December 12, 2024 • 40 mins
In this powerful episode, we’re joined by the multi-talented JW Cortes—actor, former U.S. Marine combat veteran, and NYPD officer—who opens up about his incredible journey. Born and raised in Brooklyn to Puerto Rican parents, JW shares how his roots shaped him, the life lessons he’s learned through fatherhood, and how he transitioned from serving his country and community to making his mark in Hollywood.
JW takes us behind the scenes of how he landed his breakout role as Detective Alvarez on 'Gotham' and the determination it took to bring his acting dream to life. From the streets of Brooklyn to the sets of a hit TV show, this is a story of resilience, family, and chasing your passion no matter where life takes you.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Gracias Come Again a podcast by Honey German.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We get right into it. J W. Cortees, Yes, how
are you feeling today?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I feel great. Thank you for having me. I'm looking
forward to this one.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Ah where do we start? It was like marine first
responder actor father. I'm like, you were's marathon runner. I'm like, wait, wait,
where do I even start with?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
J W.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Born and raised in New York.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Born and raised in Brooklyn to two amazing parents who
who indoctrinated me in all things of Puerto Rico and
being Latino.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Was Mammy Pappy Mammy born and raised on the island.
So and then they migrated to Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
They did their bodies there, but not their hearts in
their minds, you know, to them, they're still in Puerto
Rico mode, which I love.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Are they still with us?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
They are God blessed, bless is right?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Are they still in Brooklyn?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
No? No, so they're my They're my neighbors. We lived
together in the sixth Borough of New York City, Jersey City,
so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I love that. I love that for you. Now, when
you do your acting, is that the West Coast?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
No, you know, it's It's interesting. When I first started out,
you know, many moons ago. Yeah, that was always like
the kind of like the urban myth, right, like, if
you want to make it in this business, you got
to move to la that's where all the action is.
But that's just not true. I mean, I starting theater,
I started singing in this business. I wanted to be
the Boutiqua Luther v Andros.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I could see it.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Thank you. I think that's good, right, yeah, yeah, fat Luther,
fat Looth.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
No no no no no no no no no no, I'm
thinking just an artist.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm not thinking yes, yes, yes, yes, So that's kind
of how it started for me. But you know, staying
here in New York, you know you just mentioned right, theater, theater,
this is the mecca for that. So what what came
from that is is that here you also have the
best acting schools. In my opinion, we do London, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So yeah, so you started singing, started out singing.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
It didn't really work out for me. I couldn't find
the right users. But I also had this acting bug
in me that I got from doing high school musicals.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So this started early for you, super early. Yes, what
was your musical that you did?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Like the first one that kind of got me in.
I did The Wiz, and I'll tell you that. So
I went to school in Coney Island, benson Hurst, really Lafayette,
and I went out for this new thing called The Whiz.
I had only seen the movie, but there was a
part for the Tin Man and he had a song
called if I Could Feel.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And I saw The Wiz on Broadway.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Reason I saw on your I g yes.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I know exactly you know you no, But that's
that's that's that was like the first taste of like, Okay,
I gotta go out there and I gotta win this part.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I wanted up being casted as the Wiz, but I
just said, man, if I could ever get to play
the tin Man, I'll be complete here right. But I
was kind of the precipice of that.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
That's amazing. I love it because I was talking your
social media also, and I saw that your son is
on Broadway.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
He is doing off Broadway. He's in now. Shout out
to marry me. Shout out to my son Jaden, who's
now done about ten musicals in his eight nineteen years
of life. This kid is phenomenal. Yeah, no's he's he's
on his way.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
You had a lot to do with that or was
he born with that?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I think it's interesting my son is so he's so
assured of who he is, right, and I didn't have
that at that age. I was still trying to figure
myself out. Sometimes I still am right. But he at nineteen,
he knows who he is. He knows what he wants,
what he wants to do, but he also knows what
he doesn't want to do. And theater, I think gave
him a lot more of that, that comfortable space to
(03:34):
kind of explore that. So he knows who he is,
he knows the kind of artist he wants to be.
I think I may have had some influence, but I
can't take full ownership because he has yet to ask
me for any help. I've tried. I've tried to be
that dad without being overbearing and just be there for
him and kind of like kind of guide him into
business because it is a tough business, it is, but no,
(03:55):
it like, no, I got this, dad.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
What are the biggest differences you see between your son
and yourself? Like when you started in this business, fear
you were fearful, oh god it and he's fearless.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
He's fearless. Yeah, and it's ironic because I'm the marine,
I'm the combat veteran. I'm the guy that would strap
on the gum belt, go out there, work midnights in Harlem,
and do all these other things that people would say, Wow,
you must have no fear. But the one thing I
learned in my acting training is the one person that
you have to deal with the most can be sometimes
the scariest, and that's yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
That's very, very, very true. Now I want to go
back because I feel like we skipped over a lot
of things because I was wondering. I said, how did
he end up a marine and an actor simultaneously? When
did you enlist?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, so I knew. So. I grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn,
on the block that the NYPD had nicknamed Little Vietnam. Right,
So the block was hot, right, I'm talking about the
early eighties, right, mid eighties, so the height of the
crack and Aids epidemic. My older brothers one of the
leaders of one of the worst street gangs out there.
He had a huge influence on me. But in Gosa,
(05:03):
Mommy and Poppy were like, you're game more than I
play any game. So you got to figure something out.
So at eighteen, I enlisted. But it was more, I
used the other E word. It was more of an
escape right from a really bad situation.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That was and maybe still is, you know, for a
lot of black and brown young men who don't have
another outlet or absolutely don't want to go to college.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yes, yeah, so it isn't for everyone, But for me,
it kind of gave me the structure of discipline. It
just got me out of a really bad situation. So
I wound up serving, and I wound up staying in
a lot longer than I thought. I saw fast forward.
In two thousand and three, America was first starting out
in this new war called Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom,
(05:47):
and my unit was tagged with being part of the
invading force of Iraq. And out of all places in
the world, I'm in Kuwait. The war is literally about
twenty hours old. It's super brand new. We come under
a very we have the scud missile attack. They said,
your life flashes before your eyes, and it did for me.
I had this out of body thing, I called it
(06:07):
like an epiphany, where I vividly saw at Ortiz's funeral
home on Fourth Avenue fifty thirsty. I saw it packed.
I saw my mother and father crying over my my,
my casket. It this is kind of grim, but it's
the truth you visualize. I visualized it so clearly. And
then I came back to the moment as the scud
missiles were landing around our position, I said, Wow, I'm
(06:31):
an idiot. I have squandered these twenty seven years of
my life, always saying that tomorrow Maniana Mayana. Always I said,
I'm gonna start pursuing these dreams and I'm gonna explore
these gifts, you know what, Tomorrow, next week, I'll start Monday.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I feel like that's a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
That's a lot of us, you know. So for me,
of all places, I had that awakening and I just
prayed hard and I saip up my the oh please
not here, not like this.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I'm not ready. You know.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It's interesting, you know, when you so close to death,
whether it be an accident or an illness of some sort,
you're forced to kind of come to that realization like
you did this. You had a hand in this moment somehow,
some way, you know, And so that's what that's what
ignited that thing in me, and it's been burning ever
since two thousand and three. So to answer your question,
(07:20):
that's where the acting kind of finally started to get
some sort of form, became malleable for me, was coming
out of Iraq.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So while you were in the service, were you doing
anything acting related or you were just focused on serving?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You know what I was doing. I was protecting American
embassies and I loved it. I got to live and
thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Listen. I was, I was stalking your career and I
was like, wow, he's put in some serious work.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I was like, I gotta thank him. I said, you know,
all of our veterans and you know, shout out to me.
The second man that has sat here, you know and
told me, you know, he's risked his life and gone
to war for our country, and then he also ended
up an actor. And I'm like, what am I doing
my life? These men go to war a country, then
they come home and then become actors, and you.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Know, but that's not it's interesting you say that. So
you know, I'm giving you like the ways version, right listen.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I already don't I got your whole life. Yeah, I know, wait,
hold on, hold on. I was already acting. What's happening there?
What happened to the thirteen years? What's going on here?
But acting? What was your first once you left the service? Yes,
what was the first moment that you booked a role
or you auditioned for a role.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
So this is a true story. I come home and
I had this burning desire to explore it. I need
no actors. I had heard that a long time ago
Rosie Perez was also from Sunset Park, but that's like
an urban legend to me. I don't even know this chick, right,
And so I didn't know where to begin. So I
started my new career. I was a beat cop and
(08:52):
there was a Hudson you stand on my beat. I
would sit there and I'd look at these newspapers and
there was one that they used to print called Backstage,
And so I didn't want nobody to know that I
was looking at it because I'm, you know, doing this thing,
And so I grabbed it. I paid, and I remember
the guy behind the count and was like, officer, you
realize what it's not The New York Post's I go,
(09:14):
you know, like, just give me the damn paper so
I can get out of here, right right, and so
I very quietly went to the back and I started
to circle what I thought was like this help wanted
to ask for these actors. And I remember my first audition, honey,
I literally it was. It was it was I show
up and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just
happy to be I'm not a kid in the candy.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
What did you audition for? I want to know it
some really.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Bad short film that hopefully no one will ever see.
