No one really had to encourage me to become an artist; it was just something I knew I had to do. I was drawn to things that seemed impossible.
I grew up with my mom, and my mom had six kids, and I was the youngest, but I had a different father than my brothers and sisters, and I only met him when I was ten years old. Then he introduced me to his other children.
I record into my phone as soon as I hear a track. Melody comes first for me, and then my gibberish usually forms into lyrics and a concept from there.
When we have a lot of the running, which we do on green screen, that is actually the hardest... I swear I have, like, four separate scenes in a row running, and I'd only done one at a time before.
From, like, two, three years old, I was obsessed with Michael Jackson and just wanted to be on stage with him. And my mum put me in dance classes, but I had a lot of social anxiety and didn't want to be around people; I didn't like to look at anyone in the eye, so that was a difficult thing to get over.
I can't remember a time when I didn't want to be on stage.
I suffered a lot from social anxiety, and being on set was really scary to me. That fear can cause limits in your art and your performance because you're not going all in because there is this little thing in your head.
I have a lot of brothers, and three or four of them love 'The Flash'.
L.A. is cool because its still got the beaches and stuff like Sydney. But I can't get Tim Tams. They're, like, these chocolate biscuits with chocolate on the inside and on the outside, and they are the best.
People often expect that I should know a lot of things because I'm black. I don't really explain it to people, but it's like, I'm from Australia, my Mum's Aussie, and I grew up with five other Aussie brothers and sisters.
I think younger fans can't quite grasp that's what you do as an actor. They're like, 'It doesn't make sense. How can he talk like this when he talks like that on the show!' It's really cute, actually.
You can live your dreams, and you can believe in magic. You can live your dreams, and you can be yourself.
My main advice is, if it's something you really want to do, then just go for it.
I always said to myself the only reason that I won't get what I want in life is if I give up.
I think being back in Australia has kind of helped a little bit because you just feel really comfortable around everyone, and it's the same environment that I've grown up in.
Hearing that you fit into someone's idea of a superhero is a huge confidence builder.
I've become bored of being insecure, ashamed, scared... no one should feel like that about themselves, especially when there is so much good life to live.
I hope we can all learn to embrace who we are & not judge people who aren't exactly the same as us.
