Steve Villegas - On My Block & S.W.A.T.

You look dumb.

You know what I mean?

Like just keep your life private.

This is Hard Park and brought to you by right-handed Roy

Toyota to Scottsdale, Arizona.

I'm your host, Jay Fitting, recording from my home studio

here in Gilbert, Arizona.

Speaking of my home studio,

actor Steve Villegas, known best for it on my block,

a Netflix show, as well as CBS's SWAT,

came by the studio, sat right here in front of me

and we had a great, raw conversation.

He was in town for the Lowrider show, which was fantastic.

So why not come over here

and have a podcast conversation?

And I gotta tell you, that thing was pretty raw.

One programming note, his camera died

with 40 minutes left in the episode,

but that's okay.

I went through and I backfilled that

with a ton of screenshots,

a ton of clips from the movies he's been on

and I think I did a pretty good job.

So make sure if you're watching this

or if you get to that part,

I mean, there's no reason for you to stop,

but we do have a real closing,

a live action closing at the end.

So make sure you stick around afterwards

because I wanna give you some of my perspective

and thoughts looking back at that conversation that we had.

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Steve Yegas.

What's up, what's up?

It's been a long time.

It's been a long time in the working.

Here you are.

So welcome to hard parking.

No, thanks for having me, man.

It's been a minute, it's a long minute actually.

I remember, it's been like what,

two years that you told me about it?

Probably closer to three.

Yeah, three, oh, okay.

Yeah, a long time.

But I tell you what, it's worth the wait

because you're actually sitting here in front of me.

No, I'm glad to be here, man.

Thanks for having me, you know?

Got you fed.

Yeah, stomach's full.

Get some Puerto Rican food and cooking out there.

Delicious, very delicious.

Thanks to your wife, right?

She made it or you made it?

No, I didn't make it.

I made the job.

Okay, cool.

Well, thanks for the drink and thanks for the meal, man.

It was delicious.

Absolutely.

And of course, behind me, I had to put this up

that I bought from you the first time it met you.

Yeah, oh, you bought it?

I didn't give it to you.

You know, I paid for it to support you, man.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, I don't want to say that was actually given it to you.

You know, I actually know what I'll put you on that.

He's like, hey, come hang out,

but hey, I appreciate it if you could support the homie

over here, I go, oh, absolutely.

Oh, okay, cool.

Because I, like, I don't, I haven't watched my blog.

Okay.

You know, because that's kind of,

that's like, which is,

it's a coming of age teen focused thing, would you say?

Right, right, yeah.

Yeah, right.

So I hadn't seen it at the time.

I go, okay, cool.

I'm like, all right, sad eyes, I'll take it.

Right, okay.

But since then I've had it here in studio,

but you're officially on the show,

so now it's permanently behind me.

Got it, cool.

How about your family?

Have they never seen the show?

Or your kids?

I don't know if my daughter has,

because I mean, she's, I don't know, 20,

what do we say downstairs, 26, 27 now.

Okay, so when the show came out, it was about,

2018, she would have been with, and...

You're making me do math.

Yeah, okay.

I don't do math.

Yeah, whatever it was, she would have been probably

first out of, yeah, she would have been first,

she would have already been out of high school.

Yeah.

But Netflix then, like everybody has Netflix.

Right, right, right.

And that was a Netflix show.

For sure.

Right, exclusively.

That one and SWAT, yeah, they're both Netflix.

Yeah, and I want to talk about all of that,

but I don't know your origin story.

You know, you would not,

what I loved about when I first met you,

not at Fuel Fest, but we were at Right Toyota,

I think it was during maybe a bike building thing

that we do, you know, the Jane puts on.

They didn't do it last year,

but we just sat there and talked.

No cameras, no nothing.

We just talked about kids and like,

yeah, I was like, ouch, yeah, that's funny.

Yeah, I was like, that's cool, man,

because the fact that I'm just a dude, you know,

and I don't know what your life is like,

like on the peak of your life, it's probably crazy.

I mean, yesterday at the low rider show,

I just kind of sat back and waited for you guys

to have an opening to say what's up, you know,

but I've always said that for people that taste fame

or in the light of fame,

just a sense of normalcy sometimes is welcome.

And so when you can sit there and just have this talk

with somebody who wants nothing from you, right?

It's got to feel kind of cool, you know,

because it's cool for me, you know,

it's like that casual encounter with someone

like my brother-in-law met DMX once in the airport,

and he's just sat there with them

and talked for like 45 minutes.

Oh, nice.

Yeah, you know, and it was awesome

for my brother-in-law, obviously.

Right, right.

But I told him, I said, you know what?

I bet you DMX loved that too, you know?

No, yeah, for sure.

I mean, it's a good feeling.

I mean, I'm all I could say is that I've never changed

as much as success I had with the show or any other show.

I've always made a promise to myself

that I was never gonna change

or let the fame or success get to me

to a point where I feel like I'm better than anybody else.

I still walk around with my kids.

I still walk around solo.

If I'm recognized, then it's cool.

If not, then it's cool too.

But I can still be a regular human being,

even though people, you know,

I actually do, you know, when they recognize me,

you know, that's for a photo and stuff like that,

but I don't take it as like,

nah, don't bug me right now, I'm eating,

or don't bug me right now, I'm with my kid, you know?

No.

It could get to that point someday.

It probably could, but I've been in a position

where I've been ambushed when I pick up my kids from school.

And I stood there an extra hour and a half

to take these pictures with these kids,

just to make them happy and keep a smile on their faces.

So I got a taste of that little feeling of like,

I can't go home yet, because everywhere I walk,

they're gonna stop me, they're gonna run to me.

Can I take pictures?

So if my house is about five minutes away, walking,

and, you know, the kids attacking me,

it took me an hour and a half to get there.

I mean, I did it proudly, and I made all these kids happy

to the point where even the principal came up to me

and told me, hey, look, I don't even know who you were,

but I saw all these kids going crazy for you,

asking for pictures, and I just wanna thank you

for staying here an extra hour and a half

to, you know, put a smile on these kids' faces,

because for the first time, and a long time,

there hasn't been like a fight after school.

Oh wow.

So I'm like, oh no, you're welcome, it's all love.

Like, I appreciate all these kids, you know?

Cause, I mean, they're the ones that support me, you know?

They're the ones that show love,

and why not show love back this way, you know?

But yeah, if anything, if you like,

one day I could even come and, you know,

do a little speech for the kids here at school.

They're like, yeah, we would love

to probably set something up, you know?

So anyway, the point is that I got that little feeling,

but again, it could probably be like,

okay, that was your first time, imagine every day, right?

So yeah, it could probably get a little exhausting,

but I still go to like Six Flags with my daughter,

and I get people asking me throughout the day

for a picture, or your sad eyes from on my block,

or you're from SWAT, and snack, and we take pictures.

So I still take a picture,

even though my daughter's there.

My daughter kind of understands the situation,

so she'll step back and she'll even offer

to I could take the picture for you guys.

That's cool.

So, you know, she doesn't get bothered by it,

she's used to it.

Yeah, she's just very humbled by it too.

She don't go around saying, oh, this is my dad, you know?

If they find out, they find out, you know?

And there's times where her friends find out,

like, I didn't know your dad was an actor, like,

and she's like, yeah, it's always been my dad,

like, yeah, she's just dad to me, yeah, exactly.

So, but to other kids, they're like,

I didn't know that, that's crazy, whatever.

So again, just because she knows I'm her dad

and I'm on the show, she doesn't go out there saying,

oh, this is my dad, like, she's very humbled about it too,

just as, you know, I've taught her to be, you know,

even though it could be anything,

you could be the best player in football.

Don't let it get to your head just because you became popular,

because even, you know, nowadays,

social media has people, you know,

thinking they're better than somebody

because their following is at a million,

or two million or three million,

aside from someone that has, they're in the thousands,

you know, but again, social media kind of messed up

a lot of things, people's personalities,

and, you know, just their way of being.

And I guess I could say I'm an example of it,

where just because I got all this,

all the fame and, you know, people ask me for photos

and this and that, it's still not getting to my head.

Like, if anything, I embrace it, I appreciate it,

and I keep it humble, and I keep going, living my life,

and that's it, and just making people happy,

like, when I do these events too,

and like, sometimes people are surprised that they're,

wait, I didn't know you were gonna be here,

this and that, whatever, and then, you know,

you get the picture, and I sign it,

and, you know, we get a picture,

but again, I embrace it, I accept it,

I'm humble about it, and after that's done,

I'm still the same person I was, even behind the booth,

you know, like, it's just the way I was raised, you know,

just knowing where you come from,

knowing where you grew up at,

and learning to appreciate the good things

that come around sometimes, you know?

Let's get to your origin story then,

because some people, I would imagine,

and I don't know, I'm just guessing here,

because this is nothing we've talked about,

you're not looking up when you're 10 years old

and saying, I'm gonna be on TV one day, right?

It's just trying to figure out what you wanna do next,

and so, what is your origin story?

How did you get to the point of your first deal?

What was life like for Steve, little Steve?

Look, okay, so, well, I mean, I grew up with,

you know, my parents, they were separated,

but they were always there,

so this day, they're still there,

they're best of friends,

and there was a little, you know,

you know, as every kid, they'll see their family,

I mean, their mom and their parents fight,

but always been there for us, you know,

my brother, myself, and so I can't complain about that.

They always tell us what's right from wrong,

how to respect people, every time you go into a house,

make sure you say hi to everybody,

so yeah, they tell us pretty, I'm happy,

they brought us up pretty well, you know?

Was that, hold on, so was that probably passed down to them?

Because even from your parents,

they themselves have two separate family branches.

Right, but you know what?

Knowing both sides of the family,

they are the same, like, the respect is the same.

I understand why they probably, you know, met,

and they had a lot of things in common,

because my dad is, you know,

he understands my mom and my mom,

my mom understands my dad at some point to a degree

where when it's raising their kids, which is us, you know?

And I never really encountered them being against each other.

They were always like co-parenting, you know,

and they understood that, you know,

what he's doing is wrong, yes, he is wrong,

so I get a punishment.

And same thing with my mom telling my dad,

he did something wrong, yes, you did something wrong,

you gotta do it this way, and whatever it is.

So they had an understanding together with, you know,

as a parent, and I guess that's why I grew up this way,

you know?

How many siblings?

I got two, I got two brothers, yeah.

No sisters.

Where are you in the pecking order?

Well, you could say, okay, so I say two brothers,

cause two brothers, right?

But I got a brother from my parents' side,

and then another brother from my dad,

he had another relationship.

Okay, yep.

Yeah, so and then, so he pretty much grew up with us

until he was probably like 11 years old,

then he started getting into sports

in his hometown with his mom,

and so I wouldn't see him as often.

So now, so now he lives in Florida.

So if you wanna be, I guess,

you could just say I'm the youngest.

Okay.

Because he wasn't with us throughout the whole time,

you know?

So yeah, I'm the youngest.

But adding my step-brother, you would say I'm the middle, yeah.

But yeah, that's how that is.

And then going back to the way, yeah.

I guess watching movies was what caught my attention

to first wanting to get into acting.

Like what inspired you?

So what inspired me is I grew up with watching,

I don't go as far as like seeing my dad watch movies

with Charles Bronson, you know?

You know what, like Death Wishing stuff?

Yeah, Death Wishing stuff.

That's on my list.

I haven't watched those yet.

Oh, you haven't?

No, I wanna see them though.

You would always see Charles Bronson,

so I knew about that, Chuck Norris.

Of course.

And then obviously it started becoming my generation,

you know, two, three years old,

then Van Damme, John Claude Van Damme came along,

and then Arnold Schwarzenegger,

always the Terminator and all that stuff.

So it was always a lot of action movies, you know?

Steven Seagal, Suffice the Lone,

all those kind of caught my attention.

