Lett there be lights, camera, action
Actor shuttles between LA and nearby Rumsey
Donald Lett had it all planned. He’d start his own theatrical company and open with “Driving Miss Daisy.” And he’d be one of the stars.
No, not the Miss Daisy role — though the 41-yearold former Vallejoan said he could pull it off.
“I could do it. Maybe an ‘urban Daisy,'” laughs Lett.
Ah, but plans during 2020 went awry for many. First, the theatrical company was shelved. Then a film Lett was cast in was put on hiatus. Then the house he rented was put on the market, with Lett, his wife, and their now 5-yearold daughter relocating to family property in Rumsey near Cache Creek.
As for that new theatre company, “I don’t know if it’s a go now,” says Lett. “There’s this whole financial issue and how certain things they wanted. It’s more difficult than I expected. When COVID hit, the building that was supposed to be the theatre shut down. The owner had to sell it.”
Hopefully, that dream will eventually be realized.
“I just want to create good art, create good plays, good content,” Lett said.
It’s been roughly 20 years since Lett left the Bay Area for Hollywood. He’s acted in more than 40 plays, 15 films and 10 network TV shows.
Auditions? At least 250, Lett said. The last one was
November, thank you pandemic. He snagged the role and, though he can’t talk about specifics, it’s on Netflix and Lett plays a bartender on a boat.
Lett said he learned a long time ago to not take rejection personally. He gets the role or he doesn’t, he said, and he’s learned not to hold a grudge or blame anybody.
“I don’t hate nobody,” he said. “It’s not competition with me. I’m too old to be worried about the person. You can’t stress yourself out over petty things. You go in and do your best and realize everybody is there doing what you want to do. We’re all hungry, trying to make it in this entertainment business.”
Lett spoke by phone Tuesday afternoon from the quiet of Rumsey, 10 minutes from Cache Creek
Resort in Brooks. No traffic jams, no crowds.
“It’s peaceful,” said Lett, with the relocation presumably blessed by his management team with the inevitable quick trips to L.A.
“I go back and forth,” Lett said. “I’m glad they’ll work with me even though I moved 400 miles away.”
At 6-foot-4, Lett could be imposing even after losing 40 pounds. Taking advice from his doctor, Lett has gone vegan.
“It wasn’t a hard transition,” he said.
With so much space in Rumsey, Lett is free to go on bike rides. Occasionally, his 5-year-old daughter rides close by.
“A lot of people don’t care about their health. I want to be around (for his wife and daughter) and there’s so much I want to
do,” Lett said.
When it comes to an acting career, it’s all about being prepared “and getting that next opportunity,” Lett said, emphasizing that if 100 percent of his focus is on the job-at-hand, he can’t “think of the next opportunity. This is a great hustle, but it’s a hustle where you have to stay 10 steps ahead. If you don’t take the initiative, you won’t be able to do anything. Acting’s not coming to you. You have to go to it.”
With age comes wisdom. “I’ve been doing this for so long, I’m not as nervous going into audition,” Let said. “I’m not scared to fail. When I was younger, it would hurt my ego: ‘I”m not going to make it,’ that whole self-pity, self-doubt that messes you up.”
Sometimes, Lett just figures he wasn’t right for a
role.
“I don’t take he said.
Oh, there have been mistakes no doubt.
“My worst decision was signing with my first agency. They were just horrible,” Lett said. “They had a reputation that I didn’t know about.”
His best decision since leaving the Bay Area in 2007 for the stage and screen?
“I kind of did it my way and took advice, but only bits and pieces of good advice,” he said. “I’ve always been honest with myself when it came to acting and how to make it; always truthful.”
Lett said his most enjoyable role was at the Magic
it personally,”
Theatre in San Francisco. He portrayed the best friend of a football player who “sold out the Black people for his fame.”
“A very powerful play and powerful actors; a lot of heavy hitters,” Lett said. “I was really green at the time and they were professional theater actors. I learned a lot of discipline and how to conduct yourself. It was a really awesome production.”
The age Lett was when he was able to look himself in the mirror and think, “I’m a good actor”?
“I still haven’t done that yet,” he said. “I don’t know if I ever will.”