You may know him as Uncle Marvin from Starz hit TV show ‘Raising Kanan’, or Reggie from HBO’s ‘Ballers’. Dani La’ Shay of WebCelebDaily caught up with London Brown to discuss his career, how he landed his role on the show, how he dealt with the murder of his brother and more.
Growing up in South Central LA, London Brown used his gifts to take him from the hood to Hollywood. From doing theater in high school, to doing stand up shows opening up for Chris Tucker, London Brown takes us through his career, and how he got started in the business.
DL: What was life like for you growing up in LA?
LB: It really didn’t seem different until I started to see other places. But honestly it was a lot of gangs. Just like any other hood a lot of gangs, a lot of street people and stuff like that, but it really didn’t feel anything like that cause I was so used to it. It just felt like a Black neighborhood to me, till later on and I was like man I lived next door to the gang members…down the street from some more gang members. Went to school…you got to pass through all these different hoods, so you have to learn the street code quick and learn how to move about so you can stay alive.
DL: I love to hear about beginnings, how did you get your start in the industry?
LB: As far as my first professional…well I mean it started in theatre early on, and I was in high school on the road doing stuff. As far as my first TV show it was called ‘The Hustle’ . Shout out to Prentice Penny. Prentice Penny is the showrunner for ‘Insecure’. Shout to them. He gave us a shot…as in the actors on that show cause nobody knew us and we didn’t have a resume or nothing profound so, the fact we didn’t have a resume is what allowed me to book that gig. But it also set me up for the other projects.
DL: Now how did you link up with Chris Tucker and opening up for him doing stand up? That’s a big deal.
LB: When I first started doing stand up, at the time I was a teacher…[smiling] yea it’s a whole lot to me. It’s a whole lot to unpack but yea I was a teacher at the time and I think the Principal signed me up to the comedy fun raiser show. I did that and I was like oh shoot, this is my niche. So I started working clubs, open mics and stuff like that. I was doing the Hollywood Improv at the time on a Monday night…actually I was there supporting my friend Brandon Lewis who does stand up, and then comedian DeRay Davis says “Yo, have you met Chris Tucker before?” and I said yea I met him, he’s cool. Then he says, “but has he seen your act?”, and I said nah. So he [DeRay Davis] pushes me on stage, and I stumble on to Chris. Basically Chris was like alright man do like 5 minutes, and we exchange numbers after that, and he called around to see if I was solid and thorough. You know to see what my vibes was on and off the stage. Then he called me to do some dates, and we toured for like 3 years.
DL: Wow!
LB: So major shout out to him. We are still friends and all of that so, yeah, shout out to him cause he gave me an opportunity on the road and to perfect my craft so….its been a journey but major shout outs to him.
DL: What gems can you recall that he [Chris Tucker] taught or passed down to you?
LB: He gave me 3 crucial ones which was stay humble, keep God first and stay focused. I still use those…those 3. I try to make that a a daily practice to stay humble, keep God first and stay humble. That was very solid of him to teach me that.
Now many may not have known that while London was filming the hit HBO show Ballers, he was also dealing with the death of his baby brother. Wendell Lee was a 25 year old, basketball player from Colorado State University.
Right before he was going to try out for the NBA, he was gunned down in cold blood in 2015. According to the LA Times homicide report,
About 11:45 p.m. on Sept. 21, Lee was visiting a friend and the two were standing outside the woman’s home when a sedan pulled up and a man got out of the back driver’s side seat, said Lt. Holly Francisco with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The man shot Lee multiple times, then got back into the car. Francisco said that the woman was not injured during the shooting, and the man didn’t say anything before he opened fire.
Lee was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m. on Sept. 22, according to coroner’s records.
While most people would’ve taken a hiatus to grieve, London channeled those emotions into his character Reggie, making it what he calls “the best time and the worst time of my life at the same time”.
LB: I never thought about taking a hiatus or even making that option. But I think for me, I think losing my brother, I had to make a choice on, what I was going to do with that energy. Which is am I gonna go into a depressed place where people go? But that’s not really my style anyway. What I decided to do was… My brother’s death just brought out a lot more ….it made me way more empathetic to other people’s issues and pain. It made me more passionate. Cause what I realized with my brother…we don’t know how long we are gonna be here. So time became more precious to me. How I was occupying my time started to matter to me.
He then spoke about how he handled his brother’s death while shooting on set.
LB: When we were actually shooting, I didn’t cry at all because I didn’t know how to cry. Especially as men…Black men…we are taught and conditioned not to cry. And growing up in the hood you really don’t cry. Up until my brother, I thought something was medically wrong cause I hadn’t cried outside of acting. So I was like “what’s up with that?” …so while I was filming I didn’t even cry, I didn’t even mourn. I just buried my brother, moved back to Miami to finish filming…and then the last day of shooting episode 2 of the second season, there’s a scene where me and my best friend on the show, shout out to Donovan Carter, my character shoots his character with a paintball gun and I ended him, and that was the first time I ever cried…cause I wore a mask so nobody could see anything underneath that mask in the scene. So I was in a weird place because I was in the best place of my life as far as my career, but I was at the saddest place in my life at the same time. So it was a very interesting dynamic.
Check out the full interview where London talks ‘Raising Kanan’ and gives co-star Patina Miller her flowers.
Be on the look out for season 2 of Raising Kanan coming summer 2022.
Follow London Brown on all social media @RealLondonBrown.
