Wade Greene- Rising Actor (Introduction)

Edition Thirty – Week Thirty:

Written by: Mercedes Barreto

What is your inspiration? What is your drive to meet your goals daily?

“My inspiration and everything I do is letting God take the wheel. Sometimes you will wear yourself out trying to fit in. With a simple changing click, it’s easier to be a leader instead of a follower. A good leader, though. We’ll have to ride shotgun as God’s steward or co-pilot because we can’t do it alone. I don’t care how healthy, or wealthy you are. Pride comes before the fall.”

If you could describe your acting style, what describes just that in three words?

“My 1st crazy acting moment happened by accident, just being a kid. Back then, we called it pretending, make-believe, or living in the imagination. I day-dreamed a lot living on base with other military kids. At the civilian school off base, we knew kids constantly got bullied and tested by older civilian kids. So, to counter intimidate, we knew kids had to pretend we were GI Joe’s. Since my pops was a former drill instructor, I pretended to be Sergeant Slaughter while I would yell and scream at the big kids in front of their gang. My other friend’s pops were 82nd Airborne, so he pretended to be a ninja turtle and Snake Eyes since their parents were Delta Force and NSA workers.”

Is there a special place or time which you can describe which was your eureka moment for acting? A moment where you realized your potential for the first time?

“Well, it started when I was acting like an ex-con when civilian kids would ask me why I had an ID card of me holding a nameplate under my chin Like I was in a police lineup. Those poor kids had no idea that, in reality, that’s what the real military dependent ID cards look like. At that age, kids will believe anything.”

What are some interesting highlights of your acting career so far?

“There was a time when I dressed up like Ace Ventura and acted like a fool on Hollywood boulevard. There was this gal Diane, a new friend I made during my homeless days, who told me how people get a side hustle by dressing up like comic characters and tourists would pay the actor to get a photo with them. Unfortunately, that was a highlight of acting I had to use for survival, not so much to enjoy having something fun. The tips I made were enough to put $5 of gas in the truck so that I could let the engine run idle while it would give me some heat during the cold months and maybe a pack of grits and some ramen noodles. It was pretty bad. I wasn’t acting like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, instead I was starting to look like him because I was getting so skinny.”

What has been hands down your favorite project so far?

“My favorite project I’ve done is an independent film called skinny, directed by George Fulton, Supreme Justice with Judge Karen on Court TV, Dream Conspiracy and Moma Dot, directed by Lynette Jones with Jonesy Girl Productions. Skinny was based on a true story about two broke college students break dancing for money to buy ramen noodles. They became skinny because they had no food in their apartment. The situation worsened when the whole college labeled Ed (George Fulton) and Shirm (myself) as meth dealers. In the film dream conspiracy, I was a character named Jamie. Jamie was a crazy combat veteran with PTSD. I was in the scene with real vets playing the characters of that period. Even though it was a script, I was getting real emotions off my chest. In the film Moma Dot, I was the character of Booker. Booker was the next-door neighbor irritating the main character (Moma Dot). Booker was fun to portray because it reminded me of living in my favorite TV show (Living Color) as a kid. The acting was not all me. I don’t claim to be an actor. I’m trying to bring the director’s vision to life. A good director will bring out what is lying dormant inside us. I take no credit. Director Jones did all the work molding me into Booker in the Moma Dot production. Overall, I enjoy the company of other cast members when we can all smile and laugh while escaping reality for an hour and 20 minutes. Hopefully, others can smile from it to make their day.”