Tag Archives: Actor

18Sep/20

Diezie Sahn is a Triple Force AND Serving Us Fight Choreo

Born and raised in West Africa Liberia, Diezie Sahn is a promising actor, screenwriter, and director, specializing in martial arts and fight choreography, now based in Atlanta. He has acted and performed stunts in several short films, despite battling a speech impediment, and has received the CMF and  TERMINUS “BEST ACTOR” Awards. His recent Lead role in the P.S.A, “Corona Man,” went viral. Before breaking into the film industry, Diezie lived in an Ivory Coast refugee camp during the Liberian Civil War. He refuses to allow anything to stop him from achieving his goal of empowering others through film.

Taji Mag (TM): What inspired you to become an actor?

Diezie Sahn

Diezie Sahn (DS): I remember vividly at the age of 7, in the town we were living called “12 houses,” my siblings and I were attending a small community school and my mother had been encouraging me to sing in church. She decided that she would register me to perform in the Bible play, “King Solomon”, and I was to play King Solomon. I was completely terrified! Here I was, a stuttering 7-year-old child, who now had to perform in front of hundreds of people at the end of the school year. The entire school would think I was a joke. I was upset with my mother and didn’t care to see what she saw in me, but my mother was relentless. She drilled the entire play with me for days so that I would be prepared for the role. To this day, I still remember my lines. When the big day came, I was beyond ready. That was when I realized that acting and performing was my purpose in life. On stage, I can speak freely through the characters and truly express myself. For the first time, my voice was heard. I felt free and happy.  

TM: What films, directors, and/or actors have influenced you?

DS: Every film I’ve ever seen growing up influenced me in some ways. Western films, the Asian martial arts films that were popularized at the time, and Nigerian (Nollywood) films. I was intrigued by the Asian films because of the action, the western films introduced me to real acting, and the Nigerian films opened my mind to telling our own African stories.  
I believe that life is a busy intersection we all crossing through to create a path that fits each of us. My influences are the ones like myself who didn’t allow stuttering to stop them from becoming great: Bruce Willis, Steve Jobs, Samuel L Jackson, James Earl Jones, Legendary B.B King, Steve Harvey, Harvey Keitel, Kendrick Lamar, Elvis Presley, John Gomez, Marilyn Monroe, Emily Blunt, Julia Roberts. The list goes on! They inspire me to persevere. 

TM: What type of films do you most look forward to creating/participating in? 

Diezie Sahn

DS: I look forward to playing James Bond one day or I’ll create my own James Bond-style movie with an African actor as the lead. I’d also like the opportunity to play a superhero.  I think it would be awesome to see an African man in the sky doing something out of the normal beside flying to out of his country. 

Follow Diezie Sahn’s journey at on Instagram!

18May/20
Lenny Thomas

“Ruthless” Co-Star, Lenny Thomas, Talks Tyler Perry Studios and Life during COVID-19

Actor Lenny Thomas

Lenny Thomas portrays Dikhan on Tyler Perry’s new series Ruthless. Dikhan is one of the ruthless and intimidating antagonists in the series but, as for Lenny himself, he is far from it. The New Yorker has a heart of gold and an optimistic attitude. Taji Mag was able to find out how unlike Dikhan Lenny really is in an exclusive interview during this COVID-19 crisis. 

Dapper Dr. Feel (DDF): What brought you to this role? 

Lenny Thomas (LT): Thankfully my agent has a great relationship with the casting director of most of Tyler Perry’s projects. I was thrown in the mix through a self take. Mind you, during the auditing process of tv and movies, there are multiple rounds. Lucky me, I got this role off of one self-tape which still, ’til this day, blows my mind. While putting together my self-tape, my agent coached me and I sent it in. A week later, I’m on set with Tyler Perry. I’ve had some success, so I was not a stranger to hard work and diving right in and getting the job done. 

Lenny Thomas as Dikhan in Ruthless

DFF: What was your inspiration for the role?

LT: Honestly, if I didn’t have the proper guidance that I did growing up, I could have been Dikhan. Exercising the demons in my life allowed me to tap into this character. Being in the New York area, the undercurrent is kind of negative, so I pulled from dealing with that and seeing the negative characters in my life while growing up.

DDF: Dikhan is the second in command and seems ruthless, how do you think he got to this point? 

LT: Apparently, he spent some time in jail and used to be involved with numerous gangs. Decade or so time he spent in jail, something broke him. In this broken state, he met The Highest and they decided they were no longer going to be the victims of their circumstances by taking matters into their own hands, thus creating the life they currently live.  

DDF: What is it like working with Tyler Perry? 

LT: It was tough, everyone was trying to keep up with him. I have not seen a person work as hard as that man works. We barely passed a 12-hour day somehow. That is unheard of in television, usually, it’s between 12 to 16 hours in my experience. It was all inspiring too because of the people he surrounds himself with. There’s so much love in Tyler Perry Studios, I have never been on a set that had so much love and care. Everyone was taking care of each other. Also, to be unapologetically Black, I have never been around so many Black people on set in my life. It was overwhelming, so many times it was overwhelming. I was thinking to myself, “Is this my life right now, is this really happening?” 

