I always felt really comfortable speaking in front of crowds in high school. When I did my first play, I was immediately hooked. It was the King and I, and I didn’t have any lines, but I loved the vibe and culture around the theater. When I went to college, I thought I was going to be a pre-med or pre-law type, but it turns out that I was on stage all the time.

For four years, I kept doing plays, and when I graduated college, I had to figure out what I was going to do. In my third year, I definitely knew I wasn’t going to be a doctor, but rather, I wanted to play one. I did a training theater program in Ithaca, New York, and I learned so much; then I went to Los Angeles, where I began acting and writing in the evenings.

I just wanted to be an actor since writing was something that I enjoyed, but I never thought I would pursue it professionally. When I first went to Hollywood and transitioned from being a production assistant to a full-time actor, I wasn’t getting the parts I wanted. Instead, I linked up with my writing partner, and we got together with a bunch of people and put together a sketch comedy show.

My writing partner and I then started a sketch comedy troupe, which was called Cleo’s Apartment, and it was a success — not financially, of course, but we sold out every show. We were doing it at this theater on Santa Monica Boulevard and people were coming out to see us every weekend, and it was great. We still weren’t getting the parts we wanted, so we had to create our own opportunities. We ended up making our own material, and we eventually got hired by HBO and AOL when they had a joint venture back in the day, and it was the first time we got to do what we wanted. We made 70 to 80 sketches, and we eventually got on David Alan Grier’s radar, and he gave us our first writing job on Chocolate News.

From there, we went to New York and met with Jimmy Fallon, who put us on his writing staff. We were also creating classic bits, like poetry and history of rap with Justin Timberlake, but he was also letting us write and sketch things that we could be in. It was a really beautiful moment to be in New York. We eventually went and did two pilots for HBO, and Amy Schumer booked me for my first feature as an actor. After that, Paul Feig put me in A Simple Favor.

We then created the comedy show South Side and I ended up getting bigger parts, including Hondo in Top Gun: Maverick, which was unexpected. It just all kept coming together, and we just kept working and working. We had plenty of shows and things we championed that never went forward, but you have to indulge in the shows and movies that do get made.

I’m very fortunate that I get to write and act. I always try to inspire people with my own narrative. I am very proud and blessed, as I get to dabble in many things. It’s very satisfying, and it makes you feel lucky if you can be successful in multiple things.

A big part of trying to build this career is understanding that your social resources, family and friends are so valuable; I don’t think anybody can be truly successful alone. You need to rely on other people, and I think the sooner you can understand how to get people out of their lane, the sooner you can all create something great together.

I’m really looking forward to making more difficult films. I love challenging experiences because I feel like in my experience, the stuff that’s really difficult always ends up being the best stuff. Season 2 of Sherman’s Showcase, which I created and star in, is about to come out and season 3 of South Side should be out later this year.

I want to be part of the wave which empowers people who make films to have more ownership of their art. I try to make sure my work speaks for itself. Who knows what the future holds, but I’m optimistic. Not only do I get to satisfy that academic part of my brain to create content and think of cool shows, but I also get to empower writers and performers — and still indulge in acting from time to time.

— As told to Jaclyn Roth

GRAZIA USA’s 2022 Fall issue will be available for purchase on newsstands nationwide in October. Email [email protected] to subscribe.