0:00
let's clap this up right here it's one of my new favorite series right now hb okay i love it for so many reasons talk
0:07
to us i love it because of the character development that we're starting to see in the character Riri mhm um I love it
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that it's Marvel yeah um but what I like is some of the people the architects of
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this series and and and and who they are when I speak about some of the EPs on
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the series some of the writers um the directors Sam Bailey um Angela Barnes um
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Shanaka Hajj one of the main writers of this these are black women right and um
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my brother Ryan Cougler his amazing wife Zindsey and all of these people shout out to them as well are affiliated um
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into this project and Shanaka is someone who um has done poetry we saw on Death
0:53
Poetry Jam years ago most importantly though Shanaka is from my home soil town
0:59
business she's from Oakland California come on that makes a lot of sense tracy G hometown Pride hometown Pride and when
1:08
I learned about the plot of this in of of Iron Hart this new series and who's
1:14
starring in it I got really excited so much so I asked my my good friend Leroy
1:19
Hawkins about the young lady who he's co-starring with as her dad yep i'm
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talking about Dominique Thorne and she's here with us today give her a big round of applause
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she only hits home runs winning Wednesday she's never struck out let's
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go only hits home runs judas and the Black Messiah that's a whole run
1:44
that's a whole run forever that's a whole runing
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Trinidad stand up big Trinidad Tobago
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[Applause] what an intro oh my goodness i'm excited
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for you this is huge thank you this is big amen
2:08
you feel it i sure do i sure do
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that's dope this is it man you're you're in By the way Dominique I don't know if you know this but Heather and I are also
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a part of the MCU you know i knew that was coming for some reason and like you
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you put co-star with yourself for sometimes for the wrong reasons oh man
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we did co-star in Luke Cage i don't know if you That's We were there yeah that's
2:37
You need any advice on how to navigate through Marvel i appreciate that cuz you know we got to stick together we got to
2:43
stick together right Dominique we do indeed sway and I did two episodes one was visual the other was audio hey you
2:50
in there call somebody else don't call you are in there
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i appreciate the support all right absolutely i'm gonna take the support no matter what okay i I I want to ask you
3:01
about your well-being first before we talk about this let's go you know you you have a lot of energy around you
3:08
right now and you've had for for quite some time right and and when you take on a role like this it could be it could be
3:15
heavy I'm sure you know it's a lot that's weighing on it but how are you personally how's your well-being
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navigating this this reality man you know that's a good way to to put it a
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lot of energy around you but um to be honest I feel like I've always had a lot
3:35
of energy around me and it started with my family you know you shouted out Trinidad and Tobago and anybody who
3:42
knows any Triny knows that that's pure energy you know and so I feel very fortunate and very grounded to have come
3:48
up in an environment of very conscientious and considerate people a
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family that was very very big on how you show up in the world how you show up in
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your home how you show up for the people who love you um and in turn obviously they've shown up for me in this moment
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you know and it meant a lot to have my family in the room right now my family come down to California fly in from
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Trinidad uh friends come from across the country uh to really celebrate this moment cuz those are the people who have
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been with me on the journey wow um so no matter what before I even get to what's going on with uh whatever I might be a
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part of in the world like in my home in my heart everything is great good and that's everything for me so wow
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i like that cool i appreciate
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Listen I I care trust me I care beyond the screen amen i care beyond the screen
