Actor Antonio J Bell talks about his journey from Inglewood to Hollywood, becoming a series regular on The CW’s All American, his real-life similarities to the character Khalil, and more. This interview has been edited for clarity.
Kevin Bourne: I’m obviously going to ask you about Khalil and All American, but I want to go back to your journey and what your upbringing was like.
Antonio J. Bell: So I grew up in Inglewood, California. I went to high school in Lawndale. I went to elementary school at Lennox Middle School. So just all around the South Bay and Southern California. South Central, Compton; a lot of my family was from there. My upbringing was pretty normal. I was adjacent to L.A. Some of my family was gang banging and things like that, but nothing in my household necessarily. But I did get to observe a lot of what Khalil went through, by way of my friends or other family members.
Kevin: Okay, so there’s a bit of a personal connection to the character.
Antonio: Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, even as far as the school struggles. When I was in high school, I believe I had 62 credits going into the second semester of junior year, so my credits were very low. I had freshman level credits. I ended up going to a continuation high school in order to finish. I was on the basketball team the first couple of years, but the third year, I didn’t make it because my grades were so bad.
Junior varsity wouldn’t take me, so that could have been a good out for me to be able to try to get myself together, to try to get to stay in my local high school. But I wasn’t focused, or I didn’t agree with that routine or the structure of the system. I didn’t know why I was doing it, the whole school thing. I found continuation school worked a lot better for me because I got to do the classes at my own pace. I was also able to get out a lot quicker. So when it comes to Khalil, it’s very similar, as far as academically. I was in a lot of trouble; not so much in fights and what not. But I definitely had my challenges scholastically.
“I was trying to figure out how to go about being an actor. So I went on to Google at about eight years old, and I tried to figure out what the steps were. And it said you had to get headshots and you had to go take acting classes, and you had to get an agent or a manager. 10 years later, I was working at Pacific Theaters in El Segundo. I took my paycheck and I did two things. I bought an Xbox and then I also started taking acting classes…Nnow we’re about a decade in working professionally.”
Kevin: So how did you get introduced to acting? When did you first know that that’s what you wanted to do?
Antonio: My dad works in craft services in the film industry, He was working on shows like The Parkers and Eve, his wife, was working on Smart Guy. I would work with my dad a lot behind the scenes, and help do crafty. I would help them do that during the summers and when I wasn’t in school. One day on The Parkers, I saw a Black boy who looked similar to me, and we used to play a lot in between takes and at lunch. And I went to the ADs, the wrong people at the time, trying to write myself in the show. That got my brain working a lot because I saw him doing it, and he was just like me.
Now, I was trying to figure out how to go about being an actor. I went on to Google at about eight years old, and I tried to figure out what the steps were. And it said you had to get headshots and you had to go take acting classes, and you had to get an agent or a manager. So I approached my dad and my stepmother about it, but they never really made a move on it.
Ten years later, I was working at Pacific Theaters in El Segundo. I took my paycheck and I did two things. I bought an Xbox and I started taking acting classes. My mother’s boyfriend would take me to class every Saturday. And then we went to Samuel French. They had a book at the time that would list every single agency in Los Angeles and what they were looking for. So we went there, got the book, got a bunch of labels, envelopes, and headshots, and packed them up and sent them to these agencies. I got an agent, but it never worked. Then I quit and started back again. Quit again, started back again. And now we’re about a decade in working professionally.
Kevin: I actually found a quote from you. Do you know the quote I’m talking about?
Antonio: No, I don’t. I just find it cool that you did some research.
Kevin: So, May 8, 2019, in a Facebook post. You said, “I think about this kid a lot. I wonder sometimes what he would think about how is life is beginning to take form. At the time of this photo, I worked for Jersey Mike’s Subs in Hawthorne, Ca. I took the bus every day to work and class(I was studying to be an EMT). I would pursue being an actor and quit. Try becoming firefighter and fail. Try physicians assistant and decide it was too much school. Try managing Jersey Mike’s and decide that was taking too long. Try acting again, get in a car accident, quit. Then I would then decide I wanted to be a nurse, start nursing school, and ultimately drop out after my dad got shot. I would try fire fighting again, and fail again. Then try becoming a paramedic and consider real estate, and decide that wasn’t for me. All before landing back at pursuing a career as an Actor. I changed my mind ALOT.. and guess what?? That’s okay. It’s ok for that kid to be lost and confused. Look at the world he came in. All that matters is that eventually, you find something you love, and stick to it.”
So, it’s interesting for me to hear the journey that you went through to get to where you are right now. Going through this whole journey, do you have pinch me moments at where started and where you are right now in a leading role on the series?
Antonio: I’ve told that story so many times about my journey and being an actor. People ask, so I’ll paraphrase it so much I forget all the little steps that I wrote in that post back then. So that was really cool to hear.
