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Most of the world grew up with you on Everybody Hates Chris, but how long have you known that you wanted to be an actress?

I would say that I knew pretty early on. I think if I were to put an age on it, it would be the age of 7 when that creative bug really struck me. I got my start by writing my own plays and my dad caught wind of that very early on. He decided to put my brothers and me in the Arts in the neighborhood theater so I got to scratch that itch. He saw that I kept showing interest in it as my brothers lost interest after a while, but I was still very much involved in the theater. We took a leap of faith to actually pursue the real thing here in Los Angeles, California.

I didn’t know you used to write plays! Is that something you’re still interested in?

Yes, I definitely am a Storyteller. I like writing, but mainly I love to direct until eventually, I see myself going down that director’s lane and producer role.

What are you most excited about this new season of Mythic Quest, and what can we look forward to?

I’m most excited for the audience to get to know Dana on a different level. She has really embraced this new version of herself and she’s really betting on herself so I’m excited for the audience to see this new and improved version of Dana. What can you expect from season 3? Well, there are new pairings which are always really fun. Dana, Ian, and Poppy are all paired together which is an unlikely trio but it’s everything you would imagine it to be. It’s chaos, there’s a lot of screaming, there’s a lot of egos in the room- and Dana is sort of the mediator. Of course, there’s more heart in this season and humor it’s all really great.

You’ve been known to take on amazing, very empowering roles like in the Gabby Douglas Story. Do you feel like your character Dana is any different? Do you feel like you can relate to her in any way?

That’s a great question, Mikayla. I can definitely relate to her. I feel that Dana’s taught me that no one’s going to believe in you until you believe in yourself, and we get to see her kind of lean into that at the end of Season 2. She creates this video game and it’s not very good but she sees the vision and she’s able to get people in her corner because she believes in her vision. She’s not afraid to take that risk and I feel like I am like that in my own life where I feel like I am a version of Dana in a way where I’m naturally creative. I’m the ideas guy so I might go to my partner, he’s a fantastic writer, and be like “Hey this is what I see.”, and then he engineers it and he brings it together. The similarities Dana and I have and connecting this back to The Gabby Douglas Story- I’m so lucky that I get to play these young women who have vision who are not sitting on their butts just waiting for an opportunity to come their way. They have an incredibly hard work ethic and that’s the way that I live my life so it’s a joy to be able to portray women like this on TV and in film.

What I personally love about you is how open you are about mental health. Is that something that’s affected you or maybe still affects you?

Absolutely. You know it’s one thing to be in an industry that’s full of rejection, so with that, it comes with its own obstacles and it’s very easy to get caught up in the rejection of it all and put that on yourself and carry that weight. So mental health is very important to me. I try to find a nice balance of just taking care of myself and whether that be like last night, I took myself on a date, I think we forget that we can like nurture ourselves even in partnerships. I have a partner but sometimes it’s great to kind of date myself just because it makes me feel good and it’s so important in order for me to show up as the best version of myself. I make sure to make a great effort to take these steps that have me in the best place mentally and emotionally and creatively so it’s definitely a number one priority in my life every day.

Where do you see yourself in the next few years?

Definitely directing. Definitely producing. I want to create more stories for black and brown women and I want to see the industry change in that way where we’re focusing on the narrative of these authentic stories of black and brown women and I see myself being a part of that change.