WATCH: Rome Flynn Discusses His Secret To Success

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The actor-singer-model opens up about his career journey, self-care practices, and his latest single.

Transcript

00:01What's up, y'all? It's Rowan Flynn. I'm here with Essence Magazine.

00:04Yeah, I've just been lucky, grateful, but prepared, you know.

00:10From playing opposite of Viola Davis, you know, being on the soap for two and a half years.

00:17Now working for Whitaker, working with Mark Hardwick.

00:21So many just incredible actors.

00:23Just been grateful to be able to share the scene and space with them.

00:28How have my acting roles evolved over the course of my career.

00:32Just been afforded the opportunity to work with some incredible actors.

00:38You know, working opposite of Viola Davis.

00:41From being on the soap for two and a half years in Bold and Beautiful.

00:45Working with Forrest Whitaker.

00:48And now, you know, working with Kerry Washington.

00:50Just, it's a dream, you know.

00:53A dream list of actors to be able to work with.

00:57Constantly betting on myself.

01:00I'm like a gambler.

01:02I'm like, yo, pushing all the chips to the middle.

01:04I was on Bold and Beautiful at one point and really early in my career.

01:08And I didn't have anything on the table.

01:10I barely had anything on my resume.

01:12And I was just at a point where either I was going to sign on and stay there for more years.

01:17Or just kind of bet on myself and see what else was out there for me.

01:22And I left that situation without having a job.

01:26You know, having any job security.

01:28And I'm not afraid to do that.

01:31You know, I'm not afraid to bet on myself and believe in myself.

01:35Believe that God has things in store for me.

01:38So I just got to stay out the way and just 100% believe in that.

01:43I mean, it's physical self-care.

01:45You know, I think everyone should have their own specific routine that tailors to their lifestyle.

01:51That means getting the amount of rest that you need, taking care of yourself.

01:58And also just the mental aspect too, you know.

02:01For me, it's like I feel in moments when I'm hooping or making music.

02:09For me, it's therapeutic.

02:11So I always try to balance that with work and a personal life.

02:15Last thing that truly moved me was actually last night.

02:18We're in New York City for the Tribeca Film Festival.

02:22And we got to see the finale of Godfather of Harlem.

02:25And I got to see it in a room full of people that I love and my team and also our cast.

02:30And, you know, it was cool seeing it in the theater.

02:33It was just a moment where I had to reflect like, wow, it's crazy I did that.

02:37You know, even though I moved on from doing it as of right now.

02:41Got to honor that moment at the Tribeca Film Festival

02:45and honor the work we kind of put in on that show.

02:49It moved me a little bit.

02:50I was like, damn.

02:51Then quickly I was like, all right, let me lock in.

02:55Through preparation of research, you know, understanding who Frank Lucas was,

03:01maybe at that time period, and just trying to honor who the man was.

03:06You know, I never judge roles or judge particular characters that I play from my own perspective.

03:15My job is to try to make a fully dimensional, complex person with feelings and, you know,

03:24with different struggles internally.

03:27And so that's what I wanted to do with Frank and just try to kind of ground a character who is, in so many words,

03:35just very infamous because of, you know, Desiree Washington playing him in the past and other actors playing Frank Lucas.

03:43He's kind of been elevated to a space where, you know, everyone has their own perspective of him.

03:48And so I just had the opportunity to sort of lay the groundwork and the foundation of, you know, the before,

03:56before he ends up becoming who we know him to be.

03:58Yeah, you know, I wrote this song some years ago, but it still resonated with me.

04:04So I wanted to put it out and I've always wanted to, just felt like the right time.

04:09For me, it's like a, it's like a love letter, you know, in a way, you kind of, when you're with someone and you really adore them in a way.

04:21And I know it's hard to remember that when things are bad and things end, we only remember when things aren't good.

04:28But I just wanted to honor that moment where I was living in where I felt like that, you know,

04:32and even though that's not how I feel now, I'm always just, I'm always trying to be in a space where I honor how I feel,

04:41whether good or bad and just never regret it.

04:44And that song for me just kind of represented that.

04:47So I always want to try to honor how I feel, regardless if I've moved on from feeling that way.

04:55And so that, that record for me, hopefully resonates with other people.

05:00And I just feel like, you know, we ain't really making a lot of music that's like that right now.

05:04So just want to give a different feel.

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