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amen playing this role I was telling you off mic I I would love for you to kind of break down for those who haven't
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watched it yet uh what Iron Hard is about but um one of the things I like about it is your character Riri
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represents so many other people who don't always have a uh who don't have representation don't have a platform
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this is a a young black girl who is genius she's brilliant right uh she has
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a lot of ideas um she has a lot big vision in how she sees the world um but
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she doesn't necessarily have the resources to bring those visions um to fruition but what does this role you
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played a lot of great roles but what does this role mean to you oh man I remember the kind of uh deciding factor
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the thing that took me over the hump um to like say yes to this insanely
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incredible offer was really thinking about that representation thinking about uh my baby brother who is about to turn
5:47
nine uh who was much younger at the time thinking about you know the nieces and nephews to to come along the way
5:53
thinking about the younger generation like thinking about the me um that I might have been had I seen something
5:59
like this or if it was an option in the the mix of black girls who were you know representing for us at the time that I
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was coming up um and that's really what won me over i'm from a Marvel family so
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I was excited about the you know oh my god like to meet Oz you know but um
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ultimately it was it was that it was the the folks that it would touch and I think uh playing Riri has only continued
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to magnify just how important that is uh we've we've gone to a couple elementary
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schools and uh colleges on this press tour and it's beautiful to see young
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girls we just went to the uh Griffin Museum of Science and Industry over in Chicago and we had a like a sitdown
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roundt discussion Q&A with these uh young girls in their uh girls in STEM
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program at the museum and they had been doing workshops all day and then Lyric and I L Ross shout out to that talent
6:56
and that beautiful young woman Lyric Ross the two of us she's also from Chicago okay went there sat down had a
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beautiful conversation with them and you can see the excitement like the hope in in their eyes like "Oh my god like she
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does what I do." Like or I'm also interested in this thing you know like cuz they're at that age where they're figuring it out um and so to have
7:16
something that's aspirational even if it's just oh like she got some fly stuff
7:22
on you know like whatever level it is that folks can see something and feel
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excited by her and want to lean into the truth of who they are i think I think that has been the the best the best
7:34
thing to come out of playing her so far all right man we got Dominique Thorne here heather I'mma hog you for a second
7:39
i know you are it's okay i'm used to you way he's a cancer he's a cancer yeah
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uh for those who don't know what Iron Heart is can you explain this series man
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uh excuse me when we last saw Riri in Wakanda Forever that was really the
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first time that she is being forced to recognize that her actions have consequences
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um you know she's there with all of that brilliance she she's at MIT um and
8:16
wanting to really leverage her time at that school to make all these incredible visions come to light not thinking that
8:21
anyone else in the world would care far more to notice and be paying attention to her the way that we clearly saw that
8:27
they were so now she is forced to go back home and really sit with the
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ramifications of this potential um she's
8:39
been woken up to it in a way that she cannot overlook she's kind of forced to really lean into the truth of who she is
8:47
in order to figure out who this iron heart person thing is going to be she got a
8:53
closeup look at what it takes to lead a nation when she was watching Shisions
8:59
and now it's really time for her to make her own big decision um and it's it starts at the home it starts with going
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back home yeah wow this is great you're doing great by the way you're really breaking into cheering on i'm cheering
9:12
her on for a first interview well um there's there's Robert Downey Jr right
