Jharrel Jerome On Passion, Creativity And Power
Jharrel Jerome On Passion, Creativity And Power Of Multi-Hyphenates
It’s rare that you get a chance to talk to a celebrity who’s not expressly selling you something. If they’re acting, usually it’s a movie, TV show, or a product they’re endorsing. But our talk with rising star Jharrel Jerome was more about where he is at this moment in his career. The 27-year-old Bronx, N.Y., native is already an Emmy winner for playing Exonerated Five member Korey Wise in When They See Us. His most recent starring role was as real-life wrestling champ Anthony Robles in Unstoppable, and based on that resume, we expect more great work to come.
He was just in London as a BAFTA Rising Star nominee, and in January, he participated in CÃŽROC’s Addressing the Creator’s Dilemma panel at Sundance, which was part of helping launch CÃŽROC’s Blue Dot Creative Residency, where he talked about the challenges of pursuing a multi-hyphenate career. Jerome’s doing that now, releasing music as part of an ongoing recording project. We caught up with him via Zoom to talk about his fast start, his impressive body of work, and what’s next.
CASSIUSLife: How are you?
Jharrel Jerome: I am great. Wonderful. Great, I mean, it was a rough start to the year, but I feel like things are slowly getting back. I feel blessed in higher spirits, higher than they’ve been in quite a while.
I know you were just at the BAFTAs, and though you were nominated for the Rising Star Award, David Jonsson won. But I think you should take the nomination as a huge compliment, not as an L.
When I got on that flight to London, that was the win right there. I was like, “Man, I’m headed to London right now just to be around other celebrities and other artists who do it.” That was the win for me, and I knew it going into it. So when he won, it made perfect sense for me. He’s such an incredible person and has such a great heart, and when he met me the night before, he said, “You deserve the award. You’re going to get the award and I’m so happy and honored to meet you.”
And I think that that just blew me away to know that an actor all the way across the seas feels so inspired by me and is doing his own thing in his own right.
So let’s talk about your journey coming out of New York City, LaGuardia High School for the [Performing Arts]. When I was growing up, it just used to be Performing Arts High. So what was it like actually going to Performing Arts? Because I know you’ve probably seen Fame. Was that something that you saw as a kid and wanted to go there?
I ended up seeing Fame when I got to LaGuardia and it definitely was nothing at all like the movie. Not a lot of singing and dancing on tables. But I told my mom that I wanted to be an actor. It just came out of this feeling at 13 years old when really I didn’t want to go to high school in my area. I kind of wanted to separate myself from it.
And I think the kid in me wanted to see the world because I knew I was living in a city where there was more to the world. And so my mom was like, “Boy, you crazy.” And “you need to go to school up the block unless you want to try to audition for performing arts schools where you can get into school for free.” And I did.
I auditioned for all of the performing arts schools in the city, the major ones. I don’t know how, but I got into all of them. And it was kind of in that moment where I was like, “Well, hey, I’m gonna chase this.” I had no idea what acting was. I don’t come from a family of actors or even a neighborhood or a school before LaGuardia that had a theater program. And I truly think it saved my life and changed the trajectory of who I would have been as a kid from the Bronx.
What was it that sparked your interest in acting? Do you remember a moment, a show, a person, or anything?
First, it was mainly my personality. I was a jumping bean as a kid. I was the class clown. If my family got together, it would be like, “All right, Jharrel, go.” And I would stand up and I would entertain. So it was always this understanding within my family that I was that kid who was just dramatic. My going to acting school wasn’t my idea. It was my mom and my aunt’s idea.
My brain didn’t understand what that meant, but as a kid, I was obsessed with film. I love Will Smith so much in Fresh Prince. That was my energy. Anytime I felt like I was in a room and I was uncomfortable, I just thought of what Will would do. And then I just grew up loving crazy movies. I would get in trouble at like 8 years old for trying to watch The Departed. But Tonya, I promise I had no idea what I was doing. So I kind of just went with the wind and went with what my mom was doing.
So fast forward from you being inspired to act, going to school and training, and then you start auditioning and you get this amazing role. How does that happen? Take us through the process.
But pretty much after my four years of training in LaGuardia I had already gone through the curriculum, and it’s very intense. I did Shakespeare. I’d done musical theater. So I felt like I had some chops and passion. Even if I didn’t have it perfectly down, I knew that I cared so much about it.
That’s the thing about going to high school, about a lot of students walk in freshman year wanting to be a movie star or a Broadway star and then leave senior year wanting to do science or chemistry. Me, I really just wanted to act. And senior year, my manager, who I’m still with now, Perri Kipperman, she just stumbled into the school to watch a show with her daughter, and she saw me. And she was like, “Hey kid, I think you’re great.”
And she allowed me to graduate from high school, go to college, and self-tape from my dorm room while she just sent me a slew of auditions. At first, being from New York and being from the Bronx, the only mission in life is getting a degree. So when she came to me as a senior, like “I’ll be your manager,” my mom and dad were very hesitant like “It’s not about getting a manager, it’s about finishing school.” What was cool about my manager was that she allowed me to do both.