But that's not the point. The point is is that
I show up at this office somewhere in midtime Manhattan.
I put my name on a piece of paper. I'm
sitting in a room and I'm just like I'm I
am now mimicking what everyone else is doing. Everybody's very short,
so I'm like, fuck, I gotta be serious too. I
got to like fun because I got just some acting stuff, right.
So I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just
pretending like I know what I'm doing. And no one's talking.
(09:59):
And finally the door opens up and the lady looks
at the paper she's crowsing off a bunch of names.
She goes, Okay, who's next?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
This sounds like a movie.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
She's like J W. Cortez and I'm like, right here,
how you doing? What's going on? Right? And so I'm
all old cheery and she goes, okay, headshot And for
a moment I looked at her and I'm like, does
she know that I'm a marine combat veteran and that
a headshot for a marine means that I get down
in the prone position? And like, does she want me
to simulate what that would look like? And she looked
(10:26):
at me and she says, you don't know what I'm
talking about. I said, this is my first time.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Man, you didn't have a headshot.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I didn't have a headshot. I didn't know what a
headshot was. I didn't know where to get one. But
you know, ignorance is bliss. And because I was so ignorant,
I was unaware of how hard this thing would be.
And so I went and that was my first time
ever auditioning. And I went from that and then finally
many bumps and bruises, and I found myself what was
(10:52):
probably the biggest blessing of my career. I met a
guy named Jose. That's what I said. Jose is like
(11:13):
John Smith in the Latino community, right I'm like this, dude,
long story short. Josetveda is the first Puerto Rican ever
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. He wrote
a film called Motorcycle Diaries. I did a reading for him,
and after the reading was done of one of his plays,
he pulled me to the side. He says, you know,
I don't know you, you don't know me, but you've
(11:34):
got something in you. I think you really need to
think about exploring this thing. And then I ended up
in an acting school that wound up saving my life.
It wasn't therapy, it was acting school and meeting Terry Nickerbocker,
who said, all this armor is hurting you.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Take it off and take it off.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
And I'm like, what that is such a dichotic statement.
Body armor is supposed to protect you. How is mind
hurting me? He's like, you'll never get to the true
self that you need as an actor because everything that
you do is always being protected by this armor that
the Marine Corps gave you, that Sunset Park gave you,
that being a Latino male figure and your family has
(12:12):
given you. And it gets in the way, it's blocking you.
And so that was a journey for me to learn
what does that mean? And how do I get rid
of this thing so I can be my true, authentic self,
so I can embarrass myself without any criticism, because that's
what you need, right You got to be able to say,
you know what, I'm going to do whatever it takes,
so that I can fully live out this character that
I'm trying to embody.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
How does one even take off all that armor, you know,
being inner City, being black and brown, being Latino, and
then on top of that fighting for our country for
so many years? How did you even peel back those layers?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I wish I could give you, like a a a
sick short answer. I will tell you that it is
through the grace of God. It is through family support.
It is you really seeing and and and just having
letting go of the parachute sometimes and go, I notice
it's going to be bad and I have to get
(13:08):
through the bat to get to the good. It's like
he would always say, You're trying to go from New
York to LA and along the way it starts to rain.
Do you stop driving?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
No?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
What do you do? You put on your windshield wipers?
The sun goes down? Do you stop driving? No, you
put on your headlights, you stop for gas. I'm full
of them. This is all lived my life.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
You give me all the gems. I really really really
love that. Now, did you stop down and say I
need to start a family or how did your two boys?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
My two sons? So I met a young lady when
I had come came back from from the war, and we, uh,
you know, I'll credit my ex wife with saying to
me and and and these exact words, what kind of
asshole wants to go back to war?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
She's a Latina, she uses latina.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yes, she says, straight up, straight up, because I was
volunteering to go back. Why, because I was suffering from
some severe PTSD I was unaware of. And I just
knew I don't really belong here. I'm not ready to
be back here. I think I want to go back.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Did you feel like out in the field is where
you belong.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Anywhere with the Marines is where I felt I belonged.
I was good at what I did.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
To the point that being with your family no longer
felt normal.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
It didn't feel normal because I think they didn't have
the tools and the vocabulary to understand how to communicate
with me. Without triggering something in me. So, for example,
one of my buddies who his book became a film
called American Sniper. He has since been he was murdered.
But Chris Kyle the American Snipers said to me, we
(14:44):
went to war in America, went to the mall, and
that could have a negative connotation for guys who went
multiple times over there, but he flipped it on me.
You know, he said, how great is that that our
children could still continue to thrive in America with out
fear of oppression or of something terroristic happening on a
(15:04):
daily basis like it does in these other countries. How
great is that? And he kind of began to kind
of start to shift in me on how my perspective
needed to kind of shift in that way.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So she said, what kind of asshole goes back to.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
War volunteers, you know volunteers, And you know, I was like,
you know what, I think I'll stick around, but only
for a few more months. And then after I got
to go back right and I wound up, you know,
we wound up getting pregnant, and I wound up sticking around,
and and then I started to pursue these these careers
simultaneously as at the same time as trying to be
(15:41):
a dad and just trying to be a better person
and a better version of myself for her. For me,
it was a lot. It was a lot.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
It was It sounds like a lot, you know what
I'm saying. But you got your two boys, and that
is an amazing blessing.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yes, the best, the best, the best role I ever played.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Now, let's talk about Gotham. That is where I know
you from through and through. How did you land this role?
Like I remember when Gotham was it was just such
a big deal, like we were all so hype. How
did you end up getting up in there? Talk to me?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So like every other actor, you know, I'm I'm literally working,
I'm working a graveyard shift and literally go in midtime Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Okay, because now you're a police officer.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I'm active, I'm working every night. But I knew that
I had to get to acting school during the day.
I had to figure out when I was going to eat,
when I was going to sleep, like you name it.
But everything was focused on I need to get off
this thing, and I want to do this because you.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Were like, I don't want to, I don't want to
want to do that more.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I want to do this.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
You had a dream.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
I had a dream, right, and I wanted to honor that.
So the one thing the Marine Corps taught me is
if you slept, then you had time right sleep, my man, right,
like yeah, like let's get let's go, like you know,
like I can push past most of people's ring, you know,
at least my own comfort level.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Can I stop down for one second? Yes, I hate
when people sleep. I just do it because I feel
like that's time wasted and you can be if you
have a dream and you have a passion and you
can take a two to three hour nap. To me,
that equates to those are two three hours that you
didn't pursue your dream.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Is that what the Marines was talking about?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Absolutely? Absolutely. We don't stop when you're tired. You stop
when you're done. The job wasn't done. So I'm I'm
literally running up and down New York City, going from
casting office to casting office, getting lucky every so often,
getting a lot of callbacks, so close a lot of times.
This is a career of many false starts, is what
I see, and the biggest lessons that I'm learning in
(17:39):
those like three four years that I'm grinding it out
doing really bad short films, really bad stage work, like
really bad. I'm learning that the hardest thing I have
to deal with is the silent no. I'm like, I
never learned about the silent no.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
That's when you know, that's when you don't get any callback.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Is that what.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Happens is you go out and you know you killed
the audition, and so you're just gonna wait now because
at any moment that email is gonna come through, and
so let me just check my wife I just in
case it's not strong enough.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Let me reboot the phone, just in case the signific
yeah right, And so you know the second day and
now a week goes by and you're just checking the
junk box because you never know. Maybeam maybe you want
to spam. That's probably what happened, don't maybe my number maybe,
And so you start thinking about it, and then what
happens is two weeks go by, and that's the silent no,
(18:30):
and that is your career and you must contend with
that because what you want is a verbal no. At
least tell me I didn't get it. At least tell
me that mark Fierra got it. I can live with that, right,
But to not know and have to deal with yourself
and go man, this is where act just get in trouble.
Maybe my nose is too wide, maybe my eyebrows are
(18:52):
too thick. Maybe, but you know maybe females right, especially
women maybe right, which is all not.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
True, all not true, because we tend to kind of
like put the blame on ourselves and project it.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
You know, as you were looking for answers, what tell
me what I can do to improve it? No one's
going to tell you that. This is where you have
to be so self assured. You have to know what
I do, what Honey German does, no one else can
do it. If you're looking for that, no one could
do that better than me. And that's how I had
to feel about j W. I had to learn that, right.
So long story is, I'm auditioning. I go out for
(19:30):
this thing, and I just felt really good about that
particular addition.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Do you know what it was?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
It was for this character named Alvarez? And what I
did was I took a chance. And I always tell
young actors.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Did you know it was Godam? Did you know something Gotham?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
But I didn't know like the full spectrum of it.
I'm like, oh, that is maybe batman ish, but I
don't really know. And I don't know about Alvarez either.