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um Iron Man yeah mhm um famous character famous actor um says some really great
9:27
words towards you i'm going to read the quote i know you've heard it but I'm going to read it all right he says "Miss
9:34
Thorne I couldn't be happier than seeing you bringing Riri Williams to life iron
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Man loves Iron Heart." Wow wow what that you ever met him that's so sweet only
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Yeah only digitally um we've had a couple FaceTimes for sure uh that was a
9:52
beautifully sweet surprise for him to kind of you know pop in on that interview and and you know just continue
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to push the love um but yeah just just talking to him over FaceTime was really
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the extent of of us getting to know each other and he has been nothing but supportive from the inception kind of
10:09
you know how we started this interview like probably the individual who
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understands exactly what it is and what is required to take up this weird very
10:21
specific kind of uh to do this very weird kind of specific genre work you
10:27
know that is the superhero genre but still want to make it real and grounded and and give some give people something
10:34
genuine and authentic and rooted to hold on to as well um and of course acknowledging that you know it's going
10:41
to be a lot different than whatever his walk was even with all that considered
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um so it's it's been brilliant you know it's important too cuz being members of
10:59
toot your better toot your horn i know that's right two episodes yeah what I learned
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though is that the fans of the MCU are very particular oh yes they are right
11:13
like if something ain't right hello you know they they're in the streets you going to know right u so him doing that
11:21
right yes robert Downey Jr sending that quote that confirmation
11:26
really helps right absolutely i mean even just like uh mentally you know it's
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nice to have that confirmation like Okay word i'm not tripping i'm not tripping i'm not bugging like okay cool um yeah
11:41
you know dominique th Okay I'mma let Heather get in and the rest of the No and welcome
11:46
again Dominique we're excited to have you but you mentioned this word that I love i love confirmation excuse me i
11:52
love confirmation i love testimonies i love I love process of it all and I
11:57
don't want to assume but it sounds like you you said that you were offered a role so maybe you didn't particularly
12:02
have to audition for this one but if um if you don't mind sharing what was the process like for you um for your first
12:10
audition or maybe an audition that you went out for that you didn't get versus
12:15
the one that you went out for and you got what were those processes like for you oh just like through in life like
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throughout the ride through throughout your ride yeah i'm curious about you know cuz you work hard you work just as
12:25
hard for the ones that you don't get you know versus the ones that you book so so
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te tell us about your process if you don't mind sharing yeah no I don't mind at all i
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uh care a lot yeah yeah oh my god
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it's exhausting you can take it all so personally yeah but you know I feel
12:47
really fortunate again like you know choosing to lean into the gratitude in all of it um which is not always easy
12:55
it's not it's not easy most of the time right but I think if you can uh lean you
13:00
can remember how essential gratitude is and always find your way back to it I feel like you'll be cool you'd be good
13:07
and for me I was really fortunate looking back to have gone to college and
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not cheated myself of that experience because I was forced to put my heart and
13:19
my attention elsewhere cuz I cared about this a lot and I cared about it in high school you know your emotions be all
13:25
over the place and overall when you're in high school you're just getting to know what these emotions are yeah and
13:31
you don't know how to control them for real they control you exactly exactly and I really think going to college and
13:38
still caring but having other things that required my energy and required my
13:44
focus really helped to kind of temper that out and kind of balance it for me and I got to the point where I was I
13:51
went to university outside of the city i'm from Brooklyn um I went to high school in the theater district so I'm
13:56
going up and down Broadway every day doing this thing and when I went to college I was upstate away from the city
14:03
and um I it was suggested the best way for me to stay in touch with the arts
14:08
community with you know with this acting thing if I you know I want to do it really do it is to do auditions through
14:14
tape and just send it down and this is pre- pandemic before everything was through tape you know it was it was a
14:20
