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  • (gentle music)

  • - You know, if you ask my mother, she is convinced

  • that the motivation was watching Hannah Montana

  • and I love Miley, but I don't believe

  • that that is the reason why.

  • I feel like when I thought about acting,

  • the only thing that I really thought about

  • at the time was theater and Broadway,

  • film and TV honestly didn't sort of come

  • into my view until college.

  • I am Dominique Thorne and this is On the Rise.

  • (gentle upbeat music)

  • I went to a Greek Orthodox Middle School in Brooklyn,

  • shout out to A. Fantis parochial school

  • of Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral.

  • Our second language there was Greek

  • and I think I realized I had a talent

  • for acting when I had my first Greek speaking role.

  • I playedpros which was the island of Cyprus

  • for the Orchidéa play.

  • (speaking foreign language)

  • Little rough, but it's alright.

  • I think that was the first time

  • that I really felt some like power on the stage.

  • You know, some onus like, oh this is mine to shepherd.

  • The age at which I first started playing around

  • with the idea of claiming actor

  • as my title was probably around high school age.

  • That's when I first started acting seriously

  • or learning the many techniques.

  • The first role that I ever had was Puck

  • from a Midsummer Night's Dream.

  • My freshman year of high school

  • at the Professional Performing Arts School.

  • That is a role that is so dear to my heart.

  • That was the true like moment or I guess like birth

  • onto the stage, and it was such a physically involved role.

  • Puck, as we know, is sort of

  • like the little mystical creature lurking throughout.

  • So I was like, I would appear at the back of the stage

  • and then run down like the side hallway to the back,

  • across the back of the stage

  • and go upstairs to make my next entrance at the other side.

  • And then I'd appear in the back on the top

  • of like the theater seats and like sort of crawl over people

  • and get to the front and jump on top of the proscenium.

  • Like, it was such like what a way to enter.

  • That's probably my favorite role to this day too, actually.

  • I think a part of the reason why I committed

  • to being an actor is because there was so much emotion going

  • on in here that I didn't have the words for.

  • And it wasn't until I started acting

  • and especially until I started performing

  • and learning Shakespeare truly that I learned that,

  • oh, there are most certainly words for every thought

  • and feeling that I have going on in here.

  • And I think from that moment I've been very particular

  • about the words that I choose to express myself.

  • One thing that my teacher says

  • that I sort of have always taken with me is

  • that you're giving people the opportunity to be changed.

  • And I think that from that moment I was able to get involved

  • with theater and also films that have been very thoughtful

  • in the messaging that they want to give to people.

  • But it was doing Shakespeare that taught me

  • that giving people a rest from the stresses of life,

  • giving people the opportunity to enter into something

  • that is so different from everyday life is also a gift

  • and is also powerful.

  • Learning that, creating that, like training my voice

  • and my body and my mind to learn these lines

  • and do that thing felt like the first time

  • that I think I felt alive.

  • Whatever it is I'm meant to do in life, I am, I'm awake now.

  • Like what is my next mission?

  • Playing Riri Williams I think is the opening

  • of a door in the universe.

  • I think that it's allowing for a whole other like,

  • untapped side of Marvel to sort of run through with force

  • and the fact that she's being introduced in Wakanda

  • which has been such a like a home going,

  • I think for a lot of people,

  • to see Wakanda represented on screen,

  • but also just folks in general sort of like,

  • oh, that dude kind of looks like me.

  • She kind of looks like me,

  • like these superheroes are from places

  • that are familiar to me.

  • Or at least that's how I felt learning about Riri

  • and especially getting to tap into her and play her.

  • So I think that Riri is the first step

  • of many into a new world.

  • Stepping onto the set of Wakanda Forever,

  • probably one of the deepest full circle experiences

  • I've had the pleasure of feeling to date.

  • Seeing that iconic panther statue,

  • to working with Angela Bassett

  • and also to be directed by Ryan Coogler,

  • whose film Fruitvale Station was the first film I saw

  • that showed me for the first time

  • that film has the exact same power and potential

  • that I believed and believe that theater has.

  • So to be there in the room,

  • on the set of a Marvel show,

  • playing a Marvel hero felt like I was doing something right

  • and that maybe, just maybe I should continue

  • to trust the Lord above and see where this takes me.

