VIDEO: Damian Thompson Shares How His Struggles With Stuttering Led Him Into Acting On WHY I'LL NEVER MAKE IT

Born in Kingston, Jamaica and raised in Miami, Florida, Damian Thompson (Toni Stone, Little Rock) is a performer of both stage and screen. From an early age he was his family's private entertainer, always dancing at family functions and reciting TV shows. Yet after moving to America and taking speech classes to control his Jamaican accent, he developed a chronic case of stuttering. It affected his self-confidence as well as interactions with others.

During his hour-long interview with host Patrick Oliver Jones, Thompson shares how reciting Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech was the impetus for his seventh-grade teacher to convince him to try out for the performing arts magnet at his middle school. She believed that it would help him to control his stuttering. After auditioning and getting in, he got bit by the acting bug and has been infected ever since.

Like many actors, though, Thompson not only wants to share playwrights' creations and perform unique characters, he also wants to create and produce his own stories. So in 2018, he set out to do just that. On the podcast he discusses audition experiences that led him to create a short film about what it means to be black within the world of acting, particularly at auditions. "It's a funny, thought-provoking look at how society views a black male."

The second half of Thompson's interview centers on the first national convention of Actors Equity this past April. Its purpose was to bring together delegates from across the country to share common challenges and allow more members to have a voice in their union. However, it seems some voices were more welcome than others. As a delegate, Thompson was there and provides some behind-the-scenes perspective on the controversy that led some members to walk out. He gives the lowdown and isn't afraid to name names, showing how the politics of division that have so greatly affected the country as a whole also found their way into Equity's first national convention.

Damian Thompson is an NAACP Theatre Award winner and earned his MFA in theater at the University of Delaware's Professional Theatre Training Program, after getting his BFA at the University of Evansville's Acting Program. Favorite roles included Oshoosi Size in The Brothers Size (for which he won a Drammy Award for Best Actor), Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice, and Gently Ai in the world premiere stage adaptation of Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand Of Darkness.

WHY I'LL NEVER MAKE IT is one of Feedspot's Top 25 Theater Podcasts and is hosted by Off-Broadway actor and singer Patrick Oliver Jones. This weekly podcast features conversations with fellow creatives and the realities of a career in the performing arts, all while challenging the notion of what it means to "make it" in this business. Previous guests on WINMI include Gabrielle Ruiz (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Ben Davis (La Boheme), Mykal Kilgore (Motown), and Bianca Marroquín (Chicago).