Interviewer. It’s an honor to speak with you today. Why don’t you give us some details about you and your story. How did you get to where you are today?

The funny detail about my story is that I actually never dreamed of being an actor. My dreams were actually to be a financial banker. I blame Micheal Douglas for that passion. I remember as young teenager watching his movie called “The Game,” and being mesmerized by it! You see.. I  wanted his 2000 BMW 740 i, the expensive custom pin stripe suits he wore, to be around the exciting atmosphere of the stock exchange office, and to have a personal maid that lives at my house and takes care of my personal needs just like him. Plus I’ve always loved math. I was that kid who carried a calculator and punching in random numbers and math equations all day. But one day changed all of that for me when I was working at the Ralph’s grocery store in Pasadena on Lake and Walnut.

A loyal customer of the store end up changing my life forever. At the time I was a cashier when I caught the customer I knew quite well coming into my line with her head towards her shopping basket. I knew something was bothering her so I wanted to cheer up her with my positive energy. I said with excitement, “hi it’s so good to see you again, I hope you found everything you were looking for?” She said softly, “yes thank you!” I said, “usually I see you happy but whatever you’re going through I know God will guide you through it!” “ He’ll never give you more than you can handle!” After we finished I said, “have a bless day, I hope to see you again!!” She just froze for a few seconds and then looked up at me for the first time and i could see her eyes filled with tears.

She said, “Are you an actor?” I said, “No, why do you ask?” She said, “Because you have this big positive energy. You move people by it. You lifted my spirits after I just lost my home in a foreclosure. ” Her words stunned me. Through out my whole shift her words repeatedly kept playing in my head. After my shift, I went home and wondered, what would be like to be a successful Actor? I thought about how I’ll be able to help my family and how I can infect the whole world with my positive energy! That same night I searched ‘how to become an actor’ and it lead to me Central Casting. The next day I signed up and the rest is history.

Interviewer. I’m sure your success has not come easily. What challenges have you had to overcome along the way?

Achieving success is a monster. The biggest challenges I’ve ever faced in my life is due to my own ignorance and ego. Early on in my career I’ve never learned to track my progress with a journal, to seek mentors who achieved the things I wanted to achieve, taking the right acting classes and building my resume, getting professional headshots taken by recommended photographers, developing relationships with young actors and actresses who dream of the making it big too, and making relationships with the big and important people. You see I thought if I handed my useless credits and bad formatted resume with unprofessional brick wall or olive tree background headshots to an agent, he or she was going to sign me because I had tremendous ambition and a great personality. I soon learned the hard way when I went down to the agency and they took a lot at my materials then said, “we’ll call you.” Famous polite words to actors who know all to well that means never. The biggest I’ve learned is “don’t chase success, attract it.”

Interviewer. Let’s talk about the work you do. What do you specialize in and why should someone work with you over the competition?

What I really specialize in is being organized and business orientated. When someone googles my name they can already tell how polished I am. From my social media accounts to my acting accounts. Remember, your social media is literally talking for you without you even knowing it. You can beat your competition every time because they are so focus on the fame and money from getting the biggest roles that there are not even paying attention. Do you know how many times I’ve seen actors flash the middle finger, acting a fool and being drunk on camera, smoking weed and taking nude pictures. All of this will cost you a gig. You have to be extremely careful. Notice how I haven’t talked about acting yet. You already scared the casting directors off.

Interviewer. What’s your best piece of advice for readers who desire to find success in their life?

The only way to find success is to track success. I’ll tell all of my readers to invest in a journal. Why? So you can track your progress each day. Some reasons why people can’t find success is because they are not taking the correct steps to reach success. Matter of fact they are walking blindly each day and not even realizing how many small successes they have already achieved. That’s called “going with the flow.”Most people are so focus on the big success and how far they’re away from achieving it that they end up stomping all over their small victories. I have habit of asking people, “hey what’s your goals for today?” And most people would say “I don’t know.” 3 words that are the death for any big success you’re trying to reach. You have to KNOW! If you don’t know then of course nobody else will.

Interviewer. Speaking of success, what does the word mean to you?

It means growth and progress. Success at the end of the day is a journey. It’s not a destination. Success is looking back and seeing how far you have come and looking forward to how big you can get. The unknown is what excites me. Nobody knows how much success i can achieve.. shoot I don’t even know myself. That unknown means you can achieve whatever you dream of and visualize. I visualize winning an Oscar one day. Nobody can tell me I can’t get it because they don’t even know the future. That excitement of the endless possibilities means there’s nothing stopping you. If success equals growth then I have to grow and develop myself into an Oscar winning actor. And that’s how I will achieve it.

Interviewer. What’s next for you?

What’s next for me this year is taking my television and film side of acting with more focus. More classes, better headshots, casting director workshops, etc. The aim is get more reels and boost my profile. It’s going to take some time but that’s why you have to track your progress and enjoy the journey.

Interviewer. Finally, how can people connect with you if they want to learn more?

You can find more information here:

My Social Media accounts:

https://www.instagram.com/akeemmair/?hl=en

https://m.facebook.com/Akeem.Mair.Actor/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/akeemmair

https://mobile.twitter.com/akeemmair?lang=en

https://www.pinterest.com/akeemmair/

https://youtube.com/c/AkeemMair

www.tumblr.com/akeemmair

My Actor Accounts:

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm5866599/

https://cni.lacasting.com/talent/profile/832319

https://www.backstage.com/u/Akeemmair/

https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/Akeemmair

https://talent.castingfrontier.com/akeem-mair

https://www.castittalent.com/AKEEMMAIR

https://app.castingnetworks.com/talent/public-profile/383dc2ca-ceeb-11eb-b081-335789d7d844

https://wikitia.com/wiki/Akeem_Mair

Leonard Magazine