, model, voiceover artist, had roles in FBI's Most Wanted as Principal Graham, Law & Order SVU as Jasper Neely, and is most recently playing Jackie Henderson in the upcoming American drama series, Godfather of Harlem Season 4.
Principal Hillen?
Call me Graham, please.
Agent Scott and Chase?
Yes, yes.
Did you pull any security camera footage?
Yes, our team is reviewing the past month. They'll let me know if they spot anything out of the ordinary.
We'll need to get a copy.
Of course.
Who knew the route the SUV was taking?
They were on their way to a debate tournament,
and the teacher, Henry, Mr. Kittman,
would have been the only one.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are FBI agents,
and they're here to help us.
So you did have a visitor today.
Yeah, I told you.
Oh, the lady.
What did she want?
She was an alcoholic.
She was looking for a sponsor.
In this room, this is a mail-only facility.
I told her it was pretty odd.
Yeah, you know what else is odd?
This bed.
It's empty.
You have a roommate?
Nowadays, see, there's temptation everywhere.
Y'all young people, see.
Y'all got it different.
No matter where you go, there's always...
You don't even have to leave your house.
All you gotta do is pull up your phone, boom.
Satan's playground.
Wait a minute.
She's been here all night?
I mean, she may have stolen more things than possibly from the guests.
I'm going to have to call the police.
I can handle this.
She can go home.
I'm sure there's an explanation.
You, she's fine.
I mean, how long has she worked here?
Natalie, Natalie.
Julie, come on.
What do you think?
Natalie, I can handle this.
You can go home.
Good night.
So what's with the whole not drinking thing?
It's a personal conviction, religious reason.
What?
You know, the site.
Is it your first time using it?
Yes.
Yes, it is.
A one, a two.
Constantine, what did I tell you about singing on the job?
Get back to work, you dumb shits.
What is this, Woodstock?
Come on, come on, come on.
You, um, what's up with the mutt?
Tumor in his spine.
Can't use his rear legs no more.
Yo, we'll never give up on family.
No doubt.
his resume goes on and on i've read uh stand in for a body double for cuba gooding right yep
almost 10 years ago yeah almost 10 years ago this time man that that was an unbelievable
experience um tony because um you know my mom had just passed away she passed away christmas day
2014. And a month after, thank you. A month after that, I lost the last long-term corporate job
that I had like, so January 26th. But you know, I always, once I got bit by the acting bug in the
summer of 2001, I just, I just, this is something I had to pursue. Um, Stephen Covey has a quote
where he says, it's easy to say no when there's a deeper yes burning on the inside. So this was
my deeper yes so the whole thing with Cuba man I was a non-union actor at the time and I was still
submitting to to work in New York even as a background actor I was getting set experience
learning set etiquette and the whole nine yeah it's a whole grind and it is and I didn't even
know and I love telling the story because it just gives praise to God and my faith is important to
me right so I didn't even know that Cuba was doing a guest appearance on the show there was a show
call forever on abc i drive into the city i call my agent at the time to let her know what i was
doing and she said i don't want you doing background work i said okay tell me why and
she explained to me why i said okay well i've already committed to this i called her on the
way to the city i get to set and there may be 30 of us there because they asked the men to wear
tuxedos the women to wear gowns we were appearing at some art gallery okay so a pa shout out to ed
ryan what's up ed he comes over to me and he says um have you ever done stand-in work no but i'm
willing to learn was my answer he said okay we're gonna go over to set yeah i go over to a van where
somebody from wardrobe is and all praise to god the dude looked at me and he said that's him i
don't know about these other guys that's him so i got pulled out of holding non-union holding
and I was cast as
Cuba Gooding Jr.'s body
double in stand-in. They said,
can you be here tomorrow? You damn right I'll be here
tomorrow. This is Friday.
Tony, I had gone to the city to do this
one-shot deal, so all I had was
the tux I had on. I called
my sister who still lives in Harlem. I said, look, this
is what happened. I got a crash on your floor tonight.
I go up the next morning.
I go to Target. I buy some toiletries. I go
back to the set. I'm still wearing the same damn
tux because I didn't bring a change of clothes.
It's a one-shot deal.
And I'm showing Cuba where to stand.
He's like, hey, I'm Cube.
Thanks for helping us out.
And that's how I became eligible to join SAG-AFTRA because those jobs normally go to SAG people.
Here's the other part of the story as I wrap this up.
I learned from Ed a little while later.
He said, there was another part of this, man.
He said, we'd already hired somebody to be Cuba's body double and stand in, but the guy didn't want to cut his hair.
And when I was less salt and pepper and when I was clean shaven, the resemblance was, was stronger. And that's why I ended up getting hired. So that, that, that, um, really changed the trajectory of opportunities for me because now I was eligible to join SAG-AFTRA and I'm glad that I waited. I'm glad that I waited. Um, but that was a story, man. It was incredible.
That's amazing.
Yeah.
I think it speaks to, I had a great speech with Andre Reid, Hall of Famer.
Okay.
He chairs an alma mater with me, so he's at my high school.
Okay.
And somebody asked him when they said, go to the NFL.
Right.
Were you ready?
