Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamal Wade.
Jamal, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My mom was a single mother raising my two younger brothers and I. We lived in an all black subdivision situated on the North Side of Baton Rouge near Southern University. Much like many other Southern, black families, a large part of our family and social bonding experiences were centered around sports. My uncles and mom were amazing athletes, my brothers following in those steps. I didn’t have the desire or interest in them, and I wasn’t shy about making that known. Luckily, I had a mother who recognized that instead of fighting it and allowed me to discover my own path. I used that freedom to lean into my academics and really interpret my surroundings through a lens that wasn’t driven by the idea of that sports would be my “way out”. My mother pushed that curiosity by trying to supplement it with real world things so what seemed like a fantasy actually felt within reach. At some point, I became really obsessed with being a spy. That year’s Christmas was filled with the craziest gadgets- motion detectors, edible spy paper, and karate lessons! Of course, a few weeks later I decided I was more into marine biology. All of those things took my mind away from my surroundings and made my world feel a lot bigger than the blocks of rough neighborhood.
Coming out of 5th grade, I was afforded the opportunity to attend a performing arts middle school after passing all the required testing and under the condition of maintaining a high GPA. This change ultimately had one of the biggest impacts on my early years given the fact that it exposed me to the arts, and more importantly to seeing kids with similar interests to my own. For the first time, I wasn’t the smartest in the room or the most well behaved. It felt unreal to be in a classroom where I was not only challenged by the teacher but also by my peers. Aside from the clear shift in academic accountability, having so many creative arts embedded into the curriculum was the thing that excited me most. During the first week of school, the Rhythm and Movement classes performed “No Bad News” from The Wiz in the school gym. Granted, I had never seen or even heard of The Wiz, it didn’t change the fact that I was completely entranced with these young performers decked out in their best DIY flying monkey costumes. I’d never thought about performing but I knew right then that I wanted to be down there with them! The next year I opted out of PE and joined the dance class. The class wasn’t based in any particular style and really acted as a substitution for physical education. Our teacher choreographed to popular music or used themes throughout semesters to determine what work we would produce. We were often given choreography assignments to come up with partnering sections that included lifts and stunts. What we lacked in technique, we made up for in creativity and showmanship. Led by our incredible teacher Robbye Thomas, some of our best pieces took us as far as Disney World to perform! That class taught me focus, discipline, and most importantly, pride in the work that I put in. It became my way out.
All at the same time, I was discovering my sexuality and becoming more comfortable in my own skin. Now with more of an advantage in the school system, I seamlessly transitioned to the best school in the parish- another hub for academic excellence and creative exploration. It was there that I decided to take up ballet, a little less concerned with the judgments I originally faced taking up an interest in dance as a young black boy. I really loved ballet. It made sense to me in the same way that math and science did. I loved that I had to partially learn a new language just to understand what was happening in class. I loved learning about the greats who contributed to this incredibly physically demanding, yet beautiful art form. My teacher, Sharon Mathews, took note of that and as the Artistic Director of the Baton Rouge Ballet Theatre, she gave me a full scholarship to study with the company’s school. From there, I hit it hard rushing home to finish my homework just in time to get taken to ballet and get barely enough sleep for the next school day. Because everyone else had years of experience on me, I took the children’s ballet class just to catch up on the basics that I struggled with in the teen class. The ballet also exposed me to other technical styles. I applied for intensives and conservatory training programs to build my foundation. After a lot of training, I worked up the courage to audition for a show being produced locally by Debbie Allen after a not so successful audition attempt earlier in my dance journey. I was cast in the show with about 50 other young people from all over the city and surrounding area trying to be seen by one of Hollywood’s most accomplished women. I went on to perform in her productions the next four years. It was an opportunity that grew me so much as a performer.
I was still performing through the year with BRBT and doing musicals with the local theatre compay, New Venture Theatre directed by Greg Williams. I even got be an apprentice in a modern dance company. In my head, dance still wasn’t a viable career but I knew I had to start thinking seriously about what I wanted to do once senior year came around. My mind was set on going to school for environmental engineering. I received an audition from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, AMDA, I decided to audition. I ended up getting in and actually began seeing a way for me to make things happen. Prior to learning about the school, I had really no concept of what Los Angeles was let alone what my life might be like there. While at AMDA, I got to train and perform like never before. It was an environment perfectly suited for the growth and development of artists seeking to start a career in the industry. There I worked with the teachers I now consider to be my mentors, who contribute to my career til this day. My school days consisted of dance classes of various styles, acting classes, vocal training, and academics geared towards the arts. I discovered my love for writing and directing as a result of the exposure to all of these new things. I did my best to apply what I was learning out in the real world, at least so that it didn’t affect my school work and extracurricular productions. I attended networking events, did background acting, and even booked a campaign and music video. Getting to apply the information from my classes out in the industry really helped me get a head start on figuring out what worked for me. I graduated with my BFA in Dance Theatre, signing with The Movement Talent Agency and JLA Talent. Some of my first jobs following graduation were through teachers and contacts gathered over the years.
Like every other artist here, I ran myself across one end of the city to the other for auditions and castings. The combination of all these things with lots of consistency eventually led to me working on some pretty awesome projects with artists like P!nk, Snoop Dogg, Swae Lee, and brands like Nintendo and Google. I was able to learn a lot on set and challenged myself to gather as much as I could from observation. My openness to trying new things led to my first experiences in production working as a production assistant and talent coordinator on music videos and shorts films. This type of cross training was exactly what I was doing during my college years and helped me align myself with work and people that meant something to me. Working at this capacity brought me one of my first choreography jobs with HitCo/Wondaland’s Josh Dean for his DropDead video. I later got to work as a choreographer and movement director for artists like Ari Lennox and Ambre. I’ve also been fortunate to work as a director for several music videos and a short film. Currently, I am still working as a freelance actor, dancer, movement director, and director, represented by Jackson Entertainment.
