FROM BROOKLYN TO HOLLYWOOD | Rayan Lawrence

Brooklyn, New York | Rayan Lawrence

INTERVIEW Terrell “ReaLife” Black PHOTOGRAPH @whereisRowanDaly

When you think of Black American actors of today, who comes to mind? Is it Laurence Fishburne, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson or Morgan Freeman? Who’s carrying the torch for those who helped pave the way for the new school of Black American actors? Brooklyn actor Rayan Lawrence is on the rise, and his versatility and presence in front of the camera is why. His acting resume includes Magnum P.I. (CBS), Power (Starz), FBI (CBS), Blue Bloods (CBS) and my personal favorite BMF (Starz). Validated recently sat down with Rayan to discuss how he got into acting initially, the role of K-9 and new roles.

Validated: You’re originally from Brooklyn, New York, but what was your first gig in TV and film?

Rayan Lawrence: So, the earliest recollection is pretty much starting off doing my very first audition for a ESPN commercial called “Take The Field”. I guess back then, at that time, certain parks were closed off, so they were doing a campaign to let people understand the parks are important for the kids. So, that was my very first project, my audition was an ESPN commercial.

And then TV probably could go back to being on “All My Children”, a soap opera. So, you’re going from watching these soaps with your mom to being on these soaps. So, that’s like my earliest recollection of TV and movie-wise. We can even go back to when I was in “Cadillac Records” with Beyonce, Jeffrey Wright, Columbus Short. That was dope to be able to go back in history, because to me, I love music from back in the day, you know what I mean?

Validated: Who was it that got you involved in acting from the beginning?

Rayan Lawrence: Well, what happened, which is crazy, is that I used to get people saying, “Hey, man, you got the look”. And one time I was bored, so I said, let me just go take some pictures. I went to King’s Plaza in Brooklyn, took some regular pictures at the mall, looked in the daily news and saw that these guys were looking for models and actors. So, I submitted them for the very first audition I got. So, from there, I started to do both modeling and acting, and then I started to act more, and then I started to learn how to be a model in the modeling projects that I did.

Validated: So, you actually started out modeling.

Rayan Lawrence: Yes. I wanted to model and pretty much do both.

Validated: Do you ever get that modeling itch nowadays?

Rayan Lawrence: Here and there. I’ve been taking these photo shoots recently, and I’ve been liking them and I’m like, “Okay, let me get back into my little swag.” And then ironically, I saw Tyson Beckford the other day when I’m in Miami. So, I was like, “Oh, that might be a sign to get my modeling back.”

Validated: So, was there any particular actor or actress that made you want to lean towards pursuing acting?

Rayan Lawrence: Well, my idol is Denzel, so you can probably see me watching Denzel do his thing in earlier films like “Glory”, “Training Day”, and “Man on Fire”. So I would probably say watching Denzel’s work and how his swag is and what he brings to these different characters, that might have been something that gave me that itch to be like, “Hey, man, let me give this a try.”

Validated: Yeah, he is one of the best to ever do it, that’s for sure.

Rayan Lawrence: Definitely.

Validated: You mentioned a couple of them, but you’ve been in a few films and TV programs. It’s been different types of characters, all sorts—do you find it difficult getting into character?

Rayan Lawrence: It depends on the character. I know one of the characters early in my career I had an issue with playing was jealous of his girl with the boss that she was working for. I’ve never been a jealous dude. So, that was a role that was very hard for me to get into. The director kept saying I was doing my thing. I just didn’t feel it. I just felt I was acting. I can’t get this inside of me.

And I could recollect and say that was probably one of the hardest roles to get into. I think now, a couple of years into the game, I think my process is a little bit more different. Learning from the acting coaches, I learned from and watching different films, watching different TV shows, you start to develop your own toolbox. So, I think now it’s a little bit easier for me to get into these roles. Just knowing what it takes to break down a character, it’s a little easier to get into these roles now. I would say so.

I haven’t recalled anything too difficult to get into now because knowing the research to do and getting the proper training, I think that helps with the process.

Validated: We all know you from playing the role of K-9 on the second season of Starz hit series BMF. But how did that role come about initially?

