Rising Stars: Meet Jermaine Alexander

Hi Jermaine, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m a city kid with southern upbringing. With my mother being from South Carolina our household was kept pretty southern. As we say, “We can eat like nobody’s business”. Some good ‘ol southern cooking. I was born and raised in Oakland, California. My first spark of knowing I wanted to be an actor was watching the film The Color Purple. People mock and make fun of it now but I remember memorizing the entire film and reciting it as believable as possible. It was real for me. I had the need to communicate real feelings to evoke a response from others. I was an entertainer. No one could tell me different. There weren’t many opportunities to act. I didn’t know that acting was a tangible option. So, I just recited movies all day and tried to make my family laugh when I could. One day in middle school, I followed my cousin to a “rehearsal” one evening and I discovered music in the form of a marching band. The girls danced and the guys played drums.

Because of my size, I was given the bass. I was immediately hooked and I was at almost every rehearsal till college. Shout out to F.A.D (Finding Alternative Directions) Cadet Drill Team. We traveled the country and performed in competitions and won 8th place in the World Drill-A-Rama one year. This fueled a fire for live performance. As I became a high school student, I gravitated towards the Pep band and where I also played the bass but I felt like something was missing. Them BOOM the schools Christmas show came up. Oakland Technical High school did a Santa Christmas show and needless to say, I auditioned and got the part of Blitzen. All I remember is running really fast and delivering one line that made the audience go crazy. At least that’s how I remembered it. I felt complete. I was on stage making people feel things. And in this case, they felt great! And I was pleased. This synergy changed my life forever. All I needed was work ethic and a plan.

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?

For example, I wanted this one side gig so bad. PA gig with DWTS. I applied for four years straight with references and all. I finally got on the phone with a person “Who had the golden ticket” and they smashed my spirit with what I would still call BS. I was determined but because of fear and a misplaced need, in that moment, I experienced sharp physical pain because “I NEEDED that job.” I’m human and if anyone can hear this, never need a job that bad for any reason. It’s great to fight for a job but if a “No” is going to hurt you MOVE ON. It’s OK. When people say “If something is for you, its for you” THEY ARE RIGHT! Now it feels ridiculous to say I had an involuntary physical reaction to a job that had almost nothing to do with MY primary goal but it’s the principle. It could have been any job. Mindset. So, Money, fear and rejection are tools to get you stuck in those deep cracks or tripping over those bumps to your success. Go hard for what you want and don’t get distracted and what is meant for you will be there…for you.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?

We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?