Hunter Clowdus is a go-getter, but not in the general sense. The essence of a go-getter—that quality that truly makes them a go-getter, especially in Hunter’s case —isn’t measured by the tangible prized outcome of their actions; the label, often attributed to relentlessly driven beings, isn’t explicitly reserved for those that find themselves in a higher tax bracket either. No, see, the go-getter is the person who grinds for the love of their craft, the love of their art, simply for the love of their craft. This passion drives them to scale mountains only spoken about in fables, traverse waters of biblical proportions. A go-getter is willing to get up and, well, go get it, by any means necessary—regardless of whether money is involved or not. This ideal could be dismissed and merely written off as a product of the toxic hustle culture, but it’s more than that: it’s a philosophy that drives one to find their purpose and stays committed to said purpose because it’s their purpose. And Hunter is all about that life.
After figuring out what it is he was passionate about early on in his 20s, Hunter became enamored with the entertainment world. But he wasn’t determined to just be one of the best actors out. See, he was more determined to perfect his role as a human being, and if he got good at being a son to his parents, he would then become better as an actor by extension. His go-getter mentality wasn’t and isn’t built off of the backs of big business and dollar signs; Hunter’s drive leans on the foundation of being a decent human being with a keen sense of motivation. After all, his drive begins with the little things. “You shouldn’t start with trying to be the best actor simply for recognition and accolades, in my opinion,” says Clowdus as we chat over the electronic highways of Zoom. “If you love the art of acting like I love the art of acting, then you’re willing to do this passion no matter what. Even if you never get that Oscar or the critical acclaim, if you love it and you want it, then you’ll go out and get it, regardless if people are watching or not.”
Ahead of the release of the fourth season of CW’s All-American, I was able to sit down and speak with the highly-motivational soul that is Clowdus. He spoke candidly about his upbringing, his beginnings at the University of Alabama, shifting gears into acting, and getting the opportunity of a lifetime playing JJ Parker on All-American.
This was our conversation.
…
Marc: First of all, you have a crazy career beginning at Alabama—Roll Tide—
Hunter: Roll Tide, for sure!
M: Let’s start from the beginning. Was your journey already set on acting? I know you went to school for Pre-Dental, and you were shortstop for the Crimson Tide. Could you walk us through how acting came out of that?
H: Yeah, no, honestly acting was the furthest thing on my radar, and I think it stemmed from the fact that I grew up in the sports world. I’m originally from Chattanooga, TN, and every season I was in sport, whether that was baseball, football, wrestling, tennis, track—a matter of fact, the first time that I ever considered acting was my junior year of high school. The only reason I did this play called The Outsiders was because everyone on the football team knew that if we did this play, we would get out of school early for rehearsals two weeks leading up to the actual show. So we were like, “yo, we can get out of school early? Let’s do the play!” (Laughter begins to swell behind his voice). Outside of that, there were literally zero acting experiences or any interests in acting—it just wasn’t on my radar. I went to the University of Alabama, thought I was going to be a pediatric dentist; I was training and working out hard, and I think that opened doors for me in the modeling realm, which was the first time I had really been in front of the camera and that ultimately led me to landing a background job in MTV’s Teen Wolf. That took me to Atlanta, and once that happened, I felt I could do this. I saved up money, lived in Atlanta for a couple of years and then moved to LA, went to NY Film Academy, studied acting for film and stuck around here and been grinding ever since.
M: So, going through your filmography, I noticed this affinity for sports; as you mentioned, it’s always been around your life. I noticed through your acting career you’ve played in a ton of sports-related projects, and one of your first joints was Trouble With The Curve, and I think that’s baseball. You did 42 where you were a part of the Brooklyn Dodgers in that movie opposite the late, great Chadwick Boseman, RIP. But it was interesting to me because you went to Alabama, you were a shortstop on a baseball team, and then you’re playing in these baseball films. Is there some sort of love for baseball that you secretly had or was it not a secret, and it was always running through your mind?
H: Yeah, no (laughs), it was a little bit of both! I started playing baseball when I was five, but at the root of everything, it was the sportsmanship [of baseball], the competition, camaraderie, the relationships you build through team sports. I think that’s what I truly loved the most because now that I am removed from competitive sports, I still find that among my cast mates, professional team, my PR, managers—we have this relationship where we have each other’s backs, and we’re tight with each other. We’re trying to do this thing to the best of my ability, and again I learned that through sports when I was younger, but I have been able to use the things that I love the most and use them professionally.