But I remember taking my sides and I had it
in my hand and I do my lines, and I
had a moment where I'm getting into a fight and
I just I threw my sides at the the reader
and they bugged out. They're like, this guy's into the role.
(20:04):
And I just I went with it, you know, and
I took a chance because it wasn't written that way.
I said, this is how I'm going to paint this,
because you and I can paint the same thing with
the same colors, but it's gonna look different. I'm gonna
paint my way. And so I did that, and then
a couple of days later, I'm in Puerto Rico celebrating
my birthday.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I'm in Culebra Island, hold.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
And my phone is working. Look at this, And that's
when I learned that I had I had booked this role.
And I didn't even know this until like a couple
of months into the production, that I would be a recurring,
heavily recurring because you had a lot of that I did,
and then I found out that I was the first
human to play this comic book character. I didn't know that,
(20:46):
so I go, better, hold on, let me look at
this comic book you know, I look like this, dude,
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Now?
Speaker 2 (20:54):
I got to.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Google it like this. So that was how that kind
of like that was the that that was like the
first like, ah, we're onto something. We can do this
and we can hold our own and he's a Latino
and I'm a Latino and that doesn't happen all the time.
We're character never And that was like my first taste
(21:18):
of like, oh, okay, now I get it. When you
get to come in and play and do what you love,
all right, that's the feeling that we get addicted to.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
So you feel like all those nose or all those
roles that didn't work out or that you didn't feel like,
you know, we're up to. Part was leading up to Gotham,
because honestly, Gotham was big.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I think I remember the rollout. We were so hype.
It was like everybody was yeah that trailer. I was, yeah, yeah,
trailer has like eleven million views, Like I watched it
again today.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, I think I think that the show did
a lot for a lot of different things, for a
lot of different people. For me, I can tell you
that I was just not aware. To me, it was
just another joke.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
You were not aware of what it was doing.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
No, not at first, you know, I just I just
saw the hype and stuff. And then once I got
into the DC comic book universe, because now you belonged
to this universe, and I started, for the first time
in my career getting an actual like fan mail, all parts
of that was dope, And I go, I'm a kid
from Sunset who took a chance, and now this is
happening the way I'm now right. So you know, so
(22:36):
anyone that's listening, I would say, you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Oh there's people listening. Don't do that, j W. Don't
I know they're listening.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Just you know, you've got to trust sometimes and just
really take a chance, take a chance.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Getting head on. When they saw Young Goth, I'm like,
how happy were there?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You know? It's funny. Our parents always want the best
for us, so I know why they were. They were like,
you know you sure, you sure you want to you
know it's hard you know, I think there's a Latino community.
I think that over bearing love is it comes from
a good place.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Oh, it always does.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
And I think now, like I just recently booked probably
what's going to be the biggest movie in my career.
It will be on twenty five congratulation, Thank you so much.
It's like got them on steroids all over again for me.
And you know, I think now after so many years
of being successful, that now they're like, yeah, yeah, how.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Many times have you made them proud? Though with the service,
we're becoming a police officer, we're becoming an actor. I
don't know if you throw the boxes already listened, because
some of us don't even make them proud one time.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah yeah, you know, I don't know. It was never
like Okay, I'm going to do this to make them proud.
I think what has made them proud is that I've
been true to what it is that I've always wanted
to do and I just haven't quit. And I think
when you see someone go after something and they don't quit,
it's hard not to be proud, like, you know what,
whatever it is, you know, look at you, You're still
(24:01):
at it. You know, good for you. You know, because
I think most of us do quit somewhere along the way.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
It is tempting to quit when things get hard, you know,
for us to keep pushing forward and be like, now
I'm gonna try again, and I'm gonna keep going no
matter what, no matter how many nos I get, no
matter how many rejections. It is definitely hard. Now, speaking
of hard, the New York City Marathon, there's nothing up there.
I'm just thinking right, right, right right, the New York
(24:27):
City Marathon. Was that your first time running it?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
So it's yeah, that was my first time running the marathon,
and I did something that I don't recommend. I gave
myself ten weeks. How are your niece maneuhel?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
And they never never the same, They're never going back
to normal.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
But that's what That's why I gave myself ten weeks.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I gave myself ten weeks. You woke up one day
and you're like, you know what, Yeah, well, no, right.
What happened was I was I do a lot of
fundraising for the families of our fallen children. I do.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
We do have to speak about Raphile around the station.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Absolutely. So I was at some event and there was
this dude there, you know, who was a Medal of
Honor recipient, and he's like, you know, I'm all banked
up and I'm going to run this thing, and how
about you, j W. And I was like, yeah, of
course I'm running it right Yeah. And then it was
like I got off the air and I'm like, what
would I just say? What did I just do? And
(25:21):
so I just got to it, you know, And it
was I always say that if you're capable of doing
at least one in your life, you should, because it
is the most rewarding thing, especially in New York. Ain't
nothing like it.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Big Shadow Angie Martinez, she ran the marathon one time too.
But I know people that ran the marathon and they
were like, my body was never the same after it.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yeah, yeah, No, it's it's traumatic. I don't mean traumatic
like in the mental's capacity. I think physically it is.
It is an extreme trauma that you're putting on your body.
It's just not a natural thing to do.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
What were you thinking about while you were running? They
got you through that finish line. How many miles is it?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Twenty six point two? I was good, believe it or not.
Running through my old neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
What were you thinking?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I was. I was amped, like so I had two
pieces of advice that was given to me. One was
put your name on your shirt. I'm like, that's a
little like self like, you know, But it turned out
to be one of the best things, because when you're
hurting in the crowd, especially New York is you know,
yo bye bye, you know, you know, it does give
you that extra thing. And then the second thing was
(26:23):
they were like, don't listen to music. Instead download your
funniest like most favorite comedy special. So I was listening
to Mark the Whole Way, a little bit of this,
a little bit of Chappelle, And I'll tell you in
the Bronx when you're there for that mile twenty, when
you come out of the Bronx and you see Central
parking Maule twenty one, you start to have this weird
(26:44):
laughter that's kind of like married to a little bit
of that physical pain, and your in doorphins start kicking in.
And it was the best thing I ever did. So
I'm hurting and laughing at the same time as I
was running it.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
So and that finish line when you crossed it would
What were your thoughts like, what did you tell yourself
when you crossed that finish line.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I don't know if I had any like thoughts. I
thought I would be a lot hungry than I was.
I didn't want to eat for the next four or
five hours, which I found that weird. I felt that
I could have kept going even though I thought I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
You want to do it again?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah, I said, I'm gonna do this again for sure. Absolutely,
I'm gonna be a marathon runner, right, I'm going to
go back to my Kenyan roots when I lived in
Kenya and I ran with the Kenyans. I got this.
It's in me, did I did? I did? Yeah? Two years?
Are you?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
My God speaks for Heli as well? Really yes, yes, yes,
don't ask me anymore. Ok.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I was gonna say, okay, now.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I said, I speak some Swahili, not too much. Yes, yes,
the service, I was in the service. Yeah. Yeah, So
the marathon it was you know, it's a test, right,
But the test isn't the marathon. That's the reward running
through New York City where people are just going buck
while and the DJs of pumping the hip hop through
Brooklyn and your I mean, that's the community.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
It's community. It's us just you know, we were here,
it was we were working that day and we went
outside and it was just everybody was outside, people eating,
people were drinking and just congratulating, you know, the runners.
It just felt good. It's a sense of community.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
It is, it is, it is.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
And you know, speaking of community, one of the things
that I really really liked when researching you is how
much you give back and how involved you still are
with our first responders and with our community. Now, I
wanted to talk to you about the foundation. You're the
president of the foundation. Yes, what is your connection? You know,
we all we all know what happened, you know, very tragic,
(28:42):
and as a city, we mourned together. But how do
you get connected to this story?
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Yeah, that's a great question. I was I was starting
to experience and enjoy the fruits of my new found
fame through Gotham. The NFL had very I was very humble.
I was blown away. They had presented me the Hispanic
Leadership Award for all of the work I had done
prior to this newfound fame. So it kind of like
(29:08):
came together and I was on the phone with the
NFL and they were like, we'd like to make a
cash donation to any nonprofit that you once loved that
and so without a hesitation, I said the Raphael Ramos Foundation.
They were like, great, do you know anyone? I said,
I don't know anyone. And this had just happened. It
was fresh in my mind, and I remember, you know,
(29:28):
cops are killed every day in the United States, you know,
you become somewhat numb to it. But also black and
brown people are killed every day in our communities, right, so,
you know, to be a person of color and uniform,
it can be very very tricky. It's even trickier for
my black brothers and sisters in uniform, especially during that time,
right when violence was.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Very small, I was very very small and as a country,
and we were just mourning, and we were just witnessing
so much trauma, so.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Much so you know, this kind of eliminated, you know,
And as I looked at the screen when breaking news,
I remember sitting there looking at Raphael's face and I
just I got fixated, and I go, I know this man,
I don't know I from where. And it turns out
that I went to middle school with Rafael back in Sunset.
