Actor’s vision transformed his life

No matter what I do, things always seem to swing back to my home state. My recent guest on “Renaissance Man” is from Saginaw, Mich., and starred in a movie called “Detroit” about the Algiers Motel incident during the 1967 riots.

When it came out in 2017, I watched it with my family and it moved us all. It was the first time I saw Algee Smith, and I felt like I knew him personally.

Although he moved to Atlanta when he was 8, he has that Michigan muscle and Saginaw hustle. He didn’t cross his fingers and hope to make it — he put in the work.

“My strategy to make my dreams a reality would just be studying,” Smith said. “I studied what I want to do, whether it’s acting, whether it’s music. I write vision boards. You have to make sure you can see it in front of you. You’ve got to make sure you can see it . . . The body can internalize it. You can start to believe it.”

He recently bought his first house in LA. “You know, you have to stop and really look at the blessings. I was homeless out here [at one point] and I was able to buy a house . . . I remember my family sacrificing certain money to get me to where I need to go for an audition when I wasn’t booking anything. It’s hitting me hard. It’s a blessing.”

When he was younger, his family packed up and drove to LA in an Expedition, which would sometimes double as a home.

“We stayed with family for a couple of nights. After a couple of weeks, we quickly realized that LA is a big city, man, and it’s tough, especially with the whole family. You don’t have a job. And so me and my family was homeless for a while out here sleeping in the truck.”

In 2016, Smith was sleeping on his friend’s couch while going to auditions. He was booked to play Ralph Tresvant in “The New Edition Story” on BET. From there, his IMDb page filled up at a consistent pace.