Amin Joseph & how the Arts gave him discipline!

Cox: You are classically trained! Tell me more about your training!

Joseph: So I went to Howard University. I came up in the Neighborhood Playhouse.and the HB Studios in New York. My first jobs coming up were at the Apollo Theater in New York City.

Cox: When it comes to your roles and craft you take them both seriously, why is that?

Joseph: I’ve always been a theater junkie since I was a young boy and I love the craft. It’s really important for me to play a character with a lot of conviction and authenticity, especially when it comes from our culture. Part of the circle of truth around my head of getting it right is to be training and continuing my education that helps me to create characters and memorable performances. 

Cox: How do you learn continuously so that you are your best self when the role arises?

Joseph: I was always told that if you’re not working, then you’re learning. 

Amin elaborated in a way where he described that how he learns continuously is through life as he reflects on the changing man he becomes and how that can and will be reflected in his craft and roles. Learning goes beyond taking more acting classes and working with coaches which he does, but rather it’s more important to explore the possibilities that are out there. The best part of continuing to learn for Amin is to see the beauty in the growth and seeing that he isn’t the same man he was yesterday and won’t be the same tomorrow. 

Cox: You said you always had a love for acting as a child, where did it come from to be exact?

Joseph: Well growing up in New York I often would get in trouble. I was a bit precious and perhaps sometimes delinquent. I had behavioral issues with school and authority. I didn’t recognize it then but do now that the arts were an escape very similar to sports. It became a way for me to learn discipline and to find accountability within myself. I found discipline in the arts because I signed up for roles so I had to show up for rehearsal. These were things that no one else put on me but me. That was it for me.

He spoke of the arts having both a transformative power on him as a child but also one that was aspirational. Amin said, “You can come in one way or you can see the world a certain way. Then you find new ways to express yourself and new ways to see the world that challenges some of the old beliefs you may have had.”   

Cox: Are there things from your childhood that you are to tap into for each role?

Joseph: I’ve always been blessed with heart empathy. This helps me do my best to use my craft to relate to the audience and even the audience that might not speak my language or have come up like me. We have that same empathy of emotionality so we have things in common such as pain and joy. I’m borrowing so much from just observing people. In Harlem I would sit on a stoop all day and just watch people. I would notice the way they walked to the way they would throw trash to even how someone else may pick it up. I felt like a recorder picking up these moments. I felt something from all these things and I am able to be a mirror of society back to society. 

Cox: How do you empathize with roles that you might not consider relatable?

Joseph: It’s the work that I signed up for. I go straight into the minutia of it all, the grind, and discover the things about the role. I don’t run from the initial conflict, I run towards it. 

Amin got the conversation to be very Freudian and Carl Jung like during this part because it reminded me of the Will Smith monologue in Six Degrees of Separation. He said we hide by shying away from so many things and put on layers of masks to protect ourselves from being vulnerable. He said it’s those characters we play that we initially have difficulty expressing but we know what’s underneath. “So the highest compliment I can receive is when someone says they feel my character,” said Joseph. 

Cox: Amin you aren’t just serious about your craft, but about your business. Explain that for those who don’t understand how to mix their business and craft.

Joseph: I really believe it starts with having goals. These goals don’t have to make sense to anyone. For example, I have a vision next to me right now illustrating all the things that I want to do and some of the things that I’m doing. You have to have the vision and incremental goals to be able to check off. This will bring results to you. Sometimes this manifests itself faster for others and then there are those whose manifest comes slower for longevity’s sake. I’m on the ladder because I’m on the journey of longevity. 

Cox: Lastly, what advice would you give an aspiring actor or actress?

Joseph: I would say know yourself. Give yourself room to grow and make mistakes. Be able to give yourself an out because you might not be prepared for a certain opportunity right now. You might rather do something that’s a bit closer in your wheelhouse and that’s okay. Learn to discern between the opportunities you will take and the others you don’t have to at this present moment.