And he said, I had already known the game, the playbooks in college.
I was at the highest level.
So when they asked me, I was already ready for that.
Right.
It speaks to the mentality of, you know, you went for something, but you were asked for something else you were willing to learn and just asking, just saying, okay, I can do this. And then being ready to do it. Like you said, that was the trajectory.
Indeed, indeed. And here's the other part. Thank God for Wikipedia, because as I'm laying on my sister's floor to get some sleep that night, I go on the iPhone that I had at the time. What does a stand in do? I said, yes, I had a general idea, but I really didn't know.
So I jumped on Wikipedia, I looked up stand-in, and I said, okay, they basically fill the spot of the A-list talent.
They allow the crew to get the technical aspects of the shot, right, lighting and all that stuff.
And then the A-list talent comes in.
So since there was a close proximity, if you will, height, weight, all that stuff, I would slide.
And then the other thing was there were three other actors on set who were standing in for three other A-list talents.
I fell in and I did what they did.
And it was one woman, Jill Lord, and she said to me, she was telling me different things that I needed to do.
She said, I assume you don't mind me telling you this because I don't mind at all, Jill.
and and and following those folks around being where i was supposed to be where i was supposed
to be being available you know those things allowed me to become a successful um uh stand-in
and anytime kubu was on set i was living here in the valley so you go out listen man sometimes the
call time tony was 6 a.m yes you have to leave three three oh brooklyn so you have to leave
2.30. Dude, I'm waking up
2.30 to make sure I
hit the road at
3.15 to get ahead of that
Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel traffic. For sure.
You'd be stuck there two hours. They could change
everything. So, you know, this was where
the opportunity was. And
I remember being on a set for doing something
else when I shared with a guy that that's what I
did. I wouldn't do that. Okay.
Thomas Edison has a quote where he
says that, I believe it was Thomas Edison, he said
to get it right, he said
Sometimes people miss, and I'm paraphrasing, sometimes people miss opportunity because it shows up looking like, dressed in overalls and looking like hard work.
That's where the opportunity was, man.
Absolutely.
That's where I went.
And I was out of a corporate job at the time.
And this happened two and a half weeks later after I lost.
All in the same day.
Yeah.
It was amazing.
And it was, again, from a faith standpoint, this was divinely ordained.
I believe in that 100%.
No question. Even our mutual friend, Valerie was talking about how, you know, you, you're only employed until your next job, but in between those times, you have to love acting. I saw that you do theater. Your experience ranges from theater to major production to TV, you know, print models.
Uh, so it's one of those things where you really soak up the whole aspect of the game.
Absolutely.
All the technicalities.
Absolutely.
Well, thank you.
And I have, um, a very good friend, uh, a mentor of mine.
I used to be an underwriter with Allstate insurance company back in the, uh, 90s.
And his name is Danny Schindler.
And Danny was a very successful Allstate agent.
And I've learned so much from him over the past almost 35 years.
Right.
and one of the things i remember him saying to me very simply and sometimes uh you will find
brilliance in simplicity the song every breath you take has a distinction of being the most
played song in the history of radio and if you ask any musician it's a very simple song absolutely
almost anything popular is very very simple you know and sting makes thousands of dollars a day
just from that the simplicity the brilliance in that simple in the simplicity of that song
My friend Danny said to me, he said, it's a poor rat that only has one hole. So I took that to mean, as I embarked upon this journey as a performer, that I had to be sensitive enough and discerning enough to recognize other opportunities to exercise, if you will, the skill or talent, but to also generate revenue.
and it was a lady who used to be an agent at Reinhardt.
I'm still have, I still have,
that's my longest standing relationship.
They're an art street and fairly great agency.
It was Sarah Howell who said to me
when they signed me back in 2016
and I went there and the recommendation
of the lovely Kathy Patterson,
who is an actress here in the Valley.
And Sarah said to me,
you can do print modeling.
Really?
I didn't come here for that.
yeah that's what i was open to and it's happened and it's happened wonderfully all praise to god
a number of times so to your point yeah just being open and being discerning and being bold
and and brave and courageous enough to not conform and and to and to close out opportunities
made things like that possible yeah absolutely yeah and it's a team behind you you mentioned
an agent you know there's there's more to it yeah you're kind of the the face like we talked a bit
before off camera he said what got me into podcasting right said i wanted to support a
friend right and for a while it was just me down here dealing with with things i really wanted to
remind myself every week every other week that there is success through failure that failure
part of the journey that there's ups and downs with podcasting, you know? Uh, so I can tie that
in to the experience of sharing and allowing a platform. And it slowly became a whole production,
you know, multi-camera turned into social reels. So we're collaborators in this content now. Yes.