DDF: Who have you developed a relationship with on set? 

LT: That’s a hard question because I love my castmates. There are 11 leads on the show and the people I grew closest to are Blue Kimble who plays Andrew on the show and Melissa Williams who plays Ruth Truesdale. Melissa, in particular, set the stage, she is perfect to lead the show because her heart is big. I did not notice she was the lead of the show because it was like I was shot out of a cannon into shooting the series, once I got the role. I was still working before I flew out to set, so I was playing catch up the whole time.  When I met her I was like, you are unusually nice to me. I’m not used to this, I mean I’m from New York, we don’t treat each other like this.

 

DDF: What is the best acting advice you have received and who gave it to you?

LT: Best acting advice was from Risa Garcia. She has an acting podcast and is also an acting teacher/casting director. Her advice just blew my mind, it makes life worth living honestly. She says to her students, “When you get these jobs that you’ve been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is after you have some power, then you should empower somebody else. This is not just a grab bag candy game.” That wisdom really speaks to the person I am going to be for the rest of my life. 

DDF: What director would you like to work with next? 

LT: Steve McQueen! I would love to work with him. He got on my radar with his movie starring Micheal Fassbender called Shame. He just seems like an actors director. 

DDF: How has life been during COVID-19?

LT: I turned myself into an introvert years before this happened so staying inside, has not been a problem. The beautiful thing is, before I booked Ruthless, I was going through a breakup and my life was seemingly falling apart. Then, all of a sudden, the Ruthless opportunity comes along and it was like a defibrillator was used on my life. My lady and I started to reconcile and said we would start to build this life together. We unsuccessfully tried to reconcile before but I didn’t have the tools for it. Now I do. 

Social distancing has been cool, we have spent several weeks in the apartment and we have been more connected than before. I’m not missing outside. I’m not missing a thing. I want to do my part and make sure no one gets infected by my doing. I’m curious to see how life is going to change but I am hopeful for the future. 

As I was watching the first part of the show Ruthless, I developed a disdain for the Dihkan character and was ready to fight him myself. Luckily he is only a character on the show, so I guess you can say Lenny has done a great job at portraying this role. Check it out for yourself! 

Tyler Perry’s Ruthless,” a spin-off of the hit television series “Tyler Perry’s The Oval,” tells the riveting story of a woman named Ruth who kidnaps her young daughter to join her in the dark underworld of a fanatical religious cult. “Tyler Perry’s Ruthless stars Melissa L. WilliamsMatt CedeñoLenny D. Thomas, Yvonne Senat JonesBaadja-Lyne Odums, Jaime Callica, Nirine S. BrownBlue Kimble, Stephanie CharlesHervé Clermont, Anthony Bless, and Bobbi Baker.

Watch Ruthless on BET and Amazon Prime.

30Nov/15

Dynamic Duo: Devon and Daphne

While mainstream media continues to spotlight negative attention towards people of color, very little is said about true artists in various fields. Artists that collaborate or self-motivate have always been seen as the underdogs to those who take the easy way out. These days, not many artists of color connect with each other, feeling that the industries they work for only have room for a few candidates to succeed. Dynamic duo, Devon Taylor and Daphne Lee, are making an impact in the art world today and are defying odds.

An accomplished Drummer, Actor and Model, Devon Taylor, hailing from Camden, NJ, uses his “inspiration of all art forms” to excel his expression. Currently playing for vocal artist, Nadjah Nicole, Devon spreads his passion by collaborating with artists locally and around the globe. Devon has a need to just make music and teach others on really telling a story. “I am all about art expression” says Taylor, “the story you tell when you’re on stage and when you are able to mentally and emotionally connect with your audience.” Devon even has his own production company where people can request his connections of talent for various events. Just recently, he connected with an NAACP ACT-SO regional gold medalist alumni (like himself), Daphne Lee, who is also a New Jersey native.

A professional dancer who is currently a ballerina for Collage Dance Collective in Memphis, TN, Daphne has always made a statement through other mediums of art via music, speaking engagements, and visual art, but most recently her photographs. “Ever since college, photographers connected with me not only as a dancer, but a ballerina of color to spread awareness of the lack of black female ballet dancers not being exposed in the media”. Even though her resumes extends from working with Beyonce, to being part of Ailey 2, Daphne mentions that there is a bigger purpose to it all.

Devon and Daphne collaborated with Memphis Photographer Ziggy Mack (@fomoloop) to demonstrate that art serves a huge purpose. Music and dance go hand in hand and with these NJ Artist, they want to continue to educate, inspire and mentor future artists of color to collaborate. They are always looking for a platform to connect with other musicians, photographers and visual artists. Follow Daphne and Devon on their careers on all social media platforms and watch their passion create pathways for the next generation.

Instagram: @daphne732 and @devskeerocket

Websites
Daphne: www.daphnemlee.com
Devon: www.pmeprime.com

Devon Taylor: Camden, NJ

Daphne Lee: Rahway, NJ

Dynamic Duo

Dynamic Duo