“It felt amazing to be in Ambitions,” White said. “It was a real honor to be asked to join such an ambitiously layered project with writing that hops seamlessly between genres infusing suspense, thrills, drama, comedy, and romance, creating something for both pure soap fans and those who like less suds with their drama alike.”
For White, it was an “inspirational” experience to work with Will Packer. “If you look at the definition of a ‘producer’ in the dictionary there is a photo of ‘Mr. Packer’ smiling at you. He is a role model of the transformative power of positive thoughts, positive actions, and positive messages; moreover, his brand consistently showcases the best of us and leaves audiences better off for having supported his work.”
On being featured on OWN, White said, “It feels like an awesome responsibility and considerable opportunity. Oprah Winfrey has built one of the highest quality brands in the world. In my opinion, there is great synergy between Ambitions and OWN, in that they both clearly represent outspoken female empowerment with intelligence, class, style, strength, and grace.”
When asked what motivates him each day as an actor, White said, “I am motivated to create content that my daughter’s generation will hopefully still view as somewhat progressive, and forward-thinking, when they are old enough to view it.”
“Ambitions breaks new ground by portraying a single black family comprised of characters that range from blue-collar Liberal Democrats to white collar Conservative Republicans, and allowing audiences to witness those politics collide in a soapy yet largely realistic 2019 universe,” he said.
For young and aspiring actors, White said, “The business of being a professional actor, is first and foremost: a business. That said, I highly suggest anyone wanting to act, to stay in school and study theater, photography, film making and business. Know that 98 percent of working union actors are unemployed on any given day. I can promise you that your degree will be good for something on some of those days.”
Digital transformation of the entertainment industry
On the impact of technology and streaming on the entertainment business, he said, “I still prefer the look of film, to digital. When I watch a movie, I like a big movie screen, if I can get it. I can’t watch anything on a tiny screen, so I usually don’t watch content on a screen smaller than the TV on my wall.”
“Also, having worked on broadcast shows that air live, vs. streamed content that allows folks to watch at any time on a release date there is definitely something special to everyone watching at one time live and chatting about it via social media as it happens that doesn’t translate with streaming,” he elaborated.
Regarding his use of technology in his daily routine, White acknowledged that he is pretty much “old school.” “I can only learn my lines with hard copies, and I hand write out my lines. I have my old MAC (over 10-year-old) laptop and a five-year-old Samsung phone.”
“I’m definitely a fan of what technology allows you to do with less money, but I try to keep my personal prep for work as manual as possible with as lilt automation as possible, so I feel more in the process,” he added.
For his fans and viewers, he concluded about Ambitions, “Buckle up, because it is a force to be reckoned with. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you think and it will definitely entertain you.”