It's no longer people that just want to get on the mic to have me do all that work. It's,
it's kind of become a bit of a purpose so right same as you every aspect of the game knowing how
to use this equipment knowing how to get the best out of the mics everything that's right um it's
i love it yeah you know yes i love it same here man i mean listen um post pandemic
at least at my lower level right at my level the majority if not if not above the majority of
auditions are self-tapes so oh wow for the most part at least for now gone are the days where you
would get an audition and you go in your car on the bus or the train and you go to an office or
studio and audition the majority of them are self-tapes so as an actor you need to be tight
on your self-tape game you need to know lighting you i mean you need to the audio and the simple
thing is listen i just use two lights in my apartment um i don't have like the shadow box
lights or whatever i don't use the ring light from my um i don't use the ring light right yeah i i
because it's they can hear me and they can see me again going back to simplicity right but my point
is you have to be you have to understand the importance of embracing the self-tape game you
can listen you can kick and scream and i don't know listen this is where it is for sure this is
where it is so if you want to play in this arena you need to understand how to self-tape you need
to understand how to edit sometimes i put things in imovie or just um whatever you need to understand
the format in which they want things to be uploaded whether it's re-transfer or a link to
youtube this whatever yeah um that's that's that that is the those are the marching orders you know
so folks can kick and scream and i understand it i'm not minimizing the frustration that people feel
and having to be technical, but this is, you know, like that line in the Godfather. This is
the life we've chosen. Right. Right. This is it. There's a bit of responsibility when you have a
team behind you for you to perform. I mean, like you said, you're responsible for somebody's
salary, somebody's income, you know, right. How much does networking have to play with it? Your
team around you, were they introduced to you or it's everything. Um, you know, no man is an island
a woman, you know, I'm just using men in the generic sense. Um, um, I freelance with a few
agents. Um, I do have a manager, uh, Lorraine Rainey, who's the owner operator of the talent
express in, uh, in New York. I think they've been in business for the past 30 odd years,
I think 1991. So there'll be celebrating a, a milestone anniversary next year, turning 35.
So there is a team absolutely, um, that the talent has behind them. And sometimes
They're doing things that are not quite visible.
But at the same time, I accept my role, Tony, as the quarterback, as the product, if you will.
And I work to make sure that the agents have something that they can embrace and they are proud to promote because it's all about, listen, this is not a benevolence business.
It may be for a little while.
We'll get he or she up and running.
but can you represent us um can you follow directions can you get yourself tapes in early
minimally on time are you training to make sure that you're the best possible actor print model
voiceover artist whatever you are right because it's about can we all make some money this is a
business right so um working with the team is important and i give them i strive to give them
value i strive to give them reasons as to why i am worthy of representation
there can be a lot of vanity in this business man you know i have an agent did you see me okay
that's fine for a little while that's fine for a little while you know are you a bankable
entity i don't want to say product because that sounds so inhuman but are you bankable you know
are we going to hit pay dirt with you you know booking a co-star in theater booking voiceovers
booking um a commercial booking a movie and oftentimes they're making investments in you
that you're not privy to um that you have no lot that you're not privy to it may take time
for some things to manifest so in the meanwhile you as the talent need to make sure
that you're doing the things that you need to do to prepare yourself and back to your point before
about being ready for opportunity right you know i've been at this for a while i study with bgb
studios out of hollywood california we have a class it meets virtually every thursday i learned
about them through their podcast during the pandemic love them and i'm in class every
thursday night on zoom we do scene work regularly um i volunteer to be readers for other people
So there is a team. There's a team of other actors. There's a community. There's an agent. There's a manager. There's building relationships with casting directors because they're the ones that have the ability to sense your talent, your type and bring you in for auditions for which they seem if they think you're a good fit.
so it's definitely a collective effort
but as I close
the talent needs to make sure you're doing their part
I'll close with this, I was sharing with somebody
the other night and I came across a quote that says
if you think someone
that's making 10% of your income
is going to work for you 100%
of the time, you're delusional
it's not to minimize
what they do, but you need
to be the driving force
on this team
that's the way that I see it
Absolutely. And there's a bit of believing in, at least from my own experience, I feel you can move people to motion when they believe in something that you do, when they know that you're reading scripts, when they know that you're staying on book.
it's like i can get with that team nobody even if especially if they have skills in constantly
getting yes i looked at your resume from 2017 on you've been working there's no huge gaps i mean
even on power book three you know all the the roles right it's very interesting to see and kind
to paint the picture in my head, which I wanted to ask you going back before 2017, you mentioned
that you're always avid public speaker. You're here quoting Stephen Covey, seven laws of highly
effective people. It's like, what got you into that? How much does that play into just, you know,
you blog about personal growth, right? You embody that mentality. Is that been always, or did
something? A couple of things. I was always passionate about having a good command of the
language. Okay. And I got to say this too, particularly when there are people who would
respond as though you're not supposed to, or somehow that's out of your, let me be polite
about this, that's somehow out of your cultural domain. Right. You hear what I'm saying? In other
words to be an articulate black boy young black man black somehow that is a skill set that is
germane to folks outside of your culture and I'm look I roll with everybody you know I'm saying
so when I ever since I was a kid I was passionate about having a good understanding and a good
command over words I was sharing with somebody the other day I was 11 years old when Stevie
wanted to release songs in the key of life 11 and with no hyperbole whatsoever that changed my life
yeah because i was always interested in song lyrics and i remember man listen when i was a
kid getting songs in the key of life was an event yeah music music is is way too accessible in my
opinion nowadays yo i don't know many black households that did not have a copy of songs
in the key of life and my point is i remember playing the album and vitals making a comeback
um and it was one of the first albums i remember that had the lyrics to all the songs
so i wish sir duke knocked me off my feet as um um another star i would sit there because i wanted
what's stevie talking about yeah you know so that gave me a love for the power of words
I also had a love for the power of storytelling. And now that my parents are not with me, and cannot exact retribution, there were some stories I told as a kid that were stories.
