Latest / The Demia Avery Show / Actor Dennis L.A. White Gets Real: From Notorious to The Family Business and Beyond!

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Actor Dennis L.A. White Gets Real: From Notorious to The Family Business and Beyond! · The Demia Avery Show

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This is the Demia Avery Show hosted by
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Demia Avery where some of your favorite
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entertainers, celebs, and entrepreneurs
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come to highlight all of their many
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[Music]
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talents. Hello, hello, hello everyone.
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This is Demia Avery of the Demia Avery
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Show and I am so excited today to have
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my next guest. You know him from the
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family business Atlanta and his
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unforgettable portrayal of DRock in the
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movie Notorious. Please welcome
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director, writer, producer, acting
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coach, the amazing talented Dennis La
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White. Welcome. Thank you so much for
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having me. Oh, you are so welcome. I I'm
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I'm absolutely honored that you come on
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the show today and listen for our
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viewers. I have to start off a little
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bit to the beginning. So, if you don't
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mind telling us what inspired you to
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pursue acting and what was your first
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role? I'm curious to know if you
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remember what your first role was.
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[Laughter]
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Um, I was doing play singing and doing
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poetry as a kid. Um, I love watching um
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old
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movies. Cab Callaway, Bing Crosby, Louis
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Armstrong. So, that was kind of my my
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first motivation.
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Um, my first play was like in
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kindergarten. And I play like the
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um the
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the a lion or troll or something in a
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play. It was crazy. I got a picture of I
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had a crazy wig on and all this stuff.
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That was my first play as a kid. Um I
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used to
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do I lived in when I lived in
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California. I used to every Black
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History Month I would do performances.
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I would um perform a dream deferred po
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the poem. Um I would impersonate Louis
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Armstrong like I was always performing
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and playing sports. Um my first film was
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um I can't even remember my first film.
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Swimming. It was swimming with Lauren
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Ambrose and some other people
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and we shot that in Mr. would be uh
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South Carolina. My very first See, I had
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to take you back a little bit.
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Mind-blowing just all the aspect of
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it. Yeah, I was that I forgot about
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that. I totally forgot about that. But
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yeah, that was my first
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That was the first one. Yeah. Okay. So,
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of course, we know you from different
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things, but I have to bring up
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Notorious. It was a breakout role. I
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would say it was one of one of your
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breakout roles for you. How did that
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come about for you? And how did it shape
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your your career in general? Well,
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during that time, we didn't really have
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a lot of social media. We had only
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MySpace, if people remember that. And
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so, you know, there was buzz about film
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being being produced. And, you know, I
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was a big big Smalls fan. So, I
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definitely wanted to be a part of it.
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And so I knew the casting director
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um from I auditioned for her for a
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project for MTV which I didn't get but I
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knew her and so I was just reaching out
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to her Wendy McKenzie and just you know
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letting her know like hey you know I'm
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here you know anytime you have auditions
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let me know. And so I ended up running
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into her and Twinkie Bird who is the
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main cast director at my acting coaches
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class. I just stopped by randomly and
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um and she was there and so I spoke to
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them and let them know I was interested
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and that was probably like on a Tuesday
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Wednesday. Um that Friday I got a call
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for an audition. So it happened that
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fast and but I still the audition
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process was pretty long. I had about
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four or five call backs chemistry reads
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and it was a lot just making sure I was
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right for the role and um I really I
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really prepared heavy for it and um you
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know get that call you know I I my
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acting coach told me that I don't know
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if people know but when you're when
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you're they're casting for films when
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they cast a person they have all their
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pictures on the wall and so she went to
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the to the office. My picture was on the
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wall. This was like on a Thursday and
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she's like, "Dennis, you booked the
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role." I'm like, "Oh my god." So, I got
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a call to come in the next day for
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another call back and no one said
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anything about me booking the role. The
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director, he walked past me, didn't
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speak to me. And I'm like, I was
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confused. So, they said nothing. So,
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that whole weekend I'm going I'm at
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home. I was living in Brooklyn at the
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time and people were just for some
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reason people just really wanted to play
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Biggie Smalls that weekend. So I was
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hearing Biggie left and right everywhere
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I went. I'm like I better book this
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role. So Monday they called me and told
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me that I booked the role. So I was
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ecstatic. That's amazing. And you know
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what I wanted to ask you? You know,
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without going into the whole Diddy trial
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and all that other kind of stuff, but by
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you playing the character of Drock,
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which was definitely um you know, in the
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whole Diddy team, how does it make you
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feel now? Is it like knowing that, okay,
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he's been put out, you know, out front,
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his name comes up all the time, and
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knowing that you played that role, does
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that make you feel any kind of way now
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that you played it at
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all? Um, no. So, my relationship with
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Diddy um has always been cool,
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professional. He's never came at me
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crazy. He never talked to me crazy. He
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never approached me crazily. Um, I've
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been to a lot of Diddy parties and from
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this house in the Hamptons to the one in
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LA. I never been to his his house in
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Miami. But I've been to a lot of his
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parties, his 40th birthday party at the
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Plot Hotel, his 50th birthday party,
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which everyone and anybody was there.