Rayan Lawrence: Well, it was crazy, man. Shout out to George Pierre, Brooklyn, New York. He’s a casting director. He was trying to get me on a project on BET, a project on TVOne, and I wasn’t available. I was set to shoot Magnum PI in Hawaii. So, BMF came about right before I left to go start filming in Hawaii, and that was shooting after I came back from Hawaii, those other two projects, I wasn’t available to film, so then I was like, “Alright, cool, let me put this on tape real quick.” Put it on tape at 2:00 AM. Did a little self-tape, sent it to him and found out while I was filming Magnum PI that the network was interested in me.

Then when I came back from filming Magnum PI, found out I got it, and, yeah, history was there. So, I was fortunate enough to do season one, which was the introduction, that first episode, and then season two, it just expanded and I didn’t know it was going to go from what it did in season one to how big it was in season two. So, that was an eye opener to me.

When I came on set, I looked at the script and I said, “Oh.” And it was just a different energy from season one to season two. When I’m on set, season one, I could walk by, people are like, what’s up? It’s a regular hi. But in season two, it’s like K-9 is on set. So, that’s how I knew the energy and everything was different for this season. The expectation was different.

Validated: So, you didn’t even know from season one to season two that the role was going to expand?

Rayan Lawrence: No, I spoke to Randy, the executive producer, and I was telling him, “That’s what I said,” at the first episode. He said, absolutely, because he always has a poker face. So, he said, “Absolutely.” So, he even gave me the idea that this was going to take off, because he said in one of the videos that I recorded him, and he was like, “Yeah, man, Rayan was back for a season.” He’s like, why did you get a different role, this, that and the third? But who would have thought this character would have gone this way? So, I’m glad it happened. It gave me that opportunity to portray K-9.

Validated: Does that make it difficult for you to plan, not knowing from season to season?

Rayan Lawrence: Well, not necessarily, because I think for that project, I got the right amount of time to start to do the research. So, once I came on set, I literally got my script on the first day of rehearsal, which was weird. Normally, you get it a little earlier, but I guess they wanted to keep it tight knit.

So, once I got the script, I was like, okay, I didn’t know anything about K-9. So, then I started doing research, and I looked back at YBI, which is one of the biggest African-American crime families in Detroit, and they were from that area Brewster Projects.

So, I started doing research on them, research on Colombians. Why would the Colombians mess with a Black dude? So, all this kind of stuff I started to do my research on with my coach. And yeah, man, we started breaking it down. And then during my second rehearsal, I sat down with Heather, the showrunner for season three, and she told me everything about K-9 that I didn’t get from before. So, I was like, “Oh.” So, what worked out was everything that I was already doing research on correlated with what I knew K-9 was about. So, it worked simultaneously and I was able to put it together.

Validated: 50 Cent basically figured out the formula of creating a hit TV series. What would you say the connection between Hip Hop and urban TV and film is?

Rayan Lawrence: The correlation with those two? Well, a lot of the music in Hip Hop moves these projects, right? So, for example, in terms of my character with K-9, what I was listening to, to develop this character is I listened to DMX. Everything DMX was rapping about, K-9 was living his life. Of course, DMX was living that life, too. So, that helped me.

Even look at the theme song… well, theme of the show, but the theme song of “Power”, even though it’s R&B, but all different types of songs. You can even go to “Raising Kanan”, that Hip Hop song. A lot of these Hip Hop songs set you in the mood for that, which was back in the 80s. Even though it’s a new song, in the 2000s, with the feel of it, gave you that feel of the 80s. So, whenever you do a project product, there’s a score that you have, which is the music that’s incorporated into these projects.

The score moves the movies. So, when Hip Hop comes in, Hip Hop also moves these movies. You see something like “Girls Trip” and they play like a Hip Hop song when they transition from the outside of the club to going inside the club. You hear that little song going inside the club. So, the Hip Hop music moves along and sets the tones for these movies and TV shows. Hip Hop is in everything. You get Hip Hop in a Black project, White projects, Asian projects. Anything, you’ll find Hip Hop in. So, Hip Hop has a huge impact in the movie and TV industry.

Validated: And that’s what I was kind of thinking, because it’s almost like it’s the soundtrack even without it being a score. If you look at it in real life, Hip Hop is kind of the soundtrack of the streets and vice versa.

