– Everyone who really shies away from a challenge.
I usually kind of jump at the opportunity to do
something different and unexpected.
I’ve been in the negative road and I’ve been in
the positive road and I would never give
up the positive road.
It just gives me, between my physical fitness
and my faith I have so much discipline in my life.
When I said I wanted to be an actor,
people kind of chuckled and then when I said
I wanted to be a serious actor, people chuckled.
– He’s an American actor, producer, business man,
rapper, and former model.
He’s the co-owner of the Wahlbergers restaurant
chain and co-stars in the reality TV show about it.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
on July 29, 2010.
He’s Mark Wahlberg and here’s my take on his
top ten rules for success.
Rule number one is my personal favorite and make
sure to stick around all the way to the end for
some special bonus clips.
Also, as Mark is talking, if he says something that
really inspires you, make sure to copy it down
to the comments below and put quotes around it
so other people can be inspired as well.
– I mean, as terrible as it is, the kid who had
the girls in the neighborhood, who had the nicest
car, sold the most drugs.
You know, there wasn’t really anybody that I could
look up to that was from my situation and really
made something of himself.
That’s why I feel it’s so important to stay true
to who I am and where I’m from.
Because kids like myself do look up to me.
I came through it the right way, so it really gives
them something to look at, something to work for.
That’s why I’ve accomplished really everything
that I’ve set out to do, but to just stop and
not stay on that mission, I think would be wrong, too.
Because things are still getting worse,
you know what I’m saying.
Playing a professor in college, it was a bit of
a stretch, but something that I was excited about.
Everyone who really shies away from a challenge, I
jump at the opportunity to do something different
and unexpected, but I’m also the kind of guy
who’s going to make sure that I’m prepared,
really cover all the bases and I don’t want to
look foolish and I certainly don’t want to disappoint.
– Back growing up, tough time.
– Yeah, yeah. Somewhat.
– I mean, could that kid look at you today.
Could you ever imagine that it would turn out this way?
– You know, somebody asked me last night, they said,
“What if Marky Mark met Mark Wahlberg right now?”
And I said, well if I didn’t get to say the first
word he’d probably punch me in the face.
But, you know, if I got to talk to him, I think
he would understand and maybe change his ways.
– [Interviewer] Marky Mark was whom, then?
– Marky Mark was the trumped up version of who I
was in the street when I was younger and wild
and just like everybody else, just trying–
– [Interviewer] Selling drugs.
– Trying to be the toughest guy in the neighborhood,
trying to impress the girls by stealing a car
or something, just really foolish stuff.
But that was really all that I was accustomed to
and that’s all that I could see.
– You learned it on the street?
– Yeah. – How’d you pull out of that?
– Well, I got incarcerated, like most people.
And I think I was the only one who didn’t like it.
And I couldn’t figure that out.
Everybody was just so content with, whether it
would be the winter, ’cause it was cold outside,
and they’d get their free meals and everything else,
I just knew everybody and it just looked like one
of the corners in my neighborhood.
And I said, wow, if I want anything else out of
this life, I’ve got to start now.
– [Interviewer] So, what’d you do?
– I just prayed.
Started focusing on my family and looking at all
the stuff that I’d put my mom through, being the
youngest of nine.
She wasn’t really around enough.
She was always working two jobs, my dad worked
two jobs, so I was kind of, you know, free to
run the streets and roam the streets, but she never
knew it and of course, she would never think that
her baby, her little boy would do anything wrong.
So, I just looked at all those things and I
realized that I couldn’t blame it on my
neighborhood anymore.
I know right from wrong in the back of my mind.
I need to do what’s right and if not, just get
used to the environment that I’m in.
You have two choices in life, basically.
It’s basically to succeed or to fail,
you know what I’m saying.
And I’ve been in the negative road and I’ve been
in the positive road and I would never give up
the positive road, never.
I would never.
Even, you know what I’m saying, even if I was
the biggest flop in the world.
– How different do you think your career, possibly
your life would’ve been had you not embraced the
physical fitness part early on?
– Oh man.
It just gives me, between my physical fitness and
my faith, I have so much discipline in my life.
I have such a positive outlook on life and the
opportunities that I have and the things that
I’ve been able to accomplish in my life.