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And I never had any
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situation. And I I just thank God about
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um and whatever he has done, he has his
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cross to bear. And whether wrong or
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right, you know, you know, if justice is
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served in the courtroom or not, he still
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has to, you know, atone for what what
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he's done wrong or what he's done right.
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So I can't judge him, condone things
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he's done um negatively, but we all have
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our our have our
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idiosyncrasies. And so I just pray for
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everybody involved, especially his kids.
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I love his sons. I love his kids. I love
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them. And so um those are my littleies.
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And I I pray for them. I pray for his
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kids, you know, and that they get peace
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within the situation. Yeah. Love that.
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Now going forward, you you've had other
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roles also reoccurring roles with the
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family business in Atlanta. Now you are
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a true actor. So do you how do you
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prepare for your role? Do you get like
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do you have like special things that you
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do before you you prepare for the role?
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Do you get really into it? How do you
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prepare for your roles? Yeah. I'm not
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I'm not like a a method actor where I
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have to go and do certain things that my
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character does. like I'm not crazy like
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that. Only thing like play Drock, I did
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go um up to a prison a couple times to
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see some of my homies and just kind of
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get that essence. But when it comes to
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the family business, you know, that was
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a fun project because, you know, it was
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truly family. We all knew each other
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before that. You know, um Sean Ringold
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was in Notorious as well. Darren Henson
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is my big homie. Like I we all knew each
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other. So the energy permeates on the
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screen. So I just for me I just make
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sure I study my character. I break down
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my character and I I understand what the
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character's um viewpoint is in the
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script and trying to convey that. Yeah.
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Yeah. Now if you could tell me what was
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your most challenging role, what would
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that be? My most challenging role
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um I don't know. I mean, Atlanta was
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different because you didn't know what
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you were doing. We didn't know how it
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ended up. So, it didn't make random. So,
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um you know, I didn't even I had no
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inkling of how it was going to play out.
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Okay. And then when I saw I was like,
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"Oh, that was doing." So, that was that
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was different not knowing the end
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result.
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Um, I mean, every role is challenging
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and easy. Every role is challenging
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because I I make every role different.
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Like there's no role that I play that I
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portray that's the same um as before.
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Um, that's a great question. I don't I
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don't I can't think of any my most
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challenging role. Um, probably a role uh
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my role in a movie called All In with
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Little Mama. Uh because I didn't really
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like my character. I didn't like
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So, okay.
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When I didn't like and trying to find
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was was extremely challenging.
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I hated that guy. He was the worst. But
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other than that, um it it I've always
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had roles that I can really bite my
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teeth into. Like the Brave One with
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Jodie Foster. That was that was my first
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major film and that was that was
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eyeopening as far as learning and the
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experience.
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Yeah. Now you wear so many hats. You
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you're an actor, writer, producer,
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director. How do you you're a busy guy.
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So how do you like balance all of all of
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that stuff? Do you like okay so this
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season I'm just going to do all acting
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and then there's another season where
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I'm just going to break it down. I'm
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just going to hold that off and then I'm
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going to do some directing. How do you
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balance everything? Well, the check is
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always important situation. So, you
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know, uh it's not all about the money,
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but it's all about the money, but it's
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not all
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about it's not all about the money. Now,
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um I just open myself to what's was
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pertinent important at the time. I um
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teaching is something I love to do and
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I've been teaching um my company out
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like you know I've been doing that for
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like
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like 16 years now. That's crazy. And so
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um I I love to do that. So I'm
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constantly doing that. Acting is
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something that I'm I feel I'm great at
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and and I love to do. Directing is
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something new and and fresh and more
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challenging to me. So I get more vigor
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for that. um writing. I'm just my pen
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game is nice. So just I I I have to
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balance it out and just do everything.