Rayan Lawrence: Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely with the soundtracks, you get a lot of Hip Hop now versus before. Like one of the projects I did was… well, you can kind of say Hip Hop. I think we had a couple of Hip Hop songs in that project when I did “Underground”. So, with “Underground”, if you’re familiar with it, it was about slaves back in the 1800s.

So, these were the people behind the scenes, the people that worked on “Roots”. I never even wanted to audition for this project. I didn’t even want to see it because I didn’t want us to go back. I didn’t want to think about the stuff that we used to go through. But listening to what John Legend put on it when he brought the music to it, the R&B to Hip Hop to it, it actually made it easier for me to watch and easier for me to audition and be, “Oh, I definitely want to be a part of this.” And it moved along the show. We were able to do two seasons of that project.

Validated: So, I know you mentioned earlier some of the films and the TV shows that you were on, but what are some additional shows that you’ve been on or movies that you’ve been in?

Rayan Lawrence: One that people probably are familiar with in which I had a quick scene, but it was a known project, was “Barbershop 3”. I mentioned “Cadillac Records” with Beyonce. “Columbus Short”, “Pimp”, with Keke Palmer and  DMX – God rest his soul. TV shows, “Magnum PI”, “Blue Bloods” with Tom Selleck, “FBI”… I played the detective, actually too. I was fortunate enough to work with “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”.

Like I said before, “Underground” with John Legend on the soundtrack, he was the executive producer of that. I did one with Rotimi, “A Love Tale” with Rotimi, which people can catch me on BET. But yeah, man, I’ve been fortunate enough to work on a good amount of stuff. Got a couple of movies coming out soon with Tami Roman. That will be on BET as well. So, yeah, I’ve been in the game for some time.

Validated: So, you’re in the TVOne original movie “First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder”. What can you tell us about it?

Rayan Lawrence: So, with that one, it’s a story about a married couple, and the husband hires me, which I played Doug, to kill his wife and  unborn child. And you’ll see a plot twist in that. So, that one is going to be pretty good, man. It’s a thriller. So, you know what TVOne is like… I call it the black Lifetime. It’s a nice little thriller. Yeah, that’s good, man. We’re excited about that project.

Validated: You’re the lead in the BET Plus movie “Whatever it Takes” with Tami Roman which recently aired December 21st, what can you tell us about the movie?

Rayan Lawrence: What I can tell you about this movie, is that it will bring love and joy for the holidays. It will have it’s drama but also give you laughter. The chemistry we all had in this movie is amazing. The story is so good.

Validated: You’re also the lead role in Busta Rhymes movie/music video with Tiffany Haddish, Cory Hardrict, Clifton Powell and more, directed by Benny Boom. I know you’re a huge Hip Hop fan, what was it like working with Busta Rhymes and the hilarious Tiffany Haddish?

Rayan Lawrence: I am a big Hip Hop fan. Especially old school Hip Hop. Working with Busta Rhymes was so surreal. Busta is a legend and the first thing he said to me when I met him was “You’re a legend”. To hear that from one of your favorite artists growing up is everything. We had so much fun on set.

I remember saying the wrong line and Busta reaction was so genuine man. I called him a snitch instead on snake and his face said it all. Because a snake is totally different than a snitch. You can’t be from Brooklyn and be a snitch. So you already know his reaction was real being called that. It was dope to see him really into the scene cause he is a dope actor.

Validated: What’s the movie/music video about?

Rayan Lawrence: The movie/music video is about his crew Flipmode Squad. So his whole crew is in this as well. It’s called “Rulership”.

Validated: Currently you’re filming a Tubi Original Movie with Chris Stokes. Is there anything you can tell us about it? What can we expect?

Rayan Lawrence: Yes, we are currently filming Chris newest movie set for 2024 called “The Stepdaughter”. This is my first time working with Chris. He is amazing to work with. He has a dope vison and great story teller. You can expect another #1 hit on Tubi like his previous movies. If you watched “The Stepmother” movies you know it’s coming with a lot of twist and edge of your seat scenes.

Validated: How do you go about choosing projects?

Rayan Lawrence: Well, my agent presents the projects to me. So, they would see a project that came across their desk and then they’ll submit me to the casting director. And if the casting director likes me, then I’ll get called to put in the audition on tape. Now, I get a lot of offers. So what that means is that people send me scripts and let me know, I give them my interest if I’m interested in doing it.

