I LOVE WORKING WITH PEOPLE THAT CHALLENGE ME - Actor Evan King

Meet Evan King,  a young and brilliant actor from Houston. He played the lead "Jack Cury" role in the Nollywood movie American Driver directed my Moses Inwang.

After giving Evan  a shout out on Twitter and exchanging pleasantries,  he kindly granted kinggs Blog's Micheal Irabor an exclusive interview. In this interview, he tells us how acting all started and how far he intends going. Enjoy. 


First I want to thank you for asking me to be interviewed by your blog. The producers of American Driver and me really appreciate the support.
Evan King


Tell us a little about yourself.
 My birth and stage name is Evan King. I'm an American Actor/Improviser/Comedian. I was adopted by my beautiful parents Carl and Betty Davis at age of 3. They shared their love for the entertainment industry with me as a child which inspired me to pursue the dream of acting. They let me keep my last name, King. My biological father Michael King was a musician and my last memories of him were doing John Lennon impersonations for me as a child. He could look and sound just like John Lennon. My father, Carl injected a love for comedy when I was 5 by letting me stay up and watch 3 Stooges marathons on TV. Coffee is my addiction of choice. I adore animals and have been a vegetarian for 22 years. I love basketball and I'm a huge Houston Rockets fan! They won the NBA Finals in 1994 & 1995...will happen again one day! Everyone in Houston wanted to play basketball like Hakeem Olajuwon during that time,  He's a legend. I love entertaining people for a living on stage and in film. Any reaction from an audience means a lot to me, especially the sound of laughter. Making people laugh is the best addiction.


How did acting all start for you and at what point in your life did you decide to take acting as a career?
I've been acting almost my whole life, my parents took me to film acting classes when I was 7 years old. I started with film acting teacher in America, Gary Chason who is a brilliant actor/writer/director. I could of kept pursing my dream as a child actor, but I wanted to live a normal childhood. I went to public school. I never lost my passion for entertaining and becoming characters, I would imitate people like Andy Kaufman, and do Barry White, Elvis voice impersonations in High School talent shows. I started doing it again seriously in 2003 with a play called Marisol directed by with the amazing theater college professor, John Cash Carpenter. I acted in 12 plays directed by him then went into short films, voice overs and web series professionally in 2005 by voicing a character in an animated parody short called Thumb Pow!. I have been doing film/TV/web series/commercials ever since. I did stand up comedy for 10 years and took a break because I wanted to focus more on acting and found a way to be funny through characters and sometimes myself. I do miss the stage and will return one day.


How would you define a skilled role interpreter?
Anyone who studies people can be a skilled role interpreter. I love doing research on any role, no matter how small it is. I'm inspired by so many acting legends, but I try to always be original so I'll study people I've met personally or use my imagination more. I think the script is the key to launching all interpretation. A good script can be a map to originality.


Tell us about your first time on a movie set and how many movies gave you been featured in so far?
I've been lucky to act in over 60 projects that are listed on IMDb.com. Most so far have been short films and web series. I adore every opportunity I've had on them. Every time I act I learn something. I think once you stop learning, you start to get stale. My first experience on a feature film was a very small role in 2009 for an indie dark comedy called Suicide Notes. The star of the film, Lou Martini, Jr. was very nice to everyone. He taught me a lot about being humble no matter how far you go in the business. The director, Travis Ammons let the actors write our own monologues for the scene. I wrote a funny monologue and was expecting to get laughs. When I didn't I thought I did something wrong, I was use to doing live comedy shows. Then I realized the people watching have to be quiet during your take. It's not personal. What matters in a film comedy is how an audience reacts to a joke in a theater or at home. Film comedy became something I wanted to explore more of after that.

What's that thing that distinguishes you from other actors?
So many actors honestly have similar traits and we are all unique which is beautiful because,  there is a role for everyone in this business. I don't try to compete or compare with other actors. I just want to learn more and work with different artists. I love working with people that challenge me.


Tell us,  how did you get the role on the Movie,  "America Driver"  and how long did it take you to fit into that character?
I met the producer, Bode Ojo in Houston, Texas at an audition for one of his commercials. We talked for an hour about movies and comedy. At the end of the interview he asked if I would be interested in acting in a film that he was going to produce with his friend, director Moses Inwang. He said he could have a script ready soon and it would be about driving and based around Bode's annual award show, the GIAMA Awards. During the meeting, Bode showed me a trailer for Moses' film Stalker and I immediately said "Yes! I would love to make a film with Moses!". I was impressed with Moses' work. Within 2 weeks we had a funny script and we started a month later in Houston. American Driver was a unique story and I was impressed with how Moses directed the story creatively. It's shot almost like a reality show that's scripted. So many actors play themselves. The character "Jack" was written into the script as a man-child, dreamer which I sort of am, haha. He's more juvenile than I am, but I have his spirit of being a hopeless romantic. It took me one day to really feel like the character. We did two scenes the first day, and the second one was a restaurant scene with Jim Iyke, who is such a professional and brilliant to work with. Moses let us do a take where we let loose and improvised and everything started to get funnier. That scene is where I fully became "Jack". The key to that character is that he's trying too hard to love and be loved by everyone. I never wanted to play "Jack" as stupid. He's ignorant and silly, but he is a dreamer. He lives so much in his own head he's just as ignorant about American culture as he is Nigerian culture. You are sort of seeing the world through "Jack's" eyes in the film. What makes it funny is the reactions he gets from characters outside his world like Anita Chris, who plays "Kate". Anita did some amazing work in this film, her expressions to "Jack's" nonsense are hilarious to me. Also I saw this film as a romantic comedy to an extent with the characters "Jack and "Kate". In the end I feel like it's a film about the friendship "Jack" discovers with Jim Iyke. In real life "Jack" would be fired the first day for the way he acts, but he is just looking for a family and that's what makes him lovable I hope.