You know, Sanford Meisner, a very well-known acting instructor, defines acting as behaving truthfully under imaginary circumstances.
oh collectively what i had the ability to do was take these imaginary circumstances and make them
truthful so it was like the inverse so the point is there was always this love of storytelling this
love of public speaking that was always resonating with within me fast forward a few years later i
was working with a company and they came at me foul man real foul and it still it still keeps a
flame burning on the inside that's almost 24 years old. And through that process, where they
tried to basically get rid of me in a very unfair way, I sat down in the summer of 2001
and I borrowed from an episode of The Honeymooners, where there was a guy who lived in Ralph
Cramden's apartment. He was a very successful dude. Ralph was like, Ralph, you used to live
in this dump? And how did you become? He said, I sat down and took stock of myself. I listed my
good points. So I sat down that summer, Tony, and I said, okay, how can I figure out a way to hire
myself? What has God called and gifted me to do so much so that it doesn't feel like work? And I
wrote some things down and I was always interested in voiceover because someone told me when I was
a teenager that I had a nice voice. It's amazing how that little suggestion is when someone tells
you you're good. Same with the inverse. Somebody tells you, you don't sound good on mic. You may
never try to get that's right that's right Eleanor Roosevelt said no one can make you feel inferior
without your consent oh that's fair enough Martin Luther King said something along the lines that
a man cannot I'm going to paraphrase a man cannot ride your back unless you bend down and then let
him on and again I'm paraphrasing you see once you decide to stand up straight he has no alternative
but to stand alongside you and be your brother so to your point there are things that are said
to us good and bad that we can internalize that can either propel us forward or leave us stagnant
or God forbid, turn us back. My point in sharing that was, um, that summer I was living in Rockland
County and I called up a talent agency on main street in Nyack and I explained what I wanted to
do. They said, well, if you want to get into voiceover, you should take acting lessons because
it's acting with your voice. Why don't you come in and learn about class? I went to the class one
night and they gave me either some sides or some copy and they charged me with the responsibility
of bringing these words to life. I was hooked. This is what I'm meant to do. And I never let
that go. And this is 24 years ago this summer, man. So, uh, life changes. Father passed away
a few years later, went through a challenging divorce a year after that. And I was turning 40
in 2005 and all this thing was still burning on the inside of me. So I decided to pursue it
and I hemmed and hawed for a bit. And then I called up a guy, uh, his name was Randy Donatelli,
the late Randy Donatelli. I think his brother, Mickey's still in business in Redding,
Donatelli agency. And, um, got some pictures, went to see him and he said,
decent looking guy. I need African-Americans. He said, I think I can get you some work.
And he said to me in closing, he said, never give up. He said, things changed on a dime in this business. That was 2005. I started working for Dun & Bradstreet. One day, September 19th, 2007, my phone rings. I see it's Randy calling. I think I have a spot for you in a commercial. What are you doing on Friday? Not doing anything.
Tit title, call you back.
Friday, I'm filming a commercial for Coordinated Health.
September 21st, 2007, I was cast as a patient who was undergoing some therapy.
30-second spot.
You see me at the 14-second mark, laying down on a table, getting stretched out by a therapist.
You see me at the 21-second mark with my back running to the camera on a treadmill.
That was my first commercial.
And everything happened as a result of that small seed in which you barely saw me.
Is that the one that they extended you for?
No, that was another spot that came.
I was a non-union actor back then.
And I don't begrudge non-union.
That's how I started.
But the one you're talking about is one that's still on the air for Colonial Pen.
Colonial Pen, okay.
And that happened.
Let me see.
I filmed Coordinated Health 2007.
when Colonial Pen came 14 years later, man, almost 14 years later.
So, you know, this thing, from my perspective, man, it's a journey, not a sprint.
And again, I'll be 60 in May, so I don't bite my tongue much anymore.
I speak to folks respectfully, but I don't, you know, I flow.
So this thing, this thing is a, this thing is a journey, man.
And there's another quote that says, again, I'm going to paraphrase.
I can't recall who said it, but it basically says that what you're becoming in your journey is as important, if not more important than like the ultimate thing.
You know, it's like the habits that you build on the way to becoming a bodybuilder.
There's something about the character, the metal, M-E-T-T-L-E, that you build that is with you.