Pinch me moments. It happens every day. I was on the lot during our last weeks of filming, especially toward the end when you have time to have your own thoughts again. You’re not racing around to and from set, or trying to memorize lines. One of the final moments I had was I was walking into the Starbucks on the lot and there’s a big Warner Bros logo on the floor. There’s a lot of moments throughout where we have a poster, and my daughter was begging me for a poster, so we finally got her one. I was framing posters for her, or my dad, or my brother. These are moments where you look at it and think, “I actually made it “.
My fear is that it gives the wrong impression of what this job is like. One of my favorite actors, Mahershala Ali, has been quoted saying that acting is a very blue collar job. And having worked a lot of blue collar jobs, I can see what he means by that. As an EMT, it’s a very gritty, dirty, hard job. And acting is just as important in much different ways, but at the same time not as important as being an EMT. On Harriet, I remember being in the lake at four o’clock in the morning. I had pulled a muscle in my back. I was having back spasms, but they needed me for that shot, so I had to suffer through that and go to the ER after work.
In All American. I hit myself in the face with a prop in episode eight. I started bleeding in the middle of the table. I’m trying to protect my jersey, which is white, from getting messed up. I had to stop the bleeding and then come back and try to get the shot. Because we’re on 10 hour days this year, we need to keep things moving. So I say that to say, there are a lot of areas where this job just isn’t sexy. When you’re racing, trying to get stuff done. Moments when you’re trying to make this picture. I feel like it gives the wrong impression. But, I have a lot of pinch me moments.
“I’m just fortunate enough that I was able to keep coming back to something enough times to see it come to fruition. But there are so many times that for many reasons, I wanted to quit. And, you know, in these moments when I’m on the lot, or doing these scenes, or working with these talented people, I’m very glad I did it because I would hate to have missed out on this chapter in my life, because it’s been really cool.”
Kevin: It’s interesting, too, because you identified at eight years old that this is what you wanted to do. A lot of people think that it’s an overnight thing, but for you to identify that and then go through this long journey, it really shows that it’s not a quick thing. It does arrive quick for some people; that happens. But for most people, it’s nota quick thing to progress through this industry.
Antonio: I would argue that even for those that it does happen overnight, it still doesn’t happen overnight. Even if you talk about nepotism, even for them, their families had to have the whole process and build themselves up to a point where they can get grandfathered into something. No matter who you are, or what you’re doing, they have different challenges. Look at Bronny James. He has a unique challenge of proving himself because his dad is one of the best players to ever touch a basketball. You know what I mean? (But it’s still Mamba. Kobe forever)
I know for me, at that age, I was just very curious. One of my favorite books is The Alchemist. It talks about how sometimes your treasure is where you started. I’m just fortunate enough that I was able to keep coming back to something enough times to see it come to fruition. But there are so many times that, for many reasons, I wanted to quit. In these moments when I’m on the lot, or doing these scenes, or working with these talented people, I’m very glad I did it because I would hate to have missed out on this chapter in my life, because it’s been really cool. I’m always in the mindset that this could be the last thing I ever do. So I try to do my best job. But I’m really happy that I got to see this happen, and be a series regular on this great show; to have this kind of impact on people.
Kevin: My wife loves the show too and I was telling her I was interviewing you. She commented on your range because she saw you in Manhunt.
Antonio: Oh, wow.
Kevin: Yeah, you’re playing grown man with a beard, and then now you’re playing a high school student, and she was just really commenting the fact that you’ve been able to play such a range of characters. Talk about your ability to move through these different characters.
Antonio: First of all, tell your wife I said thank you for even connecting the two. A lot of people don’t even connect me to that picture. Second of all, range? I’ve heard this before. I don’t really see it or really identify with that. I don’t know why. Maybe that’s the insecurity in me. But I think what I try to do is the fundamental things.
Basketball is something that I played a lot growing up, and I love photography, For example, and if you can understand the exposure, you know how to expose an image. That’s just fundamental, technical things that you can do to make sure you get a good picture. With basketball, if you protect the ball, take your time, and only take two steps…little things. If you keep your head up so you can see the floor, you’re not gonna turn the ball over. Acting for me is much of the same. I really try to do the small things right; try to hit my mark. I try to be off book when I show up to work. I try to be on time. I try to be present in the moment. Those don’t sound like very hard things to do, but depending on what’s going on in your personal life, they’re incredibly difficult. But if you can do those things every day, nine times out of 10, you have a pretty good scene.