We went to junior high school together and I sat
(30:18):
there and I remember being I felt cold, and I
felt the same level of grief that I felt when
they killed the first service member killed in the Iraq War.
His name was Lieutenant Shane Childers. I lived in Kenya
with him. I served in Kenya with him. You know,
when I found out that Shane had been killed a
few miles from where I was in my position in
southern Iraq during the war, I felt that same level
of grief in my throat and my I had like
(30:41):
restrictive breathing that I felt like an elephant was pressing
on my chest. And I remember my eyes they just
started to, you know, leak right like I couldn't stop it.
And I'm looking at him, but I wasn't like sobbing
at that point. It was just like this profound level
of of sadness. And I'm looking at him, and I
thought about his kids, and I looked over to my
(31:02):
two sons, and you know, I have a Jaden who's
in college, and I have Jonah, and he has a
Jayden and a Justin. And then I said, what was
going on? And then I learned that they were just
simply having lunch in their car, and these two guys
were They weren't executed, that's not the right word. They
were assassinated, right, And I'm like, that could have happened
(31:23):
to me for nothing else and simply were in that uniform,
you know. It was just that, you know, and you
know him being Moriqua and is part of being Chinese
and killed by another man of color.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
It was like, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1 (31:34):
What's the fuck's going on? And so the NFL said, hey,
we want to do this. So I said, that's the foundation.
I don't know them, but if you give me a
couple of days, I'm going to reach out to them.
So I did. I sent an anonymous email to the
foundation's website. Within an hour, I'm on the phone with
the vice president and I'm on the phone with the
founder of Maritza. And I said, Maritza, I know you
(31:56):
don't know me. I'm from Sunset, but I remember you
because you worked in the Costco on third ninth Street
and Sunset. She's like, yes, you know me from there.
I go, I do. I said, listen, this is what's
going on. Can you please come to my house. The
next day, she's in my kitchen where they're talking, not
a dry eye, and I just looked at her eyes
and I felt the profound level of just emptiness, like
(32:18):
she had just lost him.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
And I said, is that his wife?
Speaker 1 (32:21):
That's his wife, first widow. So Maritza Ramos, I said, Maritza,
you're stuck with me, girl. I'll do whatever I can
because I know that could have been me, and that
could have been my son standing next to you at
that at that funeral. And so that's that was the
beginning of that relationship, and it came from me using
my platform to give back to this man and his
(32:42):
family in the community. And let me just say this
to all the listeners. The Rafael Ramas Foundation is not
a police foundation. It is community based with a focus
on children. Because children in our neighborhoods, neighborhoods that are
under resourced, under funded, have sometimes not the best relationships
(33:04):
or the best perceptions of those who are sworn to
protect them. So we've always said we want to deal
with the children parents. Sometimes they have their own opinions,
their own experiences. I get it. I grew up not
trusting the cops because that's what I was taught to do.
But children. There's an opportunity there where we can maybe
interact with them in a way that will pay dividends.
(33:24):
Maybe they will be less fearful and break that cycle
and break the cycle. It's not perfect, but man, it's
a start. And that's been the work for the last
eight years that we focused on doing as much as
we can for these kids of those specific neighborhoods.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Thank you, we need the work that you're doing is
so important, not just serving our country, not just entertaining us,
but also, you know, just giving back to the community,
because sometimes you get to a level where you're so
successful and you're so busy that you forget about the community,
you forget about where you came from, and you're still
very much in it. And that says a lot about
you as a man, because you used to be commendable, respectable,
(34:04):
admirable all.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
There's a scene right if you find yourself on that
elevator to the top, right, you got to send it
back down. That's me.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I say it all the time. I leave the back
door open.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
I work in radio, and anybody that I can teach
every single thing I do, I will. And I've had
about thirty different interns, and I'm like, what do you
want to learn? And you know, working with interns is
tricky because you lose half your day teaching. And I
would not change all my thirty kids that I've had,
because that's what it's all about, you know, teaching, enabling
(34:38):
and helping, you know, the next generation. So thank you
so much for what you're doing. Absolutely, I'm sure you know.
The Ramo's family is super grateful for you.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
I'm grateful for them for the opportunity. I always say,
you want to do something selfish, help someone, you get
so much more out of it.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Look at you, look at you. You're like, because I'm
getting something back.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Now, twenty two twenty five, what's the plan for twenty
twenty five?
Speaker 1 (35:02):
So twenty twenty five, So this year will mark the
tenth year since Rafael Ramos and wen Ji and Lu
were both assassinated. I always say, you know, leave it
better than you found it. Eight years ago when I
came on board, you know, four years, I've been the
president of those eight years. For four of them i've
been the president. This will be my last year with
the foundation. I'm going to turn it over to our
vice president, he's very capable and they're going to do
(35:24):
great things. But we've definitely left it better and we
found it. Listen, September thirteenth. All of the hard work
that we've put into this has culminated in the renaming
of PS fifty four K and Bedside to the Detective
Raffao Ramos School Forreer. So I've always that was always
like amazing, that is amazing. So I was you know,
(35:45):
you had a hand in it, absolutely, And I'll tell
you that it came because of acting. A teacher who
was a fan of mine invited me to be principal
of the day. She then years later becomes the principal herself,
and that relationship continued to grow and we nurtured it,
and then she was helpful in having us rename the school.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
After thank you for principle. She said, I got an
agenda here, We're gonna make this.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Amen. I mean, and it took a lot of work.
It took a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
But I'm pretty sure you can't just change the name
of a school.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
No, especially in some neighborhoods. Some neighbors are like, what
what you want to do? What you know? But yeah,
it took us showing up time and time again for
years and saying, look, we're telling you what we're about,
but we're showing you it's even more important. We keep
showing up, giving out exactly so then you know. So
(36:35):
twenty twenty five, I'm gonna I'm gonna separate myself. But
against all that mean, what does that mean? It just
means that I'm going to let them run with it
and I'm going.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
To Okay, I tell you meant from from the public.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Oh no, no, no, I'm always going to be around. No,
but I do want to get back to do my
love right, which is entertaining people working on music. You know,
I still have that burning desires.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
What kind of music do you want to do?
Speaker 1 (37:02):
You're gonna laugh, But no, Soul, I saw that you
was with Brown. Yeah, I want to talk to you
about that country girl right who knew?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Why not? Look at your boozy black man running country
right now?
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Love it? Love it? I sang with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.
In twenty thirteen, I did a Sam Cook number called
The Change Is Gonna Come That that performs in Madison
Square Garden. Changed the trajectory of my career. It also
showed people that this dude may look a certain way,
but he actually has a lot of soul in him.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Do you want to do country?
Speaker 1 (37:35):
I don't know. I mean I'm open, you know, soul, right,
soul I look at like Teddy Swims, I look at
I mean, let's go back my favorite Donnie Hathaway, Teddy
Panagrass Ltd. All that soul. You know, that's the music
that I'm inspired by, you know, the al Greens and
(37:56):
just all of that real bluesy, heavy soul. Not forget Luthor, Luthor, yes, Luthor.
So that's twenty twenty five. You know one of my music,
there's a movie coming out that's really I'm excited about
doing more of that, you know, but music. Absolutely, I
want to do a subway a showcase in a subway
(38:18):
anywhere in New York City. Come on that. We could
do that.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
We could do that. Listen, listen this We have nothing
but subways. Okay, right right right, just.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Because I think if New York is stopped and listen,
then you're onto something.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
We to get your little band or something in the background,
and you know, we'll tape it, we'll put it on YouTube,
we'll put it on TikTok and that's it. You out
of here.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Today is the day we mentioned it.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
We're going to you know, manifest this. We're going to
make this happen for you. Yes, I can see it. Yes,
thank you so much for sitting down with me today. Man,
this was a great inn Andy. Big shout out, I'm
Pretty Lou.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Shout out to pretty Lou who said, my girl, honey,
German is going to be calling you please.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
You know, we were talking about you know who I
want to interview and I was like, I want to
interview Fat Joe and he was like, you know who
you need to cortious. I was like, yeah, that's my guy,
that's my guy. And I was like, you know what,
let's make it happen. And you know, here we are,
and it's it's all about connecting the dots. It's all
about community, and it's all about helping each other. And
you know, whatever you have going on, whichever way I
can help, and you know, whatever Lou has going on,
(39:15):
it's just about working with each other, you know, and
creating these spaces where we can exist and where we
can share our stories and where we can promote our projects.
Because as latinos familiar.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Now, this is a beautiful thing that you're your work,
that you've created. The space is very comfortable, it's very welcoming.
I feel like I'm with my prima for sure.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
There you got no.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
But yeah, let's let's keep it going.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
I appreciate you sitting down with me today. Absolutely, thank
you for having me come again.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I'll be back five.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Don't play with me.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
in partnership with Iheart's Macutura podcast network.