And they were always like the main good guy,

so the hero movie.

And they looked badass, you know?

Icewater in their veins.

Yeah, all that stuff, you know,

baby oil all over the, you know,

to look at the cut and all that.

But anyway, yeah, that's kind of what inspired me

to be like, man, you know what, I wanna do that one there.

It'd be kind of cool to be like the cool guy, you know?

But throughout the time growing up,

I was never put into like acting classes.

Like my parents never put me into that.

I was a quiet kid, so they probably didn't see

no some sort of like,

like ambition or anything, right?

Like I wasn't really showing, it was just in my head,

you know, like that'd be cool, you know?

But again, I was always quiet, you know,

with family parties, I was always a quiet kid.

So they didn't see anything like that.

So they figured like, why are we gonna

probably waste our money on this?

So the one that they put into acting

was my brother at one point,

because he was a little more talkative.

And he did it for a couple of months, I think.

But after that, he didn't do anything after,

it was just the acting classes and that was it.

It might have been because it was too expensive,

because I think classes can be expensive.

So what happened is that,

you had just watching movies throughout

my whole childhood life, you know?

Once I turned like 18, 19,

that's where I started taking it upon myself

to go look for it and search for it.

How do you get in front of the camera

or who do you go?

Where's the castings at?

I don't know anything.

There was no social media back then.

I didn't know anything.

It was just figure it out, you know?

So then...

So what does that look like?

Because there's probably people,

because now there's so many companies that say,

hey, we're one of those clients

and company X is looking for talent.

And then you buy into this thing

and you're part of this pool.

And there's debates out there

on how many of those actually work

versus how many of your money grab

and then how many are organic.

Like for you, what was that like?

So for me, it was again,

you didn't know until you found out.

So if you go to like this casting call

that you hear through, I don't know, the radio,

it could be driving in the car,

they're gonna advertise that.

That's where you would hear it, you know?

And then you'd go to these things

and then they'll put you into like this thing

where you pay monthly to, I don't know,

I guess be in front of the camera

or be in the movie and this and that,

but then you never get booked.

Then you start realizing like,

was this really legit or what?

Then you call and then they're like,

oh yeah, well, it's because you need to do this,

this and that.

And I'm like, okay, I don't know all this stuff, man.

I thought maybe you just go in,

you got a good look or they like your look,

they're gonna send you to an audition, that's it.

But it was just so much for me to,

I guess understand at the time,

because I didn't know anything.

I just pretty much went from,

okay, let me try to figure this out.

So that's the part of the process

of figuring things out.

Now you know that's fake or that's not working for you.

Let me try something else.

But once you realized like you went to a legit,

well, so you thought it was a legit company

that was gonna help you in the industry.

Now it's like, you can't even trust other companies now.

So now like I don't even trust none of them no more.

So I guess one day a friend of mine,

he used to work at a swap meet

and there was a certain actor

that would just go to these little swap meets

to buy his clothes.

And he told me one day,

he's like, I have a friend that comes here a lot

and he's an actor and he's worked on a lot of music videos

like with Game and Ice Cube and stuff like that.

I'm like, okay, cool.

Like I would like to talk to him

since it's coming from a source where

he's confirming that he's been on these music videos.

So I'm like, okay, cool.

And he's not some bullshit.

Exactly.

So then one day I did go and he happened to be there

and then he introduced me to him

and so he told me that, okay, so how I started is

I went to this casting service,

but this is for background work.

You know, you're just gonna be an extra.

An extra, yeah.

Yeah, and you just never know,

you might get lucky and this and that.

So he kind of gave me, he ran me game

on how everything works, right?

So then he gave me the number.

He told me what buildings to go to in Hollywood.

So I trusted that because he's actually working.

And then yeah, I pretty much went to them.

I signed up with them.

And now I was getting calls like,

hey, they're looking for a so-and-so, you know,

for this part, you're gonna be at a high school.

You're gonna be playing a high school student.

Are you available on this day, this day, this day?

And then I'll be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So then-

Hey, are they always on like inconvenient days too?

That's what I would imagine.

Yeah, pretty much you had to say yes or no.

Tuesday at 9 a.m., you're like, shit.

Exactly, yeah, you have to, you know?

So I said yes, you know, whatever.

And then I started doing background work

for quite some time, you know?

And now I was getting paid.

Now I'm like, okay, this is what I was looking for.

Like to try to get into the industry

somehow some way, even if it's through the background.

But the point is I was getting paid.

Then I started finding out that's not where it stops.

Now you're working, but now you're non-union.

I'm like, what is that?

Like SAG?

Yeah, what's union and what's the difference?

And then they were telling me,

you know, okay, non-union, you get paid at the time.

It was $64 for eight hours.

And then after that, it was overtime.

I'm like, okay, so, and you get paid what?

And then it's like, well, I'm union,

so I get paid $150 for eight hours.

I'm like, oh, damn, so how do I get union?

Like, how do they, they're just breaking it down to me.

Like, okay, well, you got to work three union jobs

to get three union receipts.

With those three union receipts,

now you're eligible to become a SAG member

and join the union.

And you just got to pay a fee, a one-time fee

at the beginning, like $2,700 to join at that time.

So that took me like years to get that.

Because again, I didn't have no connection.

There was no social media.

It was just you go work and you just mingle

and talk to whoever else is doing background.

And that's where you start figuring things out.

Just the same way I found out how I become a SAG member,

right?

It was through somebody at a job site working background.

So then anyway, it took me, I want to know, you know what?

The reason why it took me that long

is because I had stopped after like two years.

Did you give up, get frustrated?

I didn't give up, I ended up getting in a relationship.

Yeah, and then, yeah, that kind of just,

yeah, I just made decisions,

thinking they were right decisions

to get involved with somebody in the process of me

trying to pursue the acting, right?

But anyway, fast forward to that.

I ended up having kids.

So that kind of held me back a little bit

from focusing on myself.

So now it was just focused on my kids now.

And then I just had like a nine to five

or like a good, maybe five.

Right, you just had to put your aspirations on hold.

So you can take care of the kids.

Yeah, and I told myself, I'll be back within a year.

But a year, obviously, turned into two, three, four.

And then the older they get,

the more responsibilities come about.

So anyway, it was about maybe five, six years after

all these working nine to fives.

And I was working for Caltrans at one point.

Got laid off, not because I wasn't a good worker.

They just laid off everybody that they hired that year

for some just, you know, little room.

That's a third, like a third party city contractual.

Yeah, it was a little rumors going around

with like everybody that was hired that year

and they just laid off everybody.

So anyway, I was able to save up a good amount of money

to kind of just live with it

while I pursue the acting again.

But this time I'm gonna go harder and stronger.

And I promised myself that I was gonna do it.

So sure enough, I went harder, stronger.

I joined a different casting service,

built a relationship with that lady.

And she was booking me a lot, a lot of background roles

and just networking with everybody.

And then one day.

So were these like commercials?

This was it, commercials, movies, shows,

even like game shows.

Oh, no kidding.

Yeah, so these game shows are,

it's not an actual audience.

They're audience-

You're quite literally a studio audience.

Yeah, exactly.

People you see in the audience

that everyone's clapping at the same time

and they stop at the same time

is because there's someone behind that like clap.

Can you stop clapping like, clap.

That's interesting.

So they're all getting paid.

So I did a lot of stuff like that with Jerry Springer.

Not the Jerry Springer show, but-

But that style.

Yeah, there was other, well, no.

It was with Jerry Springer,

but there was a time where he was doing like a game show.

I think it was a baggage or something like that.

So he was the host.

And again, the audience there,

that we were all getting paid.

Maybe there was like 10 people

that were just a guest from the outside,

but yeah, everything was just a paid job, paid job.

It was just to be there and audience and clap.

That was it.

So anyway, one day I did get booked for a movie

as a featured extra,

which means I'm an extra throughout the whole movie,

but I don't have no lines.

Okay.

But the one I was acting with was a friend of mine now,

Noel G.

Oh yeah, friend of the pod.

Yeah, so the guy who plays Hector in every movie.

So mostly everybody knows about, right?

So then I had a whole month with him

and just getting to know him, talk, chop it up.

You got to know me, got to know him.

And we had a whole month together,

just working on that movie.

And once it was ending,

that's where we kind of just like,

then we realizing like, then this is it,

like our goodbyes, you know?

Like that was nice meeting you man.

Like it was nice working with you.

It was a pleasure.

There's a lot of that going on in the industry, isn't there?

Oh yeah, for sure.

And it was a pleasure.

And I guess this is goodbye, man.

Like hopefully I see you around, you know?

But one thing he did tell me is like, well, you know what?

Like I want to still like chop it up with you, man.

Like I like you, you're a real cool guy, you know?

Like once you come to my church one day, you know?

Like, you know?

Did you recognize?

I mean, when you got to work with him,

because this would have had to have been like

way after Fast and Furious.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

So, oh yeah, this was way after.

It was even before the seventh part that he worked on.

It was before that.

It was like purge time.

I don't remember when purge was,

but I know purge is after that.

It was a little bit after purge.

Yeah.

And before Fast and Furious 7.

Yeah, okay.

Because I remember he went to the premiere

of Fast and Furious 7,

but because he was working it a little after

when I met him.

Sure, okay.

So then anyway, how I met him is,

yeah, so I was booked on that.

I didn't know it was gonna be with him.

I just go and they told me I'm gonna be

somebody's partner, you know?

And then when I walk into the set,

I see a bald guy, but the back of his head only.

So I don't know who it was.

I mean, I don't know who he is, you know?

So I looked and I'm like,

well that's probably the homie I'm gonna be acting with,

you know?

And I just walk right by him.

Again, I didn't see his face.

I didn't acknowledge anything.

So I go to his room where they had me sign the paperwork.

And then I hear a voice, which is his voice, right?

Or at least so I thought it was, you know,

I recognized his voice from all these movies.

I'm like, and I stopped writing.

I'm like, wait, is that, is that what I think it is?

I'm like, nah, it can't be him.

And it's not him, whatever.

So I continue, right?

I'm done with my paperwork.

I get up, I'm heading out the door where they had me at

and he's walking in.

And then we bump into each other and I'm like,

oh, oh, there's no other shit.

So it was him who I heard.

I'm like, I thought I heard your voice or something.

Like, it's crazy.

And then he's like, oh, have we ever worked

with each other or what?

Like, I'm like, no, no, no, we haven't.

I just, I know who you are, you know?

But while you're playing the homie or what?

And he's like, oh, yeah, yeah.

You're playing my homie too?

I'm like, yeah.

Oh, okay, cool.

So yeah, so that's where we met.

And then we had a lot of downtime

and that's where we started, you know,

chopping it up, getting to know each other.

At the beginning.

And I guess every day after that,

that's where we started like really getting to know each other.

So again, fast forward back to the ending of the set.

He introduced, I mean, I'm sorry.

He invited me to his church,

praised Chapel Whittier at the time.

And then I went, I took my kids.

Yeah, pretty much just continued, you know,

getting to know Noel and now we're invited

to like these church events.

So now we're seeing him every week, you know,

every Wednesday or something like that.

And so yeah, it wasn't after the set, we didn't stop.

We continued, you know,

connecting and working together and doing skits.

And one time he did tell me like, hey, when I get a chance,

I'm going to introduce you to an agent, an old agent

I used to work with back in the days

and see if you want to, you know, go with her

and see if she likes you and whatever.

So I didn't want to bug them or anything like that about it.

I was still doing my background work

and something I don't want to do is make anybody feel,

who's already in the industry, make anybody feel

as if I'm trying to use them.

Like they are your step,

your stepping stone to get to the next one.

Yeah, exactly.

So I never asked them like, hey, what's up, man?

Like when am I going to talk to your agent?

You know, whatever.

I just, again, I'm doing my thing whenever he can,

he'll let me know, you know?