little bit more of a novel idea to like make an audition tape and send that down consistently yeah um excuse me and so
14:26
that's what I was doing in between classes and I and I didn't focus on uh the performing arts for my degree so I
14:33
was really focused on other things and whenever I had a chance I was making time to do these tapes like sometimes
14:39
multiple tapes a week and Heather I'mma tell you like I did if I did like if I did multiple takes a week for the four
14:46
years that I was in university the one yes that I got throughout that
14:52
four-year period alone not counting auditioning before that or anything after that was Beiel Street
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there are so many nos girl there are so
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many more nos than the yeses that I've gotten in my life but I again going back
15:11
to being very grateful about the tribe that I come from Big TNT i was really taught to show
15:18
up that's right it's it's important thank
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you for sharing that it's so important that the people who listen to this show in particular the people who are now
15:31
going to see this conversation hear that because I think because of social media we were talking about earlier I think
15:37
people think your whole life is a yes like everything's just here it's so easy because we're seeing such micro versions
15:43
of everybody you know popping it's popping but nobody knows this side and
15:49
how you got here so thank you for sharing because there are so many nos and it's it can be extremely
15:55
discouraging and sometimes depressing even yeah for sure um I'm going to take it to um New York momentarily but where
16:02
you were talking about it um it made me think of the scene where in Iron Heart y'all mentioned my name so I came back
16:09
oh wow hey hey now big MCU family i'm MCU family what are we going to do with
16:15
your But in the episode there's a point where where where Riri Dominique's
16:21
character is talking to her AI friend Natalie who became AI through some
16:27
complications when she was building the Iron Heart suit and they're going back and forth in dialogue and Riri says
16:34
something to Natalie the AI character Heather and the AI character says
16:40
houseway i'm in there kid
16:48
kanye Kanye going to be calling about his royalties kanye
16:54
Kanye going to try to sue a computer
16:59
s computer kanye about mad as hell but but but it's
17:06
not about me it's about the writing right there you go i see what you did like
17:12
that Mike it's not about me sure it's about It's about Shanaka Haj right it's
17:18
about uh Sam Bailey it's about Angela Barnes and it these moments couldn't be
17:24
written in unless the writers are in tune with the culture and that's why it's so important that Riri's story is
17:32
to me told through the lens of a black writer right yes would you would you agree would you come you want to comment
17:38
exactly absolutely that you know throughout the press run I've had a few people ask uh what it felt like to step
17:46
in this role and know that I would have to advocate for you know this young black girl that everyone is wanting to
17:52
bring to life in this project and if I can't even explain how it felt to say
17:57
like well actually our executive produc there are several
18:03
black female executive producers and our head writer is a black woman from
18:09
Oakland with roots in Chicago our director is from Chicago our cast is
18:15
also from Chicago so by the time whatever point it is that's on the table has come down to me it's already gone
18:22
through several checks of people who are all focused on the same mission and that's a different type of uh work to
18:29
not have to fight for that in order to do your job um and that allows for just
18:36
a little bit more freedom you know um and and also a bit more comfort to feel like oh all right I ain't got to worry
18:43
about that i can focus on my lines right that's incredible yeah yeah well that's
18:49
great man when you see them tell them I said thank you all right let's take it to New York
18:55
dominique it's so good to have you on the show me lady it's so good to just
19:00
you know rise you high boo because you are killing it and I think one of my
19:05
favorite parts of you playing Riri is the fact that you guys both share such
19:11
high intellect brilliance you know you're very very humble Dominique but I got to tell our citizens this is a woman
19:18
that went to Cornell University okay when she's talking about college upstate
19:23
New York Cornell University and I read that you majored in human development
19:29
and inequality rights and I just wanted to know one how did that major and minor
19:36
help to inform you as an actress and then also for anyone who is just hearing
19:43
human development for the first time can you share exactly what was a part of the curriculum yeah I would say it felt like
19:53
the more um academic foundation to the things that I was
19:59
learning at the performing arts high school that I went to so we were studying like uh Meisner technique which
20:06
is like one branch of acting technique um we were doing movement for the actor voice and speech devising
20:14
acting technique like all of these classes focused on the instrument and the craft in high school and then going
20:22
over to college I was so restless because I'm used to you know standing up and moving for like so many hours of the
