The Garden

I was born in Lubbock Texas and raised in Tustin, California. My parents immigrated from British Guyana in South America and now I live in Hollywood, California! My family consists of my wonderful parents James and Shelley, myself and my three younger siblings: Deborah, Jared, and Jason.

College was a whole new world for me! I attended UCLA and was immediately struck by the beauty of the campus. There were so many activities to be involved in, I opted to co- direct the African Arts Ensemble (AAE.) It was during this time that I knew I had a love for the arts, because even though directing and performing hip-hop and step dancing in AAE was completely stressful and dramatic, I loved it. I also enjoyed computer programming, so I decided to major in the Electrical Engineering Program with a Computer Science Option. It was one of the most difficult majors, and I earned my first C, but when I graduated with my Bachelor of Science I felt so accomplished. I felt that I could do anything.

After college, I took a consulting position with Accenture LLP. It was exciting, there were many new projects and constant travel. I was on the security technology team and most of my clients were in the financial services sector. I spent about a year in San Francisco, which I loved, and a year in Houston. All the while, I was taking acting classes or Capoeira (Brazilian Martial Arts) classes.

After two years of consulting, it became increasingly clear that my passion was not in consulting but in film. I decided to take a summer course with the New York Film Academy in Paris, France. The six week program was challenging, we wrote a short script, learned the operations of a camera, directed a small cast and edited in Final Cut Pro; but it was so rewarding when I completed my short films. The reason I took a filmmaking class instead of an acting class is because I wanted to get an understanding of what everyone else goes through on set….I learned there is so much more that goes on before the actor even gets involved.

After my promotion, I resigned from Accenture and decided to move to Hollywood to pursue acting full time. The first year, 2008, I mainly focused on my acting education and took intensives at the Acting Corps, to learn scene study and Meisner technique; then I attended Actors Certified Training to really solidify my on-camera technique. I also performed in my first professional play “Soldiers Don’t Cry.”

In 2009 my goal was to actually start working and gain entrance into the SAG and AFTRA unions. I also started modeling and I was fortunate to be apart of numerous modeling campaigns and commercials including: Old Spice, Walmart Jeans, 3 G Bikes, Frontmann Jeans, Diana Friedberg’s African Jewelry, Mandy Moore Music Video, and short films including “Break,” “The Garden” and “Barracuda.”

In 2009 I also competed in three beauty competitions: One for and Indian beauty company Ziba Beauty where I was name the winner: Ziba Girl 2009. The second was a Xiantang Chinese Jean Ambassador competition where I was awarded “Most Enthusiastic,” and the last one was an athletic beauty competition in Mexico where I was named 2009 Freestyle Fitness “Mejor Modelo” (Best Model.)

I plan to take my acting and modeling careers to the next level with more prestigious films, TV shows and modeling campaigns. Watch out Hollywood!