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

Alright, Kadrian thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I have zero memories of my mom judging my life decisions. Absolutely zero. My parents separated when I was very young. My dad, a stern religious West African man with strong views moved back to Nigeria during my adolescence. I grew up solely with my mother.

When grade 12 rolled around, I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I wasn’t thinking about film and television, personal training.

I just wanted money. I saw the stress that lack of money created in the home, so that’s all I wanted.

Despite being young, I was aware enough to notice that i felt pressure to go to university because “that’s what everyone else did.”

The thought of being tens of thousands of dollars in debt in exchange for a degree that I would arbitrarily choose did not sit will with this 18-year old. So I took a year off, and my mom completely supported.

Had my father been around, it would have been out of the question.

I worked job after job, blew my bank account in the stock market one morning, spent hundreds of dollars driving to and from Toronto for auditions, booking very few. But my mother never projected her fears onto me.

Shes my mom, and I know she has them, but her ability to keep at bay, served as protection and permission for me to express myself at the highest level I can- at a time i would have crumbled if those i loved didnt support me.

Kadrian , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Im a multi-disciplinary human. My first love is and always will be fitness. I grew up playing sports, and learned respect and discipline through movement.

As fitness enveloped my life, I was scouted by a model agent when I was 19 and very quickly saw success with commercials and print work.

As auditioning got busy, i began studying acting full-time in various studios all over the country, falling in love with the craft, the difficulty, and the community.

As I began booking small roles in TV and Film, the combination of the pandemic and the writers strike brought the industry to a screeching halt.

During this time, I struggled mentally with my identity. Who am I? Am I really an actor despite not acting? What more do I have to offer the world?

In acting class, we’re taught that the best actors are those that are interested in the world around them.

So i took this advice very literally. I stepped away from acting for a year and began solo travelling for the first time. I learned Spanish from scratch, began publishing articles on Medium publications. I ran two marathons within 5 months from each other, and I cultivated a strong local community focused around meditation and mental wellness.

This naturally led me to becoming a Certified Personal Trainer.

Acting has taught me how much I love to be in community, and help others. Personal training has been the vessel for me to do that. And it pays the bills. Which takes the pressure off of acting to do so, and allows me to approach the craft with less desperation, more curiosity.

What sets me apart is my willingness to fully embrace all sides of me. I’m not just an actor, I’m not just a personal trainer. I’m a human with a robust set of interests. I refuse to put my life on hold for any one thing. All of these interests add more color to my life, allow me to connect with many different walks of life, and give me a deep reservoir to base my art from.

As they say, art imitates life. So make sure you have a life.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Learn to discern between friends and acquaintances, or expect heartbreak.

Being a person with many interests, I shift a lot. I’m a rather friendly person and tend to label those I may talk to regularly as “friends”, without noticing the very nature that our relationship may be built upon.

When I moved to Toronto for acting, I knew no one. And I desired were friends. I joined acting classes and it seemed like everyone else had friends. I was always on the outside looking in. As time passed, i stuck around and naturally, i made friends.

I became what I perceived as very close with these people.

However, when the writers strike took place, i noticed i was seeing my friends less and less. Id be the one to reach out and try to plan time to no avail. From chatting almost everyday to zero words in over six months.

I felt hurt. When I finally caught up with these friends, i realized what had occured.

We met in an acting class. We only hung out when we were watching films and doing auditions.

I was not the same person they became friends with in class. I thought this was okay? Whats the harm in having friends with differing interests? I was hurt. I can only be your friend if I identify as an actor?

I have actor friends that I call family, because they support me as a human FIRST.

Ive now learned how to discern between friends and “actor friends”

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

The most rewarding aspect is the fact you get REWARDED for being yourself. Its easy to feel stifled, wondering what people expect of you, but when the subsides, it always comes back to your originality.

We live in a hedonic hamster wheel where we’re constantly reminded we need more to truly become ourselves.

The beautiful thing about being an artist is the waves you can make in peoples lives soley with your presence. With words from your mouth, with your perspective.

You dont need to have attended an ivy league school, a specific IQ. The barrier to entry to artistry is naked honesty.

After true honesty, what else do you really need? Sure money can be tight and we can desire more of it, but being an artist means i must stay connected to my heart, and so long as im connected to my heart, i will always be surrounded by love.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @kadrianenyia