And it certainly gave birth to you standing on that forum, whatever, and collecting awards.
but there's something about that process yeah that is is to me is so instrumental in the journey man
so you have to embrace that for me you have to embrace that part of it too sure not just to
destination personally i don't even look at the end when i'm starting something or when i do it
yeah when i started this i sat right here and i said i don't know who i am to be an orator right
but if I explore success, learn from failure, I can do this for 10 years. Yes. Wow. And there's
been times where I said, I, it's a lot of work and you say, but I am in service. This next one,
I show up like you, I'm finding a lot of similarities, but like you said, I show up
when I interviewed Valerie, we had talked about that a year prior. I showed up that day. There's
been times where i've been somewhat sick and you know you say well i gotta get on the mic i have
to do this we've had this on the book there's you know a season of godfather of harlem come on
anything that could have changed this happening throws a lot of stuff off yeah but not only that
you reached out to me after seeing that interview so you never know who's gonna see that's right
what that's right what is this platform oh wow that's right that's right there's a lot of cool
people that have yeah see my goal has been always to show that that journey that struggle yes
everybody goes through it yes it's not just you know you and valerie happen to be actors but this
ties to people who overcome addiction this ties to people who you know uh we had wesley morris on
public speaker okay 10 years ago he was a homeless heroin addict wow and so like you said you were
interested in public speaking because of being able to articulate you understand the power of
words and then you studied the game and realize okay let me think about filler words let me
do things to get better anybody that looks at anything that people do professionally
right and thinks that you can just they think voiceover is just talking into a mic right they
think podcasting is just talking into a mic it's uh it's interesting to see who falls in love with
it yes is you can't do something for 10 15 years you don't love right like even at 10 15 years
maybe five years at corporate if you know you can make a quarter a million annual salary yeah
you'll put up with some crap but ultimately uh it'll it'll reveal itself man yeah it will reveal
itself um you know as you were speaking man uh i thought about uh one of my favorite actors and
And the first time, humbly, the first time that I worked on SNL, I got a chance to stand in for him and be his body double.
And that's Don Cheadle.
I remember seeing him.
I think it was a movie, Devil with a Blue Dress, with Denzel Washington in 1985.
And he got these rave reviews as this character, Mousy.
And he was brilliant.
And the movie talked to me.
I have to admit, I didn't see the one for which he was nominated for an Oscar about Rwanda.
I believe I need to put that on my calendar to watch.
But my point is, there's a video that I've shared with people where he says, people come up to me and said, I want to do what you do.
I want to be what you do.
And he said, you want to be an actor or you want to be a celebrity?
And he says, you'll ask them, ask them.
He said, are you acting now?
Are you reading plays now?
Are you in class now?
because all those things are part of acting.
And he said, you know, while you may need to be on a show
or in a play for the application of it,
all of those things are part of acting that happen behind the scenes.
He said, if you're not doing those things,
when your opportunity comes, he said,
folks are going to see that you're this small
and that you bring nothing to the game.
And it's freaking brilliant because,
not only because he said it but it's so on point because again as i said before man this is a
business where the relative allure and you can speak to this as well with people just the same
poopy just assume oh it's easy you know you just do it you can you can be seen and you do
yeah there's more to it and i think the reasons why you get into it it was a you know i'm a man
of faith before this interview i prayed yes i said i'm doing your work allow the conversation
to flow reach the people it needs to reach and just allow me to be a vessel for it amen and
same here you know you you go and you think about being ready and about showing up do you ever watch
uh no entourage on hbo it was a series in the early 2000s i'm familiar with it but i didn't
watch it i'm gonna i'd have to research the name of the actor but he plays vincent chase who's a
kid from queens and goes on to get a movie deal okay they pick him up from being an extra and
he's it was like an indie film that went i don't remember the exact story but the point was
later in the season his manager says look i didn't hire you because you can act i hired you because
you're a star and we have this allure of getting you into things right but once he had enough hit
movies they put him in an actual film okay where he's playing a firefighter right and they keep
yelling cut and they're telling him turn your head like this what are you doing you're dropping
and right he had no idea he had never taken acting class and it was just interesting that
that you brought up. What do you want to be in this for? When I, when I prayed to say,
lead me in the right way for this, you know, I don't do this for the likes, the fame. I mean,
I check numbers. It's cool to stay on your path and say, what am I going to do? But I don't get
excited when people see me out and say, Hey, I saw the podcast that I did this. I get excited
when people reach out and say you know what i saw that roy didn't grow up acting but he's made an
entire career over it for the past 15 years like it's not too late to start doing something right
right but they also see the work that went into you how much does your background of harlem help
with these acts with these roles do you think someone could play in godfather of harlem not
Coming from Harlem.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
But, you know, there's something for me about being where I'm from, being where I came to be.
Yeah.
That is particularly special, man.
You just you just feed off of it in conjunction with being a performer, just in a general sense.
I also serve as a substitute teacher in Harlem.
