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Jay Ellis caught the world’s attention as Lawrence in the American hit series Insecure. The personable Wendell Ramone Ellis Jr travelled to South Africa to film his next movie. Switching between the pronunciation “khosa” and Xhosa and learning various languages from his local colleagues, Ellis shares his “enriching” experience of South Africa with Phelokazi Mbude.
What brings you to South Africa?
I’ve been here filming a movie called the Maze. It’s had me in Cape Town for most of the time but I snuck up to Joburg. I was here two years ago and just loved so much about Joburg that I just wanted to come back and explore the country more so this was a good coincidence. It’s a perfect excuse to come back and just learn.
How has the cultural experience been for you so far?
There was no shock, I think there were some things that I kind of forgotten about and hadn’t thought about necessary. We take for granted that apartheid, for example, was [23 years ago]. There are things that you take for granted and forget about when you live in the States (United States of America) and realising that this is a nation that is still healing from that and what that means. You feel it a little bit more in Cape Town than you do in Joburg, so that experience has been very different because that has inspired a group of artists and young people and influenced the community in a way I didn’t see the first time I was here. It’s also been interesting to just learn what’s actually happening here, in the moment.
I hear you’ve picked up a few local languages. What have you learnt so far?
I’ve got the greetings down for sure. I do things like word of the day with one of the guys I work with who is Zulu and one of the guys who drives for the production is Xhosa. So I go back and forth learning different words from each of them so they all kind of starting to melt together and I can’t remember what’s what.
Did you have any preconceived ideas before arriving in South Africa?
My father was in the air force when I was growing up so we travelled quite a bit and as an adult I’ve travelled a ton and visited 20 countries or more. I try to walk away from stereotyping expectations and just be present and listen, live and experience what’s in that world and in that culture. I didn’t expect lions to be walking around, I didn’t expect I was going to fly to Joburg and the plane was going to land and some giraffes would just be running down in the runway – not at all.
You have been open about your passion for giving back to the community. What drives this passion?
I find it hard to be a citizen of this world and not give back, the world has given me so much – good and bad. I think part of why we’re here as humans is to leave the world in a better place than what we got it, whether that be socially, financially or ecologically. I have been fortunate enough to have a platform where I reach a lot of people. I don’t think my way is the right way and I don’t think that my way is the only way to do it but I do believe that the least I can do is give back to so many people who support me, to so many people who show up and watch whatever I’m doing – movie or TV show or whatever – I always want to give back.