M: Has there ever been a moment where you look at a project and go, “this is a baseball project, and I want to do that because it has something in it that I can relate to on a personal level,” or was it just always a coincidence?
H: Honestly, when you’re getting started, you have a lot less say than people might think. You’re the furthest thing from picky. Someone could say, “Hey, you’re going to stand in the corner and say, “Hey, what’s up when someone walks in,” and you’ll be like, “done, I want to do that job!” (They both laugh). Fortunately for me, I have been doing it for a while now, and I have had some amazing opportunities. So, I am able to go after specific roles a little bit more. But at the beginning, any opportunity is an opportunity, and you’re much less picky when you’re getting started. Again, if anyone is listening to this or reading this and you’re just getting started, and they are early in their journey, you are going to get typecast slightly because no one knows what you can do. If the only time anyone has ever seen you is wearing a baseball cap and baseball pants, then you’re probably going to get put in a lot of baseball movies because nobody has seen your talent beyond that. I think that as you get more experience under your belt, people will see the range, but at first, people will take you for what you bring to the table on paper. And you have to build that over time so you can get more opportunities for more diverse roles.
M: Well, I was going to ask you how much do sports play a role in your philosophy as an actor and or human being, but it seems as though you were flung into these roles with people saying, “oh, I saw this guy in this so he would be good for this.”
H: I think that the extent of a lot of casting directors, especially at that entry-level of work or those roles that aren’t massive roles, still need to be filled, but they would take less depth from an actor to fill those. If you develop those skills over time—I like to say you can only give your work as much as you are—so one thing that I really tried to do over the years was ask myself, “what can I do today to not just become a better actor but a better human being?” Growing my capacity as a human, I can then go put that into acting or being a husband one day. So if I just grow as an actor, what happens when I want to settle down one day? Perhaps I haven’t developed skills that I need to be that great husband or father, or—I love my parents, and I’m super close to them—if I just focus on being the best actor, perhaps I didn’t grow as a son over the years. It’s tough, and it’s something that I don’t want to do. With each day, I try to learn how I could be a little bit better as a human being because if I grow like that, I know that I can take that into anything and benefit from it.
M: And all of this takes us right into All-American. You just talked about your growth as a person, as an actor, and some of the best actors infuse parts of their real-life into their roles to give it that much more of a humanistic feel. I can’t help but feel that when I watch you play JJ Parker—congrats on that, by the way!
H: Thank you, thank you!
M: You and the whole cast really killed that, fasho! My fiancé and I sat there and watched it, we binged it twice just to see if we missed anything amidst all the drama, but you can sort of feel the human element to every character in the show. When you’re watching, you dine yourself worrying about these characters in a way that feels almost like they’re your homies, friends, and family. And it’s that layer, to the point that you were speaking about being the best version of yourself, that I can feel through the acting. So, could you speak to how you brought your growth as a human being when you first got started in the industry when you were still growing up around all of this to how you brought that to life as JJ Parker on All-American?