Cause again, I genuinely want to be connected

with people in the industry,

but in the right way.

I don't want, I ain't going to kiss nobody's ass, you know?

And there's a lot of that nowadays,

especially with social media.

Yeah, no for sure.

I could just name so many people,

but I just, it's almost, it's like the fake is acceptable

and the real is not no more.

Like you could be real and solid with somebody

and for some reason that don't work anymore.

Now you got to be fake and now you're using them

and they're using you

and they know you guys are using each other

and we're just going to use each other to get to wherever.

And at the end of the day,

they barely know each other for about a month.

And now all it's family or these areas are family.

It's just so dumb.

I see, I see so many posts and pictures of people

that I know that they've just met

and all of a sudden they're inviting each other

to their houses and this and that.

And I'm like, man, I've known this guy for 10 plus years.

Always supported him.

I've always show love to him.

We've kicked, we hung out, whatever.

And I guess, you know, me being real and solid like that

doesn't make anything like special to him, you know?

I guess, I guess-

Seems like there'd be like a lot of frenemies

in the industry too, right?

Yeah, for sure.

And you know, you feel a certain way

because you remember when you supported them

when they were barely coming up

or they were doing like little meet and greets too.

And before me being in the industry,

I will go and support this guy

because I liked his acting.

But now he's in a position where, you know, he's there

but I see him around.

We say what's up and it's not.

But I just, what I notice is through social media

is that you see people that he barely linked up with

and I don't know, all of a sudden he just invites them

to their house and then you just feel kind of like,

damn, that's messed up.

Like, I really genuinely like supported you, man.

But I mean, I'll still support

but now I guess I know where I stand, you know?

I will just be cool, we'll be cool, you know?

And I guess I gotta be Instagram famous now

or my popularity has to be 2.1 million followers

and then you'll probably consider inviting me over now,

you know?

Like it's just, that's the way it is.

Yeah, it's weird you have to feel that way

but I understand it.

Yeah, but it's cool.

How did you get your first big break?

Well, I would call that I guess my block

because that's something you're not just an extra.

Right, right.

Your character is spanning over multiple seasons.

Yeah, no, no.

How did that happen?

Well, that happened was because while the agent

that Noelle introduced me to,

she pretty much just sent me the audition.

I read through it.

I was excited only because it said Netflix.

All my block wasn't even a show to even, it wasn't known.

It was barely a show that was barely gonna be started,

like the pilot, I think.

So, it said Netflix.

So, I was excited for that whole Netflix.

Yeah, hell yeah.

I read through it.

I went into the audition in person.

There was no self-taste back then.

And I did what I did.

You know, I did, I acted, you know, my part.

I got a call back like three, four times

until they decided to go with me.

And yeah, once I got that, I went to set and...

What did that feel like?

It was cool.

I mean, again, it was a show

that you didn't think it was gonna blow up this big.

It was just another job for me.

Like, okay, cool.

And just did my part, you know?

Again, all the actors that are on that show,

for the most part, they were barely getting started too.

There wasn't no faces or anything like that.

So, we all pretty much kind of came up from that show.

So, I did my scene.

Everything was cool.

I wanna say after the first season,

that it aired, that's where it started becoming popular.

And now people were expecting season two.

And then one season two came out,

now it became even more popular.

So, now they're expecting season three.

And then it's just so on and so on, right?

It just started blowing up now.

But at the same time, I was also working

on the show called SWAT.

Oh, so that kind of, you were kind of doing both things at once?

I was doing both at the same time.

So, if I wasn't on SWAT, I wasn't on my block.

If I wasn't on my block, I was on SWAT.

So, that was going on for a good minute

for like from like 2018 to like 2023, I believe.

Yep, yep.

Just back to back, right?

And um...

My wife watches SWAT sometimes downstairs, you know?

She's like most women, like all about Shamar.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, no, exactly.

No, he's a character, man.

He's cool, he's cool people.

How I got SWAT though, it was so different from on my block.

So, I already had it memorized, the audition,

but I just felt like something was missing

because I wanted to go there a little more realistic,

you know, of like street life.

Aside from, I know a lot of actors were going to go in there

acting like a little harder and probably overdo it,

which is like, what's all this and like,

you know, go out crazy, right?

So, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna do it a different way

and more calm, but make sure I get my point across

that I'm dangerous.

Like, you don't want to mess with me.

Like the whines on me, yeah.

Yeah, and the ones that are gonna do the dirt

are gonna be the homies behind me.

Right, yeah.

So, the calm one has to be the chill one.

I mean, the dangerous one has to be the chill one.

So, when I did the audition, before I went there,

I got a piece of paper from my car,

I rolled it up into like a little cigarette, you know?

And then I brought that in with me.

And then I started doing my scene.

And my last, I guess my last lines to that show

was like, my friend has been on this blog since 1969.

Like, we belong here, you don't.

You know, and I got the cigarette

and I threw it to the casting director's face

and I walked away, which is something you just not do

or you just take a chance or you just,

I just, I was kind of fed up like,

man, I gotta get something, you know?

So, I turned away and then I was like, shit.

Did I just do that?

Yeah, did I just do that shit?

Like, damn.

So then I turned around, I'm like, I'm sorry,

I didn't mean to, I just, that was a character for me.

You know, she's like, no, don't worry about it.

Oh my God, that was, that was very nice.

Like, thank you for coming in, you know?

And I left, you know, I left the audition

just wanting to feel like, okay, I just did the best I can do.

You know, I didn't stutter, I killed it.

I did everything the way I had it planned in my head.

And the next day I wake up to miss phone calls

from my agent, emails saying that I got the role.

Even though I found out right there,

I called my agent acting like I didn't know about it yet.

So I was like, oh yeah, I'm sorry,

I missed your call, I was asleep.

And then she told me like, oh, okay,

I just wanna let you know that I don't know

what you did at the audition, but they loved it.

And they want you to play the character as Marcos.

I'm like, oh, okay, that's what's up, okay, it's cool.

Thank you.

And then she's like, yeah, so from this point on,

they're gonna be the ones contacting you

to give you all the details.

And I'm like, okay, cool, sounds good.

Well, thank you.

I was just playing this move, and then once we hung up,

that's where the excitement was like, hell yeah.

Hell yeah.

I knew I was gonna do that, man, like damn.

Nice, nice.

So anyway, that's where I started seeing my emails again

and it tells me everything, like the description.

We loved what Steve did at the audition

and we would love to have him as Marcos.

So with that being said,

that's where the journey began for SWAT.

I killed the first scene that I was in,

the first episode, and I made sure I went to that set

just being sharp ready, you know,

because I know I was gonna go against A-list actors, you know?

But even before that, I went to a table read

where all the actors on the show are in a table

reading their lines through the script.

So even-

Is that fun?

It sounds fun.

Yeah, it was unreal.

It was fun.

It was nerve-wracking because I'm the only newcomer here

and I see some more and more, I'm like,

damn, I remember this guy from Soul Train

and this guy from this and this guy from that.

Like, damn, I'm actually in the same damn room,

same table, about to read with these guys.

Like, that's crazy, man, I better be ready for this.

So then as they're reading their lines,

everyone's just reading the lines, you know?

Just kind of like a little bit acting.

I'm going straight to like my lines to make sure I'm ready

so when it comes, I deliver right away.

So as they're, and keeping track of where they're at

on their page.

And then good thing it was like maybe like 20 pages

until it gets to me, I'm like, okay, cool.

So then, but it was just, I was kind of just a little bit,

I guess not starstruck, but like that feeling of like,

I can't believe I'm here reading with these guys right now.

Trying to be on the page of my lines when they come

and at the same time trying to keep track

of where they're at, where they're reading it.

But it was like crazy

because I'm like at a headquarters of SWAT.

Like I'm in an actual studio

where they have the set of SWAT.

Everything looks like it's a headquarters

of a police station, but it's not, you know?

It was just crazy.

It was crazy.

I still remember it to this day.

And then that was the first time I met my friend

from the show, Kenny, Kenny Johnson.

And yeah, I just made sure that, you know,

I delivered my lines with him when it was time to come.

And yeah, we just kind of like looked at each other

and I was giving them the eye.

And then he was giving me the eye.

And it was like that.

And we're like having a face off right here in the table.

And it's like, damn, this is crazy.

Like I cannot believe this.

So then once the table read was done,

we all get up and we say bye to each other and this and that.

And then just hearing Shamar more and more telling me,

like, okay, cool, see you on set, you know?

It was like a damn, like that's crazy.

That just happened.

Yeah. And again, all this happened

because I auditioned and I worked hard for it, you know?

Right.

And I didn't have to worry about social media

because that was even really out there that much.

It was just, IG was only about like photos, that's it.

You know, maybe like 10 second videos.

The good old days.

Yeah, exactly.

Just a photo and that's it.

And so I didn't have to worry about the influencers now

or anything, just all that stuff.

But anyway, I got that.

And then when it was time to shoot,

yeah, I made sure I came, you know, up and ready,

like just ready to deliver.

Because again, I was gonna go against these A-list actors

and I don't wanna be the reason why, like, oh my God, man,

we got called cut because he can't get his lines right.

I wanted to be ready, sharp ready.

And I was to the point where when we were doing rehearsals

that the director had us do, I delivered it so well

that the director was like, oh my God,

we should have just shot that.

Like that was perfect.

So that even gave me a better like feeling like

and the inspiration that it gave me.

I was like, oh hell yeah, man, like they love me.

You know, like, yeah, let's do it, let's continue.

So I was just more than ready.

So then because of that episode,

what happens is that other writers before it airs,

they play it for the writers and for the directors

before it gets let out and CBS.

So not just one writer watches this episode.

There's multiple writers that see this.

So that means there's a lot of writers

that might consider bringing my character back,

which is all those chances to like be brought back, right?

So then yeah, after that episode that I did,

I was brought back in for a couple of more episodes

on season two, then back on season three

and then back on season five and back on season six.

So I did a good amount of episodes on SWAT

to the point where that even got me recognition, you know,

which I'm able to do these meet and greets now

because of that and SWAT.

And I've done all kinds of other different shows,

like deputy, I think I did a CSI one.

This is like episode here and episode there.

Before we continue with that,

I'm thinking about the process of doing these table reads

and just shooting because my brain,

it's just how my brain like processes stuff.

I would imagine, and it's weird to me

when people say they don't do this,

but I would imagine when it's done

and you're going back and you're watching that episode, right?

Like you've watched yourself.

What is that like when you,

how different a rewarding is that?

We're like, damn, well, I remember us shooting this

and we couldn't get anything right.

And this dude over here off camera,

a grip was kept dropping the microphone

and a bunch of silly shit.

Then when you actually see it in the episode,

it looks so much polished and different.

Like, you know, what is that like?

Is it funny?

I would imagine it's kind of entertaining.

It is funny, entertaining,

but ever since I got deep into the acting game

and I was able to see what goes on behind the scenes,

it's impressive to me how it's put together.

Because yeah, you are doing section by section

by section by section, right?

And the magic comes around when it's time to edit it

to make it look like it was a whole day

that this person went through all this,

but really it took a whole two weeks

to put this episode together.

But the way they edit it, yeah, it looks like, you know,

and yeah, you do remember like what's behind you,

what's in front of you.

And because of that,

I think that's where I focus a lot on movies

when I watch movies.

Since I know what's behind the scenes,

I study their acting, which is like,

some was cool, like I'm like, okay,

like for instance, Denzel Washington,

I see certain facial expressions.

It's great, isn't it?

Yeah, oh yeah, amazing.

Oh, it's great.

Same thing with like the rock, you know,

I'll see facial expressions or their timing, whatever.

And I'll be like, okay, that was cool.

But I know what's behind the camera, you know,

aside from all the audience that watches it,

they're gonna watch the movie

because it's a movie that's entertaining

and they're gonna watch it,

but they're not gonna know what's,

or they're not gonna study the stuff, right?

