Today we’d like to introduce you to Raisu Williams.
Hi Raisu, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Florida and started acting at the age of five years old. My very first job that I booked was a national commercial and at the time I thought that was normal. I’d say almost every audition after that was booked or a callback. I was so young so I was thinking at the time that acting and booking was easy. My family moved from Florida maybe a year or two after I started acting and we kept moving all over the US. My mom was very nomadic so we’d stay in a state for a year or so then move to a completely different state. I realized that I actually enjoyed acting but as I got older, I also realized that acting is a very unique and intricate craft that is not as easy as I originally thought it was. I started writing at the age of 14 and by the age of 18 it was time to get a “real job”. I was so close to booking the life-changing auditions in the past so I was bummed that I actually had to work a 9 to 5 because I’d grown up thinking any day will be the day. I went through a lot of trials and tribulations after starting my first job but ultimately I decided to work hard towards continuing my dream of acting and now writing as well. I taught myself how to fluently speak Japanese, worked hard and obtained an entertainment visa to work in Japan as an actor. My journey took me all over the US to Japan and now I reside in LA. Everything that I learned and experienced ultimately brought me here.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
This road has been the complete opposite of smooth. I had to transition from being close to the big break to working at a retail store for 6$ an hour. I eventually transitioned into the culinary industry and was laughed at in an interview. I did some modeling before as well both in America and Japan but, despite that, when I tried to get a new agent I was told that I didn’t belong there. I feel like when I was young, I didn’t see the real world but when I got older, it all came at me like a ton of bricks. This extremely bumpy road taught me to be resilient and definitely gave me thick skin.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
You can see me soon in a drama/comedy series called Parallel and in the inspirational boxing movie Bobcat Moretti. I’ve hosted a plethora of high-profile events for a variety of companies. I also just finished writing an original feature-length film and an original drama series that has my life ingrained within the fabric of the story so keep an eye out for that coming soon as well. Instead of looking at myself as what sets me apart, I like to look at myself as what makes me unique. I speak Japanese and some Portuguese, study kickboxing and I want to bring a different perspective to what it means to be African American.
How do you think about luck?
I feel like I have the worse of luck. I have never won a raffle or anything that involves luck. All of the success I’ve achieved up to this point came from hard work and preparation for the opportunities that I’ve been blessed with.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryeraisu?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Other: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm9160977/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Image Credits
Molly Pan Photography Federico Settimelli Ryusei Kano Tori Zaitonia