H: Absolutely! I moved out here when I was twenty-one—so nine years ago. In your twenties, in general, there is so much growth, lessons, and discovery to be learned. Oh my gosh, the failures to be had, if you were bold enough and courageous enough to take shots and push yourself and understand it is going to be a hard road—there is so much confidence to be earned and battle scars to be built upon. And I think that is what leads you, hopefully, into the next chapters of your life with some substance and things you can teach and share with others. It’s important to push yourself in that capacity, and I’m so glad that I did at such a young age, saying, “hey, I’m going to pick up my stuff and move out here because this is something that I am passionate about.” There wasn’t much planning beyond that, but I did trust my skills in the prior twenty-one years that I developed, believing that they would be enough for me to survive. So, I don’t think you could throw your hands up and go on a total whim, but if you have developed some skills, the most rewarding thing you can possibly do is take chances and bet on yourself. Because no matter if you win or lose, you’re going to grow so much from that opposed to sitting there with your hands folded and your head down saying, “I’m not good enough” I don’t think that is the best way to navigate through life. But anyway, back to the growth, I feel that my growth in the past ten years as a human—again taking those massive shots and believing that if I jump in the deep end, I will swim and not sink, that’s my growth as a human. As far as growth [regarding] the show, it has been really cool because we all booked—speaking to the castmates now on All-American-we all booked this thing when we were fairly new actors. Obviously, Taye Diggs, Monae, the “adults,” they’re the exception as they had more experience compared to us. But as far as the core group of kids, we were all fairly new. Some of us had booked some guest stars, few recurring, few of us had been in some great things but never anything of this magnitude. So, we all grew, and it has been so cool to see us all grow professionally but also personally. There have been some things that my castmates have gone through that you tend to grow through during your twenties, and it’s been cool to just be a friend, essentially be an extension of family for one another because we face problems like fame in general—not that its a problem—but it’s these new things that we have to navigate. There are way more eyeballs on you. You get in your head sometimes, and you wonder if you can say this or post this, or should I go out and do this because I know I’ll be seen by this and how does that look? Because we’re kids trying to handle a multi-million dollars business, when we go out now, it’s not just us going out anymore; we’re attached to All-American, The CW, and Warner Bros. So, having these multi-million dollar businesses attached to our images it has been really cool and a great learning experience for me because I have learned things that could help me in my next decade of work out here and my next project. I feel like I’m becoming a much stronger actor and also a businessman. And I think it’s really important, regardless of your profession, to understand the great line “if it doesn’t make money, it doesn’t make sense.” So not only do you wear your title that you tell everyone, but you’re a businessman or businesswoman, and your image matters, the more professionally that you can carry yourself, the more opportunities you’re going to have.
M: So, leading into All-American and the beginning of your journey on this show, did you have that business mindset when you were trying to land the role of JJ Parker? Or was it more of you trying to eat and find your next role as an actor? And also, how was it landing that role and getting started with that cast?
H: For me, it was truly a whirlwind. The day of the audition, right before I headed over to Warner Bros to read, I got a call from my mom. She was bawling on the phone, crying her eyes out, and she told me that my Nana had passed away.
M: Damn, man, Rest In Peace, Nana, for sure.
H: Thank you, man. But she had died that morning, and she had been sick, but you just never know. So, I’m on the phone with my mom, and she’s hysterical. I ask her if I should just skip this audition and go home, and my mom tells me to just handle the audition and come home after. I went into the audition with that on my heart, finished it, then hopped on a plane later that evening. Couple days later, literally the day of my Nana’s visitation, they called and said, “Hey, you booked the role for the character JJ for Untitled Spencer Project. And I was thinking like “okay, cool.” So then I came back out to Cali, and I attend the table read, but when I get here they say “hey we still can’t give you the role yet, because we want to see how you read with the other members of the cast.” So, I go to this table read, technically still auditioning for the role at this point, I complete the table read, and then a couple of days later they call my time, and they say “congrats, you’re going to play JJ.” And it felt like any other small role that I had ever gotten. I didn’t understand the magnitude of the situation, and to be honest, I don’t think any of us understood the magnitude of the situation because, again, it was called Untitled Spencer Project. But we go shoot this pilot, and it’s dope; I mean, it is so cool, and it feels like I’m a kid living a dream; we’re playing high school football, we’re turning up, we’re partying, man, it’s so much fun but cautiously because we still don’t know if we have a show. We eventually get a call, and we are told that the show gets officially picked up, and we’re like, “yo, this is amazing” because it’s still so new to all of us, and we didn’t know the lingo and everything that comes with it. We didn’t know where any of this was going. They told us that we got picked up for eight but didn’t have the back-end pickup. And I remember hearing that going, “what? What does that even mean?” I really just wanted to know if I had the jobs or not (they both laugh); that’s all I needed to know. Anyway, we go shoot the first eight episodes—I’m pretty sure our first season was sixteen episodes. So, you would get eight on the front end and then hopefully; you would get picked up again mid-season and then, if you do, eight on the back end to complete the first season. But they don’t buy sixteen upfront because if nobody is watching, then they don’t want to spend all that money on the back end eight. We could’ve easily been canceled on the front end eight, if that makes sense?
M: Ahhh, I see. Yeah, I gotcha. I love learning about the behind-the-scenes of this.
