We were lucky to catch up with Mark Anthony Williams recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Mark Anthony, thanks for joining us today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?
Earning a living as an actor is to this day the most difficult thing I ever accomplished. It took 25 plus years to arrive at the point where I didn’t need a job to survive. I’ve never considered my work as an actor as a job because of the joy I get from it. After college I worked in a group home, mainly for boys who had a tough childhood and they were in and out of juvenile facilities. Then in 1995 I moved to California to pursue my dreams as an actor. I didn’t realize it would take years to master, lots of ups and downs, lots of being broke and emotionally broken. Then I hit year 20 and I was still struggling but felt I was in too deep and had dedicated 2 decades to this, I could not find it in me to walk away. During this entire time I was working in group homes in California. Then in 2012 a friend was working on a new Kevin Hart show, The Real Husbands of Hollywood and asked if I would like to STAND-IN for Kevin. A Stand-in rehearses the scene as the actor so the director and camera crew can work out the angles and set ups so when the Star arrives they can just shoot the scene and move on. During season 3 of that show, the director invited me to stand in for Cedric the Entertainer on another show, that lasted 3 years and then it just continued, I got calls to stand in for several other actors and it got to a point where I could no longer commit to my full time job. I’ve been standing in for Cedric the last 8 season on his show The Neighborhood on CBS. During that period I was able to secure an agent, a manager and book over 17 tv shows including 3 appearances on The Neighborhood. Was the 20 plus years struggle worth it? Yes, it was.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I was living in Jamaica in the 70’s and we had a class trip to see a play at a theater in downtown Kingston, I was 8. I immediately knew what I wanted to do once the play started. Acting just looked like fun. Then when I moved to NY in 1980, I performed in my 1st play in 5th grade, I loved it and decided to pursue to craft full time after college.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Yes, story telling, I love a great story, I don’t the care about the genre, I love a good authentic story and me being born in London to Jamaican parents, living in the UK, then Jamaica and now the states, I have a story to tell and I like creating projects. I began writing in 2001, I started creating short films and now I’ve optioned the rights to a novel and working on the screenplay. I started a production company with the goal to create and produce film and tv projects.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Freedom! When I was a junior in high school I knew I did not want to work a 9 to 5. I felt that would a boring life, to work 50 weeks a year and only have 2 weeks off!I wanted a profession that I knew would be fun and I would have the freedom, if set up correctly to live my life the way I see fit.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: markanthonywilliams
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004926433258
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1211448/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_8_in_0_q_mark%2520anthony%2520williams
