We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Damian DJ Jackson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Damian DJ below.
Damian DJ, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?
As a child I always was into the arts I performed in the black history plays in elementary as well as performing in plays with the recreational centers and winning first place I also modeled in Barbizon school of models as a kid so to me the arts has always been my passion it just took God my higher power to activate it being stuck blessfully in Atlanta really matured me in so many ways being the fact that I had went through so many traumas but when its your time its your time and God makes no mistakes on timing once I turn to my talents to get me out of a domestic violence situation and was able to start on set doing background acting since TV and film at the time wasn’t my strong suit being that I had a background in theater from college I had to learn the process as well as learn the business thankfully my first day on set on Fox’s star season two I was able to meet the honorable Lee Daniels and his encouraging words and kindness helped push me in the right direction and I will always be thankful for that
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Well my name is damian dj Jackson and I Was born in Washington DC Anacostia and I was raised in Texas Dallas I am an Actor, Brand Ambassador, Model, Speaker, and Entrepreneur. But it wasn’t always this way I survived being homeless not by choice being stuck in a whole new state and having to start all over while battling domestic violence and childhood traumas gratefully being chosen as a background actor for star season two on fox thanks to Central Casting Georgia and being blessed by Lee Daniels helped me turn my life around for the better God makes no mistakes and gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers but with God and my mother Teresa Henry I was able to overcome the many obstacles I faced and become the man that I am today . I’ve had roles on various TVOne shows such as Fatal Attraction Season 9 and 10 as a male lead and 12 as a supporting role, For My Man Season 5, and Atlanta Homicide Season 3.
In addition, shows like Ambitions on the OWN Network, Black Lightning on the CW Network, and game shows like Let’s Make a Deal Season 12, even court shows like Relative Justice, and Chrissy’s Court Season 2 Episode 2 on Roku just to name a few. I have also worked in Production as well with credits as a Production Assistant, Casting, and Stand In work on the hottest shows and big names in the industry.
With those credentials under my belt, knowledge, and passion for entertainment became quite constant as I landed featured roles in movies such as Super Fly, Uncle Drew, The Hate You Give, etc. I was also offered the opportunity to be in music videos working with Grammy Nominated Artists Polo G, Rick Ross, Blac Youngsta, Moneybagg Yo, and Russ.
I am also a Domestic Violence Survivor and use my platform to be an Activist for Domestic Violence.
I have graced the Cover of Scars of Survival Magazine dedicated to domestic violence survivors telling their stories to uplift the DV Community and offer encouragement and understanding which landed me my first Billboard in Downtown Atlanta. Featured in Magazines such as Prove Magazine, SoUneque Magazine which is National. I am also the cover boy of Exxpose Magazine.
I also use my platform to help the younger generation feel a sense of easygoing and relativity. I also love giving back to the community. On Dr. Seuss’s birthday, I volunteered at Heritage Academy and read to the 3rd graders which was followed by a pep rally, I also walked and participated in the Divah Files Charity Fashion Show which benefited HBCU scholarships to aid in helping students with financial hardships.
I am more than a son, I am an Actor, Activist, Model, and Brand Ambassador. I am one of the brand ambassadors for Bcondoms which ai the first black-owned condom company in the world, and I am also on of the First Ambassadors for The Real Stuff Smokables which I ambassador for Rick Ross and Cheech and Chong ‘s Hemp Line and I have my own bracelet line with Concrete Rain “Manifest.”
A Host with my own talk show “Tea Talk” on a Global streaming network DTNTV. With my versatile style, skills, and well-driven determined lovable personality the world is my audience, and I leave them captivated by my presence. I am most proud of being able to come out of my circumstances victorious A project that I am working on right now is Doggmen which is DMX’s last movie that he started before he passed.
Although I did get to meet him on set I did not get to work with him personally due to his passing but thankfully with the director Antonio Simmons and the CGI technology, I was able to complete my scene with DMX before his passing, and I can’t wait for you guys to see it.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Life wasn’t a crystal staircase, but I overcame the pain and difficulty.