H: As do I! So, you don’t just get season one and “congrats.” No, they’re over there mathematically thinking, “hm, if we spend this much on this many episodes and this show doesn’t do well, and we have to cancel it, how much do we lose?” I’m telling you, it’s all business! So, yeah, we were going to work every day and shoot Untitled Spencer Project, and we didn’t know if we were going to get the back-end pickup. It was around this time, though, that we got the name All-American, we went to the CW to premiere, and our numbers were not good.
M: Whattttt?
H: Yeah, dude, our numbers were terrible! And I think it’s because it was a show tackling a lot of things that people were, perhaps, after coming home after a long day and didn’t want to hear about.
M: Aye, you might be right, because the first season, I kid you not, that’s what got me hooked. It was, as my fiance described it, “Degrassi with a focus on Football” (they both start laughing). And I was like, “yeah, these heavy topics, we need this after work and school, it’s important!” But you can continue, sorry to cut you off.
H: No, no, exactly, I appreciate that. And I think it took a while for people to realize that All-American is enjoyable to watch, but there are also lessons to be learned, and this is enlightening, impactful, eye-opening, and I am better because I watched it. It’s not like other CW shows; it feels more gritty, real, and grounded. And that was a chance that the CW took. Because, again, we always said o the show that this show could’ve easily landed with a Netflix or an HBOMax—could’ve gone a different direction. But anyway, that is essentially how we got from Untitled Spencer Project to All-American. Again, I think the pandemic, Netflix, the social issues that we were talking about—especially during that time when if you turned on the news and then you turned on our show, it was very present—I think all of these things helped put us on the map. But even then, you still have to deliver as actors. And I’ll say this: this season, season four, is our best season ever.
M: I was just going to ask you about that. Could you talk to me a little bit about what we can expect from All-American season four? Because I don’t know how you guys could top season three (laughs), everything leading up to season three was crazy, so how crazy is season four going to be in comparison?
H: I think season four, hands down, is the best, and one of the reasons is it moves really fast. Oftentimes tv shows can stick around on a storyline or a season of life too long, and that isn’t true for real life. Everything in our day-to-day is moving so quickly, and what is stressing us out today probably isn’t stressing us out tomorrow. 99% of the things that we are worried about on our schedule this morning won’t matter in two weeks. So, when you get a tv show that harps on little things, it can seem like the show is dragging on. With season four, every episode is moving, moving, moving. We’re going from high school to college, so there is a ton in that, but also, the characters are really finding who they are and what direction they want to go. It’s such a pivotal time in your life when you’re transitioning from high school to college, especially because you are making decisions that could alter the structure of your life—or at least have the potential to—and the stakes become so much higher. You’re really going to see these characters lean into that and make mistakes just as real-life humans do but continue to take steps forward, which shows bravery, courage, confidence, and it’s just so fun to go to work every day.
M: And is there anything in particular that we can expect from your character, JJ Parker, in season four? Please don’t spoil it (they laugh), but is there anything that you can allude to that might raise some eyebrows?
H: It’s funny; before I hopped on this call with you, I had to google what episode had aired because sometimes we’re on a different shooting schedule than an airing schedule. So, this week we’re shooting episode fourteen, but the world has only seen up to episode seven (they laugh), so you really have to be careful and know what has been seen, so you don’t accidentally speak to things that nobody has seen yet. It’s like unwrapping a present, and you want to give the audience/fans the joy that comes with that—you don’t want to be the one that spoils it for them. But I will say this; I am super pleased and super grateful for the writers as they let JJ open up more. You’re going to see JJ in different lights during season four. We’ve always seen him as the happy go lucky guy, but I think this season will show a bit more of who he is and what he stands for, humanizing him in a way that makes him seem less like a “character” and more like a relatable human and I think it’s important to see people in every light if you only see someone with a smile on their face perhaps you create a story around them that he or she is always happy so I think it’s vital to see people every which way to better understand them and better appreciate them on a deeper level. Season four is going to give you more of that from JJ.
M: Understanding how everything works on the back-end and your growing intellect on how the sausage is made—for lack of a better term—do you see yourself getting to a point in your career trying to make your own production company or becoming a director? Maybe move into some endeavors that put you in a position where you’re at the helm and controlling things? It just seems like you are willingly learning more about your craft as an actor and how the business of acting works. I can definitely see that for you, so is that something you are already dipping your toes in?
