The 24-year-old model was plucked by Baz Luhrmann to play Little Richard in 'Elvis' after Luhrmann saw him dance at a GQ party.
“I have. When we moved to Greece, when I was about six or seven, I went to this international school called ISL in the city of Larissa. I remember I loved my theater teacher there and we got to do ‘Oliver Twist.’ And then we moved back to Arizona and I played Wilbur in ‘Charlotte’s Web’ and Seaweed in ‘Hairspray.’ And I really developed a love for theater and acting, more so than the sports I was doing.
[At the after party] I was dancing, I looked to my left and my mom was talking to Baz and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what is my mom doing?’ And in that split second, my mom ran over to me and she’s like, ‘Baz wants to talk to you.’ And Baz came over to me. He was like, ‘Hey, I love the way you move. And I loved your speech. Do you sing at all?’ And I was like, ‘Well, yeah. I do some singing, but I come from a lineage of singers. My great, great, great aunt is Mahalia Jackson.
“Oh, we grew up listening to everything, Michael Jackson, Prince, Aaliyah, Sade. My mom used to put me to sleep to Sade. Mahalia Jackson, Little Richard, Frank Ocean. Who else? Beyoncé, of course, Biggie, Tupac. My mom birthed me to Tupac during that time, because that was the year he died. TMI.”“I would say self-awareness in front of the camera. It’s actually funny with modeling and acting because there’s a thin line that you get to compare and contrast with.
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