Daniel Kaluuya has been a very successful actor starting in movies like Get Out and Judas and the Black Messiah, but he almost quit acting before these roles.
Kaluuya has won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and more but the journey wasn’t that simple. Had he given up at the moment he did, he wouldn’t be the revered actor fans know and love. Director Jordan Peele recently revealed that he almost quit acting altogether before the breakout success of Get Out.
Kaluuya recently did a joint interview with frequent collaborator Peele, revealing shocking details about his acting career.
When the pair sat down for Essence, Kaluuya admitted that if it had not been for Peele’s hit movie Get Out, he would have quit acting because he couldn’t get any roles.
After one guest starring role in 2011, the actor had trouble landing other parts. Kaluuya shared with Peele that at the time he was “really disillusioned with acting” and “had stopped acting for like a year in a half,” he said. He added: “I checked out because I wasn’t getting roles, because of racism and all this kind of stuff. But he says a conversation with Peele changed everything. He added, “So you reaching out was like, ‘OK, I’m not crazy. It’s proper. It’s going to be alright.”
Peele praised Kaluuya
Peele said that Kaluuya’s acting in “Black Mirror was an “undeniable audition for Get Out.”
He went on to say, “I knew that as a performer you embodied the spectrum of somebody who could play small and subtle. Someone we would root for, but also had an explosive side and an ability to access certain deranged elements in your psychology. I already knew I wanted you for the film, but your audition blew me away in the audition, and now here we are.”
Kaluuya and Peele reunite for another film
After the success of Get Out, Kaluuya is starring in another film of Peele’s, which is Nope. Coming out in theaters on July 22, the film follows caretakers at a California horse ranch who encounter a mysterious force that affects human and animal behavior.