Okay. And man, the ability to pour into kids where I'm from, and I purposely work with third grade and below. Sorry, middle school kids. Sorry, high school kids. It's a different day. Not my speed.
so to be able to work with 3k pre-k kindergarten first grade second grade up to about third grade
and to contribute in some way to their critical years learning how to add learning how to subtract
learning division learning um just math learning how to read i put up a video yesterday man i said
guys I said listen all of you
had a secondary class I was covering
all of you are smart enough to be able to tie your sneakers
how many of you guys play Roblox
how many of you guys go on YouTube
I said the same way you
play Roblox and you get to second levels
the same way you go on YouTube and pull up
those videos you can pull up a YouTube
video at seven years old
and tie your sneakers
so at the end of the day fun Friday
we went to YouTube
there's a kid who records a video
showing other kids how to tie their sneakers
two of the guys did it
yeah incredible
so being from Harlem man
like there's a certain grit
there's a certain swag
yeah
there's a certain attitude there's a
certain
there's a certain awareness
that folks from Harlem have
and even
for the almost 16 years I lived in the
Valley Harlem was always home
and during the spring and
summer, I would get back to Harlem at least once a month, man, just to go hang, just to go roll
with folks. So, you know, being able to tap into that energy to feed what it is I'm blessed to do
now is almost beyond words. It's, it's special, man. It really is special. I I'm very thankful
for it. And I'm thankful for my time in the Valley. Cause this is where I started acting at 42.
Absolutely. At 42 years old, man. Besides acting, blogging, substitute teaching,
which i just found out now yes that wasn't anywhere in your imdb i need to update that
but um entrepreneur yes what got you into cheesecakes your company cheesecakes by chester
where i actually met you in 10 15 years ago we uh we crossed paths i don't know that we ever sat
down but we were definitely in the same room and you were selling cheese wow wow um when that whole
experience happened uh with that company who since they ended up going out of business they
ended up selling to somebody else after spiraling downward i'm not i'm just reporting i'm not you
know gloating right um one of the things i asked god was i want to be able to hire myself and i
want to be able to take those abilities and skill sets that he blessed me with and actually exist
in that divine i like to call it my divine essence right um how can i operate in that space as often
as I can and make a living there.
So my older daughter, Adrienne, and I,
we baked our first cheesecake together
like back in 98.
You know, she was 13.
She was with me that weekend.
We saw this magazine.
So I baked the cheesecake
because it looked good
and we were doing it together.
Came out okay.
But I just kept doing it,
kept doing it, kept doing it.
And when I moved down here to the Valley,
I would share them with people
and people would say I'd like to buy one.
I'm like, come on, man.
Just enjoy your cheesecake.
I'm not selling this cheesecake.
The lady gave me her number, and I'm like, I'm not doing that.
January 2012.
It might have been today.
It might have been January 24th.
I think it was January 24th, 2012.
I heard the voice of God say to me, why don't you try test marketing those cheesecakes?
And the fact of the matter, Tony, is that folks have been saying it for years.
This was different.
And this time, I obeyed.
I put it on Facebook the next day.
Regina Redogna became my first customer.
she'll take one
for a Super Bowl party
somebody else
stepped up
Mike Leonard
this person
they gave birth
to a business
started thinking
about a name
my middle name
is Chester
okay
I hated it as a kid
because you know
kids are Chester
but I like
the alliteration
yeah that's a great
alliteration
by Chester
so I gave birth
to a business
but it was born
out of
that experience
and that petition
that I made to God
in 2001
that I wanted
to be able
to operate at my divine essence um i didn't want the drudgery follow me i didn't want the drudgery
of a job i don't mind working i just didn't want the drudgery of a job and if i could if i could
just be and have that serve as a means of being able to support myself okay to me that's the
that's that's the ultimate thing absolutely just to be and and have that generate so
it gave birth to a business and i operated it we operated it plural for five years first out of my
apartment in bethlehem then it continued in allentown and then in 2017 we moved into an
incubator that used to be located in downtown easton i can't think of the name right now it
doesn't exist anymore but that incubator had housed a number of businesses that had access
to their commercial kitchen i can't think of the name oh wow they had a kitchen in like a
co-working space yeah exactly i learned about it i think reading an article in um either the
express times or the morning call i can't recall and i cannot think of the place but i ended up
going i baked a cheesecake i took it to the proprietors and they invited us in so we had
to get licensed and all that stuff and i think from the city of eastern got through that process
and operated there for a little while until my car broke down
and I couldn't get back and forth.
But there was a time, humbly, where I was told that we were the leading sellers
because I was able to cut that cheesecake now into slices.
Right. Oh, okay.
You know, the same cheesecake that would sell a whole for $40 would sell for $60
because it was $5 a slice when it cut it into 12 slices.
So people that didn't want a whole cheesecake for Thanksgiving or Mother's Day
or Christmas or whatever, Easter, could just come in and order a slice.
So it was fun while it lasted.
But that entrepreneurial spirit, and sometimes there's a term called
actapreneur.
Actapreneur, yeah.
That entrepreneurial experience feeds what I do today.
For sure.
Absolutely, man.
So they're definitely related, you know.
Yeah, definitely related.
You hear me always keep saying it because of how much it stuck with me
when Valerie told me you're only employed until your next job.
Yeah.
And it constantly goes through my head.
You know, did I mess up not going the corporate route?
You know, is this the work I'm supposed to do?
And if I continue, not just the podcast,
but branding companies and giving people that.
To me, when I brand a business,
I'm starting a story like you did,
where somebody has something that's special to them,
whether it be baking a cheesecake for whatever reason.
And now they have the suit to go on and go to their audition.
You know, that's an important part.
Your tailor is an important part of if you're in the business of image.
Has it ever like have you ever been out somewhere and somebody comes to you and pitches you like I don't want to compare it to like when they came up to us in the mall and said you could be a print model.
