Kalen Allen On Being #BlackOutside This Summer, Queer Representation In TV/Film & More | Blavity - video Dailymotion

Blavity

Editor's note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike that officially began on July 14, 2023 Kalen Allen spoke with Blavity about being #BlackOutside this summer, queer representation in TV and film and more.

Transcript

00:00Hey everybody, it's Kalen Allen.

00:02Thank you for joining me.

00:03I am here with Blavity because today

00:05we are talking about all things summer, okay?

00:07Cause I don't know about y'all, but it's black outside.

00:11Ha ha!

00:12Ooh, favorite memories of summer as a child.

00:15Oh, I used to love 4th of July.

00:18I grew up in Kansas City.

00:20And so during, you know, the dates of 4th of July,

00:24we would go to what was called Riverside

00:26and it was like all these tents.

00:28It'd be like 20 tents of fireworks stands.

00:31And we would go in there and we would get all our fireworks

00:34and I absolutely loved it.

00:35And then on 4th of July, I would be so anxious

00:38that it would still be daylight outside

00:39and I'd already be sitting in the garage,

00:41like waiting for the sun to go down.

00:43And then I would run out there and I would,

00:45we really loved like smoke bombs

00:46and sparklers and stuff like that.

00:48And then I would set them off.

00:49I have so many home videos of that time.

00:51My favorite thing to do in the summer.

00:54I love to go to Disney World.

00:55I love to go on the Disney Cruise.

00:57I love to go to Disneyland.

00:59I love to go walk in the park.

01:00I like to spend time outside when it's not too crazy hot,

01:04but when I can just go out and really enjoy the weather

01:06and just people watch and sit outside.

01:08Like yesterday I was out in the city

01:10and I sat at a crepe restaurant and I just ate crepes

01:14and watched people walk up and down the sidewalk.

01:15So those are the kinds of things

01:17I like to do in the summer.

01:19When I was in college, I studied theater and film

01:22with a concentration in acting.

01:25So I was always gonna work in the entertainment industry.

01:27And I'm a Capricorn.

01:29So I've always been business oriented.

01:30So when the opportunity with the Ellen DeGeneres show came,

01:34I didn't see it as, oh, this is my one time.

01:38This is all I'm gonna do.

01:39Like I wasn't living in the now.

01:40And I was like, how do I take this opportunity

01:42and build a career from it?

01:44So from the very beginning,

01:45I was already starting to pivot and do other things

01:48instead of just staying solely at the show.

01:50I mean, in my first year,

01:51I was already filming in American Pickle,

01:54which is a movie with Seth Rogen.

01:55So, you know, I was already like,

01:57how do I branch off and grow and expand and network so that,

02:01because I knew that the show wasn't gonna last forever.

02:03And I moved to New York in the last season.

02:05And then that's when I started working at Food Network

02:07because I was already, you know,

02:09I gotta take care of myself.

02:10I gotta make sure that, you know, as a child,

02:13as a young black queer person,

02:15that I am making sure that I always have

02:17a good foundation under me

02:19and that I'm always ready to grow

02:21and transition to the next thing.

02:23Funny thing about that is like,

02:24the scripted stuff is where I feel most at home

02:27because it's what I've done my entire life.

02:29I think the personality host stuff is the new stuff to me,

02:33you know, which comes easily

02:34just because I've always been an entertainer

02:36at the core of who I am.

02:38But I think what's exciting is that

02:41I enjoy being able to morph and change who I am

02:46and explore a different life

02:48and doing character development

02:50and being able to get a script in my hand

02:52and bring something that may just only exist in our minds

02:55as we read and create these images of what we're reading.

02:58To be able to bring that to life

03:00is something that, you know, I truly love to do.

03:04And I don't see myself ever doing anything else.

03:09I don't see myself slowing down.

03:10I don't see myself picking one or the other.

03:13I think I will always try to exist

03:15in all those realms of creativity.

Kalen Allen On Being #BlackOutside This Summer, Queer Representation In TV/Film & More | Blavity

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