Daily Inspiration: Meet Dazeran Jones

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dazeran Jones.

Dazeran, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started with not making the basketball team my 9th or 10th grade year, but then finally making it my 11th-grade year, and also growing 5 inches as I started my basketball career helped. I Was known for my athletic ability, and in the 12th grade year became a starter averaging a double-double becoming a hometown favorite. I Helped lead my team to a title run, going the furthest in our school’s history at the time. Following this, I began to get college offers, to which I Committed and only played 2 semesters before an injury which resulted in me then losing my scholarship.

So I left and started working and started playing for a non payed semi-pro team to getting scouted by a paid-pro team where I went on to win my first national championship.

I then got picked up by the court kingz entertainment team feature ‘Hot Sauce’ and ‘The Professor’ where my abilities were seen worldwide.

At the time, I was still working a 9-5 warehouse job when I got scouted by Ball Is Life to join their East Coast squad, and helped them to pioneer the team into a modern-day streetball team which opened up the realm for YouTube, social media and content creating, which lead to a production team reaching out for a role as an extra in “White men can’t jump”. It was there on set that they saw my talents and abilities of my online persona “Duke Slywalka” and upgraded my part to in the film to playing myself in a critical basketball scene at the iconic Venice Beach courts…

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Struggles along the way we’re staying healthy, time management trying to fit in basketball while working and trying to spend time and take care of my family. Having a child on the way at the age of 18 made me realize I had to step up and juggle priorities to make everything work, now at 29 I am a father of 4 beautiful children, have a growing persona and social media presence as a content creator and athlete, and now launching my acting career.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m known for my basketball skills, crazy dunks and viral clips on social media. Also being a part of the biggest basketball platform on the planet “ballislife”, taking part in Diddy’s league “The Crew League” streamed on his Revolt TV, being a MOCAP actor for the game NBA 2k 2024 and I have massive followings on all social media. And now I’m a part of the sag AFTRA union for actors.

We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Good luck was played in me being emailed out of the blue for a role as an extra in ‘WMCJ’ but they wanted local talent in LA and extras usually get about $200 a day but they don’t cover travel expenses or hotels. But I went anyways flight was $1100 round trip, hotel $600 for two days, and Uber expenses during surge hours was $50 to go 3 miles down the road. Still happy about the opportunity I went and one thing led to another and I was upgraded to an actual role where I play as my persona Duke Skywalka. Got to wear my necklace that has a pendant that says Skywalka. Had my own camper and was treated like a A-List celebrity.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dukeskywalka.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/dukeskywalka
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/dukeskywalka