And I am, and I'm like, oh, damn, okay,

I'm gonna do that next time on my next audition

or the next time I do something on set,

I'm gonna do that, you know, like a facial expression,

you know, like it just, it works good.

Have you ever been like watching a scene, you go,

that motherfucker right there was fucking high

or that dude showed up drunk and he was drunk all day

and he couldn't say anything

because we wouldn't let him talk

and so we were just filmed around him?

No, actually, I haven't experienced anything like that,

but I've heard stories that that's what happens

and but that's the take that they keep

because it's real, you know?

You get the real drunk person

instead of getting an acting drunk person, you know?

So I've heard stories like that, which is pretty cool,

you know, and they end up keeping that one, you know?

So then, but no, aside from everything else with me,

I just studied that and I take that as like my acting class

because that's pretty much what they're gonna teach you

at an acting class is how to, you know,

make facial expressions and what situation you're in

and how you gotta act, maybe you gotta move your hands

a little bit more, maybe body language.

When you get mad, don't just get mad and just stay stiff.

Like when you're mad, you start throwing things

and you're like, fuck I or whatever,

you do all kinds of stuff, right?

So then you study that, well, at least I study it

when I watch a movie and they'll teach that

if you go to an acting class.

So for me, I never took an acting class

because to me, it's like just a waste of throwing

your money away when you could just get it

if you watch a movie.

But if you see it in that perspective,

you know, you gotta see it that way.

Cause if not, then you're just watching a movie, you know?

So I took that and I, you know, I was like, okay, cool,

this is gonna be my acting classes when I watch a movie.

So I've done a lot of, you know, facial expressions,

a lot of body language movements

when I worked on SWAT or on my block,

I picked it up from certain movies, you know?

And it worked, nobody's gonna know where I got it from.

They're gonna be like, oh, they did pretty good.

And the proof is there, you know?

They brought me back for so many episodes.

But yeah, it's also just, you know,

it's a way of, I guess, learning

and studying the craft a little bit.

And yeah, from that point on, it's just SWAT

and on my block have been the biggest ones

that kind of got my name out there, you know?

So I kind of appreciate that and, you know, embrace it.

I've made friends, family from that.

I've known the producer for him on my block

for some, quite some time.

He's a real good guy.

He was there when my mom was, you know, when she had COVID,

she was almost dying.

He'd call up and check up on me.

So yeah, you build a cool, solid relationship

with these guys too.

And same thing with SWAT.

I'm real good with Kenny Johnson.

We work together again, even out of SWAT.

So yeah, we have a lot of things in common.

He has a daughter, I have a daughter

and we're both fathers to our daughter, you know?

Like we're there for them and everything.

So yeah, you just build like relationships

with these guys, you know?

And it's beautiful, you know?

Cause it was real, you know?

And SWAT and on my block, nobody gave that to me.

It wasn't given.

I auditioned for it and I appreciate it.

I can't even, nobody can say,

oh, I hooked them up with that, you know?

Cause nobody did.

It was just all solo on my own

and just doing the audition.

And the only thing that I could say that helped me out

was just having an agent, which is what Noel got me.

And that's all I needed, you know?

And that's it, I go from there.

How many people have you worked with?

I don't want to take you from that Michelada.

I'm over there looking at it

and it's got like a layer of water on top of it.

How many people have you worked with

that in having casual conversation,

you've discovered did go to acting school versus not?

Cause I've had a few actors on here,

friends of mine like yourself at this point.

I mean, we're cool.

Right, right, not for sure.

Yeah, not for sure.

And I get like a whole wide range of responses.

Cause most people are like, well, I did this thing

and then I went to acting school

or I went to acting school and I did this thing.

Or in your case, I studied, you know,

through hunger from what I'm watching

and that became an acting class.

So how many people have you interacted with?

If that's even ever come up, maybe it never came up

has kind of gone through the academia of acting.

Well, I do have friends that go to acting classes.

And again, I'm not knocking acting classes down.

Yeah, and I don't take it that way either.

It just wasn't for me.

Also because it did something to me.

Cause don't get me wrong, I did take one or two.

Okay.

And it was just like, I didn't like the feeling,

you know, of all people being in front of me like that

and just focusing and obviously when you're in acting class,

you're gonna make a mistake.

And again, it can be perfected,

which is why you're going to the acting classes

and I get it, but me personally,

I just didn't like it because if I mess up

and I hear someone laughing or whatever.

And I'm like, ah, like I'm not even mad at them laughing.

It's within myself.

Like this is kind of distracting me.

Like I don't, I probably am like messing up

or I probably shouldn't act.

Like maybe I am wack or it like,

I just didn't want to have that feeling, you know?

So that's why I didn't continue taking acting classes.

I'm just like, you know what?

If I audition, I'm gonna just be myself

and read the description of the script,

understand the storyline for what they give me

and just go based on that.

And whatever it is that I've been through

or learned through life and kind of implement that

into the screen.

And that's exactly how I did with SWAT.

I didn't ask anybody, hey, what would you do

if you did that?

Again, I tore up that piece of paper

because I remember a cop talking to me

and I'm giving them attitude.

I remember a teacher speaking to me

about listening in the class

and I'm like ignoring him like, okay, yeah, well, and what?

Like, like I'm giving the attitude, right?

So I implement all that stuff into, you know, into SWAT.

And that's it.

I just kind of took like real life situations

or real life matters and just use that as my,

I guess, I don't know how would you use it,

but like, I guess your way is just delivering the lines

and make it as real as possible

because you don't want it to look fake either, you know?

Like it, it's just something about me that I don't want.

It's a thin line, right?

Yeah, you just, yeah, it's hard to explain.

You have to kind of know.

There's no school for the way the process I took,

you know, to get that down.

You just gotta know and observe

and know what you're into, what's your craft,

which is the acting or whatever.

And yeah, just use it to your benefit.

Now, if I want to be a comedian, yeah,

I might go to a class to, you know,

I guess do comedy or something

or just know the timing and what you got.

Don't be dumb words.

They look like you're trying too hard, you know?

Like, then maybe, yeah, I might need that.

I don't think maybe a movie could teach me that.

Even a comedy movie, you know, it wouldn't teach me that.

But yeah, I have friends that they go to acting classes

and again, it might be helpful to them, you know?

Cause maybe other people can't study watching movies that way.

They just want to enjoy watching the movie

and that's it.

They're not going to pay attention like, okay,

you know, like if it's a class.

So I think they just prefer to actually go,

there's a time and place for it to be in class for acting

and then there's a time and place to watch a movie, you know?

Maybe that's the way they see it.

But me, I'll see the movie and I'll learn from it, you know?

But yeah, like I said, I got a couple of friends

that do acting classes and this worked out for them.

But the majority of people that I know

that take acting classes are not even booking.

So they're spending money on these classes

that are like 300, 400 a month and you're not booking,

then you're just throwing your money away.

And I guess now, I guess I'm a little against,

again, going back to the social media

because it's becoming a, you don't need talent

to be on a movie, you know?

If you're following this like this high,

they'll consider you and that's it, you know?

Probably teach you a little acting here and there,

but I don't want to say names of movies,

but I've seen a lot of movies where the main characters

are influencers and the real actors

that have been around the industry for decades

that have seniority in the industry

are the ones that have like maybe a couple of lines

throughout the movie, little cameos here and there.

Now they're not even using those talented actors

as main characters anymore.

They're using, and they got big names, you know?

But they're using them as like the cameo actors

that come in, but the main actors are influencers

and it's just, I don't even know how to describe it anymore.

I mean, nothing against influencers, that's their hustle.

They know what they're doing.

They're probably happy about it.

Like, you know, fuck it, I got into it,

like becoming an influencer then, you know?

Like they'll probably say that to me,

like get your followers up or whatever, like, okay, whatever.

I don't need to do that,

because, you know, I know I could do the acting already.

It's just, I'm just going based on what I see

and I'm sure a lot of people see too now

is that influencers are getting more opportunities

because of their popularity on social media, TikTok,

whatever it is, right?

And that's just the way it is, you know?

I mean, there's big actors that even talk about this,

like, oh, now I gotta be an influencer to become

or to get a big role, you know?

It's crazy, right?

Yeah, so if they're saying it

and they're already established in the industry,

they're saying it for a reason

because they see it themselves, you know?

And I'm sure they probably don't like that

because they respect more of the craft

and more of the talent than just the popularity game, you know?

So again, that's just what it is, you know?

But again, who am I to change that?

I mean, if we all get together and say something,

I'm sure it'll change, but now it's just like you can't.

Everyone's just, I guess, I don't know,

like I said, using everybody in a friendly way

to get to a different position of whatever, you know?

But there's this saying where it's like,

the faker you are, your circle will be bigger

and the more real you are, your circle will be smaller.

I think I've seen that, something similar.

And then it makes sense because I do have

a small circle of friends because they're the real ones,

you know, and they know what's up, you know?

And I do see a lot of people with a big circle of friends,

but I know that they're faking it

and I know they're all fake within each other,

like I see it, it's obvious,

but nobody's gonna say that

because they're using each other is what I'm saying,

like this guy has popularity.

Oh, let me become friends because his social media,

he's on, we're gonna take pictures,

he's gonna show me, boom, boom.

And then this guy's gonna use them because,

oh, he's a main actor, like he's been an actor for years.

Let me become friends with him, boom, boom,

they're gonna see me with him and it's-

And as soon as something happens,

you look up and they're all gone

because they haven't surrounded themselves with real ones.

Exactly.

So again, I've been kind of a little distant from all that

only because I can't be fake, man.

I can't kiss nobody's ass like that, you know?

I'll genuinely try to be a friend and be cool with you,

but if I feel like you're expecting me to kiss ass,

it ain't happening.

I have more respect for myself in that nature

and it is what it is, man.

Like at the end of the day, when,

I don't know if social media ever goes down

or which it probably won't ever,

but I'm just saying like-

I've always wondered that though.

I'm positive, 100% sure.

Like what happens when Instagram

just falls off the face of the earth?

Exactly, that's what I'm saying.

I am positive that once that were,

if that were to ever go down or let's just say,

it goes back to like old school, right?

No social media and that's it.

All those friends that you see on social media

are gonna be lost.

They're gonna be like, hey, we're not friends.

Well, yeah, because I don't need you no more.

The popularity on social media is gone.

There's no more social media.

So I don't need you no more.

I don't need you either.

Okay, well, we're not friends.

And that's where you'll find out where the real ones are.

Aside from the real ones,

we're still gonna be around.

We're still gonna do things together.

Me and Noah are still gonna be doing things together.

Like, I don't know, man.

It's kind of hard to explain at the same time

because I know a lot of people are gonna be against

what I'm saying.

They'll probably talk shit,

which I don't give a fuck anymore.

Like they're gonna say something to say to me,

you know, when you see me.

And that's it, you know?

Cause I'm tired of, I'm just so sick of it.

It's sickening what I see on social media, man.

Like, it's sickening to me.

Like, cause I know these people, I know them.

And I thought they were friends

and I thought they were homies

and I thought they were cool.

But then sometimes you come around them

and because they're with a bigger director,

a bigger actor close to them,

they wanna act like they don't fucking know you and shit.

You know, they're all about the best deal

that's in front of them.

Of course, you know?

And because of that, I'll just out of respect,

I'll be like, what's up?

If they don't say what's up, I'm like, all right,

fuck you then.

And then I'll just walk away in my own business, you know?

And whenever I see you, I'll see you and that's it.

But I'm just tired of it, man.

Like, I'm tired of the fucking fake shit, like.

Why, why is it like that?

It's just the way Hollywood has already kind of,

like always kind of been like that.

I'm sure it's been like that all the time,

but it's more so now, like,

and it's just like right in front of your face, you know?

