NEW ZEALAND-AMERICAN ACTOR KELVIN TAYLOR

Kelvin, tell us a little more about how you got into acting!

Kia Ora, which means “good health” and other affirmations in the native Maori language of New Zealand.

I’m humbled and beyond super grateful to answer these questions.

There are many factors that lead me into Performance Arts or the arts.

I’d like to consider myself a product of MySpace at The Birth of The YouTube generation.

We were less concerned with the reward system of a Likes that Facebook and YouTube incorporated in 2009.

We prided ourselves in our creativity and supported each other.

During this time, I sought ways to express myself with a bit of HTML and a theme song.

This was grounded in my streetwear modeling roots along with breakdancing, video games, street racing and subcultures alike.

Growing up in Virginia, (which is my home-state) I felt like an outsider, especially given America’s track record on race relations.

My mother was adopted, Grandmother on my father's side was adopted so I had no lineage to attach myself too.

Unconsciously on a quest longing to belong and be more than a European given colour Huey, I started to understand other cultures.

Living through this challenge with identity and social handicaps of race relations gave me a gift of becoming a cultural enigma.

Every culture is different and I think it has helped me become more self-aware in life.

The friction between you versus another culture reveals to you the things you unconsciously believed, based on your domestic home culture.

So overall what inspired me into acting was a trip to Australia and specifically to a city named Perth in Western Australia.

I was living in South Perth with My 3 Flatmates (roommates for Americans) which were from Sudan, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

One of them named Khadir happened to be a Film Major at Edith Cowan University.

There was something amazing about his short story of a half-Indian and Portuguese woman with a mixed-race Australian man that made me see the beauty in film making.

It was “Low Budget as” for 2008-09 but the creativity and joy onset was priceless.

I dabbled in theater but this was my 1st time on a Video via YouTube.

It was called the “Set Up”.

You have got to work on so many awesome projects! What have been some of your favorite?

I honestly can’t pick any particular project because I am just beyond grateful to play in the sandbox and honour any work as mindfully as I can.

Storytelling in any capacity I find captivating because it challenges your humanity and ability to connect to things greater than yourself.