star power [NYOTA Magazine ]
starring
Dante Brown Volume 14
from the editor
HELLO THERE, READER! In this Star Power issue, Dante Brown graces the cover. You may recognize Dante from this summers hit horror movie "Ma" where he got to act alongside Octavia Spencer. Outside of acting Dante also makes music and his song "You Hear a Sound" can be found on the "Ma" soundtrack. Dante is truly a star on the rise and I can't wait to see how his career unfolds. I also have a quick chat with Savannah May who can be seen on Nickelodeon's "Knight Squad" and Lifetime's "Secret Lives of Cheerleaders". As always I hope you enjoy reading the issue and are inspired to go after your dreams!
YOURS TRULY, Carol Wright EDITOR IN CHIEF, NYOTA MAGAZINE @_CAROL_WRIGHT
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contents Editor's Letter
Get to Know Dante
Dante's Top 10 Albums
Star Power: Dante Brown Dante's Top Picks
Quick Chat: Savannah May
#StarPower
GET TO KNOW DANTE I created cartoons that I’m hoping to release.
I love watching anime.
I collect basketball cards.
I engineer and produce a lot of my music.
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#NyotaMusic
DANTE'S TOP 10 ALBUMS So Much Fun by Young Thug Ginger by Brockhampton Soul Searching by Bazzi i,i by Bon Iver ! by Trippie Red The Lost Boy by YBN Cordae The Big Day by Chance the rapper The College Dropout by Kanye West
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#StarPower
#StarPower
Dante brown Interview by Carol Wright
Was there a specific moment in your life that made you realize you wanted to be an actor? I think it was a moment when I was really, really young and my little brother had just moved to go do The Lion King on tour with my mom. I was staying home with family friends, staying in LA for six months because we actually took a road trip to LA to see if it would be worth it to see if my little brother and I had the chops to really make it. He ended up booking The Lion King tour playing young Simba and I was in LA going from audition to audition literally having three to four auditions in a day after I’d get out of school. After I booked my first movie “Won’t Back Down” with Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhall, that experience made me want to go deeper into it and just experience that feeling that I had when I first stepped on set with these legends. It just made me want to have that feeling more and more and go deeper into the art.
What was your reaction the first time you read the script for ‘Ma’? Most times I read the script when they send them to me so that one [Ma] I was on “Lethal Weapon” at the time and I was just hoping that I would be able to be cleared to go and they cleared me and as I started reading the script; each page it just got deeper and deeper. I was like, ‘oh yea’ then when I got to the white-face part I said, ‘this is deeper’. Cause most times I won’t do the work unless it means something and it means something deep and it’s gonna impact. So I read it and I was like, ‘oh this is really, really good. This is gonna be really amazing. I’m gonna have a lot of fun with this and I can’t wait to work.’ Then when I found out who the cast was I was like, ‘this is gonna be a bunch of fun.’
Your character tried to be the voice of reason throughout the film. In real life, would you consider yourself to be the voice of reason amongst your friends? I actually am but most times when I say we’re not doing something it’s not gonna happen. Most times we’re not gonna get that far. I’m the voice of reason and my reasoning is really strong. It would never go down like that if I was leading the group, you know we would be going to the rock piles every time, not staying at some lady’s house.
What did you and the cast do off of set to build a genuine camaraderie? You know what’s crazy? As soon as I found out who was all on the list, I think I found out before everybody else because I started DMing everyone, like Gianni, Corey, McKaley. I think I DMed Diana too when I found out. So it was like I already pre-started the jump on meeting them and then as soon as we got to the airport we were all sitting in the same row and kind of just clicked. That same day as soon as we touched down we tried to go get some food, but we got stuck in the rain, all of us. So that just made us bond more. We’d go take walks on train tracks, just little different adventures before we even started shooting. So we were already pretty much friends because we had built that environment prior.
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#StarPower
What did you learn from working with Octavia Spencer? Octavia was like stepping into a whole nother beast because this was her first lead as an actress. Most people would say she’s been in movies before but this was the first lead, so she took it really seriously and she wanted everybody on 100 and on their p’s and q’s. So she made sure to be in communication with the kids every single day and helping us learn what balance is, how to keep our money in order, who to talk to in the business to level up and do what we need to do and get better. She was really everybody’s auntie on set so she just made sure everybody was on their p’s and q’s and she made sure she came to work every single day, ready. You never knew what mode she was in. It would just depend on the script and if she was in that mode.
Based on the ending, do you think there could be potential for a sequel? I think so. This is the crazy thing about it though because it’s like every scary movie you see, the main scary person doesn’t die. They gotta come back right? That’s my whole thing. I think she might make a come back. I’m not too sure. I haven’t heard anything but that would be pretty exciting to go back in and channel that character and try to make something different.
What lessons do you hope audiences take away from the film? The main thing is stranger danger. It’s a whole lot of that type of messaging in there. It’s a lot of deep meanings in there. The writers did really well in setting little, subtle things in there and then making them big at the end so there’s a lot that goes on in the movie. Stranger danger, obviously don’t go into the lady’s house.