Like social media is like right in front of your face.

You could see everybody's business.

Everybody's, you know, you could just see everybody's thing.

That's why I don't put my personal life out there.

Like, I just kind of use it for like the work

and, you know, making connections with, you know,

whoever, like for instance, the event that we just had,

you know, the lowrider event, you know,

just show stuff like that, you know, the people,

the fans and who I made happy and repost

and this and that, whatever, you know?

But I don't need to put my personal life out there, you know?

And I've seen a lot of stuff like that too.

My relationships, you know, they post.

That's crazy, I've talked about that before, like,

why would you post that on Facebook or whatever?

It just looks dumb because first they're happy, you know?

And then before you know it, they're being dumped

or they broke up and forget this and forget guys

and for whatever the hell.

Then the next two months, all the love of my life

with another person, another guy, with another girl, whatever.

And then before you know it, then they dropped their,

their, you know, relationship status to being single again

and a single life, better life, whatever the hell, right?

Then again, to a relationship, it's just, you look dumb,

you know what I mean?

Like, just keep your life private.

Just, you know, nobody knew what my parents did

with us when we took vacations.

Nobody, I didn't know when my uncle took a vacation.

I didn't know when my cousin went to college.

I didn't know, like, I didn't, nobody knew anything.

Who cares?

Like, it's not, that's, you know, who cares?

You don't need to know nobody's life.

If you see them successful or whatever,

just that'll be talked with in each other

when you guys see each other in person.

Catch up on things, you know?

But you can't even catch up on things no more with anybody

because you see everything on social media.

Like, there's nothing to talk about no more

because you just see that already.

Now you're just trying to find out how,

I guess, how they're living.

Like, I mean, you can't really talk about

what you've seen already because you see obviously

that they're, they're cool.

It's always, it's always the best of like,

because I have a different account, JTravels,

and that we do travel stuff, vacation stuff.

And that's, we still always talk about that stuff.

Right.

I keep that even separate than the main,

my main JTraveling account.

Oh yeah, of course.

Because this is Heart Parking Pod

and J. Finning, it's the podcast, it's the car.

It's on a much smaller level.

Like, you have the events that you do

with the lowrider show.

Maybe I'm gonna be doing something somewhere here local.

Right, right.

You know, and that's, that's all it is.

Yeah, exactly.

But yeah, no, that's just my take on that, man.

And it's just, again, I'm gonna be cool

with whoever's cool with me and,

and I guess you gotta go through it, you know,

in order for you to like kind of speak on it.

Cause when I first started in this industry,

I was, I was just being cool with everybody.

I was supporting everybody,

but I was going to their events.

I was showing love.

It feels like that's what you're supposed to do.

Yeah, you're supposed to.

But when you start realizing like,

you're not getting the same support or love

that you've been giving all these years thinking you're,

you're doing right by, by a homie or by a friend

or by what, what they say, rasa, whatever.

I'm gonna just be honest, man.

Like your own rasa won't even support you, you know?

And I'm talking about this because I've been through it,

you know, and I, and I, and I see it.

They'll support you to a certain extent.

Once they see that you're probably doing more during work.

Yeah, exactly.

They'll take you as a threat

and now they'll keep you under the shadows.

And they probably won't even want to have you around,

you know, they're important people

because they're afraid that they might consider you

to be and not them.

It's just, it's just dumb, dude.

Like, yeah, no.

So it's crazy because, you know, you, you go to certain,

I mean, you go to a different like, you know,

I guess a different life, for instance, Arizona, right?

I've gotten a lot of love from Arizona.

I want to say probably even more than where I come from.

You know, I mean, don't get around.

I do get love from, from LA, but I'm just saying like,

I feel like it's more appreciated over here.

And, you know, out of, out of LA, you know,

Arizona has been good.

People are real here, man.

Yeah, Texas has been good.

There's no agendas here.

Yeah, everything's cool, man.

But, you know, come back to like your own spot is like,

there's always a competition out there.

Someone sees a competition and you just,

you have no choice but to be like, okay,

then I guess I'll compete with you too then.

Because you're competing with me.

You don't, you don't want to talk to me

because you're like, you want to do your own thing.

You want to be better than me, okay, cool.

And I guess, I guess we can collab then, you know,

because you want, you're on a mission to be better than me

or whatever it is, right?

So you just kind of move along and just try to just keep

yourself surrounded with other people that motivate you

and are not afraid to share the spotlight with you

or maybe a workout video with you, you know, whatever,

you know, they just, they want to share the same goals

with you, you know, and they're not hating,

they're not gatekeeping, they're not whatever.

It's just, let's work together, let's come up together.

And this is a little bit outside of, you know, my city,

you know, it's still in my city,

but I'm just saying like the people,

it's outside of the people that I've been around with

for like 10, 15 years that I've known in the industry.

And none of them really have, you know, hit me up and like,

hey man, you know, I want to, I want to work with you

with this and this and that, whatever.

I go somewhere else, different, entirely different circle,

but the mindset is different.

Their mindset is like, yeah, let's work together,

let's create something together,

let's create a fighting scene together,

let's do something together, let's grow together.

You know, I know this person, you know,

I always, I always throw your name out there

to let them know like what's up.

And it's just so different.

And these people I've barely known,

I want to say maybe like, I want to say about a year,

maybe a year or two, but they've showed me

that they ain't competing with me.

They're trying to share the same goals with me, you know,

aside from, you know, my own, you know, my own people.

Let's go back to something,

because when you got your start, you know,

you got linked up and you finally started doing these spots,

whether it's a game show, you know,

basically somebody, you know, no lines or nothing.

And I think this is a hot topic right now.

And a lot of people listening or watching this

probably has this same question.

With the advent and the rapid growth of AI,

you know, one of the fields that is directly impacted

or threatened, I think, would be the acting.

And not necessarily just the leading person, but the extras.

Right, the people in the crowd.

Like how much, that's something you could do then,

but do you think that's even going to be a thing

for people now or the next couple of years?

I mean, two years is an eternity,

so I won't even say a couple of years.

It looks like the next six months, two a year,

being an extra, like where do you see the future

of that part is?

I don't know, man, it's gotta...

Because that's like your shit, like when you started off.

Oh yeah, yeah, it was real people in the background.

Yeah, but that's what you got your paychecks from.

Yeah, exactly.

So I wanna say there's gonna be obviously

different opinions.

And there's gonna be a lot of opinions about it.

Talking native on it, which is like, yeah, that's messed up,

you know, like whatever happened to the real people

and this and that, like, and then getting paid for it,

whatever, right?

But then there's also like,

if it's a big director, producer, whatever,

and I'm talking about producing right now,

what I just said is just people are trying

to get a paycheck, right?

Actually, they're trying to get a paycheck.

Now, if it's a producer, a director, they're thinking money.

We don't need extras, we don't need a pay, you know?

We'll save money.

So it'll be better for us to use AI background.

You know, it's still a real...

AI people.

Yeah, and the only main ones will be like,

maybe two main actors or three, four,

and we just use them, and then the rest could be AI.

We'll save money and make money

when the movie's released or the show's released.

Now, you see, those are two different opinions,

but the opinions from the director and producers,

because they're funding the money

and they're just thinking business-wise and saving money,

and we don't need extras,

and we'll just get a bigger paycheck for ourselves

because the audience in the outside world

is gonna watch it and we're taking their money.

Now, the background actors are worried

because I want to get paid for this.

Like, I want to be part of the industry.

I want to start getting to network people.

But you can't network with anybody if it's gonna become AI.

Now, the only networking would be social media,

or just out in the real world.

But that's what I'm saying.

Like, it's bad for the ones that are trying

to become background, and it's good for the producers

that are thinking business-wise,

which is why, again, it comes down

to having main characters, influencers with high followers,

and the background actors with lines

are the legit actors that have been around for decades

that have a lot of more seniority

than these influencers that have been around

for like five years.

So, it's been shown in our faces

that it's just in the best interest of making money.

That's it.

That's just what it is.

And I get it, you know?

I mean, you gotta survive,

but at the same time,

it's like, you're just thinking about your success.

Like, I forget background actors.

Like, who cares?

We don't need them no more, you know?

And that's it.

You just don't make your money, and that's it.

Aside from the background actors

that are trying to get in the game,

they're gonna be sad about it,

like, damn, man, I can't even work.

So, how am I even gonna ever become a main actor

or get there if I can't even do anything like that?

Or I can't even network.

I can't even get close to a director.

Like, I gotta get a main role

to be able to talk to a director.

So, how am I gonna get there?

You can't, because there's no more extras,

no more, they're using AI now.

Or if it's gonna come down to that, that's how it would be.

And your only source of probably connecting

goes back to social media.

You gotta have a high following to be considered,

to even be in the room with the director.

You have to be like kind of grandfathered in,

which you wouldn't be if you're trying to get started.

Yeah, exactly.

So it's, and it was like that,

even when I first started,

because I remember when to get an agent,

you would have to put in your head shots

with whatever experience you have in the back of your photo

and mail it out to all these agencies,

and you'll be lucky if you hear something back.

But if you don't, the reason why you don't hear nothing back

is because your resume is not built.

But then how are we supposed to build a resume

if you guys are not even giving us an opportunity to act?

That's a classic thing,

even in the normal business corporate world.

They want people with an education,

but the people with education don't have experience

because they spend all their time in school.

You have people with all the experience,

but then they're gonna say,

well, you don't have the education.

It's like, I don't know,

I guess society just hasn't figured that shit out.

It's confusing, bro.

But if you, as a person,

look deep and think ahead of time on that,

like it makes sense.

And then, especially when it becomes that,

you start telling yourself,

like, damn, I was right the whole time.

I'm not gonna lie to you.

Everything that's happening right now with the industry

or the social media,

and they're considering social media people being made.

I just told this to Noel.

Damn, like nine years ago, I told him,

like, man, you know what,

how about feeling about something with this?

How about feeling like now that people are like

doing social media and they're following that?

Watch these guys become the main actors one day, man.

Like, I'm telling you, this is gonna be all about numbers.

And at one point he was like, nah, gee, it's not like that.

You know, they're not gonna let that happen.

It's not gonna be like that.

You're just saying that.

I'm like, no, no, I'm telling you it.

It looks like it's gonna get there.

Like, I'm telling you.

So I think you should build your social media.

Like, I was telling him because he was already known.

You should build your social media up a little more

because when I knew him, when I first met him,

he was barely at $30,000.

When I saw that, I'm like, Noel, he should have been.

Yeah, he should have been up there.

But he wasn't really on social media as much.

And I was giving him the breakdown.

Like, you should start doing stuff to get more out there

because they're gonna be focusing more on that.

Like, nah, nah, I spoke to my manager.

They're not, it's not gonna be like that.

You know, the people are against it, whatever.

I'm like, all right, whatever.

So yeah, fast forward to now.

Now he told me, damn, you know what, Steve, you were right.

They're like, you were right about that.

That's the one that I could give you that.

Like, damn, my fucking, you know,

he even says, I hate this, damn.

Damn, I just, I can't believe it.

It's so fake now.

I'm like, I told you, man.

I told you this was gonna happen.

I'm telling you right now what's gonna happen.

Again, I'm not God or anything like that.

I'm just saying you really gotta look deep

and think ahead and kind of just,

you just have to, I don't even know how to explain.

You just, you gotta pay attention to the way things are

and then eventually come to the conclusion like,

yeah, it's gonna end up like that.

Even influencers are gonna become the new directors now

because they're directing their skits.

They're directing their commercials.

The writers and producers are gonna be considering that.

Like, oh man, you did that yourself.

Like, you produce that, you put that together.

Like, oh yeah, that's cool.

Yeah, me and Chen GPT, me and Grock.

Yeah, exactly.

And they'll be like, oh, okay, well, you know,

would you mind putting a commercial together for us

and what do you see now on social media?

