David A. Jackson

Raleigh,NC

My name is David A Jackson and I was born in Tampa, FL. I currently live in Raleigh,NC with my wife and 5 year old daughter. I’ve been living here for 6 years now and it’s a nice place to raise a family but Florida will always be home to me.

• Tell us about what you do.

I’m an actor/writer but my main job is working with adults under the autism spectrum.

- Describe Your job/ business, organization, or art. (If artist describe your art)

As an actor I get the opportunity to play different roles that’s not me which is fun. It gives me the chance to be someone I’m not for a small amount of time. I’ve played roles as a police officer, gangster, abuser, and a drug dealer and I’m not any of those people. But playing those roles allowed me to be in the mindframe of that type of person and it can be fun but I also had to learn how to shut it off once the camera stopped rolling. As far as writing I’ve only been writing for the past few years and it gives me the opportunity to create characters that I want too see. My wife and I are going on a cruise in June with probably close to 100 people from different states. Many of them are YouTube who have their own channel with many subscribers.

One of my close childhood friends is the one who put it all together. It’s called The Mete and I Cruise. He told me he wanted to shoot a movie on the cruise but he didn’t know how to begin to write it. So last year I wrote a short 15-20 minute film that we will be filming while on the cruise. It’s a comedy about a guy who girlfriend breaks up with him a few months before they get on the cruise. He decides to go on the cruise anyway but only to find that his ex is on the cruise but with her new boyfriend. I’ve also been working on a horror series and I was asked to write another feature film so right now my hands are full with writing.

• Why do you do what you do?

I love to entertain and it’s something I’ve done for a while now. Acting gives me the freedom to create and I really love that. I have a passion for it and it allows me to challenge myself to create different characters that I never realized I could become. For instance I played an abuser in an independent film called “Standing Firm” this movie can be watched on YouTube. But my character absued his wife mentally and physically and is nothing like who I am in real life. This was a challenge for me and I felt like I did my job in that role. We had an movie premiere after we were done filming and I had several people come up to me and say they hated me in the film but after talking to me in person they saw a different person. I knew I had done my job as an actor and that’s why I do what I do.

• How did you start your journey?

To be honest my journey in acting begin way before I thought about being an actor. I was a professional wrestler for three years. My name was Luther Bodybag Jackson, I carried a bodybag to the ring and played this bad dude with an attitude. I believe after I was done wrestling, which I stopped because I tore my shoulder and needed surgery, it lead me towards acting. I didn’t begin acting until six years after I stopped pro wrestling but because of wrestling, acting seemed easy to me because I was used to cameras and entertaining people in person.

• Tell us about your journey! **

I started taking some acting classes with my first acting coach. His name was Shannon Rose (RIP). Funny thing is he was a wrestling announcer when I was doing pro wrestling so we both knew each other. He ended up getting me my first booking for a modeling job. I didn’t know what to expect at the job but they had me put on a white lab coat like a doctor and had me take so many pictures. I didn’t know what they were going to use those pictures for. All I knew was that I was getting paid. Years went by and I forgot all about those pictures until about five years ago people started sending me those same pictures in my inbox saying that they was taking a test or training at their job and there I was in that white lab coat. I found it funny because people who don’t know me may think I was a real doc- tor but I’m not. But this journey has been a long one. I’ve been in the acting business for about 11 years now and I have so many stories to tell. But one I will tell is this one. I contacted a local agent in Florida when I first started because I knew that was how I was going to get a chance to audition to be in movies and TV shows. I show up to the appointment and they ask me to do a reading/audition. I do the audition with an assistant to the agent, which I won’t say her name. So the guy tells me I did a great job and now I get to talk to the agent because she’s going to be so impressed with me and how I did the audition. So I audition for her as well and she says ok that was good and I had a good look and all of these great things. So I sit down in her office and she’s just talking about all of the things she’s done and who she’s discovered in the business, Yada, Yada, Yada. So when she’s done she pulls out a notebook and says if I’m going to sign with her I need professional headshots and I had to get them through her. She said they were like $3000 or some outrageous number. I told her no ma’am I do not have that and I can’t pay that. She looked me right in the face and told “Well you’re not ready to be in this business!” I almost bussed out laughing because I could tell she was trying to intimidate me with this tactic. So I told her fine, then I’m not ready and walked out her office. A few weeks later I got a call to be in Ride Along in Atlanta and I was in a scene with Ice Cube and Jay Pharoah. Goes to show that nobody can stop what GOD had planned for you.