It starts out, you know I’m up at 4:30 in the
morning, I’m in my kitchen having breakfast,
five o’clock I’m in the gym, 6:30 I’ve already had
another shake and 7:30 I’m eating a couple
turkey burgers, dropping the kids off at school
and by nine o’clock I’m having another meal and
I’ve already been to church and worked out and
I feel like there isn’t anything I can’t accomplish.
– Was The Departed one for them or one for you?
– Departed was one for me, and one for Marty.
You know, when you get a chance to work with
Marty Scorsese, you got to show up.
– And you get an Oscar nom–
– But they didn’t pay me at all, but you know.
– Did you do it for scale?
– It was pretty cheap.
I don’t know if it was scale, but it was pretty cheap.
But you know, but hey.
– I guess 10 million for Planet of the Apes,
you go, I can do one for Marty.
– Exactly, exactly.
Well, then you got to do 10 for free to make
up for that one.
(audience laughing)
But ah, you know you get an opportunity to work
with Marty Scorsese, I don’t mind cutting a check
to have that opportunity.
A way to prove yourself is to better yourself.
– [Announcer] In a coup for Optus, he’s setting up their
small business campaign.
– When I said I wanted to be an actor,
they laughed at me.
When I said I wanted to be a producer,
they told me to stay in my lane.
When I said I wanted to open up a restaurant,
they said it would never happen, but it did happen.
– Mark Wahlberg, thanks for joining us.
In the ad, you say that when you told people
back in Massachusetts that you wanted to be an
actor, that you were laughed at.
Why did they laugh at you?
– Well, first I was beaten up,
and then I was laughed at.
It’s one of those things, it was just never really
cool to want to be in the arts, you know, you
were either going to be a police officer or a
crook, or if you were lucky enough to get out
as an athlete, or if you were smart enough to
get to go to one of the great educational
institutes in and around the Boston area.
My brothers has a lot of success and stuff and
I have an album coming out and I’ve worked hard
for it though, you know what I’m saying?
A lot of people will think, oh his brother’s
rich and this and that, you know.
He’s just, you know what I’m saying,
everything’s been handed to him.
A lot of people say that to me now.
I’ve worked hard for it though, you know what I’m saying.
– Is there a type of genre of film that maybe you
haven’t done that you want to explore?
– If there is, I’m going to do it.
I’m going to take a crack at it.
I always wanted to be able to do it all, you know.
I waited for the right time to kind of creep
into the comedy thing and it’s been good so far,
I want to be able to do it all.
– Who’s stopping you, do you think?
– Nobody, but you know, look when I said I wanted
to be an actor, people kind of chuckled,
and then when I said I wanted to be a serious actor,
people chuckled.
I could play the tough guy role but when I wanted
to do vulnerable thing in Boogie Nights,
people were like, no, he’s this other guy.
And so, when I wanted to do comedy, people were
like, well you’ve been funny in movies,
but comedy is a different thing.
I didn’t want to look like an actor who could box,
I wanted to look like a boxer who could
win the world title.
I trained right here.
– [Interviewer] At his home in Beverly Hills.
– This is where we choreographed all the fights.
– [Interviewer] Wahlberg built a boxer mecca, complete with
a top of the line ring.
You took this seriously.
– We were in here, eight, 10 hours a day.
– [Interviewer] It was here that he brought the real
brothers, Micky and Dicky to help with his training.
Mark trained for the role for four years, not
knowing whether one frame of the film
would ever be shot.
The Fighter almost didn’t get made.
Directors and co-stars came and went.
Did you ever think, you know, gosh, I’m never
going to get this made.
This is just impossible.
– There were certainly times where I would wake
up at 4:30 in the morning, my trainer would ring
the bell, and I’d be like, oh god.
I’d be like, I better get this movie made.
I’m going to kill somebody if I don’t get it made.
– Did you get obsessed with it?
– I was, yeah. I was.
– What made you say this is the one?
What was it about it?
– I was such a huge Micky Ward fan.
– Always, even growing up?
– Yeah. Oh yeah, I mean, god the name Micky Ward
was to me, like the name Larry Bird, just a
local sports hero.
– Thank you guys so much for watching.
I made this video because Jay Starkilla
asked me to, so if there’s a famous
entrepreneur that you want me to profile next,
leave it in the comments below and I’ll see
what I can do.
I’d also love to know which of Mark’s 10 rules
had the biggest impact on you and why,
what change you’re going to make in your life or
business after watching this video,
what had the richest, thought process addition
to you, leave it in the comments below
and I will join in the discussion.
Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to
Saif Murtaza, thank you so much for buying a
copy of my book, it really means a lot to me.
For those of you watching, if you want a chance
at a shout-out in the future video, make sure
to pick up a copy of the book and email in
your receipt so we can keep track and give you
the bonuses too.
Thank you so much for watching.
Continue to believe or whatever your one word is,
and I’ll see you soon.
– What one quality do you think you’ve had that
gave you, allowed you, pushed you to achieve
what you’ve had?
– Um, I think my willingness to learn.
I’m pretty relentless when it comes to that.
I certainly knew everything about growing up
in the street and what it took to survive on
the street corner of Dorchester, but this is
a whole new world to me, so you know, just
being able to take advantage of the things
I’ve seen, the things I’ve been exposed to
now with my career, it’s really been.
– Now, you’ve been in show business a long time,
haven’t you? – Too long.
– No, not too long.
– It’s starting to catch up to me.
– How old were you when you first,
when you were Marky Mark?
– 18. – 18 years old?
– 18, yeah.
(audience cheering)
– I get all of the groups confused, it was
New Kids in the Hall,
– New Kids on the Block. – New Kids on the Block!
– Yeah. That was my brother.
– That was your brother. – Yeah.
– Who’s group were you in?
– I was in Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
I had been kind of of involved with the New Kids before
they actually formulated the group.
My brother and I were working with a producer,
Maurice Starr, and then we started out making
a rap album and then it turned into us going
to vocal lessons and dance classes.
I was like this is not what I want to do.
Then I end up going to jail, I’m watching them on TV.
They’re making millions and millions of dollars.
– Now wait a minute.
– They performed at the jail all the time.
– Now stop right there.
How old were you when you went to jail?
– 17. – 17, and may I ask why?
– For doing bad things.
– Bad things.
– And I don’t recommend you ever go there, especially
with the calf situation.
(audience laughter)
Could be very problematic.
– Again, another helpful piece of advice.
Did it have to do something with controlled substances?
– That always weighs into the equation.
– Was it thievery?
– All of those things, all of the above.
– How long were you gone?
– Long enough to never want to go back.
All together, I did like two and a half months,
but being tried as an adult at 17.
I was probably 5’1″, 110 pounds.
– So, your brother and his buddies are performing
on TV, you’re in prison.
– Yeah, and then they came to the jail to perform,
and then I’d be watching in the rec room, I’d
be like, that’s my brother.
They’d be like, shut up.
No, I was in that group.
They’d be like, well you’re the dumbest (beep)
ever, excuse my language.
because now you’re in here.
But I was lucky enough that my brother came
back and you know, when I got out, he produced
my album and then I was able to start my own career.
– Words of wisdom.
Well, by god that that’s it for heavens’ sakes.
And now look at you,
you’re a big time movie star,
you’ve got a lovely family,
you’ve learned a lessons the hard way in life.
Now, do you’re kids know about your time away?
– No, they don’t.
– Will that be a difficult…
That won’t be a difficult conversation, will it?
– No more difficult than daddy didn’t finish
high school, although I am going back now,
they have this new program in Massachusetts
where you can actually take the courses online,
so I’m starting this month in New Orleans,
and I’m going to go and get my high school diploma.
(audience cheers)
Also, I’m the ambassador of Taco Bell’s
Graduate to Go program, and they asked me to do this,
and I was like, dude, I never graduated, why
would you pick me to do this?
– Is what you’re doing, is it different than the GED?
– Yes, it’s an actual diploma, I’ve got to take
up all the courses that I missed.
I’m a little nervous, but I’ve got a lot of time
on my hands to study.
– How much did you have to make up?
– I never graduated the ninth grade.
I quit during the ninth grade,
so she said my geometry scores are pretty good.
They’re going to give me whatever credits
I already have, which is probably like one
or two, but I’m going to make it happen.
It’s one of those things, where I said,
you know what, I’m going to make it happen.
– Now will it take another three years do you think?
– No, I could do it …
I have a lot of down time on sets in the trailer
and stuff, so I just want to blast through it
and hopefully be able to do it in maybe
six or eight months.
– Maybe go out for the track team?
– I would love to.
I would love to.
I want the whole deal.