These influencers doing commercials for

underarm deodorants and they do it in, you know.

And it's gonna get to that, you know?

And again, it's kind of like,

and I'm going way before this, like Tupac.

I'm sure there's videos of Tupac.

I mean, there is videos of Tupac where

he's talking about a lot of things at that time of the year

of what's gonna happen later on in the future

that we see that's happening in the future.

Then there's, you know, memes or, not memes, I'm sorry,

like there's clips of Tupac and the wording on that

is like, damn, Tupac was ahead of time.

He knew what was coming.

30 years later, right here.

They were right here exactly from what he said

from 30 years past, you know, before that.

So again, he was probably one that too,

kind of like think ahead of time too.

But yeah, it just makes sense, man.

So I don't know.

I mean, everyone has their own opinion about it.

AI could be cool to someone's benefit,

probably that has money already.

It'll benefit them.

So do you like it or not?

Do I like it?

No, I don't.

Relative to your industry, yeah.

No, I don't.

I don't like it.

Not even just.

I think it's dangerous.

Yeah, it's dangerous.

Even in someone's personal, like I'm not gonna lie.

I, what was it?

Well, because there's gender,

and I talked about there's generative AI,

which is what everybody's used to from social media.

Then there's like the backend AI,

which is productivity and business.

You know, there's a severe, there's a huge pro and con,

you know, but I think the generative stuff

is the super dangerous customer facing things right now.

For sure.

Yeah, I went to movie theaters not too long ago,

and you know how they show little previews

of like a commercial.

And right off the back,

like they were just showing the back of the heads,

and it was zooming in.

It looked realistic, but you pay close attention

to like the head and the way the hair moves and all that.

I'm like, is that AI?

Like, and then they show the faces,

and it just moves too clearly, too perfect.

You know, I'm like, oh my God,

it's not even a real commercial.

Like, I mean, it's not real people.

Yeah, yeah.

But it looks real, but you look at it and you know it's not.

I'm like, damn, they're not even using actors

for this type of stuff.

There's crazy ones out there.

There's so much on X, you know.

For you, do you think you've been typecast?

And then, you know, what kind of opportunities

would you like to see happen?

I guess three questions.

And then how difficult is it?

Because I feel like your industry is really,

and despite, you know, we've talked about it a little bit,

but it almost comes down to unfortunately,

who you know, who you've worked with, you know,

who's gone, when golfing was so-and-so's,

cousin is this, and uncle is this, and nephew is this.

Because it seems like it's just really difficult

for the people that I know.

Why do you think, number one,

are you think you're typecast?

Oh, okay, that one was okay.

So you keep the same roles.

And then what is it, what do you think it's gonna take

to get that breakthrough if there is a breakthrough?

You know, because my block was, if I did my block,

I'd be like, yeah, it was, you know.

And then getting on SWAT, and I'm like, okay, cool,

this is it.

Yeah, right, okay.

Okay, so do I get a typecast?

Yeah, I do, I do get a typecast.

Can I do more than that?

I could, you know.

It's gotta be frustrating as hell.

But it is frustrating, because I know I could do it.

Are they gonna see that side of me?

No, if they don't hire me.

You know, yeah, I could do the audition.

I know I did good in the audition.

But now there's a lot of people

that do good in the auditions.

Now it comes down to what look they're looking for.

It also comes down to what I just kept telling you again.

Now they're asking for,

what's your following on social media?

Why ask that?

Why ask that question?

That question shouldn't even be asked anymore.

Do you think it matters with the production studio?

I guess from what I learned,

it's the same, the studio's like one of the last steps, right?

It's the writers and everybody, they bring it.

And if it gets greenlit,

then you have to find a studio to go ahead and do it.

And then you gotta find the talent, right?

I mean, that whole process has gotta,

because I know some movies they come out

and you don't recognize anybody.

Oh yeah, you don't.

You know, and other ones, they're looking for that.

So there's probably,

I would imagine there's definitely levels to this shit.

And who the writer, who the agents are,

where they're connected.

Because I know that there's some movies,

like I said, some big movies

where you don't recognize anybody.

Right.

But then maybe breaking through to that,

past all the layers of all the middle managers,

let's call them.

In Hollywood corporate America,

they're gatekeeping and not letting anybody get through.

Yeah.

Yeah, I can't,

I don't even know how to explain that one,

but it's just, I do see a lot of faces.

And yeah, I do ask myself,

like, I don't even know who this person is.

I look them up and yeah,

I just go straight to the social media.

You know, and then they're following this big.

I'm like, okay, cool.

Now I know why you got it.

But yeah, I could play any,

I mean, I don't wanna say any role,

but for SWAT, I try to throw myself in

as like maybe becoming a SWAT member.

You know, and I gave them a little storyline

of like, maybe this happened to me,

maybe I ended up here.

And then since I'm close to one of the characters on SWAT,

maybe he comes up to me and tells me like,

hey, you know what, like,

make it easier.

Yeah, look, man, this is what happened to your brother.

You know, you should consider getting out of this game.

And like, that's it.

You know, just let me help you.

You know, just join SWAT, like consider,

I mean, not in that sense.

No, but I get it.

Yeah, wait, but I kinda like, at least to that

where I might, my character might be thinking

about like considering it,

but like, I don't work with cops, you know,

like type of thing.

But then I might consider it if I really sit down

and think about what happened to my brother

and this and that.

And it's gonna be one of those moments where,

okay, man, I'll give it a try, you know?

Then boom, you don't hear nothing about me

for another like maybe 20 minutes.

And then you start seeing like,

maybe it could just be a scene of like somebody's body.

Like you don't see the head, right?

You just see someone like, you know, doing like,

you know, the shooting ranges were like, boom, boom, boom.

Maybe the back of their head, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Doing all these things, shooting everything else.

You know, direct target, knocking all these things down.

And then one of these like opening moments

where it's like walking back and then it turns around

and it's me.

And then it'd be like, oh, damn, like,

Michael's turning into a saw in my nose.

That's crazy.

That would be, oh, you know, I feel like

that would have been like a cool little opening

for me to open up to showing a different side

of a character I could become, you know,

and become a SWAT member.

Did I get that opportunity?

No, I don't know why.

And nowadays, since you don't, you don't just,

you're not just giving these opportunities

to show a different side of a character you can play.

Your only source of showing that is social media.

So now I've been working a lot with like friends of mine

that are into the same thing that I'm into,

which is a fighting, kind of like, you know,

some John Wick style, you know, fighting

and doing little clips here and there,

creating little scenarios now,

little story clips, like little story lines.

It could be two, three minutes,

but if it's catchy, people are gonna watch.

That's obviously gonna get to somebody, you know,

you know, that's a producer or director,

whatever it could get there.

And then before you know it, you might,

now they'll be like, oh, I didn't know you could do that.

Well, I'm looking for someone that can do something like that.

Oh, he's an actor?

Okay, cool, let's consider him.

Now I might get it up by my manager agent, you know?

And that's how you can go about like showing

a different side of a, you know, character you can play.

Do you think streaming is gonna take, like fully,

I mean, right now it seems like streaming is,

for on the consumer level, streaming is the industry later,

right? So it's like, okay, this series is on Amazon Prime,

so I gotta make sure I have Amazon Prime or Paramount, right?

Or Netflix.

And I know, especially with the big SAG-Afra thing

and streaming services, I think last year,

maybe two years ago, it was like a big deal

before they went back to the table.

And I wonder that because, you know, with my block,

that was your thing, but I have no idea

if that was even a good deal or not,

or there's just kind of a way to get out there.

Whereas SWAT made for network television, you know?

And then I also wonder, again, a two-fold question,

and I don't know if you've had these conversations

with your co-stars, but it seems like people

who are in network television, like take iced tea, right?

He's been doing this show 30 fucking years,

however long it's been, and I'm sure at this point,

I mean, he gets paid very well,

and he probably has no interest in doing

the big movies anymore, right?

Because being on these shows pays.

Oh yeah.

Have you ever had that conversation with people like,

hey, do you ever wanna do a big film?

Because I understand it to be almost like

a completely different thing.

To us, it's the same on my end, but on your side of it,

it's almost like a completely different ordeal.

Yeah, no, I mean, it's, the movie industry's

kind of a little funny now.

So yeah, I wouldn't really consider,

unless it's a big movie, but you don't even know

if it's a big movie or not, because when you get

these auditions, they don't put the real name on there.

That's right, that's what I've heard.

Yeah, they just wanna see if you could deliver this or not,

and then you'll find out what movie is it

if you get hired for it.

And then that's where you jump up and down

and you're excited, you know?

And a show, they kind of do tell you what show it is,

because it's already on a whatever season,

whatever episode.

But yeah, I would, me, I would be like on that ice tea level.

Like I would prefer just being a continuous

character on a show, because it's a consistent job,

and it's pain, and it's cool.

You're just still working, you know?

Yeah, but I would prefer that more than a movie.

Yeah, again, unless it's like a big, huge movie,

but then you don't even know if it is or not

when you audition.

Unless, again, if it's through someone you know

that'll hook you up with that, or throwing a good word in

for you, and yeah.

I got something like that with,

but it was a small little role.

I didn't have to audition for this role that I got

for Bel Air, the show Bel Air.

And I just, I just took it.

I just said, yeah, because I'm like, oh Bel Air,

I watched that show.

Like it'd be cool to just be, just like I said,

I was a part of it, you know?

So I took it, and it was just a quick sip

of a little line, you know?

I was like a UPS mover, you know?

And I was just, and I had lines with Will on the show.

And then that was it.

I was like, oh yeah, no, no, no, I'm just here

to move everything around.

And then I just walked away, you know?

But it was cool, because being part of the show already,

I already watched it, so.

But yeah, man, I guess that's where I'm at right now.

Like I'm not as active as I probably was before,

because I see how the game is changing,

and I don't want to stress myself too much

to putting in a lot more work than what I'm supposed to.

Because I already know I've put in a lot of work,

and I could put in a lot of work,

but is the opportunity given?

No.

And I'm not gonna, again, I'm not gonna kiss ass, you know?

It's just that the opportunity is given,

then you'll see my hard work.

But if it's not given, then how am I supposed to show you

that I work hard for this?

Now, personal life, I am working hard, you know?

I do a lot of things on the side.

I just prefer to keep that low key for my purposes.

I just wanna, I just keep making money, bro, you know?

Just keep.

What you were talking about earlier,

trying to find other ways as well.

Right.

You know, because I know you do the traveling,

you do the signage and stuff like that.

I know that a lot of times those things

are to kind of just keep things more steady,

but is it a passion project at all?

Or is it one of those deals where it's like,

you know, if I'm getting the seven figure deals,

maybe I don't have to do this shit no more.

No, honestly, I always still love doing them, man.

I mean, it's fun.

I like being around people.

I don't wanna, I just love being around people.

I love interacting.

I love signing.

I love, you know, if they wanna buy a photo,

it's just like, okay, cool.

It makes me feel like, okay, cool, people are still.

The people love that too, by the way.

You could tell it's genuine, like they love that shit.

Oh, they do, you know?

And I don't wanna change it.

I'm never gonna change.

I'm never, no matter how much someone will try to change you,

if, I don't know, that's a whole different thing,

but I'm just saying like, I'm not gonna change

though my personality, I'm not gonna change how I am

as a person to keep wanting to do this,

whether, yeah, if I make, like for instance,

the show, you know, on SWAT, if they put me on that,

I will still be doing these meet and greets.

Like, why not, you know?

Like, why not?

It's just, that's the only way you could just show love

to fans, you know?

Like, they probably just wanna talk to you.

Like, damn, what would it be?

Like, just talk to this guy, like, oh my God, it'd be cool,

you know?

Yeah, I don't know, I'll still keep doing them though.

