We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Darius Portley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Darius, appreciate you joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I knew I wanted to be an actor at a very young age of 8 when I did a elementary school play and how I just embrace that kind of obstacle and just loved it til this day I still think about that play and how much it went to me and for it to give me a steeping stone into acting and other things that I have done so far in my life

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

I played around with it a little bit when I was younger doing like YouTube videos and skits and stuff when I was around 13 years of age but I didn’t really dive into until I was about 24 years old when I was still figuring out life. I just started to do research on how to get I to acting and called up a few people that I know that had some type of hand or ear in the industry, but the one thing I was getting told was to go to acting classes and learn the basics and the in’s and out and I started doing that and was really good at I actually surprised myself lol.

The kind of genre that I like to participate in while filming is comedy and drama, of course people have said that comedy and drama go hand in hand because you can laugh and cry at the same time but in my opinion you are pretty much releasing two powerful emotions at the same time some people can not do that at all so I pride myself on delivering funny and dramatic scenes it’s shows a side of me that I can pull out of my self and explore but also give the world hopefulness and a smile.I think that what sets me apart.

I am most proud of the amount of work I put in and will power that I have to become the person that I am I’m also thankful for my co stars and friends that I have made because in this industry you’re going to get told no a lot no matter if you are an actor dancer singer writer and it takes a toll on you mentally and emotionally sometimes spiritually but as long if you want it bad enough and you always stay positive you will become that gray versions of yourself I’m very passionate about acting it’s been my calling for awhile and even tho I’m not an a list or b list actor I’m still an actor and I will get to that spot where I wanna be in life very soon

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn how to not be negative and self defeating, I always thought I couldn’t do it because someone or some circumstances were better then my own I also had a lot of insecurities about self and just how I looked and felt reason being I’m not very tall I’m not really in shape I’m just a average guy but I didnt like that I was average I wanted more for myself because I had such drive but I didn’t know how to channel it because I was never taught I had my dad in my life and I had step father in my life as well to sum it all I was trying to be two people at the same time and it didn’t work I moved to LA to actually learn how to love myself and to love my passion.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect that you can receive is to inspire others to follow their dreams I have a few friends that still call me to this day and tell me if you didn’t get up and move I would still be at that job or I would be somewhere I don’t want to be and it makes me feel like my craft and will power is that powerful that it makes people want to change their whole life, it’s really a warm feeling that I can’t really explain in words but I know I love it when I feel that, the highest act a human can do is inspire others this world is not so good but if humans can help each other I believe we can over come anything together and inspiring one another is the first step.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: dportleyofficial
• Facebook: Darius Portley
• Linkedin: Darius Portley
• Twitter: @DariusPortley

Image Credits
Darius Portley