We recently connected with Martez Moore and have shared our conversation below.
Martez , we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
This is a very touchy subject for me. I had been living my life in the deepest depths of insecurity… back in the 90’s I was short and overweight… and in those days being short and fat meant you were the lowest of the low…
I became a maladaptive daydreamer to escape… so my grades suffered…
In school I often felt like a forgettable blotch in peoples peripheral
Many people around me reinforced how I felt about myself…
But one day it’ all changed… something beautiful happened in 7th grade…
I wanted to get really good at sports. I spent a summer at my Aunt Johnnies house where she had a basketball rim and i shot from sun up to sun down… i got really good…
I wasn’t a popular kid in middle school but as Rasheed Wallace would say “Ball don’t Lie”
So we’re in Gym class where we would have basketball tournaments… I was picked dead last… because nobody was expecting much…
The game starts and I hit 10 shots in a row…
I’ll never forget the sounds of the nets as the ball ripped through the goal…
People were surprised and didn’t know what to make of it… but as the tournament went on I realized everyone was crowding around to watch our games because word traveled fast… and I noticed something else… something I’ll never forget…. Out the corner of my eyes I see this great big smile…. It was my Gym Teacher… he had the biggest smile on his face… which kind of made me feel something inside… something I can’t explain but one thing was for sure… I wanted to keep this thing going…
So I buried shot after shot as the crowd went wild… it was the first time I felt worth anything to anyone…
We ended up losing in the Championship game… I felt low again until my Gym Teacher Mr Kaczander stopped everyone… and made the announcement that Martez Moore is one of the best players in class…
That moment… did more for my confidence than words could describe… it was the first time I’d ever been recognized for being good at anything…
No matter how overweight and “ugly” you may be… ball don’t lie… and people have to be respected by the merits of what they produce… so I played sports to close the physical insecurities I had at the time… and my confidence continued to grow as I got better… and this newly found confidence translated to other walks of life….
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a jack of many trades… but there’s a Russian saying “ If you chase 2 rabbits you won’t catch one “ So as of now my main focus is on Acting…
Acting is something I’ve always wanted to do but didn’t think I could ever really do it…
Ironically at the best university in the world Eastern Michigan I took a theater class… and I failed it… but there was a final where we had to get in groups and create a play. I wrote the play and acted in it…
I was so into the work that I didn’t notice the crowd…
When it was over the Theater Professor Mr Bird rushed over to me and said “ Did you hear the gasp from the audience Kid??? You’re not the best student but this is what you need to pursue”
I took it with a grain of salt… probably upset with my Failing grade.
Years later I took a improv class… which made me so nervous because I didn’t think I would be good at thinking on my feet… but I was a natural… and before the semester was over the professor asked me to join the improv team at school. I was honored but didn’t take it too seriously….
Years later a good friend of mine George McCollum had been doing some extra work on the TV Show Detroit 187… he insisted I try… I turned it down a few times but he kept on insisting…
There was a 15 dollar fee to join Real Style which is a background agency… I didn’t want to pay the money… I was doing everything to avoid it… George offer to pay it for me because he was so sure that I’d get hired and make the money back. So i finally agreed to signing up with Real Style and what do you know??? I got booked a day later to play a man in handcuffs at the station…
I had a blast..
Maybe a week later I get a email to audition for a small part in a episode… there was no lines so the audition was based off of our look…
I walk in and there’s 10 guys on one side and 10 women on the other… we’re all just sitting there and then the director Darnell Martin (Director of Cadillac Records) comes in and walks right over too me…. her eyes were extremely wide… I could see all the pink surrounding her eye balls…
I didn’t know what to say… I wanted to say something to help myself
I asked her “ do you want me to play dead?” She goes “ wait for the camera hunny” and winked and walked off…
And that was that… I booked the role….
And since that moment I have taken the craft extremely serious…
One of the biggest moments was winning Best Actor at the Detroit 48 hour film festival. The award was special but not as special as the movie screening…
Watching myself on the big screen for the first time… I was full of freight and slumped in my seat because I didn’t want anyone to know I was there.
Halfway through the short I looked around and everyone was looking at me in the darkness of the theater… all I saw were stoic faces… followed by people pointing at me… I didn’t know if it was good or bad. But the row of people behind me congratulated me on the win ( before it even happened) they were sure I was gonna win best actor…
So after the movie was over we went out to the lobby and the magic happened.
People came in waves to shake my hand and take pictures with me and wished me luck because they thought I was going to be a star…
What really stuck with me about that was these people were my competitors supporters… the competitions mom/dad brothers/sisters/best friends…. walking out the theater to find me to tell me what a great job I did… I was truly thankful… And grateful… because sometimes we need strangers… there’s no bias with strangers telling you how they feel… where as sometimes people who know you can dim your light…
Today I have many films that I’ve already completely and a lot of great movies coming out… films that I truly believe will make a mark on my career…
I am very picky with my roles… I believe in quality over quantity. So I’m very selective and do my best to surround myself with the best situation I can…
Today I’ve worked with everyone that I truly respect in Michigan… the best film makers in Michigan are people I frequently collaborate with…
From Wild Faith, Bespoke, Trail of Dark Matter, To Live and Die and Live etc etc quality work with quality production…
I have a really big one coming out soon that I co starred in Called “Don’t be a Stranger “ and it will be in theaters everywhere… also Harsens Island Revenge… and a film I did in Los Angeles called 405…
There’s many more… and I’m so excited for people to see them… I’m a very quiet reserved guy… people are going to be shocked to see the type of stuff i keep under wraps
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Enjoy the process. There’s some beauty to being at the bottom… don’t be in a rush to be Leonardo because no matter what you do the process will take the time it’s going to take so fall in love with it… at this stage you’ll meet many people… the comradery can be essential… you’ll make some friends who could be lifelong partners and collaborators
2. Get used to rejection. If you can’t handle it you may want to do something else. Many people get discouraged… there’s a saying that to become a big actor/actress you have to put yourself in position to get lucky… thats essentially what we’re doing. Putting ourselves in position to get lucky. Everyone hears more no’s than yes….
It’s not personal… at the end of the day the powers at be made a judgment on you from a 2 minute audition…. It’s not really you they’re rejecting…
3. Don’t let people take advantage of you… there’s so many sharks preying in this business. People creating fake schools and classes and businesses promising people advancement… charging people an arm and a leg for their services… basically vultures feeding on your spark… And They’ll tell you what you went to hear while taking your money…
Learn how to be resourceful and google….
There’s nobody you can pay to get you booked…
I’ve seen many friends get their hearts broken from scams…
Having a dream in itself is a vulnerable thing… it leaves you exposed and ready to take risks… make sure the risks you take are good ones…
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
It’ll happen to everyone… understand that it’s common…
It’s hard for me to be overwhelmed but it has happened.
The best thing to do is to not make any decisions that could impact your future while your head isn’t clear… do whatever you have to do to ride out the wave of dread. Know that it’s a season. 1 day could be all the difference in the world…
When I’m overwhelmed i look at pictures of me when I was the short fat kid …. And I think… if that kid saw me now he’d be extremely happy… and he’d be so proud of who he became…. Because essentially all of this is for my inner child…
Image Credits
Marcie Killian Connally, Josh Starks, Greg Burns, Nick Lampers
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
