Akeem was born in Pasadena, California, and named after Eddie Murphy’s character in the box office hit Coming to America. He is the oldest of four siblings. He first became interested in acting as a child at Linda Vista Elementary school in Pasadena, California, performing in many school productions but it wasn’t until he was in college, pursuing a business degree, did his acting bug take over. He recently signed with Sarah Angeli at the Commercial Talent Agency in CA. We had the opportunity to speak with him about his acting and more!
Hi Akeem, thank you for granting the interview. Congratulations on your career so far. You were in pursuit of a business degree to become a financial banker when you decided on an acting career?
Thank you and I appreciate you guys so much for the opportunity to be apart of your magazine. Yes, I wanted to be a banker like Micheal Douglas’s character in the movie, “The Game.” I was just so drawn in, the 2000 BMW 740 I, the custom-tailored suits, having a maid at the house, and working with numbers all day long while making a ton of money. My goals were set until a loyal customer walked in Ralph’s on a particular day that would end up changing my life. I remember being a cashier and seeing her walk up to my register. It seems something wasn’t right as she was kind of hiding her face under her hat, I could feel something was hurting her pretty badly. My energy is loud and it is very bright, and I am still at times learning how to lower and control it but I managed to brighten her day up with a smile and immense positive energy. I said hi, “it’s good to see you again, did you find everything ok?” It suddenly woke her up from whatever downward spiral she felt. She said, yes… I did thank you!” I said, “I usually see you smiling but whatever you’re going through I know God will rescue you!” “He never gives you more than you can handle!” She was stunned and had nothing to say. As the transaction finished I said, “have a bless day!” “I hope to see you again soon.” Immediately she paused and finally looked up at me for the first time and I could see her eyes were red from all the tears she wept. she says, “Are you an actor by any chance?” I said, “No. Why do you ask?” She said, “Because your energy is filled with so much positive energy. You move people by it. You lifted my spirits after I just lost my house in a foreclosure. Thank you!” Her words rocked me the whole shift. I went home that day with a new dream, what would my life be like as a successful actor? I thought about how much I can help my family while also infecting millions of people with the same positive energy. That night I searched ‘how to become an actor’ and it led me to Central Casting in Burbank. And I’ve never looked back since.
What is your greatest challenge as an actor?
To be consistent every day! It’s by far the hardest thing to do in this industry. You will be told no more than an exciting yes, still keep pushing forward. You would have to sacrifice television and temporary pleasures to practice and improve on your craft every day while you see everyone else lounging around, still keep pushing forward. You will have to self submit every day and there will be plenty of times you won’t feel like going through the casting lists, still keep pushing forward. You will at times feel like your paying for too much stuff but it benefits your acting career and there’s little left for new clothes or fancy electronics, still keep pushing forward. You will at times get depressed because you had so many auditions and still nothing came out of any of it, still keep pushing forward. You will be up late on most days because there’s so much to get done, keep pushing forward. If I was to follow every failed actor in the world, the one thing I’ll be able to point out is their consistency. Their grind, and level of sacrifice their willing to do!
You have a growing resume in film and television. To date, which role has been the most satisfying and why?
The most satisfying role was the very first role I’ve ever booked!! “Good Will Hunting,” a student remake film for the Los Angeles Film School. When I say my nerves were at the max, it probably was even beyond that but it taught me one of my most treasured lessons. The director asks me to take my shirt off and lay next to actress Alexandra Gurskaya. Now I am a nervous wreck while going over all my lines in my head and the professor/director yells, “Action!!!” So I place my right hand over her arm and deliver my lines in a shaky tone, “yeah but how do you know——” The professor yells “stop!!!!!!!!!!” He tells Alexandra in a comforting tone “you’re doing a fine job sweetheart, keep it up! But you” as he points to me with an aggressive tone, “come here!” He guides me to the monitor and says, “Now study yourself, is your character suppose to be nervous or confident?” I said, “confident!” He then says, “then why are you messing up my scene by being nervous? forget about all these people in this room. Your job is to entertain us and deliver a great performance because that’s what you do. You can’t let us ruin this moment for you! And don’t ruin this moment for yourself either!” I was stunned! I’ve never thought about acting in that way before, my job is “To Entertain!” That message was so powerful! In the back of my mind, I hear his voice telling me that over and over, don’t ruin this moment for everybody and especially yourself!