I want the cap and gown and it’s important,
no matter how old you are.
I’d love to, at some point, go to film school.
– This is a great example, for not just
your family, but I mean, my god, because how
many people are in a situation that seems
insurmountable.
At 17, who would’ve bet on you?
Honest to god, who would’ve?
And now look at you.
– I’m very fortunate.
– And why, what is different about you?
What changed in your life, was it
the stretch in prison?
Something else?
– A lot of things, you know, I’m very much
into my faith and I just wanted to turn my
life around.
No matter what I was doing, whether I was working
on a construction site, driving a tow truck,
which was my last real job, whatever I was doing,
I was going to end up on the right side of the law.
I was going to be a positive and productive person.
I usually kind of jump at the opportunity to do
something different and unexpected.
I’ve been in the negative road and I’ve been in
the positive road and I would never give
up the positive road.
It just gives me, between my physical fitness
and my faith I have so much discipline in my life.
When I said I wanted to be an actor,
people kind of chuckled and then when I said
I wanted to be a serious actor, people chuckled.
– He’s an American actor, producer, business man,
rapper, and former model.
He’s the co-owner of the Wahlbergers restaurant
chain and co-stars in the reality TV show about it.
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
on July 29, 2010.
He’s Mark Wahlberg and here’s my take on his
top ten rules for success.
Rule number one is my personal favorite and make
sure to stick around all the way to the end for
some special bonus clips.
Also, as Mark is talking, if he says something that
really inspires you, make sure to copy it down
to the comments below and put quotes around it
so other people can be inspired as well.
– I mean, as terrible as it is, the kid who had
the girls in the neighborhood, who had the nicest
car, sold the most drugs.
You know, there wasn’t really anybody that I could
look up to that was from my situation and really
made something of himself.
That’s why I feel it’s so important to stay true
to who I am and where I’m from.
Because kids like myself do look up to me.
I came through it the right way, so it really gives
them something to look at, something to work for.
That’s why I’ve accomplished really everything
that I’ve set out to do, but to just stop and
not stay on that mission, I think would be wrong, too.
Because things are still getting worse,
you know what I’m saying.
Playing a professor in college, it was a bit of
a stretch, but something that I was excited about.
Everyone who really shies away from a challenge, I
jump at the opportunity to do something different
and unexpected, but I’m also the kind of guy
who’s going to make sure that I’m prepared,
really cover all the bases and I don’t want to
look foolish and I certainly don’t want to disappoint.
– Back growing up, tough time.
– Yeah, yeah. Somewhat.
– I mean, could that kid look at you today.
Could you ever imagine that it would turn out this way?
– You know, somebody asked me last night, they said,
“What if Marky Mark met Mark Wahlberg right now?”
And I said, well if I didn’t get to say the first
word he’d probably punch me in the face.
But, you know, if I got to talk to him, I think
he would understand and maybe change his ways.
– [Interviewer] Marky Mark was whom, then?
– Marky Mark was the trumped up version of who I
was in the street when I was younger and wild
and just like everybody else, just trying–
– [Interviewer] Selling drugs.
– Trying to be the toughest guy in the neighborhood,
trying to impress the girls by stealing a car
or something, just really foolish stuff.
But that was really all that I was accustomed to
and that’s all that I could see.
– You learned it on the street?
– Yeah. – How’d you pull out of that?
– Well, I got incarcerated, like most people.
And I think I was the only one who didn’t like it.
And I couldn’t figure that out.
Everybody was just so content with, whether it
would be the winter, ’cause it was cold outside,
and they’d get their free meals and everything else,
I just knew everybody and it just looked like one
of the corners in my neighborhood.
And I said, wow, if I want anything else out of
this life, I’ve got to start now.
– [Interviewer] So, what’d you do?
– I just prayed.
Started focusing on my family and looking at all
the stuff that I’d put my mom through, being the
youngest of nine.
She wasn’t really around enough.
She was always working two jobs, my dad worked
two jobs, so I was kind of, you know, free to
run the streets and roam the streets, but she never
knew it and of course, she would never think that
her baby, her little boy would do anything wrong.
So, I just looked at all those things and I
realized that I couldn’t blame it on my
neighborhood anymore.
I know right from wrong in the back of my mind.
I need to do what’s right and if not, just get
used to the environment that I’m in.
You have two choices in life, basically.
