Canadian actor Benjamin Charles Watson chatted about starring in the crime thriller series “Duster” on Max, where he plays Royce Saxton.
How was your experience working on “Duster” for Max?
My experience on Duster has been absolutely incredible. Getting the opportunity to work on this show was an absolute dream, from the costumes to driving the cars and stepping onto the set.
“Duster” was amazing. I can’t express how happy I am working on this project.
What did you like most about your character?
What I love about Royce is his ability to just have fun. His story is an emotional roller coaster. He takes you for a ride and stands up for what he believes in.
What motivates you each day?
What motivates me deeply to my core are my mom and dad. We moved from Jamaica to Canada when I was a child. I want to make them proud of me because they’ve sacrificed their lives to make mine better.
I also want to discover, grow, learn, and be a better human being, and I strive to have knowledge, experience, and question the world. Knowledge is power.
How does it feel to be an actor in the digital age? (Now with streaming, technology and social media being so prevalent)
The digital age feels a bit different. I feel as if our short attention span has taken away some of our experiences.
My favorite thing on the planet has always been to sit in a movie theater and be fully immersed in a film, and realize time has disappeared.
Once you leave the theater, that overwhelming feeling of joy with no distractions is everything. I feel we’ve lost that in this new digital age.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future are to create my own shows. I’m looking to develop a few shows of my own because I’ve always wanted to create and connect with audiences.
So, I’m working diligently to create stories that I feel can touch a wide audience.
What is your advice for young and emerging actors?
The best advice I would give young actors is to keep going. Definitely study your craft and be a patient actor. Never compare yourself to anyone else in the business because that doesn’t help you.
Love the discovery process of creating a character. That’s the part you have major control over and it’s such a wonderful feeling of creating the character.
What does the word success mean to you?
I’m not a huge fan of the word success because I feel like it’s a trap. People will look at my life and think, yay success! But it took years to get to this point. I still have so much to do and so much to learn in this business.
I hope to see myself as successful. I think that word gets thrown around so much as a place to reach, and then you’re good? You’ve made it.
I want to strive for so much in this life. So, as an actor, people might say I’m successful, but outside of acting, there are so many things I want to achieve. Success is such a subjective word.
What would you like to say to our readers about “Duster”? What’s the one thing you want them to get out of it?
What I want your readers to know about Duster is that it’s an epic snapshot in time. The 70s were a great time!
What I want people to get out of our show is that behind all the chaos there’s a deeper motivation inside all of us in life.
To learn more about Canadian actor Benjamin Charles Watson, follow him on Instagram.
