We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Leonard Ledford III a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Leonard , thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I wish I would have started acting sooner than I did. I believe had began acting when I was in my 20’s I’m sure I would be further along in my career than I currently am. I’m still a work in progress. Still learning.

Leonard , 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?

I got into filmmaking first as an actor. I developed a passion for the craft from performing in several stage plays. I always wanted to make my own movies. After the death of a close friend, I realized that life is short & got work. I flew out to Los Angeles to film the first few scenes and went from there. I was giving myself on the job training with only the confidence of a couple years of acting & feeling like I’ve seen enough movies to know how to do this. With a little consistency and putting out quality work, we’ve had success. We have an award winning feature film DROUGHT & a Southern Entertainment Award for my show The Session and looking to carry on tradition.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

While filming my first film, the main antagonist basically went awol preventing the completion of the film. Instead of ending the movie with the footage I had, I had to regroup & rewrite the ending in order to finish the film. I knew if didn’t see it through, it would’ve been incomplete & not tell the full story that I wanted to tell.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Sometimes people who don’t pursue the arts or a career in entertainment may think your dreams are unattainable to reach. Or may think you’re wasting your time dream chasing, you’re not making any money, etc… It’s not their vision to see in the first place. The Grand Creator gave you that vision for you to go after. Not them. If their vision is working a job/career forever with no other aspirations, that’s cool. But don’t criticize me for daring to be different.

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