Great, 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?
There have been struggles and obstacles at every stage of my life, the earliest and most immediate were those of being a young, black boy in a poor neighborhood on the NorthSide of Baton Rouge. We lived in subsidized housing and my mother was in school, while working full time throughout my childhood. Our neighborhood schools were severely underfunded with high class populations and few opportunities beyond school walls. There wasn’t a lot of extra money laying around so my mom really tried her best to invest it in enriching our schedules with sports and afterschool programs. As I grew older, I became more aware of the bullying from kids that called me gay because of the way I spoke and my lack of interest in sports. Most of the time it didn’t bother me because it was never severe. I also had quite the pair of fighting hands from jumping into the messes my brothers stirred up around the neighborhood. I think some of the most hurtful things said to me actually came from my family before I came out. In the south though, there was also a more unavoidable struggle: racism.
My first experience was at a white friend’s birthday party in a rural neighboring city called Zachary. My brother and I saw a “free kittens” sign in one of the neighbors’ yards. Upon approaching the driveway, a little girl about five years old yell from the doorway, “Get outta my yard n****rs”! We definitely didn’t get a kitten, but we did get a taste of what many black Americans experience everyday. This also wasn’t the worst case scenario. One night after coming home from the grocery store with my mom and brother ahead of me in another car, I saw them being pulled over just as we entered our neighborhood and into our driveway. Two officers rushed out of their cars toward my mom and brother yelling get on the ground with their guns pulled. They forced them onto the concrete, knees to backs yelling that they were evading the police. Eventually, the situation dialed down, but there still hadn’t been a reasonable explanation for how or why it got to that point. Most recently, an obstacle that took me a while to confront was acknowledging toxic social situations/friendships. I was running myself dry trying to be there for people and didn’t see that they weren’t willing to do the same. I’ve seen people be so vicious with one another to a point where I began questioning my own morale. Overcoming it was a matter of continuing to be compassionate, but to also stand my ground before allowing someone to take advantage of me.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a multi-hyphenate artist working as an actor, dancer, choreographer and director. I’ve worked as a dancer and actor for music videos, commercial, and film. I am also a member of Iris Dance Company, an immersive dance theatre company here in LA. I love embodying an organic type of storytelling through different mediums, channeling inspiration from my own experiences and the stories of others. I think I’m best known for my commitment to art and projects that feel important to me. I have a good sense of self, especially as it pertains to my artistry and it has allowed me to put out honest work that I hope resonates with others. Creating and being a part of projects that not only reflect my own views but also expands them is what I aim to have constantly in my career. I’m still growing and learning, but my voice is becoming clearer with more experience. As an artist, I take a great deal of pride in my ability to pull together resources and make the most of what I’m given. I’ve never settled for “I don’t know” or “I can’t”, dedicating myself to getting an answer or finding a way. One thing that separates me from most people in the room is my conscious effort to make sure everyone around me feels appreciated and valued for the work they do. There’s something beautiful, unique, and valuable that we all bring to the table. I think we do our best work when we feel trusted and supported in sharing.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
When I was eight years old, a new kid and his three siblings moved in across the street. He wasn’t very nice at, and it didn’t take getting to know him to know that. He and his brother would pick on kids, using name calling as their primary tactic and fighting when they felt they needed to put someone in place. Quite frankly, plenty of kids around the neighborhood were the same way so it wasn’t surprising behavior. A few of the kids from our block use to sneak into the school after hours by crossing the canal that separated our subdivision from the land the school was on. We let the new boy and his younger brother come with us one day since eventually they would learn to cross the canal from someone. While at the school, we were all practicing our wall backflips on the fence. The goal was to run up the side of a fence/wall and then propel yourself into a backflip. I was getting pretty good at the take off but hadn’t figured the flip out yet. The new kid struggled with building up the run without slipping once he got to the wall. I went over to him to try to offer some help and without any warning or notice, he punches me right in the face. All the other kids stop playing as I stood there frozen. I had no idea what do. I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a joke or if he was actually trying to start a fight with me.
So, I just stood there, he walked away and everyone continued to play. My mother threw a fit when I came back home with a bruised eye. She yelled at me with most of it was going in one ear and out the other. I just couldn’t understand why was she mad at me! I heard her call my uncles on the phone and them coming to a conclusion about to do. Soon after, my mom told me that I should never let anyone do that to me, whether they started it or if I’m scared to retaliate. She took my hand and marched me across the street to the kid’s yard demanding that he and his mom come outside. It was clear to me that this fight wasn’t over. The other kid’s mom tried to get him to apologize, and instead of doing so, he actually pushed me. For a split second, I could remember seeing my mom and hearing what she had just told me. I immediately charged back at the other kids, as we began to fight. Just so we’re clear, I did not win this fight. That didn’t matter though. When it was all over, I could see my mom smiling. She knew I had lost, but I could tell she was still proud of me. The next day the boy from across the street apologized and asked me to play with them, and he never picked on me again.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bit.ly/jamalkw
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/jamalkwade
- Facebook: facebook.com/jamalkwade
Image Credit:
Jack Dytrych, Mark Clennon, Alex Harper, Alex Lepkowski, Chris Greenwell, Stevie Kenton
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