H: (Belts out a hearty laugh) Just as you were asking that I was over here smiling so big! Thank you for that acknowledgment. I do love it, and I think there are so many facets to everything we do in life, and it’s so cool to gain an understanding of how things work. I’ve always been a guy who appreciated the methods by which something was made, I’m a fan of the process, not just the product, and with that mindset driving me, I have branched in order to learn more. I run a weekly show on Twitch—which is a live-streaming platform—and I go under the name King Clowdus. Every Sunday at 6PM PST, I host a show and sometimes I have a guest, sometimes I play games, but a lot of the time, I’m just hanging out with the community, and we’re talking about life, work, and things that I’ve learned but again I feel this could potentially prepare and propel me to fifteen years down the road and having The Clowdus Show, who knows man. I post twice a week on YouTube—Sundays and Wednesdays at 7PM PST, and I don’t miss—these are hard dates for me. And it’s cool because I raise the stakes for myself. I don’t think anyone would care if I started my stream thirty minutes late, but I don’t because I care. I always say that my name is attached, so is everything I got. What we do in life matters, our names matter, our reputation matters and if we take care of that, then it will take care of us. But like I was saying, both of these projects are done by me; I’m the one doing the shooting, editing, posting; it’s all me. So, again, this is all aiding me in film making, audio, lighting, setting up a shot and the frame rate, maybe even the rule of thirds—where do I want to be in this shot? So, all that makes me a better filmmaker, technically, but also there’s carryover because that’s going to make me a better actor. When I do a scene with Cody, Michael and Daniel, and I see the camera moving deep on a dolly, and it’s shooting on an 85mil lens, I can be aware of where the lighting is so I don’t block myself, and maybe it’s a cowboy shot so it’s shooting from my hip pockets up so my feet are perhaps not in the shot so maybe I’ll decide to wear slides instead of cleats to help the sound department. So, again, there are levels to this, and the more you take pride in knowing the levels, the more you’re going to better at your profession, but also it goes back to the fundamentals and hard work of your dedication: its taking care of a little, so you build the skills to take care of a lot. Taking pride in your work is so important; I don’t care what you do. Take pride in your work and work your butt off at it because you’re going to develop skills that then can take you wherever your life decides to take you.
M: Damn. This dude (they both laugh), you need to be a motivational speaker, man, I’m ready to run through a wall (they keep laughing). To close it all out, let’s take it to the young actors/actresses, directors, producers who are just trying to make it, waiting on their shot. They see you on All-American, they see you with the rest of the cast, and in those party shots, you guys are having a blast, but you all are acting your asses off in those emotional scenes that call for those humanistic beats. It’s a fine line between knowing when to switch up and being the best at being a human so that way you can translate it on and off the screen. Is there anything that you want to say to these young creatives that you wished somebody would’ve told you?
H: Oftentimes, we can find answers in the questions.
M: That’s deep right there (they laugh). We are getting philosophical.
H: (laughs) Yeah! But, no, I think you hit it when you said partying and then followed up with “humanistic beats” ahh, that is beautiful right there—”humanistic beats.” I think it’s important in life to not ride the highs too high and the lows too low and understand that this thing truly is a marathon and not a sprint. There’s going to be many, many opportunities that come our way, many lessons, many wins and many losses. If I could tell my younger self anything, it would be to remember that you are a victor, not a victim, and everything in life is happening for you, not against you. I always go back to this one saying that is everything for me, and it’s helped me so much to make everything that I do applicable to everything that I do: enlarging the capacity at which I am as a human has the carryover effect. I would focus less on trying to be the best singular thing and try to level up in everything, and that goes back to taking pride in everything you do. Everyone wants to get the prize at the end, but it’s the process that makes that prize have any weight but to be honest, it’s really just the little things, it’s drinking enough water throughout the day, setting aside an hour to work out, being respectful to your parents and peers, being a good friend to others, loving yourself, it’s giving your energy and focus to what you really want to do with your time and trying to do the best job. If this was the last day that you had, you would be proud of the effort you put forward. I think if you practice that daily, you would be surprised five years later and you look back. If you just lay every brick perfectly, the building will build itself.
