Asante Blackk

Following a Dream
Making the Most of Your Resources

”You cannot wait for a solution to fall on top of your head. You have to make sure that you are out here and are exhausting the resources that you have. You can’t wait for somebody to hand you these resources. You have to exhaust them yourself, and until you have exhausted them yourself, you will not get anywhere.”


At the tender age of 19, American actor Asante Blackk has already sunk his teeth into two powerful, socially-relevant roles, both of which have resulted in award nominations. Even as a second-grade student when he was cast in his first acting role, he understood that it was “formative” and “important.” In this episode, he discusses his passion for acting, his unusual journey to success, and why it is essential to be proactive in creating the life that you desire.

Asante Blackk (born Asante Duah Ma’at) is an American actor, best known for his role in the miniseries, When They See Us, which is based on the Central Park Five story. In it, he plays 14-year-old Kevin Richardson, a role which earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination, making him one of the youngest nominees in history. He is also known for his role as Malik on the acclaimed television series, This Is Us, for which he received a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination. He began acting in the second grade playing Mowgli in The Jungle Book, and having discovered his passion for being on stage, appeared in several plays throughout his schooling.

What You’ll Learn from This Episode:

  • What Blackk does to make his performances better
  • What he finds most challenging about his role as Malik
  • His opinion on how much an actor should know about what’s ahead for the character
  • Why he reads only his parts of the This Is Us scripts
  • How he prepared for his role of Malik
  • The months-long audition process to getting When They See Us
  • Why he hopes he never learns everything about any character he plays
  • His interesting thoughts on an actors’ relationships with their characters
  • What it took for his parents and siblings to move to LA with him
  • How he was able to get an agent – by himself – at a young age
  • What it was like to attend a school that supports the arts
  • How his parents’ counselling business has helped with his career
  • Which of his siblings he expects will be in the entertainment industry – and why
  • The advice he will give his 30-year-old self

Featured on the Show:
IMDb | Twitter | This Is Us | When They See Us