Rising Stars: Meet Shon Oku

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shon Oku.

Hi Shon, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I started pursuing the performance arts actively when I turned 17 years old. I began taking classical voice classes with a colleague of the late Luciano Pavarotti. Her name, rest-in-peace, was Noelle Rogers Van Etten. She was the first person to truly see a spark and a diamond in the rough.

After I graduated high school, I moved to NYC, where I went on to act in many plays in the Harlem Theater Scene. To my own surprise, I landed myself a theater review in the New York times and, for someone discovering himself, that blew me away.

I later moved to Los Angeles where I’ve resided for nearly ten years in order to attend CalArts. It was there that I began honing my skills to gain consistency and connect to the sublime parts of my soul. I have since produced, directed, and written a show that I put on at RedCat and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival abroad. The shows name is “IamI” (eye-uhm-eye) and there is a trailer available on Vimeo by the name “IamI Trailer.”

Following my stint with theater, I began producing, writing, and performing music under the aliases Shawn Holographic and Jolograf. Combined I completed 4 projects under the aliases and went on to make what is the most clear example of genius I’ve produced to date: “Black Piece of Sh*t”. BPOS is a performance art piece linked with challenging musical and vocal exploration that touches something equally wordless and profound. I have now come to believe that it deserves to be in a museum. Maybe Hammer? The video can be found only on Vimeo because it got me permanently banned from TikTok (before I really knew what TikTok was) and got banned on youtube.

Today, I am a new SAG-AFTRA member who got eligibility through a rare stroke of luck where the project I was attached to turned SAG after I was already attached contractually and by necessity. While I audition and work on my most personal project to date, I also sell solar to help pay the bills.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There is no such thing. The only people that seemingly have a smooth road are those who were gifted with luck and even those people struggle with insecurity because they do not understand or know what they have done to get what they’ve received. We’ll start with growing up black in the south (Tampa, Florida). One thing that communicates this wholly is that it took me well until I was into adulthood (roughly 23) to realize that I was actually an attractive human being and I had enjoyed many privileges because of that fact. Harsh, internalized and imposed slave mentality had ingrained in me that there was no way I could be attractive. However, my faith in God or Christ was a strong anchor to my self-esteem and shielded me from many of the pangs of insecurity.

That faith did not last. I entered crippling depression at about 14 or 15 years of age that lasted eight years. I only noticed that I was depressed after I was no longer depressed. I struggled with a rapid influx of suicidal thoughts. But I pressed on, and I always felt a calling within me that pushed me forward. This calling pushed me forward even when I’d become a self-proclaimed nihilist (a label I now find to be humorous).

Since I have dealt with many of the standard vicissitudes of life. One of those being when your dreams meet with reality. Not many survive that one. Not many press on when their dreams come tumbling down the road on a gravel hill. I did and I still do. It has become clear to me that any idea I have of where I want to be is inherently immaterial. In any scenario, I am always checking in with my instincts and my instincts press me forward. Therefore, I do.

I could go on for many novels about the details involving obstacles and challenges; And what light in man shines despite. It’s poetry.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an actor, writer, and musician. I specialize in honesty, vocal performance, and psychological prose. I am most proud of my seemingly endless imagination. When I was a boy, school psychologists diagnosed my abstract thinking as genius level. This diagnosis has brought me lots of pain throughout my life and I do not wish it on anyone. It has taken me a long time to realize that there is actually nothing that sets me apart from others. I am simply a unique aesthetic on the ultimately average and the separation is entirely perceived. I’ve come to value getting lost and I am excited that I discovered the ability to follow my impulse to breathe. It has allowed me to rediscover joy in my life and shirk boredom. It has allowed me to become my own film.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
If you would like to work with or collaborate with me, follow me on my Instagram @jolograf and send me a DM. I will read it and respond. I don’t know how anyone truly supports anyone else in the current age of social media, most seem like lip service. If you would like to support me, I would say the best thing you could do is seek to actually understand my work. If I feel that I am seen, I will feel supported. If you have skills that can get me closer to publishing my upcoming novel or help promote the art I’ve made thus far, that would be greatly appreciated as well.

As far as my acting career goes, I’m unsure if anyone can really help anyone else with that. But if you have some ideas, I’m all ears.

Lastly, if you’ve been thinking about solar and want an unplugged sort of guy to give it to you email me at [email protected].

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jolograf
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shawnholographic7561
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/jolograf

Image Credits
Brian Hashimoto Photography