We were lucky to catch up with Isaiah Anthony recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Isaiah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Growing up, I always knew I was destined to be great in the Arts, I just didn’t know how to do so or what that would look like. I honestly didn’t come from the best neighborhood. There were times when I didn’t want to be “Isaiah”, simply because of certain situations my family and I had to go through to survive and not drown. I wanted to be somebody else at LEAST twice a week and playing a different character helped me with that and helped me through my struggles.

As a child, I would watch other children my age having fun, playing different characters, and I would say to my mom, “Mom, I think this is what I would want to do when I grow up.” One thing about my mother is that she always believes in her children and is 100% supportive no matter what. If there was something she can do to help speed up the process for my siblings and I, she would try to do it. But at that time in our lives, we were struggling terribly and she couldn’t do it, so I kind of faded away from that dream and decided to do something else. That “something else” was basketball and once god closed the basketball doors for good, he reopened the acting doors and I busted through it and never looked back.

Isaiah, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Isaiah Anthony and I am a Caribbean man who is very family-oriented and loves sports, music, and being a “homebody”. I love telling this story because it got me to where I am today.

I always wanted to be an actor, but I wanted to be a FILM/TV actor. My 11th grade year at West Adams High School, I had to have an extra class in order to be eligible to stay on the basketball team. The only class available at the time was my Theatre Class with Ms. Tracy Grandela. I saw that and immediately was like, “Nope, not I!” The reason I said that was because I thought ALL theatre kids were weird and corny. I tried EVERYTHING in my might to not be in that Theatre class and then I realized that ALL of my friends were in the class, so then it turned from, “Nope, not I!” to a “Man why not?” Once I joined Theatre, everything kind of went from there. Still wasn’t fully motivated because ball was life, but when I started getting compliments of my work, it took me back to when I was a kid with a dream. That was all the motivation I needed.

I am most proud of staying focus and staying with it. This industry is a TOUGH one and you can get discouraged, you would want to quit, and none of that is okay. I’m pretty sure all of us was once told, “You don’t give up because things get hard”. When things get hard for me, I take a day or two to get my mental strong and come back with a vengeance. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have those thoughts about quitting because I most definitely have, but then I look back to all my sacrifices. All my blood, sweat, and tears I put in. What if I get booked in a month? I would never know because I quit. Quitting has NEVER been an option for me. And it shouldn’t be an option for any of you.

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

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist or creative is that you can go as deep as you want. When I get a character, there’s a character analysis that I have to do to make this character real. My acting coach, Mr. Carl Gilliard, would always tell us that as actors, we are telling the truth. We aren’t faking it, because if we fake it, the audience can spot that a mile away.

There’s ALWAYS questions you can ask yourself/character to go deeper. And I do mean ALWAYS. I love that part the most because that’s when you can have the most fun. Once you understand your character and why he or she do what they do, you can add to it, and add to it, and add to it. Once you make it come alive and film it and then look back at your work, you would be in awed. It took a while for me to be able to sit and watch myself without cringing or complaining because WE ARE OUR WORST CRITIC. Once you’re able to get past that stage, you can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show you put on for yourself, your family, your friends, and your fans.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Man, what can I say? I have plenty of goals that keeps me on the right track. Giving back to family is one of them. Giving back to my community is another one. There’s a whole list I have on my door that keeps me going. Why would I quit if I hadn’t bought my mom a house yet? That’s something I’ve been dreaming about since I was 7 years old. To everyone who’s pursuing their dreams, write down ALL the goals you have. It can be small goals, big goals, doesn’t matter. Just write them down, put them on your door so you can see them every time you leave, and get to work.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/iamisaiahanthony
• Other: https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/isaiahanthony

Image Credits

Chris Jon