20:29
day and to sit at a desk in a lecture hall and study things that aren't lines
20:35
was a lot you know um and I'd started off studying immigration legislation i
20:41
probably for obvious reasons um but felt that that just wasn't the right fit to
20:47
really get to like lean in and lift up the human experience in the way that I
20:53
was interested in and human development felt like the next best step for me the
20:59
there's several concentrations that folks can take with human development it is exactly as it sounds how people
21:05
develop um for me the concentration that I leaned into was social and personality
21:10
development other folks might lean into the neuroscience science behind it all
21:16
so leaning into how your brain develops um within social and personality development excuse me the focus was
21:23
really on how our uh environments how our families how our
21:31
uh like internal and external relationships form the way that we think the way that we receive information the
21:38
way that we receive love the way that we give love um the way that we communicate um so truly how your personality is
21:45
formed and informed by your circumstances um throughout the lifespan so from infancy to gerontology which is
21:52
old age and that to me felt like the academic foundation for a lot of the
21:58
work that we would do in scene study class like breaking down a scene and wanting to understand what this person's
22:04
motivation is and and what the script tells us about their family and where they come from like now here I am
22:11
reading research papers and and going through the DSM5 to really get the the
22:16
the yeah like the academic foundations of of where all of that comes from people who've been looking at people and
22:23
studying people there was a brief moment when I thought I would be uh an anthropologist and so all of that just
22:30
felt like it was funneling into a focus and an appreciation for the human experience um and how we come to be who
22:37
we are and I think where I ultimately have chosen to lean in as an actor is in
22:43
how we represent the experiences that have made us who we are um and what that representation does
22:50
for other people who have not had your experience what it means to sit in an audience and allow someone the
22:56
opportunity to be changed not saying that they must or that there's anything wrong with how they are who they are
23:01
when they come into the theater um but just giving the option giving them the option to lean into a new experience
23:08
even if it's just for the sake of levity but especially if it's for the sake of learning something and growing as a
23:13
human being um that's ultimately what what I chose to lean into from the degree come on now Disney we got a
23:20
winner marvel we got a winner
23:27
mike we got a winner mike you definitely got a winner dominic I I love what you
23:32
just said right there and I love that lately we've been leaning in a lot to to college and something I had wanted to ask you was something as a fellow Greek
23:40
um I was watching um Watch the Yard and I love that Watch the Yard put your
23:45
chapter of Delta um to give you a tribute and that just made my heart smile and that made me think about my
23:51
chapter and and what that would make me feel if my chapter was to do that so I'm just curious how did that make you feel
23:57
uh in that moment because it brought such joy to me oh my gosh shout out to the magnificent
24:04
Mu Gamma chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated oh my goodness that was so so so so sweet and so
24:11
precious and so grounding because you know college feels like it was so far away but also always so close at home
24:18
you know so many of my friends to this day um that I see on the everyday that came out here are from college and I
24:24
think um you know you get so focused on the job or whatever it is that's in front of you that you not forget but
24:31
your your focus just shifts and I think seeing that video was a like it just took me all the way back and reminded me
24:38
like oh like the the community is still growing you know like and they're still
24:44
watching and loving and supporting and and the chapter of course has been so so so supportive so to see that from the
24:50
Neos was really really nice and the rest of the D9 community in the comment section too was showing you so much love yeah exactly cheers to D9 cheers to you
24:57
Dominique very proud of you what was that Mike the what nine what number nine d9
25:03
da for Dominique yeah yeah yeah the divine divine N okay my sisters aka
25:10
brothers of Sigma um so I'm familiar with Dominique and you i'm an MC i'm in
25:19
you know you know you got big you fight all right
25:26
um Anthony Ramos good friend of mine he he and I used to
25:33
host a Spike Lee summer parties oh man back in the day you ever go to a Spikeley party what you in Brooklyn i
25:39
know i know i was working i ain't go nowhere i was in the Bucks
25:45
okay all right all right well shout out to your parents i got some
25:50
it was worth it look where you at David word word word yeah there'll be another Spikeley party
25:57
maybe you'll work with Spikeley who knows right i can see that anthony has done so much uh from Transformers from
26:04
his whole career you know and um he's a magnificent individual his brother's
26:10
always with him great guy really kind person but he plays the super villain