Gracias Come Again a podcast by Honey German.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
We get right into it. J W. Cortees, Yes, how
are you feeling today?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I feel great. Thank you for having me. I'm looking
forward to this one.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Ah where do we start? It was like marine first
responder actor father. I'm like, you were's marathon runner. I'm like, wait, wait,
where do I even start with?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
J W.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Born and raised in New York.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Born and raised in Brooklyn to two amazing parents who
who indoctrinated me in all things of Puerto Rico and
being Latino.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Was Mammy Pappy Mammy born and raised on the island.
So and then they migrated to Brooklyn.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
They did their bodies there, but not their hearts in
their minds, you know, to them, they're still in Puerto
Rico mode, which I love.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Are they still with us?
Speaker 1 (00:50):
They are God blessed, bless is right?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Are they still in Brooklyn?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
No? No, so they're my They're my neighbors. We lived
together in the sixth Borough of New York City, Jersey City,
so beautiful.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I love that. I love that for you. Now, when
you do your acting, is that the West Coast?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
No, you know, it's It's interesting. When I first started out,
you know, many moons ago. Yeah, that was always like
the kind of like the urban myth, right, like, if
you want to make it in this business, you got
to move to la that's where all the action is.
But that's just not true. I mean, I starting theater,
I started singing in this business. I wanted to be
the Boutiqua Luther v Andros.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
I could see it.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Thank you. I think that's good, right, yeah, yeah, fat Luther,
fat Looth.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
No no no no no no no no no no, I'm
thinking just an artist.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
I'm not thinking yes, yes, yes, yes, So that's kind
of how it started for me. But you know, staying
here in New York, you know you just mentioned right, theater, theater,
this is the mecca for that. So what what came
from that is is that here you also have the
best acting schools. In my opinion, we do London, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So yeah, so you started singing, started out singing.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
It didn't really work out for me. I couldn't find
the right users. But I also had this acting bug
in me that I got from doing high school musicals.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So this started early for you, super early. Yes, what
was your musical that you did?
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Like the first one that kind of got me in.
I did The Wiz, and I'll tell you that. So
I went to school in Coney Island, benson Hurst, really Lafayette,
and I went out for this new thing called The Whiz.
I had only seen the movie, but there was a
part for the Tin Man and he had a song
called if I Could Feel.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
And I saw The Wiz on Broadway.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Reason I saw on your I g yes.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I know exactly you know you no, But that's
that's that's that was like the first taste of like, Okay,
I gotta go out there and I gotta win this part.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
I wanted up being casted as the Wiz, but I
just said, man, if I could ever get to play
the tin Man, I'll be complete here right. But I
was kind of the precipice of that.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
That's amazing. I love it because I was talking your
social media also, and I saw that your son is
on Broadway.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
He is doing off Broadway. He's in now. Shout out
to marry me. Shout out to my son Jaden, who's
now done about ten musicals in his eight nineteen years
of life. This kid is phenomenal. Yeah, no's he's he's
on his way.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
You had a lot to do with that or was
he born with that?
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I think it's interesting my son is so he's so
assured of who he is, right, and I didn't have
that at that age. I was still trying to figure
myself out. Sometimes I still am right. But he at nineteen,
he knows who he is. He knows what he wants,
what he wants to do, but he also knows what
he doesn't want to do. And theater, I think gave
him a lot more of that, that comfortable space to
(03:34):
kind of explore that. So he knows who he is,
he knows the kind of artist he wants to be.
I think I may have had some influence, but I
can't take full ownership because he has yet to ask
me for any help. I've tried. I've tried to be
that dad without being overbearing and just be there for
him and kind of like kind of guide him into
business because it is a tough business, it is, but no,
(03:55):
it like, no, I got this, dad.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
What are the biggest differences you see between your son
and yourself? Like when you started in this business, fear
you were fearful, oh god it and he's fearless.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
He's fearless. Yeah, and it's ironic because I'm the marine,
I'm the combat veteran. I'm the guy that would strap
on the gum belt, go out there, work midnights in Harlem,
and do all these other things that people would say, Wow,
you must have no fear. But the one thing I
learned in my acting training is the one person that
you have to deal with the most can be sometimes
the scariest, and that's yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
That's very, very, very true. Now I want to go
back because I feel like we skipped over a lot
of things because I was wondering. I said, how did
he end up a marine and an actor simultaneously? When
did you enlist?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Yeah, so I knew. So. I grew up in Sunset Park, Brooklyn,
on the block that the NYPD had nicknamed Little Vietnam. Right,
So the block was hot, right, I'm talking about the
early eighties, right, mid eighties, so the height of the
crack and Aids epidemic. My older brothers one of the
leaders of one of the worst street gangs out there.
He had a huge influence on me. But in Gosa,
(05:03):
Mommy and Poppy were like, you're game more than I
play any game. So you got to figure something out.
So at eighteen, I enlisted. But it was more, I
used the other E word. It was more of an
escape right from a really bad situation.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
That was and maybe still is, you know, for a
lot of black and brown young men who don't have
another outlet or absolutely don't want to go to college.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yes, yeah, so it isn't for everyone, But for me,
it kind of gave me the structure of discipline. It
just got me out of a really bad situation. So
I wound up serving, and I wound up staying in
a lot longer than I thought. I saw fast forward.
In two thousand and three, America was first starting out
in this new war called Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom,
(05:47):
and my unit was tagged with being part of the
invading force of Iraq. And out of all places in
the world, I'm in Kuwait. The war is literally about
twenty hours old. It's super brand new. We come under
a very we have the scud missile attack. They said,
your life flashes before your eyes, and it did for me.
I had this out of body thing, I called it
(06:07):
like an epiphany, where I vividly saw at Ortiz's funeral
home on Fourth Avenue fifty thirsty. I saw it packed.
I saw my mother and father crying over my my,
my casket. It this is kind of grim, but it's
the truth you visualize. I visualized it so clearly. And
then I came back to the moment as the scud
missiles were landing around our position, I said, Wow, I'm
(06:31):
an idiot. I have squandered these twenty seven years of
my life, always saying that tomorrow Maniana Mayana. Always I said,
I'm gonna start pursuing these dreams and I'm gonna explore
these gifts, you know what, Tomorrow, next week, I'll start Monday.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I feel like that's a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
That's a lot of us, you know. So for me,
of all places, I had that awakening and I just
prayed hard and I saip up my the oh please
not here, not like this.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I'm not ready. You know.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
It's interesting, you know, when you so close to death,
whether it be an accident or an illness of some sort,
you're forced to kind of come to that realization like
you did this. You had a hand in this moment somehow,
some way, you know, And so that's what that's what
ignited that thing in me, and it's been burning ever
since two thousand and three. So to answer your question,
(07:20):
that's where the acting kind of finally started to get
some sort of form, became malleable for me, was coming
out of Iraq.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So while you were in the service, were you doing
anything acting related or you were just focused on serving?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
You know what I was doing. I was protecting American
embassies and I loved it. I got to live and
thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Listen. I was, I was stalking your career and I
was like, wow, he's put in some serious work.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I was like, I gotta thank him. I said, you know,
all of our veterans and you know, shout out to me.
The second man that has sat here, you know and
told me, you know, he's risked his life and gone
to war for our country, and then he also ended
up an actor. And I'm like, what am I doing
my life? These men go to war a country, then
they come home and then become actors, and you.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
Know, but that's not it's interesting you say that. So
you know, I'm giving you like the ways version, right listen.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
I already don't I got your whole life. Yeah, I know, wait,
hold on, hold on. I was already acting. What's happening there?
What happened to the thirteen years? What's going on here?
But acting? What was your first once you left the service? Yes,
what was the first moment that you booked a role
or you auditioned for a role.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
So this is a true story. I come home and
I had this burning desire to explore it. I need
no actors. I had heard that a long time ago
Rosie Perez was also from Sunset Park, but that's like
an urban legend to me. I don't even know this chick, right,
And so I didn't know where to begin. So I
started my new career. I was a beat cop and
(08:52):
there was a Hudson you stand on my beat. I
would sit there and I'd look at these newspapers and
there was one that they used to print called Backstage,
And so I didn't want nobody to know that I
was looking at it because I'm, you know, doing this thing,
And so I grabbed it. I paid, and I remember
the guy behind the count and was like, officer, you
realize what it's not The New York Post's I go,
(09:14):
you know, like, just give me the damn paper so
I can get out of here, right right, and so
I very quietly went to the back and I started
to circle what I thought was like this help wanted
to ask for these actors. And I remember my first audition, honey,
I literally it was. It was it was I show
up and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just
happy to be I'm not a kid in the candy.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
What did you audition for? I want to know it
some really.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Bad short film that hopefully no one will ever see.
But that's not the point. The point is is that
I show up at this office somewhere in midtime Manhattan.
I put my name on a piece of paper. I'm
sitting in a room and I'm just like I'm I
am now mimicking what everyone else is doing. Everybody's very short,
so I'm like, fuck, I gotta be serious too. I
got to like fun because I got just some acting stuff, right.
So I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm just
pretending like I know what I'm doing. And no one's talking.
(09:59):
And finally the door opens up and the lady looks
at the paper she's crowsing off a bunch of names.
