by
Samantha Ofole-Prince
photos courtesy
Adrian J Photography

Who? He’s a talented 13-year old actor who has starred in a slew of films and television shows. He voices the character of Darwin on “The Amazing World of Gumball” which airs on the cable channel The Cartoon Network.

What? Boakye can be seen in the inspirational drama “Unconditional” starring Michael Ealy, which releases in theaters Friday September 21, and talks to Samantha Ofole-Prince about his latest role.

What is "Unconditional" about, who is the character you play, and how did you get the part?
The movie is about a woman, played by Lynn Collins, who had a tragedy happen in her life. She runs into an old friend of hers who helps her overcome the tragedy. The old friend is a person called Joe Bradford. He is played by Michael Ealy and is known as Papa Joe in the neighborhood as he mentors a lot of kids in his community. One of the kids he mentors is my character Macon.  Macon is a little mischievous and a little on the rough side, but he is a good person overall and he looks up to Papa Joe in the movie, and sees him as a father he has never had. I went through the whole audition process and received the call back with news that I got the role.

What was your favorite scene to film in the movie and why?
I actually had a lot of fun when I was milking a cow. It was my first time doing it and I learned a lot.

You have starred in projects with Mary J. Blige, Tyler Perry, P Diddy and countless other high profile actors. Do you still get a little star struck, and are there any specific actors you would like to work with?
I am used it be now, but it is always cool meeting these people. They are all great actors and actresses, and I never get tired of seeing them. I have met Denzel Washington before, although it was a quick hello and we took a quick picture, I would really like to work with him in the future as I think that would great for me and my career.

How many scripts for movie roles do you get on an average month, and how do you cherry pick which role is right for you?
I get a different amount of scripts each month.  An average would be about five scripts a month. When I get them, I read them, and see what they are all about and if the role is right for me. If I like it I will just go after it. I usually look for a positive outlook on the character and a new challenge.

Looking back at your career in the few years since you have been in the industry, which three projects stand out and why?
This movie “Unconditional,” the Tyler Perry movie “I Can Do Bad All By Myself,” and the television drama “Hawaii Five-­O” as with all three of them I got to travel, so that is something that I will always remember. For “Hawaii Five-­O” I obviously went to Hawaii and for The Tyler Perry movie I went to Atlanta and for this film I went to Nashville.
 
The cute roles are only going to last so long and in a few years you will get a little older and mature, which will naturally change the type of roles you will receive. Where do you ideally see yourself in the industry 10 years from now?
I haven’t really thought that far ahead, but I know that I would like to continue playing roles that are challenging to me. I recently played an autistic kid and that was a really new thing for me to experience and I really liked that a lot. I like the challenge of doing new roles and it’s great to play different characters and different people in movies. For now, I am just going to keep going for roles that make me work a little harder.