We were lucky to catch up with Akeem Mair recently and have shared our conversation below.
Akeem, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is “The Bold and The Beautiful!” I was booked as a Prison Guard on three episodes in Season 36: 206,207, and 209. This role has given me the first time I’ve ever had my name on a parking spot as I pulled inside the CBS Studios Lot. I couldn’t believe it, I thought I was dreaming so I rubbed my eyes to be sure haha. Right there I felt I was really important and said to myself, “I’m finally here after all this time!” I didn’t even parked the car yet, I just hopped out and started taking a bunch of pictures haha. All the stars of the show were nice and welcoming. I played along side the shows main cast: Kimberlin Brown, Ken Hanes, and Tanner Novlan.
My most memorable line was to Kimberlin’s character Sheila Carter, “Yes!!!” It could be heard from almost anyone. My uncle exclaimed, “the way you stared at her after you said your line was crazy!” “I felt that one!” Even my barber Antione said he felt it too, “dang… I see you!!” I didn’t have to dominate the scene with words for people to feel me. I wanted to contribute to the main cast and give them something they can feed off to enrich their characters. That’s my job!
It all started by taking Casting Director Christy Dooley’s class at Ace Studios! Most of the time in Hollywood I was met with teachers who lied to me about how well my skills are because you’re paying them at the end of the day. Why on earth would they want to make you mad? You’re paying them. But the way of thinking doesn’t help the actor. Christy Dooley didn’t care, she told you the truth haha. If my performance was trash she’ll let me know it was bad, and if it was great she let me know it was great. Because of her honesty, it’s the reason my skills were able to grow and get better. She’s the Casting Director for “The Bold and The Beautiful” & “Young and The Restless.”
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Hi my name is Akeem Mair and I am currently signed with two agencies: Commercial Talent Agency with talent agent Sarah Angeli and Minc Talent with Mariko Ballentine. I’ve been blessed to have booked 3 episodes as a Prison Guard on “The Bold & The Beautiful,” appeared on the “Ellen Show: Speak the Lyrics” that went viral and generated 5 million views on Ellen DeGeneres’s Instagram page, appeared in “Iyanla’s Fix My Life” on Oprah Winfrey’s Own network, booked a “Nintendo Switch Apex Legends” commercial with my brother, Wesley Mair, that generated over 1 Million views on YouTube, and many more.
Besides this feature with Mother Jones, I’ve appears in many publications such as Voyage LA, 360 Magazine, Cliche Magazine, Occhi Magazine, KB Popculture, Kivo Daily, Naluda Magazine, Tha Wilson Block Magazine, The Hype Magazine, Dark Magazine, Vents Magazine, We Entertainment News, Star Central Magazine, Natfluence, US Reporter, American Reporter, Time Bulletin, Top 15 Entrepreneurs, LA Wire’s Top 20 IG Accounts to Follow in 2020, and many more.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is when the project finally airs and you get to see the hard work you put in. On July 19, 2023, Season 36 Episode 206 aired on CBS at 12:30 pm. As soon as you see yourself perform you’re like, “yeah I helped create that project!” It’s so rewarding to see your family and friends get excited and go crazy when they see on television. I’m always waiting to hear, “wow you did a fantastic job!!” There goes Akeem!!” it’s that feeling of satisfaction from your accomplishment that really makes you feel special. I am willing to work extremely hard just to get a taste of that feeling again. Whatever your passion is in life, you must seek it out and work so hard to make people compliment you. Why? Because I want you to experience this feeling of unimaginable joy with me. The key to conquering my depression.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Yes the book that significantly impacted my management and entrepreneurial thinking is the book called “The 48 Laws of Power” by Robert Greene. It’s the very first rule of his book that his so powerful and life changing that people tend to overlook way too much. “Never outshine your master.” In the book he talks about always come back to your teacher and never feel like you know enough that you don’t need to return to them. Have you ever helped someone and then you never hear from them again? Have you ever thought you knew it all and couldn’t wait to get out of a class instead of really taking in what’s being taught?
Yes that was the younger version of me. I thought I didn’t need any mentors to reach my goal and if I was taking acting classes I just wanted the class to be over with. I said to myself, “I can’t wait to get out of class and become way more successful than my teacher. It was only when I hit rock bottom that discovered I didn’t truly anything from him because I was too busy in my head trying to outshine him. It wasn’t until I changed my thinking, I was going to take his class and climb to the highest level in it. I will not think about trying to get out of his class but rather I’m going to get as much possible out of his class. Casting Director Christy Dooley’s class helped me improve as an actor. I take her class again and again with the same attitude like I’ve never taken her class before. With the same enthusiasm and energy, because I am not here to outshine her but to learn from her.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm5866599/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/akeemmair/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Akeem.Mair.Actor/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akeemmair
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/akeemmair?lang=en
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/AkeemMair
- My Actor Accounts: https://cni.lacasting.com/talent/profile/832319 https://www.backstage.com/u/Akeemmair/ https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/Akeemmair https://talent.castingfrontier.com/akeem-mair https://www.castittalent.com/AKEEMMAIR https://app.castingnetworks.com/talent/public-profile/383dc2ca-ceeb-11eb-b081-335789d7d844 https://wikitia.com/wiki/Akeem_Mair