Meet Andrew Lloyd Preston of Gold Piece Films in North Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Lloyd Preston.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Andrew. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up poor. Being poor made me feel unnoticed and insecure about who I was and what I could bring to the table. My mother was a single white mother raising three black children. I didn’t know what I wanted to be or what I was capable of doing, but I didn’t want to be poor and I didn’t want to be invisible.

I always was interested in acting, since I was five I wanted to be a Ninja Turtle and was performing scenes along with the cartoons and films in the living room when we stayed with my Grandmother and Grandfather outside of the city. Shortly afterward we moved to the city and I got into football and did only sports until the end of high school. But, I was reintroduced to the idea of performing, because I went to see a play that two friends and members of the football team were in and caught the bug and knew that my interest was peaked again.

I never thought I’d be an actor because I was always being told that I had the voice for radio but not the face for television. The bug bit me in college during my freshman year while I audited a vocal training for the actor class at the theatre. Fast forward, I finished at Alabama State University, I have won awards, accommodations, and a craft that no one could take for me or belittle. It felt good being accomplished in that way. I earned respect for myself, and I loved it. After moving to LA and performing many shows and skits. I was stoked to be in a place were my craft, skill, and experience could grow. I keep a list of all of the things and people that I have come across and done, and it always brings me back to the thought of how far that I have come and also what is ahead of me. Those people, those experiences made me who I am, that help build a lot of the things that I love about myself and I am forever indebted to them. I moved to the west coast pursuing the dream and I’ve been acting in movies, tv shows, and I even started my own company, which I predicted that I would 15 years prior while in school. I’m building my own production company to produce the stories I want to tell. I hope I can be for a kid what so many actors of all colors and cultures have been to me.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been a challenging path, but I gotta admit it has also been a path of connecting to people who showed me that I am more than my struggles. I’m from Huntsville, Alabama and I mentioned that I grew up poor. I was ashamed of myself because people made me feel like I was a mistake because of my parents. Kids, adults, people who didn’t even know us always look at us and judged us, and intentionally messed with us to amuse themselves. We were the focus of their racial anger and hatred just because we were there. I wanted to leave every day. Once outside though I was bullied in my neighborhood a lot. I didn’t want to be at home because mom had to work, no father and my brother and sister needed someone to watch them. The only kid thing about my childhood that I kept for myself was football. I was afraid to go outside sometimes because every day was a reminder that I was different and that I might have to fight to keep other kids/people form messing with me or my family. I got into a lot of fights.

I know what it’s like to be hungry and to have the city shut off your power and water cuz you can’t pay. Through all of this, I found solace in certain people who helped me keep my sanity and what little joy I had at that time. Without them, I seriously would probably be in lock-up or worse. At Alabama State University, my professors Dr. Tommie Stewart and Brian Martin saw more in me too. Brian Martin bent over backward to help me even when I didn’t deserve it cuz I didn’t always do what I was supposed to do, and I lived in the theatre working on my craft. There I might my Dramatic Guild family, they helped me create a drive and fire for what I do better than anyone could’ve imagined. I love them and will forever be connected to them. Even in LA, those that live here we still connect as often as we can. They are my family. I didn’t realize how much that time molded me until I came to LA. Blessing after blessing. There’s so much I could share but if I never got over my fears of trusting myself and what I can do, then I wouldn’t have ever touched a stage, and never came to LA. If those people from home and at ASU didn’t see me I’d probably still be at home afraid to go outside.

Please tell us about your work.
I came out to LA after selling everything I owned, paid off some debt, and landed myself in LA with only $20 to my name. No locked in place to stay, a google voice number, and no guaranteed source of income. A literal dollar and a dream move. I have since, forged myself on a path of self-discovery in this industry. Realizing that to make a brand out of myself here in LA I would have to be more than an actor. I then needed to create stories based on some elements of his private life, that felt real to him, which he thinks will resonate with other people. I needed to collaborate with new and different artists, gain new perspectives. With that came an opportunity to finally create my own company that allowed me to always be able to create instead of waited to be called upon to possibly work on a gig that basically would make me be terrorist 1, or gang member three. So I remembered in college my friends and I discussed at one point making our own company of actors to do just that. I wanted to call it Gold Piece.

At one point in history “A GOLD PIECE” was a simple form of currency. What people also overlook is the meaning of the words. GOLD represents not just wealth but a dream. PIECE, in short, means a part of a whole. And if you are whole then you are at PEACE. That is what this company means to me. I have peace because 15 years ago in Montgomery, AL it was just that, a piece of a dream. Now, I have that piece/peace and the dream is now being realized. It is one of the few things in life that I control that overall makes me happy.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I hope that I don’t have to. I’ve been through too much on this ride, I’d rather see how I ended up. You never know, even if you know everything the next go-round, it doesn’t mean that you come out better on the other side. I’d rather finish my race and be proud that I did my best, and besides, I’m confident enough to know that I will be alright simply because I have faith in myself to not fail.

Contact Info:

• Email: goldpiecefilms@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrewlloydpreston/
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLMkmXbs9__iACkQCYsuX2g?view_as=subscriber

Image Credit:
@julianjqn (Julián Juaquín)
@moten_photography (James M. Black)
@germainarroyo (Germain Arroyo)

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