So I went out to school and self-taped from my dorm. And Moonlight happened to be the first thing that stuck, which is unbelievable. I did the audition for Moonlight on the day of my 18th birthday.
You know what’s so amazing about this story is that for so many people, acting is this process, and you might grind and you might be a waiter at first. But it feels like from the time that you decided you were gonna act, things just kind of took their own course. Did you feel like that? Like what was the psychological adjustment that you were making as things went on?
All of this started when I was, what, 18. I’m 27 now, and I still have not processed anything that has been going on in my entire career. You’re so incredibly right to say that, though, and I think about that because I come from that city, too, of hustle and bustle. My game plan was to do the four years of college, graduate, still live at my mom’s, and go into the city, bartend, and audition for plays. That was my goal. That was my dream. I wanted to be on Broadway, actually.
I don’t know how the hell this happened, but I’m here because as soon as I chose it… I don’t know. I just said yes in every room, I listened in every room, I cared in every room, and acting wasn’t like the cool thing for me in school. Acting was my saving grace. Acting was what was going to truly, take my family out of the situation we have always been in.
It’s interesting that you should say that because of Keke Palmer’s interview on Club Shay Shay. She spoke on the moment you realize that you’re the person in your family who lifts your family out of their situation or becomes the breadwinner. She was moved by it because although it’s part of your passion, it’s also a big responsibility. Have you had to contend with that dichotomy?
If we spent a lot of time on it, I would choke up just like Keke did. I think whenever you find success in life, it comes with a blessing and a curse. And I think it almost gets worse, the more successful you get. You live with the thoughts of, “Wow, all the work I put in has gotten me here. I made it or I earned it. Here I am.”
And then the other thoughts of “Well, what about the people around me and what about the people I love and what about the people I care for? Where do the intentions lie now? How do people see me?” Your mind starts to bend because you don’t even know how to see yourself. When you look in the mirror, you don’t even know who you are. So I can’t imagine the people around you and how they feel. Then you put that in a box and you realize that you can take what you’ve earned and you can split it amongst the people you love the most.
You seem very much committed to craft. I mean, obviously, you’re an Emmy winner at 27 years old. You’ve had incredibly deep and intense performances, but also difficult. So, when you think about that and juggling these things, do you think that the key to getting past any of those feelings about fame being challenging is that the craft makes that up for you and drives you?
Yes, because you get to a point where you don’t want to let anyone down. You definitely don’t want to let yourself down. So whatever you did to get to where you’re at, you have to step on the pedal. You know, it’s very few of us who have been able to sustain careers.
So I go hard and be selective and choosy. And then when I select the [role] that I feel right [about] I flesh the character out. And when on set, I do my best because this could be my last time doing it. So on top of acting, it’s just a release. If you really love acting, you can let all that stuff out, all the insecurities out, the worries, who loves me, who doesn’t. And it’s very, it’s very therapeutic.
Is there pressure now? Because you’ve done such a great job picking roles that have been substantive, like Khorey Wise to Anthony Robles that you just played in Unstoppable? Like, maybe you want to do a funny movie, or maybe you want to play a serial killer?
I’ve always wanted to show range and think I’ve done it, but there comes a limit. So I will push the emotion, but I told my team I’m down to just go on set and just look cool and not have to really think so hard. But then we laugh and we look at each other like “Do you really want that?” And we’re like “No, we don’t.” I love the challenge. But I do promise you that we are trying to do some funny stuff. I would love to do a rom-com. I would love to play a serial killer. I would love to do anything just as long as there’s depth in the character.
So, yeah. That could be a new genre, rom-com serial killer. Do you write as well? And are you interested in producing?
Yeah, I do love to write. I make music as well and I like writing poetry and short stories. Actually, I’m working on a screenplay right now that involves a serial killer.
How far are you going to go with the music? I know you dropped three singles?
I dropped a couple of EPs. But I’m gonna push the button even further this year. I just made my first album last year, throughout my whole press run for Unstoppable. I love the album, and if you play it from start to finish, you just get a better understanding of me. I suck with social media, which is actually why I’m really happy to do this brand deal and team up with CÃŽROCÂ to get myself out there more.
Well, I know that at Sundance you were on a panel that CÃŽROCÂ sponsored where you talked about people having to be multi-hyphenates. At this point in your career, you’re known as an actor but it seems as though to continue to have success you have to branch out. So how has that played into the choices that you’re making creatively?
Exactly that. I love Donald Glover so much, because, he kind of broke that sort of mold of having to do one thing. And I think that is so incredible. And it was nice to be at the Macro lounge in Sundance because, first of all, I’m sitting next to Michael Ealy. I never thought I would be able to just sit on a couch with Woody [McClain] and talk about our creative passions. You don’t find these conversations online or on a Twitter thread. So sitting there and talking about what to do in your career, including becoming a multi-hyphenate, was everything I needed.