She goes, Okay, who's next?
Speaker 2 (10:04):
This sounds like a movie.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
She's like J W. Cortez and I'm like, right here,
how you doing? What's going on? Right? And so I'm
all old cheery and she goes, okay, headshot And for
a moment I looked at her and I'm like, does
she know that I'm a marine combat veteran and that
a headshot for a marine means that I get down
in the prone position? And like, does she want me
to simulate what that would look like? And she looked
(10:26):
at me and she says, you don't know what I'm
talking about. I said, this is my first time.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Man, you didn't have a headshot.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
I didn't have a headshot. I didn't know what a
headshot was. I didn't know where to get one. But
you know, ignorance is bliss. And because I was so ignorant,
I was unaware of how hard this thing would be.
And so I went and that was my first time
ever auditioning. And I went from that and then finally
many bumps and bruises, and I found myself what was
(10:52):
probably the biggest blessing of my career. I met a
guy named Jose. That's what I said. Jose is like
(11:13):
John Smith in the Latino community, right I'm like this, dude,
long story short. Josetveda is the first Puerto Rican ever
nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. He wrote
a film called Motorcycle Diaries. I did a reading for him,
and after the reading was done of one of his plays,
he pulled me to the side. He says, you know,
I don't know you, you don't know me, but you've
(11:34):
got something in you. I think you really need to
think about exploring this thing. And then I ended up
in an acting school that wound up saving my life.
It wasn't therapy, it was acting school and meeting Terry Nickerbocker,
who said, all this armor is hurting you.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Take it off and take it off.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
And I'm like, what that is such a dichotic statement.
Body armor is supposed to protect you. How is mind
hurting me? He's like, you'll never get to the true
self that you need as an actor because everything that
you do is always being protected by this armor that
the Marine Corps gave you, that Sunset Park gave you,
that being a Latino male figure and your family has
(12:12):
given you. And it gets in the way, it's blocking you.
And so that was a journey for me to learn
what does that mean? And how do I get rid
of this thing so I can be my true, authentic self,
so I can embarrass myself without any criticism, because that's
what you need, right You got to be able to say,
you know what, I'm going to do whatever it takes,
so that I can fully live out this character that
I'm trying to embody.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
How does one even take off all that armor, you know,
being inner City, being black and brown, being Latino, and
then on top of that fighting for our country for
so many years? How did you even peel back those layers?
Speaker 1 (12:47):
I wish I could give you, like a a a
sick short answer. I will tell you that it is
through the grace of God. It is through family support.
It is you really seeing and and and just having
letting go of the parachute sometimes and go, I notice
it's going to be bad and I have to get
(13:08):
through the bat to get to the good. It's like
he would always say, You're trying to go from New
York to LA and along the way it starts to rain.
Do you stop driving?
Speaker 3 (13:18):
No?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
What do you do? You put on your windshield wipers?
The sun goes down? Do you stop driving? No, you
put on your headlights, you stop for gas. I'm full
of them. This is all lived my life.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
You give me all the gems. I really really really
love that. Now, did you stop down and say I
need to start a family or how did your two boys?
Speaker 1 (13:37):
My two sons? So I met a young lady when
I had come came back from from the war, and we, uh,
you know, I'll credit my ex wife with saying to
me and and and these exact words, what kind of
asshole wants to go back to war?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
She's a Latina, she uses latina.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yes, she says, straight up, straight up, because I was
volunteering to go back. Why, because I was suffering from
some severe PTSD I was unaware of. And I just
knew I don't really belong here. I'm not ready to
be back here. I think I want to go back.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
Did you feel like out in the field is where
you belong.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Anywhere with the Marines is where I felt I belonged.
I was good at what I did.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
To the point that being with your family no longer
felt normal.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
It didn't feel normal because I think they didn't have
the tools and the vocabulary to understand how to communicate
with me. Without triggering something in me. So, for example,
one of my buddies who his book became a film
called American Sniper. He has since been he was murdered.
But Chris Kyle the American Snipers said to me, we
(14:44):
went to war in America, went to the mall, and
that could have a negative connotation for guys who went
multiple times over there, but he flipped it on me.
You know, he said, how great is that that our
children could still continue to thrive in America with out
fear of oppression or of something terroristic happening on a
(15:04):
daily basis like it does in these other countries. How
great is that? And he kind of began to kind
of start to shift in me on how my perspective
needed to kind of shift in that way.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So she said, what kind of asshole goes back to.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
War volunteers, you know volunteers, And you know, I was like,
you know what, I think I'll stick around, but only
for a few more months. And then after I got
to go back right and I wound up, you know,
we wound up getting pregnant, and I wound up sticking around,
and and then I started to pursue these these careers
simultaneously as at the same time as trying to be
(15:41):
a dad and just trying to be a better person
and a better version of myself for her. For me,
it was a lot. It was a lot.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
It was It sounds like a lot, you know what
I'm saying. But you got your two boys, and that
is an amazing blessing.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yes, the best, the best, the best role I ever played.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Now, let's talk about Gotham. That is where I know
you from through and through. How did you land this role?
Like I remember when Gotham was it was just such
a big deal, like we were all so hype. How
did you end up getting up in there? Talk to me?
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So like every other actor, you know, I'm I'm literally working,
I'm working a graveyard shift and literally go in midtime Manhattan.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Okay, because now you're a police officer.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I'm active, I'm working every night. But I knew that
I had to get to acting school during the day.
I had to figure out when I was going to eat,
when I was going to sleep, like you name it.
But everything was focused on I need to get off
this thing, and I want to do this because you.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Were like, I don't want to, I don't want to
want to do that more.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I want to do this.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
You had a dream.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
I had a dream, right, and I wanted to honor that.
So the one thing the Marine Corps taught me is
if you slept, then you had time right sleep, my man, right,
like yeah, like let's get let's go, like you know,
like I can push past most of people's ring, you know,
at least my own comfort level.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Can I stop down for one second? Yes, I hate
when people sleep. I just do it because I feel
like that's time wasted and you can be if you
have a dream and you have a passion and you
can take a two to three hour nap. To me,
that equates to those are two three hours that you
didn't pursue your dream.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
That's correct.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Is that what the Marines was talking about?
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Absolutely? Absolutely. We don't stop when you're tired. You stop
when you're done. The job wasn't done. So I'm I'm
literally running up and down New York City, going from
casting office to casting office, getting lucky every so often,
getting a lot of callbacks, so close a lot of times.
This is a career of many false starts, is what
I see, and the biggest lessons that I'm learning in
(17:39):
those like three four years that I'm grinding it out
doing really bad short films, really bad stage work, like
really bad. I'm learning that the hardest thing I have
to deal with is the silent no. I'm like, I
never learned about the silent no.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
That's when you know, that's when you don't get any callback.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Is that what.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
Happens is you go out and you know you killed
the audition, and so you're just gonna wait now because
at any moment that email is gonna come through, and
so let me just check my wife I just in
case it's not strong enough.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Let me reboot the phone, just in case the signific
yeah right, And so you know the second day and
now a week goes by and you're just checking the
junk box because you never know. Maybeam maybe you want
to spam. That's probably what happened, don't maybe my number maybe,
And so you start thinking about it, and then what
happens is two weeks go by, and that's the silent no,
(18:30):
and that is your career and you must contend with
that because what you want is a verbal no. At
least tell me I didn't get it. At least tell
me that mark Fierra got it. I can live with that, right,
But to not know and have to deal with yourself
and go man, this is where act just get in trouble.
Maybe my nose is too wide, maybe my eyebrows are
(18:52):
too thick. Maybe, but you know maybe females right, especially
women maybe right, which is all not.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
True, all not true, because we tend to kind of
like put the blame on ourselves and project it.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
You know, as you were looking for answers, what tell
me what I can do to improve it? No one's
going to tell you that. This is where you have
to be so self assured. You have to know what
I do, what Honey German does, no one else can
do it. If you're looking for that, no one could
do that better than me. And that's how I had
to feel about j W. I had to learn that, right.
So long story is, I'm auditioning. I go out for
(19:30):
this thing, and I just felt really good about that
particular addition.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Do you know what it was?
Speaker 1 (19:34):
It was for this character named Alvarez? And what I
did was I took a chance. And I always tell
young actors.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Did you know it was Godam? Did you know something Gotham?
Speaker 1 (19:43):
But I didn't know like the full spectrum of it.
I'm like, oh, that is maybe batman ish, but I
don't really know. And I don't know about Alvarez either.
But I remember taking my sides and I had it
in my hand and I do my lines, and I
had a moment where I'm getting into a fight and
I just I threw my sides at the the reader
and they bugged out. They're like, this guy's into the role.
(20:04):
And I just I went with it, you know, and
I took a chance because it wasn't written that way.
I said, this is how I'm going to paint this,
because you and I can paint the same thing with
the same colors, but it's gonna look different. I'm gonna
paint my way. And so I did that, and then
a couple of days later, I'm in Puerto Rico celebrating
my birthday.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
I'm in Culebra Island, hold.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
And my phone is working. Look at this, And that's
when I learned that I had I had booked this role.