So, I take a look at the role and see if it’s something I’m interested in doing. And when it comes to the agent, they’re just looking for something that I might be interested in doing. Not necessarily, the agent would know everything that you would like, but they present it to you, “Hey, I got this request for this audition. Are you interested?” Those are how auditions come to us.

Now, fortunately enough, I get a lot of offers, all different types of roles and I take a look at it, talk to my team about it, see if it’s something that will make sense. Does this move along my career? Is it something to keep me stagnant? Is it something to take me backward? So, we had those conversations and that’s how I selected these roles.

Validated: That makes sense. So, you mentioned team, being somebody that’s looking from the outside in, when you think of actors and actresses, you just think about that person, and you don’t think about whether there's a team behind them. How many people are actually involved in that process?

Rayan Lawrence: It all depends because you can just have one manager. You can have one agent. I have both a manager, agent and also have a lawyer now that I hired. So, all of us sometimes will have that discussion when it comes to a project. Like, hey, is this something like I was saying before that will move along my career or not? Sometimes some people just have a lawyer and have a publicist as well.

So, all of these guys I have these conversations with. Sometimes I’ll have them separate. Sometimes I’ll have that one call and we all talk about it. So, it just depends. A lot of people will have maybe one of each. Some will have all like myself. So, yeah, sometimes you work for yourself. Before, when I first started the business, I was working for myself. So, I’ll make the negotiations myself if it is a project that I’m interested in. I auditioned for it, I liked it, then we negotiated from there.

So, yeah, it just all depends. You can have a one-man team, or you could have a whole bunch of people that’s on the team. And let’s say with an agency, sometimes you have a point agent, which is that one agent, or sometimes you’ll have that point agent for that specific project, but you still might still talk to other agents about if this is the proper role for you guys or if you have a meeting with them about hey, this is the outlook I want in my career. Let’s talk about moving forward with my career and what we want to make happen.

Validated: That definitely makes sense. So, what’s one piece of advice that you’d give your younger self regarding acting

Rayan Lawrence: That’s a good question. One piece of advice that I’d give my younger self… Here’s the thing. I would say this, don’t worry about the money. Because initially, when I first started, there were projects that people offered me, and I was like, well, this ain’t paying. Why would I do it? Doesn’t make sense. Now, years in the game, I’ve done projects that didn’t get paid, and it actually moved the needle. So it isn’t necessarily pay here, but the credit that I got for it, it went to, let’s say, certain film festivals, and you get noticed from there.

Or you’ll have somebody like the other day, somebody came up to us in Miami, he is a director. He said, “Man, you are one of the best actors on earth”, he’d been watching me since back then. I can’t say how long ago, but he’d been watching me back from one of my earlier projects. I didn’t even get paid for that project. Now that I think about it. So, little things like that. People loved what you did at that time for a project, you probably didn’t get paid. But it’s been a successful project.

So, I would tell my youngest self, don’t worry about the money, because the money is going to always come. If it’s a good project, do it. That’s the advice I’d give myself.

Validated: Is there any particular type of role that you prefer to play?

Rayan Lawrence: I got my degree in criminal justice, so if I could play a big time FBI agent or something like Denzel’s character in Training Day, that’s the ultimate role that I would love to play. Also, playing, like, NBA players. I grew up in Brooklyn, playing basketball, playing all different leagues. Yeah, I would love to play a basketball player as well, a successful NBA player, a star.

Validated: Which position did you play?

Rayan Lawrence: Actually, I played multiple positions. I played mostly point guard because of my height, 6 feet, you know, with Steph or Aubrey’s height and stuff. Actually, Steph is a little taller, but my game was a small forward. So, I will play a lot of point forward. So, when I used to play in college, when I played with them, I actually played the center a few times, a small forward at 6 feet.

Validated: At 6 feet?

Rayan Lawrence: At 6 feet, bro. So, I’ll go against the big cats at 6 feet. But, yeah, my game was built for small forwards, so my brother is 6’6. If I was that height, I'd be in the league for sure. Definitely, man. But, yeah, I played mostly point guard. Coming up, I went to John J College for criminal justice, and I played point guard over there.