Outside of acting you also make music and your song ‘You Hear a Sound’ was included in ‘Ma’. What inspired the lyrics to that song? It’s really weird how I channeled it - it’s making my experience as if I was really that kid in this movie. So these are all my experiences of being off of set but living through this character. So we would have to stay in the middle of the woods and when you go outside at night you don’t hear any sounds, like nothing. All you hear is crickets and grass, the bug sounds but even the little shuffle of a tree in this area can make you jump. So those are the feelings I was playing off of, being extremely scared, trying to make sure it came to life through the song.
How would you describe your music in three words? Fun, creative and lyrical.
Can we expect new music from you soon? Well, I have an EP coming out called ‘A Caveman Forever Alone’ which is dropping on October 6th. So I’m pushing to release it on that date and have some visuals ready and have the whole, full blowout of just releasing an EP and trying to just really put an impact and show people it’s a different side of music. You don’t always have to be so violent, and you know, not everybody lives that life.
What advice do you have for aspiring actors? I would just tell them that no’s don’t mean anything, just focus on your yes’s. There’s always going to be tons of no’s so you just take that as constructive criticism, you keep it pushing but you don’t dwell on it too much. Once you start dwelling on it that’s when it affects everything else but once you start keeping it pushing and you just move onto the next thing and you just look for the yes and you manifest the yes, the yes will come.
#StarPower
Dante's Top Picks Book: The Haters by Jesse Andrews TV Show: Hunter x Hunter
Movie: Sextuplets
Fashion Trend: Follows his own trends 8
#QuickChat
Quick Chat with Savannah May
Photo by Amanda Elkins
You started acting because of a musical you saw at age 4. What musical was it and what about the musical resonated with you? It was actually the school musical my cousin was in. At the time, I had just started taking combo dance classes and I really fell in love with it. Although, at the time I was only 4 and I thought taking classes was all you did as a dancer. I never really thought about the “performing” aspect of it all. So, when we went to see my cousin in the musical I remember sitting there and watching these kids go on stage to not only dance, but they were singing and acting as well. It was magical to me. I didn’t realize there was more to dancing than just taking classes. I turned to my mom and said, “I want to do that. I want to be up there.” and that’s basically where it all began.
Your first big break was “Knight Squad”. How did you feel when you had to tape the series finale? I was a mess! Haha. The writers did such a brilliant job wrapping up the series in the finale, I remember when we first got the script. I don’t think it really clicked until I read the words “End of Series” on paper that it was actually coming to an end. I knew it was going to be so hard to say goodbye. I had already gotten a little emotional during our final table read earlier that week, so I knew the final day of filming was going to be tough. I had kept it together all day, and then came our last scene, which was actually the last scene in the episode. We had done a couple takes and our director wanted us to do one more. Once he yelled cut, we all kind of looked at each other like “was that it?” and sure enough they announced it was a series wrap. Everyone started cheering, crying, hugging, it was such a bittersweet moment. That show meant so much to me and it will always have a special place in my heart.
What advice do you have for aspiring actors? My advice for aspiring actors is, if you really have the passion and the drive to do this, then just go for it! Find an acting class and focus on becoming the best you can be. In this business you are constantly learning more and more each day but it is a huge advantage if you already have a lot of training under your belt. Another piece of advice I have is to stay true to who you are. So many people can get wrapped up in the glamour of it all that along the way, they lose sight of why they even began acting in the first place.
You play the lead in the Lifetime movie “The Secret Lives of Cheerleaders”. What about the film piqued your interest? Honestly, everything about this film piqued my interest. I was completely intrigued by the storyline and the characters different dynamics. Ava, the character I play in the movie, has such a unique story. She’s had a tough life but she hopes everything will turn around at this new school and in this new town. She grew up dancing her whole life but since the school doesn’t have a dance team, her overly ambitious mom convinces her to try out for the Roosevelt High Lioness cheer squad. She makes the team and goes from a nobody to instant high school royalty which doesn't sit well with queen bee Katrina. Even though everything Ava could ever want is right in front of her, she begins to realize that being a part of this squad comes at a price. This film has a little bit of everything in it, not to mention some really fun cheer/dance routines.
Did you have to train for the film or learn cheerleading stunts? The day before we started filming we had a full day of dance rehearsals. It was actually the first time I met all of the girls too. We had 5 real cheerleaders and the cheer coach from the high school we were filming at and they taught us the routines. They made sure all of us were comfortable with the choreography and created such a fun environment. Everyone was so sweet and we all instantly hit it off. I learned two numbers, a dance-off with my co-star Allie who plays Katrina and then the big pep rally number. We had so much fun learning them! Then a week later we had one last rehearsal the day before we actually filmed those scenes. We spent that day really cleaning the numbers to make sure they were ready to go for filming. I also have my try out dance that is in the beginning of the film. The cool thing about that number is our director allowed me to choreograph that myself. Growing up a dancer, I would always make up dances for fun but to actually get to choreograph a number in my first movie was unreal!
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NYOTA Magazine STAR POWER TEAM EDITOR IN CHIEF GRAPHIC DESIGNER
CAROL WRIGHT
PUBLISHING WWW.ISSUU.COM/NYOTAMAGAZINE
ISSUU
CAROL WRIGHT
PRINT COVER ACTOR
Dante Brown
ACTRESS
Savannah May
CONTRIBUTORS PHOTOGRAPHER
Amanda Elkins
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