Like, again, I make money throughout the week, you know?

And just because I do that, I'm not like,

ah, I don't need to do these meet and greets.

I'll still do them, you know?

I still wanna do them.

I'll still, you know, just do them, you know?

What I do know is like, let's say, I mean,

your agent calls you and they're doing a commercial

for, I don't know, First National Banking Trust, you know?

And you spend all week working on that.

You may not ever be in the actual commercial, right?

But you're still compensated for your time, right?

Oh yeah, yeah, for sure.

I mean, that's a good income

without even having to be in the limelight.

Right, right, right, for sure.

Oh yeah, I've seen stuff like that,

where I don't even tell people no more

like what I'm working on sometimes

because that's how I don't want that to happen.

Because it's happened before, where I'm like,

oh yeah, I'm gonna be on this, on this and that,

whatever, like for instance, I'm gonna just say it.

Like, where are you at?

Yeah, like on Tax Collector,

I had a good like maybe 10 minute scene.

And when we were filming it on set,

it was a whole day of filming that specific scene.

I went to go get a freaking prosthetic arm made for me,

because they were gonna break my arm on the movie,

did all that for them to just show five seconds

other than the movie.

So I'm over here telling people,

oh yeah, I'm working with so-and-so, this and that.

You guys gonna love it, it's gonna be tight.

I'm pumping up the movie, pumping up the film.

Yeah, and they only show like five seconds.

And then, yeah, they didn't even invite me

to the fucking, to the premiere either.

So I'm like, okay, that was cool, whatever.

And you do feel a certain way,

because again, it just comes down to where like,

man, you guys, we were cool.

I was at the rehearsal table, I was at the karate class.

I was like, it was cool.

I did my job, I put in the work, whatever the hell.

And then, yeah, five seconds of the scene.

And then I didn't get invited to the premiere.

I don't even know what to say about that.

But that's what I'm talking about, fake.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, you're genuinely trying to work

and show love and support to people

or whoever you wanna work with,

fraud, producer, director, whatever it is.

It is what it is though.

I mean, I'm not even tripping anymore, man.

Like at the end of the day, like.

So get paid for it, but it kind of messes

with your opportunities.

Yeah, but.

Cause I've heard that before,

like there are people who spend all day filming a scene

and then they don't even make the movie.

Much less a few seconds.

It's like, wait a minute,

it's not like I'm a famous actor and you cut 20 minutes.

So I was like, I'm trying to fucking make it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If you don't know, then you don't know

and that scene's coming gone, you know?

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, so yeah, if you blink your eye, you'll probably miss me.

But yeah, it's like five seconds.

And yeah, I was a little bummed down like,

dance, whatever, cool, whatever.

I was shown the deleted scene.

I think from a friend of mine,

she sent me the deleted scene.

I'm like, dang, that would have been dope.

Like, but I didn't even record that

because I thought maybe I'm like, oh, I'll come back.

I'll be able to find out on YouTube again.

I can't even find it.

Maybe it's gotta be worded specific, like very specific.

But I just, I can't find it.

But I did see it once.

I'm like, dang, that was pretty cool.

Like, I mean, it was tight

because they break your arm and, you know,

they have you get up, pick up a quarter,

you get talk shit too.

They, you know, they do what they do to you.

But it was cool.

It was a cool little scene, man.

It was what shot, you know, shot the buff

and all that stuff.

I was gonna ask how was that?

Yeah, it was cool.

It was good.

It was pretty intense.

Do you have any dialogue with him?

Not on screen, but just off screen?

Yeah, we were talking a couple of times.

I've seen him a couple of times at some events.

I went to one of his little acting sessions.

Is he crazy or misunderstood?

Cause my wife and I, not to like, you know,

turn it on, shot the buff.

But I mean, we've watched him in movies.

We're like, God, this guy's got so much talent.

He's so damn good, but it's just like shit, man.

No, he's got a lot of talent.

And the other time I was watching the movie Disturbia

and you could even see his acting

and he just looked happy.

Like he enjoyed acting, I don't know.

I guess, you know?

It's his life.

It's his way to...

But he was younger.

He was probably like in maybe 20, 21, whatever,

but he looked happy like to film again.

I don't know.

It's just, that's what he did real good.

And then, you know, situations that's going on right now

with him, I don't know.

I mean...

Oh yeah, I saw the videos.

Nobody really knows what one is going through,

but at the same time it's like,

like I've come across him like through,

I will see him every day, the rehearsals,

try to chop it up with him here and there.

Even after that, again, I went to one of his acting things

just to support what he's doing.

Try to chop it up with him,

but it almost seems like he didn't want to be bothered.

To the point where...

That's him though, right?

I mean, he's kind of...

Well, I don't know.

I mean, I was trying to...

Again, it goes back down to what I told you earlier.

Like I'm genuinely trying to be cool with you.

Not kissing your ass.

I'm trying to be cool with you.

Trying to chop it up with you.

I'm trying to be a friend.

I'm trying to get to know you,

because I did support and watch your movies.

I've seen them all.

I've seen all...

Not just Transformers,

I've seen Eagle Eye and all that stuff.

I mean, I supported his films.

He's a real good actor and he's cool.

And on set, he was pretty cool too.

He respected what I was doing on set.

He gave me his blessings,

but he was just more like...

That was dope, man.

That was good.

That's cool.

You really are...

You're putting in that work and stuff.

I'm like, no, no, thanks man.

Because on the movie, I do get hit a lot.

And I was getting hit.

I wasn't acting it.

I was actually like, boom.

Getting hit.

And the whole day, going through all that,

my jaw was kind of hurting already.

It was like, damn, I'm so okay.

But it was a whole day.

And at the end of the night, when I was done,

my jaw was hurting already.

I'm like, fuck, man, what?

I should have acted this shit out

when the camera wasn't even facing me.

Because I was still getting hit by the other actor.

And doing this so much,

it starts irritating your jaw and your skin.

So the point is that Shia was like,

oh, you're taking that shit like a G or whatever.

I'm like, nah, that's the film industry, right?

We just...

Whatever.

And then after that, yeah, I went to that thing, classes,

maybe about when he started something.

And I went there and I just genuinely just said,

what's up, how's it going, whatever.

And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Like, he didn't really know me.

But prior to that, before that, we were talking.

We took a picture together.

We did all this stuff at a little concert

that was put together by another homie.

And we were chopping it up.

We were like, hey, what's up, man, how's everything?

Yeah.

So I was like, okay, we broke the ice already.

Everything's cool, like everything's good.

He's a real cool guy, you know?

But then when I went to this acting class

and I even went like this, I'm like...

Like it wasn't even you.

Like I stopped them.

You're like, dude, hey.

No, no, but yeah, right.

Yeah, exactly.

I stopped them late.

Shia, you know who I am, right?

You remember me?

You're like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then he just walked away, I'm like, fuck.

Like I just felt like stupid, you know?

Like I felt a little dumb.

This is why I kind of keep quiet a lot

because I don't know what the reaction might be

or what they're going through that day or whatever it is,

but I could only speak for myself.

I wouldn't be like that with somebody,

even if I'm going through whatever I'm going through.

I always just put a smile on my face, you know?

I could be going through something right now

and you might think that nothing's going on,

but no one knows, you know?

But I'm just putting a smile on

and just to kind of just not show that side, you know?

But again, yeah, he did that, so I'm like, damn.

I don't even know what to say no more.

Like after that, I didn't even acknowledge him no more.

I'm like, okay, cool, whatever.

But as far as that, I mean, I could say

I saw his cool side, his dope-ass personality side,

wanting to get to like kind of know him a little more

as a friend.

Like again, I don't need nothing from him.

I just didn't want to talk to him and be cool.

And that's it, you know?

Just say that he, I could probably have been saying,

like, oh yeah, he's a cool homie or something like that.

But I can't even say that

because I didn't even get a chance to know him like that.

But again, I'm not going to kiss anybody's ass

for this, it is what it is, you know?

But he was cool, he was cool.

As far as anything else, he was cool.

And whatever it is that situation that he's,

I don't know, I really can't speak on this.

That's messed up though, you know?

Like all that, the fighting stuff and all that is crazy.

Yeah, I saw those videos on X.

What's next for you, man?

Like, what do you want to do?

Well, no, I'm still doing the acting, man.

I just finished the film out in Mexico,

not too long ago in Puerto Vallarta

before all the chaos that's going on.

Yeah, yeah, that's crazy too, isn't it?

We were there last year.

Fortunately, obviously before everything

that just popped off a couple of weeks ago.

No, for sure.

But yeah, I was filming out there for,

I was out there for a good two, three weeks.

We filmed about 70% of the movie.

And then I think we're supposed to be shooting out here

in LA for the last 30%, you know?

But I'm still waiting to hear a word for that or on that.

But it should be done this year hopefully, yeah.

But I'm filming that.

Any like, you don't have to say what,

but any opportunities that could just be like,

yeah, you guys just wait and see.

Or at this point, you've done so many of things

that should have been that, that weren't that.

So now you just kind of wait and see what happens.

As far as like filming wise?

Yeah, yeah.

Like something if I filmed and...

Right, so it's like, yeah, for instance,

let's say you just got done and this isn't even a movie,

but it's like you just got done working on Marvel's first

like true adaption of world hulk or whatever,

world beater hulk.

It's like, yeah, I can't say shit.

You just have to wait till the movie comes out.

Oh yeah, no, no, there's nothing to say.

I mean, even if there is something,

I would probably give a hint about it.

I wouldn't hide it.

Like, yeah, I'll give a hint.

Of course, there's certain things

you just can't say probably,

but as far as right now, no,

there's nothing just that one film.

What do you do when you're on location?

When I'm on location.

Is there ever time to just like walk around Puerto Vallarta?

Oh yeah, yeah, no, there was time.

Check out the beach and shit.

Yeah, at first I didn't want to go out

because it was my first time in Mexico.

Yeah.

So...

No kidding.

Yeah, it was my first time ever in Mexico, Mexico.

I've been a TJ and all that,

but like Mexico, Puerto Vallarta, first time.

So it was kind of like a vacation slash work.

Yeah.

But it was a little bit less of vacation and more work

because we were working all day and night.

So, and then it was super hot.

After I was done, I just wanted to lay down and sleep.

But I did walk around a little bit

just to kind of say that I was here, you know?

But it was nice, it was real nice.

There's not really much.

At least, again, I'm pretty sure there's a lot more,

but I didn't go there to vacation.

I just wanted to work and whatever time that I have off

to just kind of do a little tourist thing,

I guess that was my vacation, right?

But it was fun.

It was cool.

And I guess when I'm not doing it out,

if I'm not up to date with studying,

I'll be just reading my scripts

just so I could have that like already ready

and perfected, you know?

If there has to be any changes or whatever.

But like if I was on set and swat,

even after I was done, I would want to just stay there

and just kind of see and observe like,

you know, how things run and how things are.

I don't know, I just like being on set, bro.

Yeah, it's like being a student of it.

Yeah, exactly.

You just want to learn more and more and more.

I don't do much, you know?

I like to be around, still talk to people.

But if I'm tired, I'll be in my trailer, you know?

Like laying down and sleeping or something.

Well, just because it's on brand,

let me get you out here on this.

And I think we talked about it a few years ago.

I don't remember, but any car aspirations,

like what's something you like?

Do you like the stuff that's,

I wouldn't say stereotypical,

like we just went to the low rider show.

Right, right.

I mean, you were actually working the show,

signing autographs and shit.

And, you know, low riders are,

to me, they are, you have two different classes

of legit cars on car shows.

You have the concourse,

which is the everything is white glove

and has to be perfect.

But then there's everything in between.

And then you have the low rider cars,

because from what I've ever seen,

no group of cars has ever done

like low riders are done.

There's nothing out there like low riders.