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You know, we only have one life and for
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you to wait and not do what you want to
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do is
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a so I try to do everything.
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Yeah. Yeah. Well, if you could I as you
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could tell I like to ask a lot of
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questions. So, if you could share the
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most memorable or surprising moment from
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the behind the scenes on, what would you
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say that would
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be?
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Um, probably
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like like I almost died in
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Notorious. Um, there's a scene uh when
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um Biggie was murdered and or
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assassinated.
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Um, we we had a a guy who was like an
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extra and he was sitting in the in the
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in the driver's seat of the truck and he
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wasn't supposed to drive off. So, you
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know, I we we do the scene. I get I'm
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jump about to jump in the car. He drives
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off and I'm
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hanging like onto the door. the
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door swelling in the air and you know
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when you when you shoot at night we they
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wet the ground so it could reflect the
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light so the car is fish tell the truck
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is fish telling and I'm hanging out in
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the air it was so
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crazy and um he got fired immediately
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after that but that was that was one of
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the craziest things that happened you
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didn't have to method act at that point
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you was you was actually doing it. Doing
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it for real at that point.
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Oh [ __ ] I was scared. Yeah. Shook. I
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was shook like dice. It was crazy.
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Now, have you ever But it looked good on
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camera. It looked good, but woof. It was
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crazy.
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Have you ever turned down a role due to
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like maybe personal values or or vision
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or anything like that?
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Definitely.
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Definitely. There are certain characters
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I won't portray. Um, there are certain
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things that I I have I feel like I have
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a responsibility to my family, my
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friends, and people that follow my
14:04
career to have a certain type of um
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honor and what I portray, whether it's a
14:10
bad character or whatever, but certain
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things I I won't do on camera. I just
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I'll leave that to other actors, but
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there's certain things I definitely
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won't do. Understood. Now you mentioned
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so there's roles that have been present.
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Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. There's roles
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been
14:28
presented that I I I said no I I don't
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do that you know and you know I stand on
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my morals. Yeah. Yeah. Now I know that
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you you you teach you um teach you have
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an acting school act like you know.org.
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Tell us more about that.
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So when I first started it, it was just
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because I was getting a lot of calls
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from actors asking me questions about
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things and I had the answers. I knew all
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of them. I was like, "Wow, I know a lot
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about this business." And so I decided
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to do a a workshop in New York and I
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expected maybe four or five people come,
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but it was packed out and I was like,
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there's really a need for
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knowledge that I have. So, I started
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teaching
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um I teach, you know, kids to aspiring
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actors to working actors to celebrities.
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I have a lot of celebrities that I work
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with one-on-one and just giving them the
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the business and how to approach each
15:27
character properly and not just what
15:30
they do on screen, but behind the scenes
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as well, how to set up their their
15:33
business, how to look for jobs. Um, I've
15:36
been traveling, me and my my business
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partner, uh, Brayley Evans, we've been
15:40
doing workshops in different cities. um
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just helping these
15:45
actors and we we have one coming up in
15:48
in Chicago where we're actually that
15:50
register or also get a chance to
15:52
co-produce and and be in a movie that
15:56
we're going to shoot during the
15:57
workshop.
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Okay, I love that. Now, if what message
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or legacy do would you want to leave
16:05
behind that you hope your work leaves
16:07
behind? What would you want that to be?
16:16
that
16:17
Dennis successfully portrayed every
16:20
character he he had. Like there's no
16:24
character that I I took a I punted on.
16:27
Every character I gave my all and and
16:32
helped move the story
16:36
and then stand up man. You know, there's
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a lot of
16:40
um conversation about toxic
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masculinity, and I don't think
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masculinity is toxic. I think is it
16:48
should be cherished. You know, just like
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femininity should be cherished. I think
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masculinity should be cherished. And,
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you know, I I surround myself with with
16:59
men that are strong stand up men. And I
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I appreciate that. That's something
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that's been in society has been
17:08
downplayed, but um I'm hoping there's a
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resurgence. There's nothing wrong with
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being masculine. I love it. I love that.