What other passions do you enjoy doing besides acting?
If it wasn’t acting I’d probably be a poet. I love writing poetry and expressing myself in rhymes and creative words. I’ve learned a great deal from my favorite artist 2Pac about how to use your pen to express yourself…
As an ambitious actor, are there any particular roles you’d pass on and why?
The problem with passing on roles like Dorothy Dandridge did with the “The King and I” is that you have no idea which project will be your biggest break. She never recovered from that huge hit because that movie would have put her in a league of her own. What about Sean Connery turning down the role of Gandalf in the Lord of the rings and cost himself $450 million. I repeat he lost $450 million just by one word “No.” You can’t say that word until you’ve done your research and understand how much this movie would mean. And even then I will never utter that word unless it deals with my sexuality. I refuse to play gay roles and that’s as far as I go with the word no. There’s this fire you have when you’re starting out that you’ll do anything to make it. It’s that same fire that gets put out when you reach the top of the mountain and no longer hurting financially. It’s that mental place I’ll never venture.
Many actors interviewed are exploring writing, producing, or directing. Will we see you working behind the camera?
Yes definitely! Being behind the camera is the secret to this whole business. Why are there are billionaire directors but hardly any billionaire actors? Especially directing and producing! I’ve to study the game! Kevin Hart, Adam Sandler, Tyler Perry, and Clint Eastwood to name a few. Their careers will never fall off because they are so versatile. I’ve seen the best actors come and go, which leaves you wondering what the hell happened? So in any industry, you have to be able to play many hats. You have to learn to make yourself more valuable! This is the philosophy I’ve been trying to implement. Being an actor is my dream but I can make my dream bigger and I will. Right now I’m taking it step by step. My dad always tells me, what happens if acting doesn’t work out? I took his question and flipped It! Okay, so he’s not telling me that there’s a good chance my dreams will never happen. He’s asking me what the hell can I do to make it so impossible for my dreams not to happen! Behind the Camera, okay got it!
There have been high profiled scandals sand campaigns associated with the industry. From your experience, has diversity improved in the industry in recent years?
We are making strides, little by little. I remember Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee’s 2016 boycott of the Oscars for lack of diversity in nominees.. so admirable! Of course, they got slammed, even by people of color, but they were my heroes! They stood for what is right! I’m so sad It took George Floyd’s life and the riots around the world to make even huge changes, but then it happened! Sometime in June 2020, the academy announced, “Academy Aperture 2025!” While the Academy has made strides, we know there is much more work to be done to ensure equitable opportunities across the board,” Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. What a huge win! One day I’m going to win an Oscar and thank Floyd, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Spike Lee. I am also starting to see more African American roles on the breakdown which is good. All I want is a fair playing ground and that’s it. I am not expecting people to give me roles or to hand out awards because they pity me. Just a fair shot and if I don’t get it because I wasn’t good enough for that role I can live that. But if it’s a color issue and their choosing to discriminate me then that’s a whole another ball game.
Pandemic allowing, what other initiatives should we look forward to seeing you involved in?
NDA! I plead the fifth! There’s a couple of projects on the way that’s happening! I’m playing my cards right and talking with directors. I finished up one of the projects I did with my dad a while back and it was special. I didn’t expect him to be apart of it either but the director insisted I call him and I went along with it. I cried, like actual real tears! I haven’t spoken to my dad in a while so you can only imagine what that meant to me. I couldn’t fake it if I tried and it was one of the most real experiences in my life. I’m glad it happen the way it did and now we’ve got that moment together that will be with us forever.
Where will we find out more information about you?
Google Me! As everyone would say lol But my point is to be everywhere, nobody should come to me and say I’ve tried but I couldn’t find you. It would be impossible!
For further info on Akeem, please visit:
IMDB: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm5866599/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/akeemmair/?hl=en
FACEBOOK https://m.facebook.com/Akeem.Mair.Actor/
TWITTER: https://mobile.twitter.com/akeemmair?lang=en
Main photo by Kondo Imagery
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