Right. Right.
But has anyone ever, like, have you ever gotten a job out of somebody just seeing or recognizing you from something?
Yes.
Go on that for a second.
I learned, I was doing commercials from 2007 up until about 2011.
For whatever reason, opportunities were just drying up in 2011.
There's a point to this story.
And listen, I've been bitten by the bug.
I got to act.
I got to find a way.
So, I was in my car one day and I heard a commercial where Touchstone Theater in Bethlehem was holding auditions.
They were doing this big production to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.
And the name of the play was called A Resting Place.
And they had auditions a few blocks down from where they're located.
I had to act.
I got to get this thing out.
I went to the audition was clearly the oldest one there because it was mostly kids
and Christopher Shore was the director I believe he teaches theater at Moravian I believe okay and
I met some other folks WT George who was a good friend of mine the former Emma Chong and now
Emma Ackerman was the stage manager and a few other folks you know JP and those guys our audition
I was blessed to get cast as one of the principal actors in this play this this became a part-time
job i was going to rehearsal six weeks out i was going to rehearsal like 20 hours a week yeah but
being rather destitute at the time not that i'm much better off right now but i'm good
i saw pursuing theater as an opportunity to become a better actor it was like my default
acting school so as a result of doing theater and doing more productions and ultimately
being directed by
the late great George
Miller for a local production of
To Kill a Mockingbird I met
Zeke Zelker
and Elaine Zelker. Elaine is
a talented
branding individual
author
photographer. Awesome.
And she has been my
sole head shot
photographer since 2014
and we're going to do another session
this year because the shots I have while they're
good according to my manager at four years old we had a session on election day 2020 but i met her
husband zeke zelker when i was in to kill a mockingbird he cast me as the mayor in his
billboard movie so a long way to show but you know a long story but that that was one instance where
someone saw me on stage and um put me in their film and then i became uh i became a subject
uh, for, uh, for Elaine Zelker. And we're all, you know, good friends and I can't wait to have
the next, uh, next photo session with her. So yeah, it does happen. And, and, and there are
times Tony where because it doesn't happen on a, on a direct immediate one-to-one basis that
that'll cause folks to lose hope sometime. Absolutely. Patience is a virtue, you know,
I know it sounds cliche, but you just never know, um, when something will, will, will turn into
an opportunity could have been as a result of a seed planted years ago years years ago you know
and you know what i think people don't appreciate enough is you could get your big break and it
doesn't have to be your last break you get a big break and the mentality of okay it's not just if
i show up here 40 hours a week i have a check coming every two weeks the idea that there might
be a slow period. You know, I'm, I'm blessed to be in a heavy, you know, at least for the last
six months to a year, I've been very busy, but I don't think I'm the greatest. So that's going to
last forever. I think what opportunities can I look at? What can I build through the podcast?
Who can I meet? And if the calling comes where they say, okay, you know, you have to drop twice
a week because there's that many stories you need to get out, then hopefully I'm prepared to
take that step right right right now i mean it's just the journey it is like you said it is
you know um so we have a few minutes well we got some time left but i wanted to go on
godfather of harlem coming up what is your experience with that you're all taped and
done right i'm all taped and done and it was an awesome experience man i um i auditioned for this
role sometime last summer and I was blessed to find out that I got the role and went to set that
day and we just had a marvelous time. There are two actors who are part of the cast and I was
in a scene with them. One plays Pettigrew and forgive me for not knowing the other character's
name doggone it i forget pedigree and the other one i forget i'm sorry uh and then it was directed
by a guy named rob greenlee and we had so much fun in the scene and there was one he said okay
let's do this one for blanks and giggles you know just take any handcuffs off just go and there were
some things that i improvised in the scene that i think are going to be i don't i haven't seen the
final cut yet but i know they liked it even even even the cast members were dapping me up oh praise
god that's amazing as a result of being loose and being invited and just being in the moment
and being confident in your readiness so it was a great time man i learned just last week that
season four may not drop until april all 10 episodes are done i'm in i'm in episode five
it's called concrete jungle and i'm looking forward to uh to seeing just what i'm in two
scenes i'm looking forward to seeing what those scenes look like but it was an awesome experience
man just uh i'm very very thankful man very thankful yeah that's a that must be and if we
have more time i'd explore that for a little bit but let me just ask you do work you're not sure
valerie it ended up talking about ending up on the cutting room floor three mark walberg movies
Yes. So you just go do your work. Right. You probably get paid before it even comes out. Right. And you get to see it for the first time with everybody else. That's insane. It is, man. I mean, imagine that's how it happens. And, you know, Tony, you can only control what you can control.
you talked about you mentioned before about to paraphrase not not even being concerned about
the end right and there's a quote from an actress her name is Constance Wu and she said when it
comes to auditioning you have to detach yourself from the result and use all that energy just to
emerge yourself and being in the moment and the actor Bryan Cranston says something similar you
You don't audition to get the job.
Michael Keaton says the same thing.
Go to work.
Just go to work.
Do your job.
And to some degree, just let the chips fall where they may.
You have no control over how things are going to be edited.
But your responsibility, your contribution is to serve the story.