• How long have you been following your dream and how did you come to deciding this is what you want to do with your life?

It’s been 11 years now. There has been many ups and downs but I want to always have my hand in this business in some way. No, I have to got my big break yet. Is it coming? I’m not sure but I know this is something I want to always be a part of because I enjoy it!

• Have you faced any adversities? How did they effect your dreams and your journey? **

Of course! I can’t tell you how many movies I’ve done and out so much time and effort into the role and then the director don’t release the movie. I’ve spent so much money, took off work so many days just to go to an audition and not get the role. But I keep striving for this because of my passion for it.

• Did you have a big turning point... and if so, what was it? What happened? **

I don’t feel like I’ve had a big turning point yet. I’ve been in a few good tv shows and movies such as Inspectors (CBS) Halloween Kills and The Outer Banks, but those were featured extra roles where I was seen on camera but no lines. I’ve had some really good auditions where I thought I was going to get the role but didn’t. I audition for Tyler Perry Sistas to play the role of Zach, I auditioned twice for a role in Apple TV show called Swagger produced by Kevin Durant, which I was really close to getting that role and I auditioned to play the older version of Big Meech for the show BMF. So each one of these roles could have been a huge turning point for my acting career and it was disappointing that I didn’t get the roles but just to have the opportunity was a blessing to me.

• What did you do to take control and overcome those adversities? **

To be honest the past few years has been rough for me and my personal life. I lost my brother, grandad, grandmother and uncle in the past three years. After losing my brother I didn’t really care to act anymore because he was one of my biggest supporters. I tried to audition for roles after he passed but I couldn’t focus on the lines or anything else. I was finally able to bring myself to start writing. And that’s how I developed the horror series that I’m working on. I’m still putting things together with that but I’m taking my time because I not only want it to be good but I want the viewer to have a clear understanding of the message that I’m sending.

• Is there anything that you would do differently from your journey if you could? If so what would you do differently and why?

I would have started training to become an actor earlier in my life for sure. I would have definitely looked into attending a college that I could have majored in Acting/drama. Those classes could have prepared me for everything that I faced when I started acting at 33 years old.

• How did the experience help you to grow in your journey? What did you learn? **

Many actors that’s on TV now have their BFA and MFA in acting. Many went to Julliard or other really good schools that helped them become the actors they are today. I know if I did the same I would be further along in my career than I am now.

• What’s something that someone has told you that helped you to get through your hardest times? **

Keep GOD first! Take every opportunity as a learning experience and keep moving forward.

• What kept you from giving up?**

I’ve invested too much into this just too give up!

• Were there any people, significant in your life, that helped you through? How did they help.

My family encouraged and supported me through this and I appreciate them for that. From my wife, daughter, mom, father, sisters, brother (RIP) and nephew. They all have supported me in some way. Seeing them come to my movie premieres in the past was very significant to me and I am forever grateful.

• What can the readers learn from your journey? **

Everybody’s journey is different so don’t com- pare yourself to someone else. Get out there and do the work that’s required to accomplish your goals and dreams. Nothing will come easy because if it did everyone would be able to do it.

• What’s the best advice that you have learned to help the next person get through? (Real true detailed advice please... advice that can truly help change a life)**

The best advice I can give someone is never allow someone to tell you that it can’t be done. Go after your dreams full speed ahead. There will be some hurdles you have to leap over but you gotta jump over them and keep going. The acting business can be fun and it also can be brutal. You have to be able to take the good and the bad and learn from them both.