Instagram story viewer> @actingwithadam> Posts

actingwithadam

@actingwithadam

undefined

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Download All

Thank you, @naacpimageawards! Some moments from today’s nominees luncheon that I will carry with me:

@derricknaacp, the President and CEO of the NAACP. Thank you for your powerful speech.

@yvettenicolebrown, it was a pleasure to meet you!

@khleothomas and I worked together on ROLL BOUNCE, which filmed twenty years ago in Chicago. I was a set PA and he was part of the main cast. We recognized each other after many years and gave each other a hug. Another full circle moment.

@msjeanettejenkins, Olympic medalist @itskimglass, and @givethemdiamond, who was my date to the luncheon.

Congrats to all the nominees in all the categories. Sending love to everyone and stay in the love! by @actingwithadam

111

22

6 months ago

I’m incredibly humbled to share that I’ve been nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Thank you to the @naacp and the @naacpimageawards for this recognition.

Today I reflected with immense gratitude and reverence for how much @audramcdonald gave us all with her performance of “Rose’s Turn” at the Tony Awards for @gypsybway. After a passionate conversation with a few friends and students about it last June, @givethemdiamond urged me to write something! Thank you to everyone who supported what started as a Facebook post and contributed to the conversation. Thank you to @anitagonzalez7555 at Georgetown University and Denise Cordell Hall, the publisher of @bronzecommhub, who helped the piece find a home outside of Facebook. The NAACP gave me one of my first writing awards in their National ACT-SO competition when I was 16 and 17, so this feels like a full circle moment for me and I am truly grateful. by @actingwithadam

84

19

6 months ago

Serbian and Croatian filmmakers gave me some of the greatest opportunities of my career, and I remain deeply grateful. Thank you to the filmmakers — Rados Bajić, Stevan Filipović, Danilo Šerbedžija and Lazar Bodroža — for allowing me to participate in your storytelling. I will never forget what I learned from the artists in these countries, and I am honored to be a part of your history. I hope to continue fostering collaboration between diverse artists and opening doors for more creative exchanges that connect artists across the world. by @actingwithadam

48

7

7 months ago

SHE BOOKED IT, yes she did. 🕺🏿

Today we are celebrating @melupitz who was on set this month, adding to her success this year.

Her bookings so far in 2026:
- 1 international television series
- 2 commercials
- 3 short films

Go, Melu, go! Mama is getting her circulation moving for ya, girl. Feet help the body. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

And since we’re moving, the TIAS TRACK OF THE WEEK: “Yamore” by @moblackrecords and @therealsalifkeita.

“Yamore” is of my favorite tracks ever, a signature of the Ibiza summer season for two years running, more than 280 million streams worldwide. That tribal beat moves through the body and activates the soul. The song is a kind of spiritual memory of the soul remembering what it feels like to live open and free. This moment in the video is the refrain, which is the emotional anchor of the song:

Je t’aime mi amore, me ni bé fiyé
E nélé yarabi li la too much.

It translates roughly to “I love you, my love. I believe in you, I trust in you. This love I have is overflowing, this feeling is too much.”

Sounds like something Mama would say. I believe in you and I trust in you that the best is yet to come. It also reminds me of our international acting community as there are three different languages in the song: Bambara, Portuguese/Creole and French. I thought this was the perfect song because it speaks to the kind of love our acting family runs on. When you see Melu put up work in class, she makes you feel because of how much she opens up her own heart. ❤️❤️❤️🎭 by @actingwithadam

8

0

2 hours ago

Mama said it’s time to get back in the ring. If you’re ready to stand up and fight for your own life and become a powerful creative being who is too loud to ignore, write me and let’s talk. ❤️🎭🙏🏾 by @actingwithadam

6

0

8 hours ago

STOP FIGHTING YOURSELF, CHILD. Mama is not putting any more quarters into the machine so you can beat yourself up. Now admit that you were kinda turned on when they said “FINISH HIM.” 🤭 #MortalKombat by @actingwithadam

8

5

9 hours ago

The moment I realized the person who told me as a child “YOU’RE TOO UGLY TO BE AN ACTOR” was wrong.

