Malik Yoba. The name that has made women around the country sigh since he first hit television screens across America. Celebrated actor Malik Yoba has been a fixture in television dramas for well over a decade. His role in hit television series ‘New York Under Cover’ J.C. Williams, a cop on cracking down on crime in the streets of New York, helped to embed him in the collective memories of the public. Well built, handsome with a knack for hitting his roles hard with his trademark intensity—Malik became that guy men admired on screen and women privately crushed on. And for my ladies who may have wondered how he measures up in real life, I have to say his photos don’t even do him justice. He’s larger than life and he carries himself with a compelling confidence that makes him hard to ignore.
Behind his assured demeanor and sexy smile is a man that is very serious about what he does as well as making an impact on others. While most people may be familiar with his large body of acting work, Yoba has quietly been making a name for himself as a producer and writer.
Recently, we chatted over drinks at local Hollywood hotspot and he talked shared some of the influences that first shaped his appreciation of the performing art world. Growing up in the Bronx, he was always involved at the arts. Even as a youth he had performed and trained with New York city theatre organizations. Many people actually don’t know much about his love affair with music and poetry which he shares from time to time on social media. Malik has also produced and made music behind the scenes for years. More than just a thespian, he’s immersed himself in various aspects of theatre life including writing and production.
Cachet Digital caught up with him to pick his brain, get some details on his new endeavors, and to look a little closer at what makes him tick. Most people know him for his impressive acting career which has spanned more than 25 years but there is much more to Malik.
One of the first questions I asked was how he first got into producing. His answer was simpler than I expected and highlighted the importance of encouraging our younger generation to start dreaming and being creative at a young age.
He replied that he’s been producing since he was child. His skills came about from writing plays and charging his friends to go see it with siblings. In high school he had always participated in theatre programs and was even involved with the METROPOLITAN OPERA CHILDREN THEATRE guild.
What was a defining moment in your career as a producer?
The number one thing so far to date is producing my first stage play that toured the country which is called “What’s On the Heart of Men.” To know that I sat down in my apartment in New York and wrote a piece that went on the road and made almost 3 and half million as a play. I co-wrote “What’s On The Hearts Of Men” with my brother A. Rahman Yoba. The process after the first draft was he did the second and then we went back and forth to complete it.
This isn’t a movie. This is a theatre production and that was back in 2001. So to write that and produce and direct that and tour the country with it and see audiences come out night after night—that was the most exciting time. There’s also been web series, films, commercials and documentaries. There’s been a lot that I’ve produced.
How did it feel seeing your production and hard work come to fruition?
There is something about sitting in the backstage of a theatre even more so than live film.
There is something about sitting backstage…. the curtains are down and you hear the murmur of an audience and you feel that energy from a live audience that have all chosen on that particular night to come together in a dark room to pay their hard earned money to watch what you’ve put together and be entertained or inspired by it. That’s an extraordinary experience.
As an actor there aren’t a lot of opportunities for that….as opposed to being a musician…you can put a showcase together and perform somewhere and that’s a lot more immediate and that can be small. An open mic or showcase somewhere. And there has been others that I’ve done since then but that was a standout. I wrote it and 11 months later it was on the road.
What did the writing process look like for the play?
The first draft literally poured out of me in 2 days. 12 hours a day for two days. I just sat and allowed this thing to past through me. It took a while to continue to develop it but that first draft literally happened over a 24 hour period of straight writing. 12 hours a day
It toured right after 9/11. It opened October 11, 2001 and it toured until April 2012. And to see people come out city after city; at time when people weren’t flying on planes and people were really shook. Knowing that something was getting them outside of their house; that was a powerful experience as well.
What is next on the horizon for you?
There’s so much happening. At any given time, I can have 10 or 12 projects at different points of development. Whether it is my one man show “Harlem to Hollywood” which will be at the Apollo in 2018 or rather it is television, documentaries, or real estate development. So, there is a lot going on. I always encourage people to follow me on social. I recently engaged a team that will help with engagement and more communication so people can know what is coming.
I just finished ‘Designated Survivor’ and I’m doing a net flix series ‘Seven Seconds’ and well as the film ‘Till Death Do Us Part.’ There is always a lot going on. People will always say because of what they see “I’m happy to see you working. The assumption is that people don’t see and you’re not working.”
What is your advice to aspiring actors?
Study your craft but learn the whole business. Learn all of it and do all of it. And don’t be afraid if you don’t know how to. Just do it. Just take action. There’s not a writer that was happy with the first draft of anything. ever. Or first time director.
Some people get lucky and are happy about whatever they did but I find that too many people just think about stuff they want to do. They talk about it without actually doing and they have a million reasons why they can’t do it. So I think just having the courage to actually take action is important.
If you follow Yoba on Instagram then you’re well aware of his activist background.
I follow you and I feel like you are very outspoken about things happening in the community. With some people I feel like it’s a trend but with you I feel like it is more authentic to your personality, while I feel like some people in Hollywood are speaking out because it is trendy to speak out. Whereas I feel like with you its natural. Speaking out is a part of your narrative. It is organic. Can you tell me a bit more?
There’s a few ways to answer this question. That’s where I started. A lot of people feel like they have to make it before they give back. I don’t look at it like that. I started doing community work when I was 16 years old.
My career started as a result of the work I was doing. The opportunities came to me were because I was in the community. I’m happy that other people are feeling that they can use their voice. I don’t have a problem with that. This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen as many people of note in my generation raising up. Because for a long time I was the oddball. And I was cool with that.
I’ve been involved for a long time. It is not a new thing. I think people are agitated. You have people very disturbed. The world is falling apart in front of your eyes. People feel like they have to do something about it and I think that’s great.
I like that you’re welcoming to people of different backgrounds. A lot of highly visual black men are often hesitant to show support of people from different sexual backgrounds.
I support everyone. The only people I don’t support are child molesters or people who abuse women. But at the end of the day there is one human community and there is more that we have in common than people would like to admit.
Recently, I got a message from a transgendered woman on Instagram. She responded through the show that I host ‘Justice By Any Means’ (will be hyperlinked) and we did a story on Delores Nettles, a transgendered woman, who was murdered in Harlem a couple summers ago. A number of the girls reached out and said, “thank you for shinning a light on our community.” And I just said it is all one community.
I mean I get it. It is all segmented but my perspective is from growing up in New York, growing up with kids who were of every sexual orientation—–especially coming up in performing arts in middle school and high school.
There were two kids that transitioned in high school when I was in high school and so I’ve always been around people of all types of background. I was eating at my Jewish friend’s bar mitzvah or seder dinners or hanging out with my pentecostal friends. For me even as a kid at school; I’m with the cool kids, the nerds, I’m hanging out with the dreds….the homies. I didn’t stay with one crowd. That’s true with every part of my life. I believe in diversity. That’s just who I am.
It was a pleasure interviewing Yoba. and I’ll make sure to keep Cachet readers in the loop with his upcoming projects.
For more on Malik Yoba visit his Instagram @MalikYoba and twitter @MalikYoba. Make sure you catch his upcoming production “Harlem to Hollywood” in Harlem, New York at the Apollo theatre in 10/15/2018. “Harlem to Hollywood” is co-written and directed by Kevin Ramsey.
We’ll be circling back to give you all the details on how you can purchase tickets via our IG account. Catch more Malik Yoba in upcoming months on television on the ‘The Last OG’ which premieres 10/24/2017 as well as films ‘Til Death Do Us Part’ opening 9/29/17, Sony Picture’s ‘God’s Plan’ directed by Vondie Curtis and indie film ‘PMC.’