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Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to ask
17:20
you some questions. It's a little bit of
17:21
a rapid fire type situation, so it's
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just a few questions. I promise it's not
17:26
gonna be too bad. Okay. Okay.
17:32
First question. Uh, one, give me one
17:35
role you wish you had played.
17:41
[Music]
17:42
Um, Black Panther.
17:45
[Laughter]
17:47
That was my R. I think my boy Chad Chad
17:49
with Boseman. But yeah, I think that was
17:51
a great character. Love it. Most
17:55
starruck moment on set.
18:00
Beyonce.
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when I I used to host a had a TV show
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infused um network and it was a music
18:10
like a a TRL situation and she came
18:13
Destiny Child came um to the set and I
18:17
was just like I was mush it was so crazy
18:21
the whole crew knew I I love Beyonce so
18:23
they was laughing at me oh it was so
18:26
crazy but you know we you know we became
18:29
friends and everything you know I love
18:31
Beyonce her Jay. Uh, but yeah, that was
18:34
I was star struck. That is funny. Okay.
18:38
Dream co-star or director to work with?
18:42
Um, dream co-star will have to be
18:48
uh Jeffrey Wright
18:54
and Scorsese.
18:57
Nice. Nice. Okay. Go-to hype song before
19:01
a big audition or scene?
19:04
Uh,
19:08
uh, 50 Cent. If I can't do it, it can't
19:12
be done. All right. Yeah.
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I love it. I love it. So, what's next
19:18
for you? Any upcoming projects or
19:20
anything you're excited about,
19:24
man? Um, so I I start a film next week
19:28
called To Be or To Not to
19:30
Be. Uh, like Tubi, like it's a parody on
19:35
on Tubi movies, comedy. Uh, that's going
19:37
to be fun. I have a movie, a TV series
19:40
coming out called Dope Unit that's
19:42
coming out in the fall. Um, so that's I
19:46
I can't wait people to see that. There's
19:48
a lot of great actors in that. um news
19:52
cycle that's coming out. I think it's
19:54
coming out in August. It's about a a
19:57
news team who gets hijacked
20:00
um by a terrorist. Um that is going to
20:02
be really a riveting film. Um my film
20:06
Care for What You Ask For. We're putting
20:09
it finishes finishing touches on that
20:11
right now.
20:13
um the the workshops I have in different
20:16
cities, uh Memphis, uh Baltimore,
20:21
Chicago,
20:23
LA. Um and I just I I got a bunch of
20:27
movies coming out that I've shot past
20:31
the past
20:33
um u this year. I've been really busy.
20:36
So, there's a lot of movies coming out,
20:38
but those are the ones I'm really
20:40
excited about uh for the world to see.
20:43
And, you know, hopefully we're shooting
20:45
Cold and Windy season 3 soon. So, um
20:49
that script is crazy. Yeah. Yeah. What
20:53
advice would you give to young to to
20:56
learn, to study, to soak it up every
21:02
information you can to go after it.
21:07
um and to enjoy yourself. You know a lot
21:10
of times in this business
21:13
um resting on your laurels is not
21:16
appreciated and you know the question is
21:18
always like what's next? What's
21:20
next? We have to
21:23
learn to
21:25
appreciate what the next is or we focus
21:28
or we we lose ourselves. So those are
21:32
the things just make sure you you
21:34
appreciate you enjoy the journey of it
21:37
and because it is a journey. It's not an
21:40
easy road. It is a journey but it's a
21:42
beautiful journey. Um and love on your
21:45
family in the meantime. Take time to do
21:48
you.
21:50
Okay? You know it can get overwhelming
21:52
sometimes pursuing work and you're
21:54
pursuing success. You have to have that
21:59
time where you can just enjoy your
22:00
friends and your family to keep you
22:03
sane.
22:06
I love that. I love that. Now, if fans
22:08
want to to follow you and support you,
22:11
where where would they go to do that or
22:14
get some acting classes?
22:17
Yeah. Well, if you're interested in
22:18
acting, you can go to act like you
22:20
know.org. Um, it's just how it sounds,
22:23
act like you know.org.