Validated: How did you end up with criminal justice? What made you move in that direction?

Rayan Lawrence: Growing up, man, I always had a thing for being an FBI agent, that was always my biggest thing. Mostly wanting to focus on capital punishment crimes. So, homicides or rape cases, that just always interested me. So, that’s what made me want to get into that. Growing up playing cops and robbers, and I would like to be a cop and make a difference. Make a difference in the community. Now, if we go back to what I did on BMF cast now, cut your boy off a little something real quick.

Validated: Can you see yourself doing that once you retire from acting?

Rayan Lawrence: No, I think what I always thought about… I’m glad that the acting bug came to me. I think the work ethic that I put in, man, I’d have been taking out some big criminals. And they’ll go after your family, you come after me, but then you go after my family is a whole different story. So, then that’s stuff you’ll have to think about too. It’s like, man, you take down these big fish, you have to worry about your kids, worry about your wife, worry about your mom and stuff like that. So, yeah, I don’t think that’ll be something I would pursue. I just continue to do it on TV.

Validated: So, I’ve got to ask, what’s your all-time favorite Hip Hop album?

Rayan Lawrence: Wow. I don’t know if I can pick an album. I used to be on my Hip Hop game like crazy. So, I can’t really think about it. If I needed to think about an album, because Jay Z is one of my favorite artists, I would say, “Blueprint”. But you might hit me with an album like,  what about this? And I’m like, “Yeah, I forgot about that.” But what I could remember for sure, I had bought the Jay Z album, “Blueprint”. And I know I’m a big fan of Jay Z. So, I would say “Blueprint” just coming off the dome right now.

Validated: When it comes to Jay Z, my favorite is “Reasonable Doubt”. He got some dope ones after that, but to me it’s “Reasonable Doubt” and nothing else can touch it.

Rayan Lawrence: And I can remember the “Reasonable Doubt” cover. That was a black and white cover, right?

Validated: Yeah.

Rayan Lawrence: See, I remember “Reasonable Doubt”. That actually could possibly be my favorite one. And I’m trying to remember this song because I listen to it a lot. But yeah, I would even probably say Reasonable Doubt. I had that album, too. Yeah, I used to collect these albums like crazy back in the day.

I was definitely on my Hip Hop game back on the streets of Flatbush. I’m up there in the cipher, rapping a little bit. And now that I think about it, as your magazine focuses on Hip Hop, actually, you’re not aware, I played Treach in “All Eyez On Me”.

Validated: I saw that.

Rayan Lawrence: Yeah, I played Treach. So, what happened with that was I had a nice supporting role on this project. And what happened is I got actually cut out of everything. You could see me in two scenes, and I don’t have any lines. So, I’m not sure what happened as to why my character got cut out. I’m sure it was some type of technicality of it, but, yeah, man, I was able to play Treach.

Treach actually sent me some rhymes to do when I had a freestyle, I had a scene. My biggest scene was me freestyling against Tupac. And Treach was part of Naughty By Nature. So, we had that whole battle. I know he’s really tied with Queen Latifah, me and Queen Latifah were tight in the movie.

Yeah, we had a big cipher, and I did spit that rhyme that Treach had. We just never used any of the scenes. You can see one of the deleted scenes on the Blu Ray for “All Eyez On Me”. I mean, I was hurt. Doing that one, man. Just go to that story real quick. A lot of things were happening. So, I’m in Ebony Magazine. I’m in GQ, top ten best dressed men of the week. I’m there with Michael B. Jordan, Chris Paul, Aziz. So, I was hot coming up. I remember my dad saying, “Man, Ray, you’re about to blow up.” And I’m like, “No.” I didn’t have that feeling like I had when BMF came out. So, I get to the red carpet. I step out of the SUV. My agent at the time looks at me, he’s like, “Ray, you’re a star”. So, I’m hype. I’m fly. I get on the red carpet, killing it. I’m in the Shade Room. I’m on BET. Everybody is interviewing me, waiting to see what I’m going to do. I get into it. I got my publicist and stylists. I got my boys, my sister, everybody there. And Russell Simmons even asked to sit next to me. So, I’m feeling, oh, this about to be it. Your boy is about to take off.

