We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Astaris-michael Yates a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Astaris-Michael, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

So for the better half of This year of 2024 I was given the blessing to portray a lead character known as Cortez Covington in a tv-web series known as “REACTION”. I was casted to portray this role back in December and the project itself was seeking to give a platform for the creatives in the DMV a chance to showcase themselves in some real Industry, quality work without having to travel somewhere else just to make it. This project was Created by Director Kameryn Robinson, with help from Dyrec of Rec.Focus and Anthony Commodore of Independent FilmWorks. The reason this role has been so meaningful to me besides that it’s coming in a period of my life where everything feels more confusing as a new young adult, is that it’s a mirror to myself. He says the things he wants to(sometimes what I wish I had the courage to say) is unapologetically real and still loving at the same time. How often do we get the chance to portray ourselves as we are without being the butt of someone else’s joke because of it. Cortez Covington is a role that’s a visibly out and proud gay, black, college student in a happy relationship without that being his whole identity. HIt’s a honor to play realistic lgbtq stories that anyone can relate with due to interpersonal relationships we have with our parents, family, friends and lovers. Sometimes it’s hard navigating the circumstances life gives us and how we treat people especially the friends closest to us. Because of the visibility of what I’ve done on Reaction I’ve been casted on another show local to Baltimore known as “Rosemary Street” where i portray Noah Riley.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My first time acting in a production of any kind was doing a matinee performance in fifth grade at Cedarmere Elementary where I played a Politician in a musical our music teacher named the Superman, Darth Vader Spectacular. My first hand experience seeing theatre and finding inspiration from it could come from watching movies like Annie or The Wiz as well as also watching my older sister perform in school productions when me & my family used to like on a military base in Mannheim, Germany. I started however taking theatre more seriously when I started taking acting classes in high school to than further study Musical Theatre in College besides working in professional tv/ film productions. I’ve been doing a majority of Background Tv Acting like Netflix Rustin, season 3 of And just like that in HBO Max, upcoming series The Better Sister on Amazon Prime. I’ve done commercial work for Kiehl’s Pride campaign and Prim & Proper restaurant in Baltimore. Im also featured repping my HBCU on Amazon Prime’s The College Tour as well as a role in an artist from Virginia Beach’s music video. Cortez Covington was my first tv lead role which everyone will get to chance to watch those 4 episodes starting August 22nd but I am currently waiting to premiere my next role after as Noah Riley in Rosemary Street series.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The best thing to have for a resource when starting your creative journey is having a network. Having the right network is the ability to be able discern yourself in a room that can either make you or break you. It’s been me learning how to build my network and being blessed to surround myself around the right people that’s allowed me to find castings or start establishing my career as early as i had. There are certain things every actor needs to learn about such as the right kind of headshots, what casting sites to use, how to properly set up your self tapes as well as etc. but knowing those things can make it easier to get the job you want because it deems you professional instead of being seen Amateurish.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

In my perfect world, society and communities especially within my hometown of Baltimore would pay artists or feature more programs closely knit with the arts. There should be more of a demand for community theatres/ theatre groups in Baltimore, funding arts in schools or places to showcase young talent. My recommendation is that places like Baltimore Hippodrome or Center Stage could feature a 54 Below performance night (professionally recorded) for high school and college students to showcase their acting and musical theatre talent which could help expose local talent to the industry in such a beautiful way. There is no livelihood without the arts, it’s how we all communicate with the world around us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/starisborne
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8pyq2rRyh5/?igsh=bTNuMWp2ZW8xaDcy
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michael.yates.7773631?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-yates-a054b7280?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
• Twitter: N/a
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@recfocusfilms?si=4GRKO4bAKuRk4Idi
• Yelp: N/a
• Soundcloud: N/a
• Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm16378727/?ref_=ext_shr_lnkhttps://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP81NCjy5/

Image Credits

Christopher Smooth @smoozus for REACTION promotional Photoshoot

Craig Captures for headshot