Though it could seem to be he’s at all times a working actor, Leon — sure, famously often known as simply “Leon” — stated there have been dips and valleys in his profession.
“Little Richard,” “The Temptations,” “The 5 Heartbeats,” and “Cool Runnings” are a few of Leon’s initiatives of notice, which helped to catapult his profession into the stratosphere within the Nineteen Nineties.
Extra just lately, Leon will be seen within the satirical Amazon Prime thriller “Swarm” and the Showtime drama sequence “The Chi.”
“Typically, I haven’t been working as a lot,” stated Leon. “Typically, I’m concentrating on my music, and I’m not eager about appearing. In my eyes, I at all times really feel like I’m underutilized.
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When Leon shouldn’t be appearing, he’s performing together with his band, “Leon and the Peoples.”
“I’ve at all times delt with life as it’s,” he stated. “I’m not swept up within the make-believe of Hollywood or what folks may imagine. I’m at all times going to be actual with myself and actual with others.”
Leon stated he by no means wished to behave to achieve fortune or fame. He remembered that being the case for a lot of of his friends, too. They have been centered on being good at their craft, and if something, he stated, in addition they wished to face out.
Rising up in Mount Vernon and the Bronx in New York, Leon recalled sneaking into the Wakefield Film Theater to look at an Elvis Pressley film, which moved him to take up appearing.
Leon believes pure actors who’re additionally educated actors are inclined to have the perfect management over their physique instrument. “They can provide you quite a lot of performances as a result of they understand how to do this,” stated Leon. “They’ve labored. They’ve practiced it. They’ve put it on the market, and normally on a stage.”
Leon stated any actor can excel enjoying themselves, however actual expertise will be seen in those that can embody others.
“In your observe [as an actor], you could undergo many academics, and completely different performs, and issues that you just do when you’re coaching that can will let you have extra management over precisely what you’re doing [as a performer],” stated Leon.
However Leon stated he doesn’t assume he was ready for a profession in appearing. He stated he grew up as a metropolis child and knew nothing concerning the leisure business or Hollywood. He initially got here to Los Angeles on a basketball scholarship at Loyola Marymount, the place he was later found as an actor.
Although Leon was at all times a scholar of appearing and the theatre, he stated he didn’t know something concerning the leisure enterprise.
“I didn’t know what I must undergo to get roles, and constantly get roles,” stated Leon. “Once I first began auditioning, I might see how ruthless it was. It was attention-grabbing once I began to comprehend it wasn’t nearly being good.”
Leon stated he’s grateful to have loyal followers. However occasionally, he stated his supporters ask him why he doesn’t land extra standout roles. What they don’t know, Leon stated, is that expertise has little or no to do with who will get which roles.
“The Hollywood sport is so completely different. Then there’s the Hollywood sport that you just assume you understand. You then uncover there’s an entire [other] Hollywood sport that most individuals aren’t even aware of,” stated Leon. “I believe we’re listening to about it proper now. It’s everywhere in the information.”
He credit his dad for his perseverance and confidence, which have helped him to endure in a really tough enterprise.
One other factor Leon stated his father handed on to him was his love of music, and he might at all times fall again on it to navigate by way of the sometimes-uncertain world of appearing.
“My love of music got here from my dad,” stated Leon. “In school, I wrote and carried out a music for the Particular Olympics. Music was at all times one thing that was a love of mine. And I believe that when I turned widespread as an actor, I’ve had alternatives to be round actually nice musicians.”
Leon has portrayed a number of musical artists over the course of his profession.
He performed the fictional character “J.T.” in “The 5 Heartbeats,” Motown nice “David Ruffin” in “The Temptations,” and the titular character in “Little Richard,” which relies on the lifetime of the “architect of rock and roll,” Little Richard.
“Possibly I appear to be a singer – I suppose I appear to be a singer,” stated Leon. “Now, even when I didn’t appear to be a singer, I appear to be a singer due to what number of roles I’ve performed.”
Nonetheless, Leon stated he has by no means felt typecast as a result of these roles are only a small a part of his bigger profession and legacy as an actor.
“If I have been to be typecast, then yeah, I’m cool with that,” he stated. “I’d relatively be typecast as a singer than a cop or a health care provider. I believe that’s much more grown and horny.”
Leon stated music continues to encourage him, consolation him, and hold him sane by way of all of the dips and valleys of his life and profession. He stated the soundtrack to his life proper now’s the sort of music he likes to play with Leon and the Peoples — a fusion of reggae and soul.
“We’re just like the Sly and the Household Stones of reggae,” stated Leon. “We discuss all points of life and love.”
The band is at the moment doing a number of spur-of-the-moment performances, and their music “Love is a Stunning Factor” hit the Billboard Prime 20 Sizzling Singles chart.
As an actor, Leon known as himself a technique actor. Methodology appearing is a method or sort of appearing the place an actor goals to ship a plausible efficiency by absolutely turning into the character. Some skilled actors have even stated the method can typically make one lose themselves.
Leon stated he has a profound sense of self, so this has by no means been an issue for him. “I like Leon,” he stated. “In order quickly because the function is over, I miss me — irrespective of how a lot appearing I’ve executed. I’ve been me greater than I’ve been some other character.”