Yeah, man. I look at the movie, and I’m like, is that everything I got? That was one of the most disappointing times of my career. But I made a video the next day about a five-minute video, saying, I’m glad it happened to me, because I know me, I’ll bounce back from it. It’ll just fuel me to get better. I don’t know why it got cut, but it’s a whole bunch of different possible reasons. And it's the business, why you would get cut, don’t get an audition, or why you don’t get booked for a specific role for a project.

So, yeah, I did that five-minute video, man, and I was like, I’m going to make a comeback. And BMF was that comeback. And this happened back in 2017. So, that’s a little Hip Hop story because of me playing Treach.

Validated: Now that the roles are getting bigger and bigger. Do you ever find when you’re out in public, just out and about being your normal self, that fans call you one particular character’s name more than the others?

Rayan Lawrence: I get K-9 all the time now. What was cool, though, today, and I appreciated it, so I met this cat today, he saw me here in LA and he came up to me, he said, “Rayan Lawrence?” And I said, “Yeah.” I said, “How do you know me?” And he said, “Come on, man, you’re the best actor on BMF”. I said, “Bro, I appreciate that”. Because he didn’t even call me K-9. Mostly people like, “Yo, K-9 this and that”, but dude said my whole name.

I was just in Jamaica. I was sitting down just on my phone, and a kid sits next to me and said, “Hey, Rayan”. I said, “What’s up, man?” He said, “Man, you’re a legend”. And he asked me for a picture. And I’m there with Jaleel White. I’m there with Lance Cross. I’m there with King Batch, and he calls me a legend. I was like, “Wow, I appreciate that.” And he said my name.

So, it wasn’t K-9. But mostly, yes, a lot of people refer to me as K-9. “Yo, K-9, what up?” I’m in Coloumbia. “Yo, K-9, what’s up, man?” You know what I mean? So, I do get K-9 a good amount. But I really appreciate it when people just say my full name.

Validated: No, that’s dope, because they’re paying attention. They’re doing the history.

Rayan Lawrence: Exactly. Yeah, man. Definitely doing the history, and we’ll see what other characters that they’ll start to call me eventually.

Validated: Your fans are actually doing their homework and showing appreciation and knowing some of your history, you seem like a humble guy. How does that make you feel?

Rayan Lawrence: It feels good that you’re putting in the work, that you’re putting out a product that’s entertaining people that watch the show and you’re doing it for the culture. And growing up in Brooklyn, I’m from the streets, man. So, not too many people could do something on this level and be successful at it. So, I hope to inspire people. When people hit me up and want to get into acting or whatever field they want to get into, I give them my story, and it could kind of be similar to their story even if they don’t want to be an actor.

So, it fuels me because I’m fueling other people. I inspire other people to want to be an actor or want to pursue their dreams and knowing that they have a chance. So, yeah, it feels good. And I never take it for granted. Sometimes I see other people and they’re a little bit mad that somebody wants to take a picture with them or wants to sign an autograph. I’m open to it all the time and have a conversation with somebody if I had the time. I’m grateful for that stuff.

It feels good, especially going back to New York, and everybody’s coming up to you and wanting pictures and knowing who you are. The other day I got my hat low. I’m in Atlanta trying to get back to New York, and then a lady says, “Hey, superstar”, I’m like, I got my hat low, how did you notice me? I said, “Where do you know me from?” And she was like, “From BMF”. And I said, “Oh, wow, I appreciate you.”

Then she said, “Let me get $20”. I said, “Because you recognize me with this hat on?” I gave her $20. It’s been cool for people to recognize me from the show. And like what the guy said, “You my favorite actor or you are the best actor or you’re one of the best actors.” Like the director said, “Hey, man, you’re the best actor on earth”. This dude has been watching me since back then. So, it’s good to hear that. It just fuels me to continue to try to do justice to the characters that I play.

Validated: Did you have a mentor or do you have a mentor now that you can go to, to kind of walk you through certain stuff or give you certain advice about acting?

Rayan Lawrence: I don’t, actually, no. I’m real tight with some of my close friends growing up in Flatbush from Lenox. I speak to them a lot, so I would say maybe they mentor me. Maybe my boy Corsim, I call him the Guru, so I’m like, anything I need to know, he pretty much knows everything, so I will come to him and talk to him about certain things. So, if maybe somebody is a mentor, he might be that mentor that I never really thought about until now. Oh, damn. He probably mentored me this whole time, but I never really put that together.