Most people who are homeless in another state or in their own state know how hard it is to find resources especially when you don’t know anybody. Survival was a must while overcoming domestic violence. I slept in my car or anywhere I could with the four people I got stuck here with and learned the art of true survival.
I didn’t even know most of the time where the next meal would come from. Arguing with fast food places to get free food even taking showers at planet fitness just to stay clean. Life as I once knew it was gone and I had to figure out my next moves and make my next move my best move. My best friend at the time Ramona introduced me to a young lady named KoKo.
She helped me find a rooming home in preparation for a minimum wage job in Atlanta. The rooming home wasn’t in the best condition, it was an 8 bedroom with more than 12 people, so there were various challenges and hardships. However, that was all I could afford at the time – I lost my job because of an abusive ex and started giving up my goals and life, and then fell to my last few dollars but even in chaos, I knew had to break away from the drama and pain and regain focus on my craft.
At the beginning of my career as an actor, I only had a few selfies taken on my cell phone to submit for bookings. Soon after I lost my car, ran low on funds, risking eviction and from there life just seemed unpredictable. I relied on Uber/Lyft to get me where I needed to go and a few friends and even strangers helped me get to casted bookings so I could gain exposure, continue to get opportunities, reach my goals, and eventually get a new car.
I truly thank them all for seeing my heart and determination to make my acting goals happen. In February 2018, I landed a contract geo-location engineering job with Google, I was promoted after three months as a field supervisor. I had to take a break from acting due to work, but I traveled throughout the U.S., met many great people, and created network opportunities. Moreover, due to an extensive resume and networking, I met a guy by the name of Joshua Cook who decided to take a chance on me.
The experience taught reminded me that every successful actor has more than one hustle to support their career or dreams. With time and patience, I was able to move to a better place, get my car back running, and eventually landed my first speaking role on a national television show.
Many people would downplay or feel insecure and embarrassed to speak this truth, but I am sharing this with you to say that I pushed myself and “I made a way out of no way” and with the help of my higher power and keeping that faith I was able to accomplish more goals than I ever expected. Because of the contract, Google had to lay us off but I felt as though that was a way to get me back to my first love of acting.
I eventually landed a few more speaking roles, while working part-time jobs to stay afloat then shortly after I battled covid twice while being vaccinated, but I didn’t let that stop me either. I felt like God spared me for a reason so I must keep going.
To share some advice– I’d say to never allow your circumstances to define your future… I never gave up and neither, should you. God is a way maker and I trust him to lead the way because he never fails. And no matter the journey or how long it may take, just know you can do it.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
The best support artist creators and thriving artist or creative can receive is true support in this society in 2022 one of the best ways you can do that is by patronizing their work streaming their projects buying their books and when you can’t support monetarily you can show up and support at their events at their showcases if your friend or someone that you support or want to support in the industry is on TV watch it help them get ratings tell a friend to tell a friend and when you can’t support physically if you are on the same social media platforms as them like and share their post comment on their post and still tell a friend to tell a friend Sharing their work or accomplishments on your platform can help them broaden their audience and most importantly always send kind words and positive prayers and not always look for monetary things from them just because you see them doing great things or the fact that they might be on TV not knowing what it took to get there what it takes to stay there and the sacrifices physical and monetary that they had to face just as you might be struggling they might be as well but have to put on a certain Persona because they are in the industry and it’s all about a look so make sure to check on your strong friends because sometimes they might not be OK because the industry can be crazy and very demanding and remember at the end of the day we are all human fame or no fame status or no status
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/damiantheactor
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/damiantheactor/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/damian.monroe
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/Damiantheactor
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/QZ7oe2Y8mO0
- Other: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm10002026/ http://realstuffsmokables.com/ref/jacksondamian Damian Dj Jackson https://g.co/kgs/Crb1sL
Image Credits
Justin Kase Photography , Fire Media Group Atl, Micheal J Billboards , Marcus Ingram, Paras Griffen, That’s Real That’s Right photography, Royalevizion by Jabari , Daerae Media Group, Aj3Report , C Mitchell studios, inspire to elevate photography, GDE Films and Photography , Ozone Productions