When I first moved to Serbia in 2020, I lived on the 19th floor of a building in New Belgrade. There was this 50m terrace I would do my exercises on. An old woman who lived in the next building always happened to be outside drying her laundry and watching whenever I was working out. Sometimes I would have my acting classes on this terrace but she never seemed so interested to watch that. Oh well, I guess acting classes aren’t for everyone.

I laugh about it now because I managed to heal from the wound of being made to feel unattractive. I carried those damaging words from my childhood for years. Looking back, I realized that little boy believed a lie. The older I get, the more I understand that beauty isn’t something someone else gives you permission to have.

What’s also beautiful is how an old woman in Serbia helped heal something that happened to me as a child… and she never spoke a single word to me. She consistently watched me with interest each and every day. Her gift was her presence.

If something in this story resonates with you, tell me why. 🙏🏾 by @actingwithadam

36

1

17 hours ago

That time I taught in the same studio where they filmed THE EXPENDABLES and HELLBOY.

I’ve worked with actors around the world. One of the most meaningful experiences I’ve had as a teacher was at @nuboyana in Bulgaria, one of the largest film studios in Europe.

This experience gave me hope for the future of our industry. What if film school happened inside a working movie studio? This is exactly what @filmforge_nuboyana offers.

FilmForge develops the next generation of storytellers by running workshops in all production departments, placing students alongside mentors who are working film professionals.

The program culminates in the production of a proof-of-concept film created before the full feature goes into production. Think of it as a sizzle reel made with all the resources of a studio film.

To my knowledge, no one else in the world is doing this on this scale, and they’re doing it in Bulgaria, thanks to @yarivlerner.

It reminds me of a previous era in filmmaking, when Hollywood invested in developing talent in the late 60s and early 70s.

This is what happens when a film studio invests in people, not just projects. It’s also the kind of environment that builds a genuine creative community, and I love that. 🙏🏾 by @actingwithadam

26

2

a day ago

In 1970, Motown put a child on the cover of a song about unconditional love and nobody questioned it. We’ve been doing this in our art since before we had language for it. We’ve always known that our youngest selves deserve to be loved that way… we just didn’t have the language for “healing your inner child” yet. But now we do. And that child is yearning to be free. Diana’s voice and the backup singers are calling to that child: it’s an invitation to return home to yourself. by @actingwithadam

8

2

2 days ago

It’s okay not to have all the answers. It’s in the asking of the question that we often find the answers we seek. Socrates understood this. This is why he taught through questions rather than instruction. ❤️ by @actingwithadam

17

3

2 days ago

Trace the behavior of your character back far enough and you find a child who wanted something and didn’t get it. Say hello to your INNER CHILD… 👋🏾

Ivana Chubbuck has said that the best actors are able to bring a childlike state of play to their work.

As adults, we have learned to perform for others. Children haven’t learned that yet… their emotional response is pure and unfiltered. Kids don’t self-edit before reacting. When they want something, they will not hesitate to scream and cry for it. And when kids are at play, you know it, because you can hear them.

The inner child is also the source of imaginative play… the willingness to fully believe in the given circumstances of a scene, the way a child believes in a game of make-believe. That box is no longer a box, it’s a rocket ship and you believe that it will take you to faraway planets. So the child sits in that box in the middle of the floor and transports himself into outer space. Now imagine being your adult self and being asked to sit inside a cardboard box while others watch you. Come on, I dare you to do it and get back to me on how it felt. The child who is able to sit inside that box has an advantage over us as adults who are asked to suspend our disbelief within every imaginary circumstance of a scene. That quality of loosing self-consciousness is part of what makes acting feel alive.

So how do we access our inner child in our work? Think back to the playground and what kind of child you were on the playground.

This conversation came from the rework of GIRLS with Dina and Anett. We cast the characters older than how they appear in the original HBO series because this scene gave us an opportunity to explore our inner child. by @actingwithadam

8

0

3 days ago

Mama is conducting now. I need the brass to come through louder. Make them hear you, baby. 🎶
.
.
.
#Mahler #MamaAdamSay by @actingwithadam

13

0

4 days ago