Validated: What do you have going on currently?

Rayan Lawrence: Right now, I’ve got another movie that I’m going to be set to do soon. Can’t say who I’m doing it with, but I’m going to tell you, I’ve worked with this person before and they’re part of the Power universe. So, we got something that we’re going to be working on soon that’s going to be a dope joint. As a matter of fact, it’s actually about Hip Hop too, so it’s going to be pretty dope. I’ll be playing a music mogul. My character is similar to a mix, like Suge Knight and a mix with Puff.

So, yeah, I’m looking forward to it. That’s a crazy combination. It’s going to be really crazy, but I’m really looking forward to that. The script is really good. I just finished up a movie with Tami Roman and Candy. So that’s going to be dope. That’s for BET, that movie I’m excited about. I got a couple of offers for other movies, but at this point, I’m not interested in some of the offers that I’ve been getting. But that movie is set in stone. We’re about to do it. It’s still in the early stage of pre-production, but yeah, that movie will be the next one so far.

Validated: What do you do in your spare time?

Rayan Lawrence: I play NBA2K. I don’t go online though. Yeah, man. I never play online. I mostly play with the roster. So, it is funny because I’ll be putting who I think would work together. And then some of these things happen in the NBA. And I’m like, bro, I called that for a long time. So, I always think I could be a GM because I be knowing. Hey, I think this person will fit in perfectly. So, I do that.

I go to the gym. People don’t know that I be doing my Dancehall dancing because I’m Jamaican. So, I’ll be doing my dances too. I just was in Jamaica for a week, doing my thing, dancing. So, I do that in my spare time as well, hanging out with my friends, when I can. I travel and get them out. I actually travel a lot, so yeah, that’s what I do in my spare time.

Validated: Where can the fans support you or follow you?

Rayan Lawrence: Yeah. So, you can reach me @RayanLawrence. I’m on Gmail. Still working on this TikTok thing. Maybe I will start putting my dances on there. Twitter, you can find me on. Facebook. I kind of keep Facebook personal. If I met the person, then I’ll accept them as a friend request. But mostly Instagram and Twitter and that new one, TikTok. I don’t use Snapchat that much, but I have a Snapchat as well. The @RayanLawrence is pretty much universal amongst all those social media platforms.

Validated: For that person that is looking to get into acting but they don’t know where to start, what would be your advice to them?

Rayan Lawrence: Are you trying to get into acting? Are you asking that question for you?

Validated: No. Lol

Rayan Lawrence: I’m playing. Yeah, man. I would say start out taking headshots, because that’s your calling card. So, whether you get a friend or you look online, Google, you can follow different types of photographers, all at different rates. You want to start with that. Start maybe looking into independent films, short films, student films. Those are stuff that you could do to get your feet wet in front of the camera, getting a couple of lines here and there. Do extra work. I started out doing a little bit extra work here and there that helped me. Go on websites like LA Casting, Actors Access, Central Casting. Those are where you can find out about projects that are auditioning. So, you can do that stuff and start learning from people and asking questions.

I have met people, whether that was doing extra work or doing any film or working with the director, producers, and they refer me to other projects. So, as people start to do stuff with the headshots and as a matter of fact taking classes too, you’ll meet a lot of different actors taking classes as well. So, all of that you do, and you start to meet people, and then you start to climb your way up. You start to learn from everybody, and you start to do your own research.

Yeah, that’s pretty much what I would say. I would say start out with that, headshots, take classes, start submitting yourself to these independent short films and stuff like that. And start progressing in your career, and building your career.

Validated: Any last words for the people?

Rayan Lawrence: I just want to say thanks for supporting me all these years. I got some dope stuff coming out. I’m excited for you all to see the Hip Hop joint once I start doing that. I think that one, I’m doing for the culture. I go back to my roots when I used to be on my Hip Hop stuff. Continue to watch me. You can see me on all those projects that I told you. You can stream them now on all different platforms. You can go on BET or Netflix. You can go all over the place to find me on some of my older projects and look forward to some new stuff I got coming up.