Absolutely.
And hopefully in serving the story and serving the director and serving the other actors,
hopefully there is value in what it is you've provided so that it does make the final cut.
Just because it doesn't make the final cut doesn't mean it wasn't good.
Absolutely.
But you control what you can't control.
So, yeah, I remember, quick story.
I was blessed to be represented by an agency on Broad Street for a little while.
They were called Pro Model, then they were called Look Model.
And they used to do a lot of casting for forensic files.
So I appeared on forensic files like five times.
And the last time was as this character, Wilson St. Teal, who had murdered somebody, right?
The point of this story quickly is that I could not afford cable TV at the time.
I had pretty significant child support obligations and I was watching the episode of the friend's house and man, we're watching, we're watching.
I'm not coming up. We got all these folks there to watch, you know, and finally, most of the work that I did was shown at the end when they did the recreation part.
So, yeah, it's fun to watch sometimes. And you just hope that, you know, the work that you did is that it makes the final cut.
But I've been blessed, man, whether it was Law and Order, SVU, FBI Most Wanted and some other stuff that I've been blessed to book.
You know, it's made the cut, man.
So I'm absolutely thankful.
And I'm sure your range plays to that as well, too.
You don't play the same character.
I don't know the acting term for it.
Typecast?
Yeah, you don't get typecast.
So that's pretty interesting.
I'm going to get I mean, obviously, we can't get scenes of Godfather of Harlem to put out with this episode.
but you're you're real yes stuff you can i'll definitely open the episode with that okay sure
is there anything else you want to shout out any messages you want to leave i mean you you were
great well thank you man all praise to god first and foremost um my uh faith is very important to
me shout out to the greatest shallow church community and to my fcbc first corinthians
baptist church community up in harlem where i'm a member um listen uh the bible says that
without faith hebrews 11 6 without faith it is impossible to please god doesn't sound likely
doesn't say you might not doesn't say i don't think you're going to it's impossible and that
he who um it's possible to please god and he who comes to god must believe that he is and
conjunction. He is a rewarder of those who diligently, some versions say, earnestly seek
him. So to me, faith is important. Book of James talks about faith and works working in concert
with each other. So if there's something that you believe, there should be works behind it.
There should be effort. You know, it says, you know, you show me your faith, but what you do,
you show me your faith, what you believe, you show me your faith by what you believe. I'll
show you my faith by what I do. So, you know, you have to, you have to embrace the doing that you
got to, you got to move and you can't just allow the restrictions or the fear that some people
will try to project onto you to cause you not to move. You know, ambition sometimes is a lonely
thing, man. You know, um, I'll close with this. Two of my favorite affirmations have become
uh work in silence let success make the noise three the second one is don't announce moves
confirm arrivals yes love it and the last one is the time you put in while no one is around
will be what sets you apart when everyone is watching yeah oh yeah so those three affirmations
are dear to my heart
I'm glad that I was able to remember them
for this podcast
but you know you just have to
believe man and you have to
sometimes go it alone
for sure
I've heard very similar messages
in different wording
and that's what I love about public speaking
in general
technically I'm a public speaker
I've done the craft and done training
through like Toastmasters and things like that
CTM 2005
okay then i was at the sunrise group over there on walbert for a bit okay okay but you know you
do pay homage to the game but it's it's one of those things where i believe that speakers have
to have a different style like the fact that everything was stephen covey jim brown tony
robbins nothing against these people but they speak in a very specific way yes sometimes you
have to have somebody you know when i go to my local schools to speak about being an entrepreneur
yes i have to speak to those kids yeah and i i say to someone like you said i roll with everybody
but it makes a difference that i look like them yes very very hard to convince a child that they
can be what you be if they don't look like you look yes and that's something that people don't
want to talk about as much so i think it's great that you're in teaching teaching in harlem yeah
I'm glad that God brought you as a conduit of all your experiences,
everything you've done and allowed you to add it to this podcast.
So Roy, thank you.
Thank you, man.
And listen, thank you.
And thank you, Valerie Bittner.
Listen, I just watched her podcast to support her because we're like that.
I had no idea that she mentioned me until I watched.
I'm like, oh, damn, bro.
Isn't that amazing?
You going to make your brother tear up?
I had no idea.
So I thanked her and then I shared with her that I reached out to you and I'm going to be a guest.
And here we are, man.
So thank you, man.
Appreciate it.
Well, good luck on the upcoming.
I'll be watching.
And I'll tell you, I don't as an editor, I don't watch a ton of TV because I can't get lost in the story.
I'm thinking about the lighting.
I'm listening to the audio production.
And you can't turn it off when you get to a certain level.
But I have a few people that whether I went to college with them or grew up, you know, they're in productions.
Netflix, Hulu. So I'll watch, like you said, to support. Yeah. Just cause then I can tell them
just like, I want people to listen to my episode, whether they watch podcasts or not, whether they
tuned in to see us. Right. But this is good, man. Good stuff to come. Thank you, man. I will not
lose podcast. Thank you for listening. Thank you for listening to another episode of I will not
lose podcast to support the show. Visit. I will not lose podcast.com. You can subscribe to your
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