And I didn't even know this until like a couple
of months into the production, that I would be a recurring,
heavily recurring because you had a lot of that I did,
and then I found out that I was the first
human to play this comic book character. I didn't know that,
(20:46):
so I go, better, hold on, let me look at
this comic book you know, I look like this, dude,
I'm like.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Now?
Speaker 2 (20:54):
I got to.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Google it like this. So that was how that kind
of like that was the that that was like the
first like, ah, we're onto something. We can do this
and we can hold our own and he's a Latino
and I'm a Latino and that doesn't happen all the time.
We're character never And that was like my first taste
(21:18):
of like, oh, okay, now I get it. When you
get to come in and play and do what you love,
all right, that's the feeling that we get addicted to.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
So you feel like all those nose or all those
roles that didn't work out or that you didn't feel like,
you know, we're up to. Part was leading up to Gotham,
because honestly, Gotham was big.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I think I remember the rollout. We were so hype.
It was like everybody was yeah that trailer. I was, yeah, yeah,
trailer has like eleven million views, Like I watched it
again today.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah, I think I think that the show did
a lot for a lot of different things, for a
lot of different people. For me, I can tell you
that I was just not aware. To me, it was
just another joke.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
You were not aware of what it was doing.
Speaker 1 (22:14):
No, not at first, you know, I just I just
saw the hype and stuff. And then once I got
into the DC comic book universe, because now you belonged
to this universe, and I started, for the first time
in my career getting an actual like fan mail, all parts
of that was dope, And I go, I'm a kid
from Sunset who took a chance, and now this is
happening the way I'm now right. So you know, so
(22:36):
anyone that's listening, I would say, you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Oh there's people listening. Don't do that, j W. Don't
I know they're listening.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Just you know, you've got to trust sometimes and just
really take a chance, take a chance.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Getting head on. When they saw Young Goth, I'm like,
how happy were there?
Speaker 1 (22:54):
You know? It's funny. Our parents always want the best
for us, so I know why they were. They were like,
you know you sure, you sure you want to you
know it's hard you know, I think there's a Latino community.
I think that over bearing love is it comes from
a good place.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Oh, it always does.
Speaker 1 (23:11):
And I think now, like I just recently booked probably
what's going to be the biggest movie in my career.
It will be on twenty five congratulation, Thank you so much.
It's like got them on steroids all over again for me.
And you know, I think now after so many years
of being successful, that now they're like, yeah, yeah, how.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Many times have you made them proud? Though with the service,
we're becoming a police officer, we're becoming an actor. I
don't know if you throw the boxes already listened, because
some of us don't even make them proud one time.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah yeah, you know, I don't know. It was never
like Okay, I'm going to do this to make them proud.
I think what has made them proud is that I've
been true to what it is that I've always wanted
to do and I just haven't quit. And I think
when you see someone go after something and they don't quit,
it's hard not to be proud, like, you know what,
whatever it is, you know, look at you, You're still
(24:01):
at it. You know, good for you. You know, because
I think most of us do quit somewhere along the way.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
It is tempting to quit when things get hard, you know,
for us to keep pushing forward and be like, now
I'm gonna try again, and I'm gonna keep going no
matter what, no matter how many nos I get, no
matter how many rejections. It is definitely hard. Now, speaking
of hard, the New York City Marathon, there's nothing up there.
I'm just thinking right, right, right right, the New York
(24:27):
City Marathon. Was that your first time running it?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
So it's yeah, that was my first time running the marathon,
and I did something that I don't recommend. I gave
myself ten weeks. How are your niece maneuhel?
Speaker 2 (24:38):
And they never never the same, They're never going back
to normal.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
But that's what That's why I gave myself ten weeks.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
I gave myself ten weeks. You woke up one day
and you're like, you know what, Yeah, well, no, right.
What happened was I was I do a lot of
fundraising for the families of our fallen children. I do.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
We do have to speak about Raphile around the station.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Absolutely. So I was at some event and there was
this dude there, you know, who was a Medal of
Honor recipient, and he's like, you know, I'm all banked
up and I'm going to run this thing, and how
about you, j W. And I was like, yeah, of
course I'm running it right Yeah. And then it was
like I got off the air and I'm like, what
would I just say? What did I just do? And
(25:21):
so I just got to it, you know, And it
was I always say that if you're capable of doing
at least one in your life, you should, because it
is the most rewarding thing, especially in New York. Ain't
nothing like it.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
Big Shadow Angie Martinez, she ran the marathon one time too.
But I know people that ran the marathon and they
were like, my body was never the same after it.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yeah, yeah, No, it's it's traumatic. I don't mean traumatic
like in the mental's capacity. I think physically it is.
It is an extreme trauma that you're putting on your body.
It's just not a natural thing to do.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
What were you thinking about while you were running? They
got you through that finish line. How many miles is it?
Speaker 1 (25:57):
Twenty six point two? I was good, believe it or not.
Running through my old neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
What were you thinking?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
I was. I was amped, like so I had two
pieces of advice that was given to me. One was
put your name on your shirt. I'm like, that's a
little like self like, you know, But it turned out
to be one of the best things, because when you're
hurting in the crowd, especially New York is you know,
yo bye bye, you know, you know, it does give
you that extra thing. And then the second thing was
(26:23):
they were like, don't listen to music. Instead download your
funniest like most favorite comedy special. So I was listening
to Mark the Whole Way, a little bit of this,
a little bit of Chappelle, And I'll tell you in
the Bronx when you're there for that mile twenty, when
you come out of the Bronx and you see Central
parking Maule twenty one, you start to have this weird
(26:44):
laughter that's kind of like married to a little bit
of that physical pain, and your in doorphins start kicking in.
And it was the best thing I ever did. So
I'm hurting and laughing at the same time as I
was running it.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
So and that finish line when you crossed it would
What were your thoughts like, what did you tell yourself
when you crossed that finish line.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
I don't know if I had any like thoughts. I
thought I would be a lot hungry than I was.
I didn't want to eat for the next four or
five hours, which I found that weird. I felt that
I could have kept going even though I thought I couldn't.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
You want to do it again?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Yeah, I said, I'm gonna do this again for sure. Absolutely,
I'm gonna be a marathon runner, right, I'm going to
go back to my Kenyan roots when I lived in
Kenya and I ran with the Kenyans. I got this.
It's in me, did I did? I did? Yeah? Two years?
Are you?
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
My God speaks for Heli as well? Really yes, yes, yes,
don't ask me anymore. Ok.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
I was gonna say, okay, now.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
I said, I speak some Swahili, not too much. Yes, yes,
the service, I was in the service. Yeah. Yeah, So
the marathon it was you know, it's a test, right,
But the test isn't the marathon. That's the reward running
through New York City where people are just going buck
while and the DJs of pumping the hip hop through
Brooklyn and your I mean, that's the community.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
It's community. It's us just you know, we were here,
it was we were working that day and we went
outside and it was just everybody was outside, people eating,
people were drinking and just congratulating, you know, the runners.
It just felt good. It's a sense of community.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
It is, it is, it is.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
And you know, speaking of community, one of the things
that I really really liked when researching you is how
much you give back and how involved you still are
with our first responders and with our community. Now, I
wanted to talk to you about the foundation. You're the
president of the foundation. Yes, what is your connection? You know,
we all we all know what happened, you know, very tragic,
(28:42):
and as a city, we mourned together. But how do
you get connected to this story?
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Yeah, that's a great question. I was I was starting
to experience and enjoy the fruits of my new found
fame through Gotham. The NFL had very I was very humble.
I was blown away. They had presented me the Hispanic
Leadership Award for all of the work I had done
prior to this newfound fame. So it kind of like
(29:08):
came together and I was on the phone with the
NFL and they were like, we'd like to make a
cash donation to any nonprofit that you once loved that
and so without a hesitation, I said the Raphael Ramos Foundation.
They were like, great, do you know anyone? I said,
I don't know anyone. And this had just happened. It
was fresh in my mind, and I remember, you know,
(29:28):
cops are killed every day in the United States, you know,
you become somewhat numb to it. But also black and
brown people are killed every day in our communities, right, so,
you know, to be a person of color and uniform,
it can be very very tricky. It's even trickier for
my black brothers and sisters in uniform, especially during that time,
right when violence was.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Very small, I was very very small and as a country,
and we were just mourning, and we were just witnessing
so much trauma, so.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Much so you know, this kind of eliminated, you know,
And as I looked at the screen when breaking news,
I remember sitting there looking at Raphael's face and I
just I got fixated, and I go, I know this man,
I don't know I from where. And it turns out
that I went to middle school with Rafael back in Sunset.
We went to junior high school together and I sat
(30:18):
there and I remember being I felt cold, and I
felt the same level of grief that I felt when
they killed the first service member killed in the Iraq War.