26:16
the hood right what was it like working with Anthony and just seeing him in this role and
26:22
were y'all able to bond you know just being in this absolutely man working
26:27
with Anthony and it's crazy that I only just told him this like in the midst of the press run but working with Anthony
26:34
is insane like as a a theater kid coming up out of New York we all were it felt
26:40
like we were all rooting and cheering for him we all saw him you know since his off Broadway days you know in
26:47
playing Na'vi and and and and really just taking off after that like uh yeah
26:53
so just following the journey closely he's also really close friends we have a mutual friend uh Dominique Fishbach they
26:58
did uh Transformers together she and I came up in the same theater company in New York so that was also like a
27:05
beautiful New York full circle moment um so to get to work with him finally was like whoa this is crazy like we really
27:12
doing this and he is as I'm sure you know he is a character he's hilarious he's just such good energy uh it's hard
27:20
not to laugh you know and and and to lean into all these very serious you know uh scenes with him but I also think
27:27
that's why it's perfect because he has he brings so much charisma to this hood
27:32
and really makes a compelling offer for Riri Williams you know i think we can
27:37
tell Riri would very quickly shut it down if it wasn't for him saying something if it wasn't for him making a
27:44
whole lot of sense you know um so yeah I think it's beautiful casting perfect
27:49
casting and and yeah I I couldn't imagine a better person to go on this ride with absolutely man that's our guy
27:55
right yeah sharing so much about Anthony and then you mentioned Dominique and and and different things you being from New
28:01
York and then we have other big cities people come out here possibly Chicago a lot of people are now working from the
28:06
Atlanta area but for folks that are not from that area that dream aspire to make
28:12
it how would you suggest they go about possibly getting recognized because
28:17
there aren't any off Broadway plays in Iowa you know or Nebraska and they can't
28:22
get an agent you know um what would you suggest you know and it may just throw it out there it may not work for
28:28
everybody but what are some of the things that you can possibly tell someone listening now in the Midwest possibly i remember I used to ask my my
28:34
teachers that all the time and they would say just be involved and I've
28:40
definitely found that to be true like kind of heeding their advice and and attempting to do that that's how I met Dominique you know just being involved
28:47
whatever it looks like like um because it's going to start at home that's the beginning of this conversation for real
28:53
but yeah I think whatever the local arts community theater community whatever
28:58
your respective medium is like whatever that community looks like in Iowa be involved you know what I mean um yeah
29:04
just practice your craft practice practice practice do it look for opportunities to do it do it yourself
29:10
you know one of my friends had to remind me that I was making short films and
29:15
directing on campus i forgot about that you know what I mean i really I really did i really forgot and she had to
29:22
remind me you know it's like yeah just doing anything you can i was taking stage makeup classes just anything to
29:28
just be connected and be involved um and from there the opportunities will find you and when they do find you you'll be
29:36
provided that's solid that's solid listen man this opportunity found you come on right
29:44
you didn't You didn't audition right no I didn't she was ready though she was
29:49
ready but to your point you said you put everything into every audition it was because of of a previous audition that
29:57
you were considered for this role right absolutely so you got to give your best no matter what well exactly and in God's
30:03
timing you'll find your place right the timing is sweet dominique Thorne man give her a big round of applause this is
30:09
great man disney Plus you got another one yes sir marvel you got another one
30:15
you got a winner another one come on iron Heart available now on Disney Plus
30:20
do you you still get the party go out or they they recognize you are we going out what absolutely i told you I wasn't
30:26
outside then i'm outside now there you go she did them books already she put that work in homie okay look look for
30:33
Dominique she's outside all right okay thank you for coming through congratulations okay absolutely come
30:40
back anytime all right absolutely sway the morning shade 45 with Heather B and
30:45
Tracy G yo play a beat Tyler dominique got bars wait hold up whoa oh wait stop
30:52
stop stop stop you said play a beat why you said play a beat versus play a
30:58
song dominique but she says she hangs around with Dominique Fishback who does poetry i know they have a whole scene
31:05
about Bonnie and Clyde you know hey what's going on monologue bars oh my
31:12
god what how do we get into this cuz he said play a beat sway in the morning on
31:18
the radio sitting down i don't even know there's a beat coming during that break
31:25
and let me see what's happening oh it's gone it's gone it's gone
31:32
hey that's [Music] Dominique Thorn give her a big round
31:41
we'll be right back shave for I just thought she had bars yo I felt