podcast episode<\/a>. In it, he expresses his thoughts about the Hollywood industry, the fulfilling experience of starring in <\/b>Black Lightning<\/i><\/b>, and offers knowledgeable advice for young actors.<\/b><\/p>\nGrowing up, Powell initially strived to be a professional football player. But after being placed in a play during high school and discovering a newfound, unexpected passion for the performing arts, he later attended Duke Ellington School for acting\u2013\u2013and the rest is history.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Yet, it wasn\u2019t an effortless journey. Powell spent two decades unemployed before he was able to get his foot in the door of Hollywood. Since then, he\u2019s starred in over 100 films and television shows. His top credits consist of <\/b>Menace II Society<\/i><\/b> (1993), <\/b>Dead Presidents<\/i><\/b> (1995), <\/b>Why Do Fools Fall in Love<\/i><\/b> (1998), <\/b>Rush Hour <\/i><\/b>(1998), <\/b>Next Friday<\/i><\/b> (2000), and its 2002 sequel, <\/b>Friday After Next<\/i><\/b>, <\/b>Woman Thou Art Loosed<\/i><\/b> (2004), and <\/b>Ray<\/i><\/b> (2004). He also starred as Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1999 television film <\/b>Selma, Lord, Selma<\/i><\/b>.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
When you look through his extensive resume, you\u2019ll discover that Powell has played a lot of gentle characters, although people generally tend to associate him with more of the \u201cbad guy\u201d roles. \u201cI\u2019ve played more pastors than gangsters!\u201d he exclaimed. And certainly, these compassionate roles are more of a representation of who Powell truly is at heart. \u201cWe\u2019re actors, we\u2019re not really these people. I\u2019ve never been arrested, I\u2019ve never been in trouble.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
In<\/b> The CW\u2019s series<\/b> Black Lightning<\/i><\/b>, Powell is able to<\/b> play a character (Reverend Holt) that he somewhat resembles. \u201cI\u2019m probably more like Reverend Holt in the sense that I love everybody and want everybody to be happy,\u201d he said. It\u2019s Powell\u2019s first time starring in a superhero show, and he\u2019s a huge fan of the experience. \u201cI like it because I can die and keep coming back,\u201d he joked. \u201cIt\u2019s a cool role.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Today, Powell is eager to help light the way for young actors, as he\u2019s learned from his own mistakes throughout the years and wants to help others avoid certain pitfalls.\u00a0 \u201cNobody taught me about the history of Hollywood and the politics involved, all the stuff that comes along with making it in the business,\u201d he said. \u201cOne of the things I\u2019m trying to do now is give people all the stuff I didn\u2019t understand.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
As for advice that he can provide for aspiring actors, Powell says that the most essential starting point is to invest in training. \u201cLearn how to act, then have the determination and mindset. Do your research, get your training. All you need is faith the size of a mustard seed.\u201d Furthermore, he wants actors to realize that small roles shouldn\u2019t be looked down upon. \u201cSome of the biggest roles I\u2019ve done have been small roles,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Currently, Powell is putting together a seminar called \u201cBehind the Lens\u201d which tackles every aspect of the business and what they don\u2019t teach you about surviving Hollywood. Click here<\/a> to listen to the full podcast on WatchJARO. <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tomeka M. Winborne had the honor of speaking with the acclaimed actor Clifton Powell for JARO\u2019s latest podcast episode. In it, he expresses his thoughts about the Hollywood industry, the fulfilling experience of starring in Black Lightning, and offers knowledgeable advice for young actors. Growing up, Powell initially strived to be a professional football player. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[994,31,440,51],"class_list":["post-5500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts","tag-clifton-powell","tag-featured","tag-jaro-podcast","tag-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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