22:26
And I do private coaching. I do
22:29
consultation. I do workshops. I do a lot
22:32
of different things. I do unset coaching
22:34
for for celebrities. If you're want to
22:37
follow me social media is Dennis Law
22:39
White on all social media platforms,
22:42
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Only Fans.
22:45
I'm just playing. But
22:49
uh but yeah, so that's it. you know, I
22:53
engage with my people and, you know, I'm
22:56
all about building this acting
22:57
community.
23:00
Okay. So, before we go, I have a
23:02
question that I ask of all of my guests.
23:05
I am in my I ain't gonna tell you how
23:07
old I am, but I love old school music. I
23:10
love old school music.
23:12
28. H How How old? 28. I'll take it.
23:17
I'll take it. I'm 57.
23:21
Oh my god.
23:24
So I I'll take your 28. I'll take your
23:27
28. But I'm a old school lover and I ask
23:31
everybody name your favorite old school
23:33
artist and or song.
23:38
Oh
23:40
god. Old school
23:43
artist.
23:46
Um, I mean, I don't h I don't know if I
23:49
have a favorite cuz I I love music so
23:51
much,
23:54
but
23:55
um um I like slide and family stone. If
23:59
you want me to stay, I'll be around
24:03
and I love slide stone. Yeah. Um I mean
24:08
I don't know if you call like guy old
24:11
school. Okay. Yeah. 90s. But for Jackson
24:15
Fives,
24:16
uh I was a big Michael Jackson fan, man.
24:18
I don't know, man. It's so many. Um
24:23
uh I I I'll stick
24:28
with Stone and um and Donnie Hathaway.
24:32
Awesome. Okay. The song's for you. Yeah.
24:35
You can't go wrong with Donnie. So
24:39
yeah.
24:41
Awesome. Awesome. you know, music grew
24:44
up on, you know, through our parents and
24:47
us, I feel it has more, it had more
24:49
heart and more soul to it compared to
24:52
the music nowadays. There's some I I
24:54
mean, I like music from all genres, but
24:57
you know, there's a lot that's like uh
25:00
Are you still there? Because it broke up
25:01
a little bit. Oh, I'm still here. Oh,
25:05
okay. Okay. So, we're gonna go
25:10
That's okay. We're we're gonna go. But
25:12
and I agree with you about the whole
25:14
music thing because people always say to
25:16
me, you know, you use you listen to a
25:18
lot of uh old school music. You'll never
25:20
listen to what's going on today. I
25:22
rarely turn my radio on. But the thing
25:26
is is
25:28
that it's not dissing like the stuff
25:30
that's happening that today. I mean it
25:33
is this
25:33
generation but and not that they don't
25:37
have heart or any of that but it was
25:39
just different back you know in old
25:43
school music like you said everything
25:45
had that had true heart and had lyrics
25:47
and we had look we had the the intro the
25:53
bridge and then we and then we had the
25:56
ending of the song you know so I'm so
25:59
I'm so used to that I'm I love it you
26:01
Awesome.
26:05
And I think that, you know, because of
26:08
the the censorship of music back then,
26:11
they had to find more innovative ways to
26:13
say certain things. So now they could
26:16
just like I want to put it in you right
26:18
now, right? Give it to me. You know,
26:20
take it on top my booty. like all they
26:23
can say all kind of now but you know
26:26
previously had to be more how you say
26:29
things and be smooth with it you know um
26:33
so you know I I think that that made it
26:36
more creative
26:38
um selectively now it's just you know
26:40
there's no no hoes barred and you ain't
26:43
lying about
26:44
that but listen thank you so so much for
26:48
coming on my show come back anytime
26:50
anytime you got anything going on that
26:52
you you want to to get out there, you
26:54
want to promote, please come back. Um, I
26:57
enjoyed you very much. Thank you for
26:59
having me. I appreciate it. So, you're
27:01
so welcome. All right, guys. We want to
27:04
thank Dennis La White for coming on the
27:06
show today. Um, make sure you go to all
27:09
of his social media links. I'm going to
27:12
make sure that we got it right down
27:13
below as well as any acting um coaches
27:17
coaching that you may need. Look at this
27:20
man here. Get all of that information
27:22
and we are out of here.