KEITH POWERS
“I had to sacrifice a bunch of jobs because I realized I wanted to be an actor. I had to switch my management team and my agents, and I fired my public relations and my attorney. I had to learn my own way, I’m still always figuring it out.”
Anyone who has seen Keith Powers onscreen knows he’s a very good actor, but according to the 27-year-old, that can only get him so far. “There are a lot of people in this world who are very talented. It’s just about being put in the right position. Ninety percent of it is your team, and your team knowing people and your team putting you in the right place to make the right decisions,” he says pragmatically. “The talent is just the cherry on top. There’s a whole bunch of factors. That’s just why you see so many talented people that never get the credit they deserve.”
If this sounds like an alarming bit of straight shooting from someone in Hollywood, it’s because that’s exactly what it is. Powers, who started as a model and is best known for his roles as Ronnie Devoe in BET’S miniseries The New Edition Story and Tyree in the film Straight Outta Compton, is completely open about the work it took to become an actor, and the fact he is still trying to navigate Hollywood’s intricate webs to this day. “My agents at Wilhelmina put me in the right places. They kind of guided me until I learned more. They guided me through and then I had to educate myself to be an actor,” he explains. “I had to sacrifice a bunch of jobs because I realized I wanted to be an actor.” And, according to Powers, it was not an easy task. “I had to switch my management team and my agents, and I fired my public relations and my attorney. I had to learn my own way,” he explains. It”s a learning process, and according to Powers, “I’m still always figuring it out.”