What was it like working on set with Nigerians, were there any challenges? - What was your best part in the movie "American Driver"?
There were no challenges working with Nigerian filmmakers/actors. Film, acting & entertaining people is a universal language. We all instantly connected during the read through. We all had the same goal, which was to make a funny, great film that connected with Nigerian, American & world audience at large. I wasn't aware of Nollywood before this film. I am now a huge Nollywood fan and would love to be a part of more Nigerian films. To be really successful in film, I believe you have to be willing to entertain the world, not just where you are from. One of the best parts of being in American Driver was learning to act and drive at the same time, haha. Trust me it's harder than it looks, especially during the freeway police chase scene, which had no stunt doubles. I also loved making new friends on the production and getting to work with so many Nollywood artists like Jim Iyke, he taught me so much as an actor. Also Nse Ikpe-Etim. My scene with Nse was completely improvised. Only 2 takes. She was so much fun to work with. Working with the director, Moses was inspiring. He understands the science of comedy. He would do one take from the script exactly, then let us improv and go nuts. I felt free on set. Filming Comedy is like music, you need a good band to play with.


What are the few achievements acting has brought you and what is acting yet to do for you?
Acting in any project has brought me life long memories, friends and lessons. I'm not looking for awards, I would just love to have my work seen by people. That is one of the greatest awards for an actor or any artist, to have your work showcased publicly and have people respond in any way to it. I am honored that people have responded to American Driver like they have. Knowing I made someone laugh in this film, is one of the reasons I love acting. Anyone who sees the film or anything I do, I truly appreciate their time.

Kindly share some of your life aspiration with us.
I know I will act until I leave this earth. It's a passion. Whatever happens, I will always find a way to perform live or on film. Storytelling is one of the oldest art forms. We need to be entertained and inspired right now in the world with stories. If at the end of my life, people remembered a character or something I did that entertained them, I would feel honored.

Any mentors?
Yes, a High School speech/debate teacher Mrs. Magill. She was one of the first people who told me to follow my passion professionally. She taught her students to entertain and stand up for what they believe in artistically and politically. I believe free speech is need in any art form. I admire brave comedians, like Richard Pryor and Lenny Bruce who stood up for the truth AND entertained people with it.

Any worst experiences?
In film? Not every day is a fun day, haha. It's a hard job, a hard job I love. You find a way to push through any bad day because the end result is what matters. You also realize it's not all about you on a set. You're surrounded by cast and crew who are all working hard to serve a film they wont see for a few months. A lot of film and TV is based on the faith it will eventually come out. Faith plays a huge role in this business. The worst day on American Driver was when we got robbed after filming one of the funniest scenes in the film with my friend, actor Michael Tula on the bridge. We felt really confident about the scene and didn't realize there was a van watching us film. The van followed the crew to a restaurant and broke into their car while they were eating and stole thousands of dollars worth of equipment. We were all heartbroken and didn't know what would happen with the film. 2 days later Jim Iyke told Bode to keep going, we all had come too far. They rented some cameras and mics and we finished the movie with confidence and faith.


Which foreign or local actors do you look forward to working with?
Would work with any actor from American Driver again in a heartbeat. There's so many in Hollywood and Nollywood I would be lucky to work with in my life. I wish I could of worked with Peter Sellers when he was alive. I really was inspired by Eddie Murphy as a child. To me he is this generation's "Peter Sellers". Anyone who can play more than one character in a film is brilliant. I would love to work with Eddie one day.

What are you presently working on?
I'm currently working on a web series I wrote/produced and star in, DJ Freakjuice: '90s4Life. He's a character I created in High School, a DJ stuck in the '90s. It's a love letter to DJ's and the best decade ever, the 1990s. I'm lucky to work with amazing Houston actors in it like, Rochelle Gomes, Sabrina Favoriti, Andie Raven, and Johnny Dewan to name a few. We have filmed 2 full episodes that will be online soon on my website, EvanKing.tv .


Asides acting,  what else are you specialised at?
I love dancing. If I wasn't acting I would be a dancer honestly, haha.

If you were to be a fancy car, which would you be and why?
Delorean, haha! It's the time travel car from Back to the Future. Traveling through time would be the only reason, right?

If given a fortune,  what would you spend it on?
Along with helping my family, and starting animal rescue centers, I would love to launch a 24 HR Vegetarian restaurant. Something to compete with other late night fast food places. Vegetarians stay up late too!

Take a look at more works of Evan King
http://youtube.com/EvanKingShow

Evanking.tv

http://imdb.me/EvanKing