His name was Lieutenant Shane Childers. I lived in Kenya
with him. I served in Kenya with him. You know,
when I found out that Shane had been killed a
few miles from where I was in my position in
southern Iraq during the war, I felt that same level
of grief in my throat and my I had like
(30:41):
restrictive breathing that I felt like an elephant was pressing
on my chest. And I remember my eyes they just
started to, you know, leak right like I couldn't stop it.
And I'm looking at him, but I wasn't like sobbing
at that point. It was just like this profound level
of of sadness. And I'm looking at him, and I
thought about his kids, and I looked over to my
(31:02):
two sons, and you know, I have a Jaden who's
in college, and I have Jonah, and he has a
Jayden and a Justin. And then I said, what was
going on? And then I learned that they were just
simply having lunch in their car, and these two guys
were They weren't executed, that's not the right word. They
were assassinated, right, And I'm like, that could have happened
(31:23):
to me for nothing else and simply were in that uniform,
you know. It was just that, you know, and you
know him being Moriqua and is part of being Chinese
and killed by another man of color.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
It was like, what are you doing here?
Speaker 1 (31:34):
What's the fuck's going on? And so the NFL said, hey,
we want to do this. So I said, that's the foundation.
I don't know them, but if you give me a
couple of days, I'm going to reach out to them.
So I did. I sent an anonymous email to the
foundation's website. Within an hour, I'm on the phone with
the vice president and I'm on the phone with the
founder of Maritza. And I said, Maritza, I know you
(31:56):
don't know me. I'm from Sunset, but I remember you
because you worked in the Costco on third ninth Street
and Sunset. She's like, yes, you know me from there.
I go, I do. I said, listen, this is what's
going on. Can you please come to my house. The
next day, she's in my kitchen where they're talking, not
a dry eye, and I just looked at her eyes
and I felt the profound level of just emptiness, like
(32:18):
she had just lost him.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
And I said, is that his wife?
Speaker 1 (32:21):
That's his wife, first widow. So Maritza Ramos, I said, Maritza,
you're stuck with me, girl. I'll do whatever I can
because I know that could have been me, and that
could have been my son standing next to you at
that at that funeral. And so that's that was the
beginning of that relationship, and it came from me using
my platform to give back to this man and his
(32:42):
family in the community. And let me just say this
to all the listeners. The Rafael Ramas Foundation is not
a police foundation. It is community based with a focus
on children. Because children in our neighborhoods, neighborhoods that are
under resourced, under funded, have sometimes not the best relationships
(33:04):
or the best perceptions of those who are sworn to
protect them. So we've always said we want to deal
with the children parents. Sometimes they have their own opinions,
their own experiences. I get it. I grew up not
trusting the cops because that's what I was taught to do.
But children. There's an opportunity there where we can maybe
interact with them in a way that will pay dividends.
(33:24):
Maybe they will be less fearful and break that cycle
and break the cycle. It's not perfect, but man, it's
a start. And that's been the work for the last
eight years that we focused on doing as much as
we can for these kids of those specific neighborhoods.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Thank you, we need the work that you're doing is
so important, not just serving our country, not just entertaining us,
but also, you know, just giving back to the community,
because sometimes you get to a level where you're so
successful and you're so busy that you forget about the community,
you forget about where you came from, and you're still
very much in it. And that says a lot about
you as a man, because you used to be commendable, respectable,
(34:04):
admirable all.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
There's a scene right if you find yourself on that
elevator to the top, right, you got to send it
back down. That's me.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
I say it all the time. I leave the back
door open.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
I work in radio, and anybody that I can teach
every single thing I do, I will. And I've had
about thirty different interns, and I'm like, what do you
want to learn? And you know, working with interns is
tricky because you lose half your day teaching. And I
would not change all my thirty kids that I've had,
because that's what it's all about, you know, teaching, enabling
(34:38):
and helping, you know, the next generation. So thank you
so much for what you're doing. Absolutely, I'm sure you know.
The Ramo's family is super grateful for you.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
I'm grateful for them for the opportunity. I always say,
you want to do something selfish, help someone, you get
so much more out of it.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
Look at you, look at you. You're like, because I'm
getting something back.
Speaker 1 (34:58):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Now, twenty two twenty five, what's the plan for twenty
twenty five?
Speaker 1 (35:02):
So twenty twenty five, So this year will mark the
tenth year since Rafael Ramos and wen Ji and Lu
were both assassinated. I always say, you know, leave it
better than you found it. Eight years ago when I
came on board, you know, four years, I've been the
president of those eight years. For four of them i've
been the president. This will be my last year with
the foundation. I'm going to turn it over to our
vice president, he's very capable and they're going to do
(35:24):
great things. But we've definitely left it better and we
found it. Listen, September thirteenth. All of the hard work
that we've put into this has culminated in the renaming
of PS fifty four K and Bedside to the Detective
Raffao Ramos School Forreer. So I've always that was always
like amazing, that is amazing. So I was you know,
(35:45):
you had a hand in it, absolutely, And I'll tell
you that it came because of acting. A teacher who
was a fan of mine invited me to be principal
of the day. She then years later becomes the principal herself,
and that relationship continued to grow and we nurtured it,
and then she was helpful in having us rename the school.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
After thank you for principle. She said, I got an
agenda here, We're gonna make this.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
Amen. I mean, and it took a lot of work.
It took a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
But I'm pretty sure you can't just change the name
of a school.
Speaker 1 (36:14):
No, especially in some neighborhoods. Some neighbors are like, what
what you want to do? What you know? But yeah,
it took us showing up time and time again for
years and saying, look, we're telling you what we're about,
but we're showing you it's even more important. We keep
showing up, giving out exactly so then you know. So
(36:35):
twenty twenty five, I'm gonna I'm gonna separate myself. But
against all that mean, what does that mean? It just
means that I'm going to let them run with it
and I'm going.
Speaker 2 (36:44):
To Okay, I tell you meant from from the public.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
Oh no, no, no, I'm always going to be around. No,
but I do want to get back to do my
love right, which is entertaining people working on music. You know,
I still have that burning desires.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
What kind of music do you want to do?
Speaker 1 (37:02):
You're gonna laugh, But no, Soul, I saw that you
was with Brown. Yeah, I want to talk to you
about that country girl right who knew?
Speaker 2 (37:11):
Why not? Look at your boozy black man running country
right now?
Speaker 1 (37:15):
Love it? Love it? I sang with Pink Floyd's Roger Waters.
In twenty thirteen, I did a Sam Cook number called
The Change Is Gonna Come That that performs in Madison
Square Garden. Changed the trajectory of my career. It also
showed people that this dude may look a certain way,
but he actually has a lot of soul in him.
Speaker 2 (37:33):
Do you want to do country?
Speaker 1 (37:35):
I don't know. I mean I'm open, you know, soul, right,
soul I look at like Teddy Swims, I look at
I mean, let's go back my favorite Donnie Hathaway, Teddy
Panagrass Ltd. All that soul. You know, that's the music
that I'm inspired by, you know, the al Greens and
(37:56):
just all of that real bluesy, heavy soul. Not forget Luthor, Luthor, yes, Luthor.
So that's twenty twenty five. You know one of my music,
there's a movie coming out that's really I'm excited about
doing more of that, you know, but music. Absolutely, I
want to do a subway a showcase in a subway
(38:18):
anywhere in New York City. Come on that. We could
do that.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
We could do that. Listen, listen this We have nothing
but subways. Okay, right right right, just.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Because I think if New York is stopped and listen,
then you're onto something.
Speaker 2 (38:28):
We to get your little band or something in the background,
and you know, we'll tape it, we'll put it on YouTube,
we'll put it on TikTok and that's it. You out
of here.
Speaker 1 (38:35):
Today is the day we mentioned it.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
We're going to you know, manifest this. We're going to
make this happen for you. Yes, I can see it. Yes,
thank you so much for sitting down with me today. Man,
this was a great inn Andy. Big shout out, I'm
Pretty Lou.
Speaker 1 (38:47):
Shout out to pretty Lou who said, my girl, honey,
German is going to be calling you please.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
You know, we were talking about you know who I
want to interview and I was like, I want to
interview Fat Joe and he was like, you know who
you need to cortious. I was like, yeah, that's my guy,
that's my guy. And I was like, you know what,
let's make it happen. And you know, here we are,
and it's it's all about connecting the dots. It's all
about community, and it's all about helping each other. And
you know, whatever you have going on, whichever way I
can help, and you know, whatever Lou has going on,
(39:15):
it's just about working with each other, you know, and
creating these spaces where we can exist and where we
can share our stories and where we can promote our projects.
Because as latinos familiar.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Now, this is a beautiful thing that you're your work,
that you've created. The space is very comfortable, it's very welcoming.
I feel like I'm with my prima for sure.
Speaker 2 (39:38):
There you got no.
Speaker 1 (39:45):
But yeah, let's let's keep it going.
Speaker 2 (39:47):
I appreciate you sitting down with me today. Absolutely, thank
you for having me come again.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
I'll be back five.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Don't play with me.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Grassiers Come Again is a production of Honey German Productions
in partnership with Iheart's Macutura podcast network.
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