  • So receiving the role of Riri Williams

  • in Black Panther : Wakanda Forever

  • also came packaged with the opportunity

  • to play her in her own titular show

  • about Ironheart the character itself after Wakanda Forever.

  • And so I am currently what, one week away from wrapping

  • that show, which is insane to think about.

  • So yeah, man, let's all strap in, shall we?

  • Okay.

  • The biggest high of my career thus far is really

  • an amalgamation of different moments.

  • Playing Riri Williams in Wakanda Forever has given me

  • sort of a perspective I definitely did not expect to have.

  • Being in Wakanda Forever within a cast

  • that I think by nature meant that I had to be as supportive

  • as possible in terms of supporting the story,

  • in terms of supporting my castmates,

  • in terms of supporting my fellow actors

  • who are in the process of mourning,

  • came with the knowledge that at some point I will then

  • be the one who will most likely need support

  • from others as the title character.

  • And I think that playing Ironheart in Ironheart has meant

  • that I've had to show up just sort of beyond the ways

  • that I was able to show up in spaces prior to.

  • It was collaboration in a way that I've never experienced

  • to date because I had never been in that position before.

  • I'd never been number one on the call sheet before.

  • That experience only exists because of my time

  • in shows like Beale Street and Judas

  • where I was able to witness people

  • that I look at as titans in this industry do that for me.

  • To even consider this moment as a high,

  • I have to consider those as well.

  • My role model and inspiration is also a two part answer.

  • I think the first part has to be my parents,

  • my mom, my dad and my grandma.

  • Three immigrants that came to America

  • and from the jump showed me as a child what it is

  • and what it means and what it looks like

  • to create the life that you envision for yourself

  • while also realizing that you are not

  • in control and ultimately submitting the reigns

  • to God and letting him do what he gotta do.

  • On the other side of that,

  • I'd have to say the late great AJ Crimson.

  • This is the first person that I met

  • that really showed me how to carry myself,

  • once in the spaces that I had dreamt of being in.

  • (silent screaming)

  • It wasn't until meeting and working with him

  • that I had the desire to make somebody else proud.

  • So much of my pursuit of being able to call myself an actor,

  • was a solitary journey.

  • I love the hustle and the skill and the mindset

  • and the reverence for God that my parents

  • and my family sort of naturally imbued into me,

  • but figuring out how to navigate this world was something

  • that they couldn't help me with.

  • And the first person to really help me was AJ Crimson.

  • (silently) Yeah!

  • So those are my role models for sure.

  • If I was not an actress, I would probably

  • be doing something related to my degree

  • which is in human development,

  • specifically in social and personality development.

  • I was super into the human bonding aspects of that field.

  • So I think I would probably have continued to do research

  • in that field that would probably

  • be where I got comfortable.

  • When I was younger, Tiger Beat magazine would come out

  • and they'd have like all the celebrity crush sections.

  • And as much as I loved me some Tiger Beat,

  • I always wanted to rebel against a celebrity crush.

  • Like I don't have no celebrity crush,

  • but I did have like a celebrity role model.

  • And it started with watching that same boy

  • that used to play up on Degrassi,

  • Mr. Aubrey Drake Graham.

  • Seeing him on the Degrassi reruns that would show

  • and then follow that up years later in 2015

  • when he like dropped this album and was on GQ covers.

  • And I was like, wait, if he's doing this, I could do this.

  • And he kind of became my blueprint

  • for like the way that you carry yourself

  • between spaces and applying the right kind

  • of finesse for where you are in life.

  • I don't know if I'm like fully aware

  • of what exactly the platform is

  • that I have or what that looks like, but I do think

  • that I'm very excited to see what new opportunities come up,

  • to continue to do what I guess is sort of my mission.

  • About giving people this opportunity to like feel something

  • or to learn something, or to be changed in some way.

  • My dream scenario of my life in five years,

  • I'd probably be traveling the world honestly

  • and continuing to see the world the way

  • that I want to see it.

  • And to take my family along with me

  • and to continue to give them different opportunities

  • to see the world.

  • And prayerfully, in five years

  • I will also have played some characters

  • that are starkly different,

  • that no one could imagine I would've stepped into

  • after playing Riri Williams or Judy Harmon.

  • I hope that I get to do something super fun

  • and genre blending and gory and action packed.

  • I hope I get to keep playing

  • with the full gamut of emotions that lies ahead of me.

  • (gentle music)

(gentle music)

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