We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Dominique Owen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Dominique below.

Alright, Dominique thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

As a creative I believe taking risks is essential. It’s how you learn, grow, evolve, and advance in your career and get closer to your dreams. I remember one of my first risks was when I was a teenager and hopped on a Megabus down south to be an extra in Ice Cube’s “Fist Fight” I was so nervous but learned so much, being there taught me set etiquette and it’s where I fell in love with working in film.

Years later I was working a job that I hated, the pay was good but the position was taking a tole on my mental health I’d get cursed out all day by old people on the phone and even racially harassed at times. That’s when I got the opportunity to be a featured extra in “Judas and the Black Messiah”, I was really nervous because I knew taking the opportunity would mean I’d have to quit my job, but I did it. I couldn’t imagine spending another month at that job and knew stepping into the unknown was the best decision because at least it was a step towards my dreams.

Working on the set of “Judas and the Black Messiah” I learned so much and made many connections. Since I was free from my 9-5 I enrolled in an acting program, I auditioned for everything I could and from there many doors opened… I got to star in TV One’s “Fatal Attraction” and “For My Man”, modeled for Crocs, starred lead in the short film “Dichotomy” by Amia Davis, and even starred lead in a feature film on both Prime and Tubi called “Freaky Profiling” by Cam Marshall. None of this would have been possible if I hadn’t of taken a risk and left a job that no longer served me to pursue my dreams.

As a creative your career is built on taking risks, simply starting is a risk.

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

My name is Dominique Owen and I’m an actor. I started acting in community theatre, school plays, and working background on film sets. As an actor my job is to tell stories in the most honest way I can, I love getting the opportunity to bring a writer and directors vision to life. One of the many cool things about working as an actor you can branch off into many fields in between gigs, you can work as a stand in on big productions for Hollywood actors, and even work as a production assistant. I’ve gotten the opportunity to work as a stand in for Tyler James Williams in a Kellog Foundation partnership for Essence, I was also a stand in & rehearsal actor for Maliq Johnson in HBO MAX’s “Turtles All The Way Down”. Working as a stand in allows me to get more set experience, study the actors, make connections.

I’m most proud of myself for starting, taking those scary first steps to pursue my dreams. Starting is always scary because it’s lonely, many don’t believe in you, friends, family and sometimes it’s hard to even believe in yourself. Seeing the fruits of your perseverance and hard work is always beautiful, from working background, to starring in short films, modeling, getting my first lead role in a feature film, and getting opportunities to audition for big projects. I’m immensely proud of myself for starting, for believing in myself, and for trusting God.

I believe my superpower as an actor is listening, really listening to the directors notes, honing in on the direction they’ve given me, and readjusting. Being grounded and present while performing is very important.

I never want to stop growing as an actor or as a person. I want to continue coaching and training so I can be the best actor I can be, I want to keep learning, healing, and experiencing life so I can be the best person I can be.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me is getting to express myself artistically and bring stories to life. I love developing a character and performing it’s an escape from life, it gives me the opportunity to tap into emotions I don’t always tap into, and it allows my imagination to be limitless. I also find it rewarding hearing how my work touched and impacted someone, it’s very fulfilling and gives me drive to keep going.

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

A lesson I had to unlearn is thinking I’m not good enough and counting myself out. Growing up I used to have really bad self image issues and didn’t believe I was good at anything. As I began growing in my acting career this was something I had to get to the root of and overcome because it was causing issues in my performances, I was too self conscious, and I was too in my head to be present and fully commit to a scene. I released the opinions of others, I unlearned negative self talk, and began planting seeds of confidence in my life.

If you believe you aren’t good enough chances are you won’t be, you have to unlearn that and believe you are more than good enough. Don’t be hard on yourself, give yourself the chance to grow, believe in yourself, apply yourself, give your all and success is bound to find you.

I would often count myself out when opportunities came around that I felt I wasn’t qualified for but I stopped counting myself out and started putting myself out there, going for the opportunities and letting them be the ones to tell me no instead of counting myself out, and to my surprise I’ve gotten many yeses.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dominiqueowen/?hl=en
• Freaky Profiling: https://tubitv.com/movies/100007266/freaky-profiling
• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm13412497/