For me, I just try to do little things really, really well, and I hope that that makes up for the times where I don’t do the big things very well. You know, there’s a couple scenes in the show even where I felt like I left money on the table for lack of a better word. I felt like I could have went harder. I could have did better. I could have given more. But what’s beautiful about a show like this is that you have a lot of people that are able to help bring those beautiful moments out of you, be it Nathaniel McIntyre, Alexis,, Michael Behling, Greta, Bre-Z. All these great cast members we have. I haven’t worked with Osy Ikileas much, but he’s phenomenal. I’ve studied him a lot when I’m not working. Lauren as well and all these folks. You’re able to feed off of them and able to bring stuff out of you.
“So I’m a big fan of this idea that there are no small parts. So when I was in season six, I had the mindset that I didn’t really care who’s standing in front of me in any scene. I wanted to always carry myself the same.”
Kevin: Let’s talk about Khalil and All American. When you first got that call about getting the role of Khalil. what were those emotions like? And secondly, what was the transition like from, like, season six and being more in a supporting role to now being in a lead role?
Antonio: So I’m a big fan of this idea that there are no small parts. So when I was in season six, I had the mindset that I didn’t really care who’s standing in front of me in any scene. I wanted to always carry myself the same. I treat all the guest stars that come through All American the same, because a lot of guest stars we have on the show would be series regulars on this one or somewhere else. That’s just how talented the folks are that they cast.
So, when I came in last year, I didn’t treat myself as this is a small part. I just went as crazy as I could in every single moment. And I tried to make a splash and I tried to do this character justice. So my approach, my mindset on some mamba mentality stuff was the same across the board. So the work, I approached the same. I mean, the days were moving fast. I had a lot of work for my first day on All American. I had a lot of scenes that felt like the role might be bigger, and in fact, it ended up being bigger.
And as far as when I got the news, it came in right on time. I was going through a lot personally where I really needed the gig. If I didn’t book this job by a certain date, I was gonna likely walk away again and try to explore other things. So I was relieved because I was doing it for so long. I kind of wish it came earlier, so I could have more of the ecstatic and excited emotions. But I was relieved and ready, to put it simply.
“I feel like if I get cast on a project, it’s because they want whatever element of it I bring to a role. I think every actor, every artist is a painter, you know, no matter what. We all paint in different ways, to use that metaphorically. So for me, I know that nobody has my palette.”
Kevin: And your character is kind of like Spencer 2.0. There’s a parallel between Khalil’s story and Spencer’s story. Because Spencer is such a beloved character, do you feel like any aspect of having big shoes to fill?
Antonio: Nah, because for me, I feel like if I get cast on a project, it’s because they want whatever element of it I bring to a role. I think every actor, every artist is a painter, you know, no matter what. We all paint in different ways, to use that metaphorically. So for me, I know that nobody has my palette. That doesn’t mean that I’m better than Daniel or Mike or Nate or Terrell or anybody, but that just means that they don’t got my palette. They can’t work from what I work from. It’s impossible. It will take you a while to find another actor who has been through every single experience I’ve been through, be what happened with my dad or the EMT stuff, or wanting to be a fireman or whatever the case was.
With my palette, I don’t really look at it as I have big shoes to fill because I know that I’m like that, for lack of a better expression. But at the same time, when I look at the show itself, we did have those feelings, and we do have those conversations because we know what this show means to people. And I often say I know that All American is somebody’s Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I remember when the pilot came out, and it was one of the best pilots I’ve ever seen, you know, And I do know that this show is very important to a lot of people. So in that regard, we really do approach it seriously every single day. This cast that we have, we’re giving it everything we have because we know what this show really means to people.
Kevin: And last, but not least, do you have anything else coming up soon that you can plug, like upcoming projects or things you’re working on?
Antonio: I can’t, but I have this podcast. I don’t know if it’s even still available, but it’s called Helping Homies Win. We were doing this a lot, a few years ago. We’re not doing it as much anymore. But I say that to say I just believe in putting other people on. So I actually would love for people to go watch Miss Juneteenth. That’s one of Alexis’s first films. Nate is also in The Equalizer, and I think he’s in the Michael Jackson thing coming up. One of my first features was Nigerian Prince. And Osy’s in Black Mirror. So if people are looking for more of us in between when this comes back for season eight (fingers crossed), or when this goes to Netflix, that’s a good place to start.
Kevin: That’s cool. The fact that you would use your time to highlight other people is pretty dope. But, yeah, thank you so much for your time, and wishing you all the best. You doing an amazing job. I just want to say that. And yeah, looking forward to seeing more.
Antonio: Thank you so much, man.
All American airs Mondays at 8pm on the CW.
Kevin Bourne is SHIFTER’s editor and Senior Entertainment Reporter focusing on Black music and film & TV. He was named one of 340 international voters for the 81st and 8nd Golden Globe Awards and a Tomatometer-Approved Critic by Rotten Tomatoes.
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