But for you personally, like what is something

that you would like want to roll around in

when you get that big contract

and you're like a few money,

you're still gonna be you,

but everyone should have a fun car.

Yeah, for sure.

You know, and they have their daily.

Right, right.

You know, what is your like ideal?

I guess, you know, the low rider scene,

those projects on a car are beautiful.

Most of them you can't drive either, by the way.

That's what I'm saying.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, no, you can't,

but some of them are fixed up pretty nice

to where you wouldn't mind just cruising it around,

you know, like a beach or something, you know?

But yeah, I like Impala's, Impala's are nice.

The bombers are nice.

I mean, I wouldn't mind that.

That's probably where I would want to throw

some of my money on, you know,

if I were to just have that, you know,

do whatever money you should.

That and I guess a car would be like,

I've always liked the Porsches.

Okay.

I don't need nothing too crazy.

Like, it'd be nice.

I mean, Lamborghinis and stuff like that, but damn.

I don't think you could fit in a lot of Lamborghinis.

I know, that's pretty small,

but I mean, just the style of them,

some of them are pretty nice,

but at the same time, it's just like,

I hear the prices on these things.

I'm like, damn, you know?

Well, they're ridiculous, yeah.

Not that I wouldn't, I don't know.

I would probably want to throw that more into a house

than a car, you know?

Yeah.

And same thing with like, jewelry and stuff like that.

We're, you know, 10 G's on this

or 20 G's on my chain, whatever, man.

I would prefer that vacation or a car or something like that.

Like, I don't know, man, I'm just not big on that stuff,

you know?

The funny thing is with the jewelry,

and I've heard this,

this is kind of like the rich person's playbook,

is you can buy it if you want it and collect it,

but you never wear it.

You're wearing some fake shit

because no one's gonna question if it's real or not

because it's you with it, you know?

Right, right, right.

Like, Money May could be walking around,

he's got all this shit on him,

but most of it could be like Street Fugazi

because no one's ever gonna question it.

Yeah, no way, exactly.

No, I've just come across my head like that

to see stuff like that and actually wonder like,

it probably isn't, because it shines almost the same.

I mean, no one's really gonna tell unless you like,

really go like, look deep into it

or you have the little things that-

And if someone robs you.

Or someone robs you, yeah.

They just robbed you for, you know.

Yeah, you think about it.

$700 worth of fake shit versus 70,000.

Not even $700, you know?

Like $70 worth of fake shit.

Yeah, man, it's a stuff like that, man.

I feel like it's like a cocky thing.

Like, yeah, I'm wearing this chain and this and that,

but you know what, like,

you don't even know if this next person's wearing a fake one

and you know, he might look better with that chain

than what you look like.

You know, it's just weird because it's a mind thing

that tells you that all because he's got that big chain

that he's gotta be respected.

Like, man, whatever dude.

Like, you know, it's just, it's weird how people think of you

because-

And what you have and how you present yourself.

Yeah, exactly.

And it's the same thing with clothes, bro.

Like I see people like, you know, Gucci or Louis Vuitton

pants or belt, whatever.

But they're wearing that thing like-

Tacky as hell too, love it.

Yeah, wearing it halfway down their ass.

And it's just like, that don't even look right to me, man.

Like, yeah, it's expensive, supposedly, whatever,

but you get this other person over here

just wearing a pair of jeans, white Air Force ones

and the white T-shirt probably look better than you.

Like, it's just because he looks put together

a little bit better in class or whatever.

And it's just a T-shirt, jeans and Air Force one,

you're wearing this expensive as shit

and it doesn't even look right on you.

You know, you look like you're setting your pants,

like you got shit on your pants and all that.

You know, like it's just dumb, they're like, whatever.

Like I just, it's a show to me, bro.

Like I see it and I just like, okay, cool.

In the industry, I imagine the more you're around it,

the more you see it.

Last big question is what do you have left to prove

for yourself?

I don't think I've ever asked anybody that before.

Yeah, that's a proof to myself.

I don't think, not so much to my own.

I mean, if the opportunities are given,

yeah, I want to prove to myself that I can accomplish

or I can deliver the job that's been either given

or I've earned, you know,

instead of doing like a thug, gangster role, whatever,

I can do something else.

And that's probably one of the accomplishments

or that I want to just do before anything, you know?

And also, aside from that, just try to be there.

I think the main thing is just to be there for my daughter,

Like honestly, it's my main accomplishment

would be just making sure she's good.

And once she's 18, 19 or whenever she's ready

to just make her own life, I could just say that, you know,

I did the right thing, you know?

It's not even so much about me anymore, bro.

Like it's about her.

Not saying nothing necessarily, just not about me,

but I'm just saying like everything I do is kind of like

for her and whatever's extra will be just for me

to play with, you know?

But yeah, every time, you know, when I leave to these events,

I'm obviously away from her.

And I always tolerate when I come back,

I'm gonna give you 100 bucks, you know?

Like, and but again, I'm not just giving it to her.

Just I do tolerate, but when I come back,

I want your clothes put away, you know, where they belong.

I want your room clean.

I want your shoes put together.

The restroom that you're used to do your nails

or whatever it is, keep it clean, whatever.

Do all that and you're getting your 100 bucks, you know?

Because I'm over here making money, you know?

And I just want her to know that, you know,

it's that's just life.

You're gonna have to work for it, you know?

Or to get paid or whatever it is and earn it, you know?

Just, I'm not gonna just give it to her

and spoil her either, you know?

But yeah, I guess that's my main thing to accomplish

is just finish with my daughter,

which is probably I won't ever finish,

but I'm just saying like her teen years

and her, you know, high school years, whatever,

make sure I'm always there for her.

Always there for her whenever she needs anything, you know?

That's just my main thing, you know?

And same thing for my son,

but my son's in a whole different level right now

and he's with his mom, so.

Just hope he gets through it, man.

Those years, man, I mean,

we're talking downstairs with my wife

and our kids are grown now and now you're going through it.

And the father son, no one's gonna heads harder

than a father son and most families.

So hopefully, you know, that situation turns around

in the future and, you know, my son and I,

we butt ahead so much because he thinks he's the alpha

because I'm never home, sound familiar?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And now, I mean, it's so different.

Now we're having, we're drinking bourbon together

and shit like that, yeah.

You know, and he's the father of my youngest grandson,

but her granddaughter, yeah.

Yeah, we'll see.

We'll see what happens.

I mean, at this point, I can't even,

I could, the only thing I could just say

is that the system has failed me many times.

I've been lucky and blessed that this time,

it kind of just went into my favor and, you know,

another part of me, which is my daughter is by my side

in the same way I am with her.

And I just got, I'm not gonna fail her, you know,

much I do my best with everything that I can.

And yeah, that's it, that's my main accomplishment.

And yeah, whatever comes out,

whatever else comes out in between, you know,

personal life and work, you know, in the industry,

then it'd be a blessing, you know, it'd be cool.

But I feel like I've put a lot of work into this already

to where I don't even feel like

I need to prove myself anymore.

Cause a lot of people know who I am already in the industry.

They just choose to not acknowledge it or say it

or approach it and be like,

am I seeing your words or not?

I just feel like they just rather not affiliate themselves

with me or they're in a competitive mode with me

or something like that, which I don't even know which,

but there is some where I do know,

which again, I don't really care though.

Like I know what I could do.

I just need the opportunity and that's it, you know?

And again, I can't force, you know,

the industry to give me a role or to be like,

the only way I could show it now is like,

I guess take advantage of social media

and just do my own projects, my own creativity

with people who want to do it too with me

and show my skill there.

Because nowadays that's like the new resume.

You really think about it, you know,

that's your new resume there.

Like if they're already asking you,

what's your following on social media

is because they're looking through it

and they're gonna see what's your resume like,

what shows you've been on, what you can do,

what's your talents, what skills you got,

can you do a backflip, can you do this, can you do that?

Like can you box, can you do?

So again, it's your resume.

It's not in writing anymore.

It's like physically you could just like turn on your phone

and see it.

That's crazy.

Yeah, you know, so yeah, whatever comes around with that

and I mean, I'm not gonna give up, I'm gonna keep going,

you know, until the opportunity comes

and the chance is given to me, you know,

because yeah, I've been doing this for a while, you know,

and it's, I've proven myself already, man.

My foot's in the door already.

Now it's just a matter of, you know,

who wants to work now, like let's do it, you know?

Let's do it.

Steve, man, I wanna thank you for coming

by Hard Parking Studios.

Yeah, yeah, no, you're welcome, man.

Thanks for having me.

I know it's been a minute,

but we'll see next couple of months come through,

updates with some things or maybe next year or whatever.

But thanks for having me, man.

Yeah, sounds good.

Cool.

You know, that conversation, I really enjoyed it.

I really enjoyed how raw and open Steve was.

You know, I didn't ask the perception versus reality.

I get a sense of what the reality is

because everyone thinks if you're in the acting world

and you know, everything is easy.

And Steve does all right, he has a living,

he takes care of his children.

He said some stuff on there

that I kinda wanted to try to give some context to.

Because I noticed, you know, he kept saying, you know,

he just wants opportunities to be given.

Give me a chance, give me an opportunity.

The first thing you think of

when you hear someone say that is, no, no,

it's you earn the opportunities that you're given.

And in the acting world, it's a little different.

Like he has, you know, he has an acting reel.

You know, he's got a lot of material from on my block,

a lot of material from SWAT.

You know, it kinda sucks his story about the tax collector.

I mean, imagine that.

Imagine going out and spending money on a prosthetic,

filming all day, a 45 minute, you know, session,

thinking that maybe it would be crunched down

to 30 seconds to two minutes in a movie.

And then only being in the movie for like six or seven seconds.

And then not really even be giving,

not being invited to premiere.

And there's a lot of that stuff

that goes on in Hollywood, you know,

and it's just one of those deals where I just,

I really hope that he gets those breaks.

He's a really good guy and he cares a lot.

I think he's very prideful

and pride doesn't really get you anywhere.

So through age from his perspective,

but it's also that I admire how grounded he is

and I admire how unmoving he is

with his thoughts and opinions.

I think that's dangerous in his, in that industry.

I think it's dangerous to be part of something

where you have to kind of, I wouldn't say kiss ass,

but find creative ways to work yourself

into more conversations and get yourself more opportunities

because if people don't reach out

and give him those opportunities,

then you can't prove what he has.

And so it's, it seems like it's a very hard thing.

And, you know, I've had talent on here before.

I've, you know, obviously Noel G is the most well known.

I mean, Adam Corolla,

but I don't think people even see Adam Corolla

as an actor anymore, although he did do a stent,

a couple stents, but from Victor to Gunday to, you know, Reggie,

you know, and now Steve, I've,

and obviously Joseph Gatt, I'm sorry,

but man, it's tough, but I guess what I'm trying to say is,

you know, when you say I haven't been given opportunities,

it's easy to think, no dude, you got to earn those opportunities,

but I think in the acting world it's different.

But I do hope that he comes around in a sense

where sometimes you have to throw your arm around somebody,

even if it's disingenuous and be like, hey man,

I would imagine if you're a director,

you have people pulling at you from all directions

and it's hard to remember sometimes.

It's like, oh, who is that?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, I saw Steve

and Steve didn't really say anything to me about it,

but you know, these other three dudes were hitting me up

and they want that chance.

And Steve wants the chance too.

I just, I just hope that he gets those opportunities.

But yeah, you have to, you have to create those opportunities.

And so hopefully he's, you know, he knows what he needs to do

to create more of those opportunities

because man, he's a great guy, as you saw.

His camera died with 40 minutes left in the pod

and I wasn't going to cut it off originally,

but I decided not to.

And so we had to refilm the ending of that.

That's why we kind of laughed at the end of it

because this was the second time we have done it.

But, you know, that's really all I have for my wrap up

and my thoughts on that.

So this is your first time checking out the show.

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