Trevor Jackson is a multihyphenate star who started sharing his talents with the world as a toddler, but according to the triple-threat, he’s just getting started.
Since the age of 3, the Indiana native has been entertaining audiences. He got an early start in the industry as a tap dancer, which sparked an interest in amusing audiences. When he was 8 years old, Jackson landed the role of Young Simba in the Broadway production of “The Lion King” and played the part until he was 11. Being around some of the best singers and dancers in the business daily inspired him in more ways than one. Jackson knew from that point that being an entertainer was his life path. He went on to add singing, songwriting, and producing to his resume.
The thespian eventually released several major label projects before becoming an independent artist. He simultaneously pursued acting, landing a TV show and movie gigs that helped put him on the map. The most notable were Burning Sands, SuperFly, and “ grown-ish.”
During a sit down with REVOLT CEO and host Detavio Samuels for the latest episode of “The Blackprint,” Jackson opened up about his career journey and what’s in store for the future. Check out seven takeaways from their discussion and watch the full conversation here.
1. His Passion For The Stage Started With Tap Dancing
The now-27-year-old kicked off his entertainment journey on the way to gymnastics class one day. Due to his high energy (jumping and flipping on furniture at home), his mom thought it was best if he was in an environment that would nurture his athletic abilities. While walking to his first gymnastics class, Jackson passed a room where tap dancers were practicing. The young kid stopped to watch in awe of their movements, which his mother noticed. At that moment, she decided he would start taking tap dancing classes instead.
“I walked past a tap dancing room, and I fell in love with tapping. And from that point on, I was in love with Gregory Hines, Bojangles, and all these people that I was studying. Nicholas Brothers… They weren't just dancing, you know, they were singing, and they were performing,” he told Samuels. “And I fell in love with that. And that kind of built the rest of the thing out.”
2. A Car Accident Prior To An Audition Changed His Family’s Perspective
Before his big “Lion King” audition, Jackson’s mom was unsure if it was the right time for him to make the leap. Then, just days ahead of the Broadway show’s tryouts, his family was involved in a bad car accident that left him paralyzed for three days. Once the incident happened, it was a reminder that life is too short to not go for everything you can and want to do. Luckily, the Harry’s Law star wasn’t permanently paralyzed, so they went to the audition, he landed it, and played the role of Young Simba for three years.
“She was like, ‘I don't know... He's young.’ But I kept saying, I was like, ’Yo, this is what I want to do. I want to do it. Let's go do it,” he shared. “And so then after the car accident, she's like, ‘You know, life is short... We're going to go.’ And she drove from Indiana to Chicago to an open call [with] 5,000 kids. I was one of the 5,000.”
3. Indulging His Creative Side Gets Him Through Rough Times
Through adversity, the star learned the way to let go of his emotions or get out of a funk is by putting in work. Whether it’s through acting, songwriting, dancing, or other work that enhances his many talents.
“Anything that I didn't know how to contain [within] my own body, I had to put it into music, or I had to do it when I'm going to set and just let loose, you know what I mean? Because if you hang on to that stuff, you'll explode, which I've been close [to],” Jackson said. “And then I'm like I got to go downstairs. I got to write a whole album. I did that when I came back from Indiana this year. I came back, and I was going through a lot, and I wrote a whole album in a week, and it's one of the best albums I've ever written. But it's not like I went into it being like, ‘Hey, I'm going to write the best album I've written.’ I'm like, ‘Yo, I'm in a lot of pain. I don't know how to alleviate this thing, so I'm going to start writing. And in each song, I felt less and less weight; I felt less and less pain.”
4. Beating Adversity Always Confirmed His Greatness
Growing up, the promising talent was always a fan of hero stories because he felt that he was one in his own right. The Soul Train Music Certified Award winner is selfless and highly driven because he believes his purpose is bigger than him. Jackson always saw overcoming difficult situations as proof he has a lot to offer the world -- similar to most hero-origin stories.
“So, since I was young, [I’ve been] in love with the hero story. There's a thing on YouTube called Finding Joe that I love. It kind of broke it down good, but all the stories that I'm attracted to are… Avatar, Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Chosen, Hercules, all this stuff,” he disclosed. “So, I knew if I was that person in my own story, I'm going to have to deal with a lot of BS.”
5. Martial Arts Was A Significant Part of His Childhood
Throughout his journey, Jackson was taking martial arts classes. He studied Capoeira, which is an Afro-Brazilian cultural practice, after someone he worked with suggested he take a class. It’s the reason he’s a huge fan of Blade actor Wesley Snipes.
“When I was in ‘Lion King,’ one of the dancers -- her name's Sumaya -- she was like, ‘Oh, when you guys go to LA, you gotta meet up with my brother, Ashae.’ He's a master now -- Master Ashae -- but when I met him, he [was] an instructor and I hated it,” Jackson said in the interview. “I was 11 years old. They wore these tight pants... You could see everything. I'm like, ‘I'm not wearing this. I'm not playing this game, dancing, whatever.’”
He continued, “And then I learned the history of it. African slaves brought to Brazil weren't allowed to fight, weren't allowed to train, weren't allowed to sing, do anything. So, they acted dumb and acted like they were just dancing while they were planning on overrunning their slave masters. And I was like, ‘Ooh, I like that.’ So, I fell in love with it, man, and I did it for like nine years.”’
6. Jackson Says He’s Yet To Reach His Fullest Potential
Although many would say that Jackson has seen much success as an actor, he feels there’s more left for him to do. From his perspective, the star has yet to reach the maximum potential that would catapult him to the level of success he sees for himself.
“I still don't feel that way,” the performer said in response to Samuels’ questions about whether he feels he’s made it as an actor. “But if I'm speaking like, you know, factual-wise, I guess you could say… Burning Sands… I did get a lot of, like, head raises of people like, ‘Who is this guy acting like this?’ But SuperFly obviously was released everywhere. That was an honor and amazing. My dad made me watch that movie when I was... I really wanted to do that for my dad, if I'm being honest, that role. I just knew he'd be super stoked about it.”
7. Jackson Thinks of His New Team As “The Avengers”
The millennial is currently in solitude to elevate his skills and build for the next chapter of his life. In doing this, he's been organically aligning with certain people and building his dream team.
“I kind of just built my team, dude. I'm with AMPR, I got a product manager… I just kind of looked at my life. And that's what I think this is, just a simulation of what life is. You keep going and you're realizing, ‘Okay, this piece doesn't work, this piece works, we're going to keep that… this piece works,’ and you just start building it. You just start building the armor, building the team, building The Avengers, as I like to say.”