It’s basically to succeed or to fail,
you know what I’m saying.
And I’ve been in the negative road and I’ve been
in the positive road and I would never give up
the positive road, never.
I would never.
Even, you know what I’m saying, even if I was
the biggest flop in the world.
– How different do you think your career, possibly
your life would’ve been had you not embraced the
physical fitness part early on?
– Oh man.
It just gives me, between my physical fitness and
my faith, I have so much discipline in my life.
I have such a positive outlook on life and the
opportunities that I have and the things that
I’ve been able to accomplish in my life.
It starts out, you know I’m up at 4:30 in the
morning, I’m in my kitchen having breakfast,
five o’clock I’m in the gym, 6:30 I’ve already had
another shake and 7:30 I’m eating a couple
turkey burgers, dropping the kids off at school
and by nine o’clock I’m having another meal and
I’ve already been to church and worked out and
I feel like there isn’t anything I can’t accomplish.
– Was The Departed one for them or one for you?
– Departed was one for me, and one for Marty.
You know, when you get a chance to work with
Marty Scorsese, you got to show up.
– And you get an Oscar nom–
– But they didn’t pay me at all, but you know.
– Did you do it for scale?
– It was pretty cheap.
I don’t know if it was scale, but it was pretty cheap.
But you know, but hey.
– I guess 10 million for Planet of the Apes,
you go, I can do one for Marty.
– Exactly, exactly.
Well, then you got to do 10 for free to make
up for that one.
(audience laughing)
But ah, you know you get an opportunity to work
with Marty Scorsese, I don’t mind cutting a check
to have that opportunity.
A way to prove yourself is to better yourself.
– [Announcer] In a coup for Optus, he’s setting up their
small business campaign.
– When I said I wanted to be an actor,
they laughed at me.
When I said I wanted to be a producer,
they told me to stay in my lane.
When I said I wanted to open up a restaurant,
they said it would never happen, but it did happen.
– Mark Wahlberg, thanks for joining us.
In the ad, you say that when you told people
back in Massachusetts that you wanted to be an
actor, that you were laughed at.
Why did they laugh at you?
– Well, first I was beaten up,
and then I was laughed at.
It’s one of those things, it was just never really
cool to want to be in the arts, you know, you
were either going to be a police officer or a
crook, or if you were lucky enough to get out
as an athlete, or if you were smart enough to
get to go to one of the great educational
institutes in and around the Boston area.
My brothers has a lot of success and stuff and
I have an album coming out and I’ve worked hard
for it though, you know what I’m saying?
A lot of people will think, oh his brother’s
rich and this and that, you know.
He’s just, you know what I’m saying,
everything’s been handed to him.
A lot of people say that to me now.
I’ve worked hard for it though, you know what I’m saying.
– Is there a type of genre of film that maybe you
haven’t done that you want to explore?
– If there is, I’m going to do it.
I’m going to take a crack at it.
I always wanted to be able to do it all, you know.
I waited for the right time to kind of creep
into the comedy thing and it’s been good so far,
I want to be able to do it all.
– Who’s stopping you, do you think?
– Nobody, but you know, look when I said I wanted
to be an actor, people kind of chuckled,
and then when I said I wanted to be a serious actor,
people chuckled.
I could play the tough guy role but when I wanted
to do vulnerable thing in Boogie Nights,
people were like, no, he’s this other guy.
And so, when I wanted to do comedy, people were
like, well you’ve been funny in movies,
but comedy is a different thing.
I didn’t want to look like an actor who could box,
I wanted to look like a boxer who could
win the world title.
I trained right here.
– [Interviewer] At his home in Beverly Hills.
– This is where we choreographed all the fights.
– [Interviewer] Wahlberg built a boxer mecca, complete with
a top of the line ring.
You took this seriously.
– We were in here, eight, 10 hours a day.
– [Interviewer] It was here that he brought the real
brothers, Micky and Dicky to help with his training.
Mark trained for the role for four years, not
knowing whether one frame of the film
would ever be shot.
The Fighter almost didn’t get made.
Directors and co-stars came and went.
Did you ever think, you know, gosh, I’m never
going to get this made.
This is just impossible.
– There were certainly times where I would wake
up at 4:30 in the morning, my trainer would ring
the bell, and I’d be like, oh god.
I’d be like, I better get this movie made.
I’m going to kill somebody if I don’t get it made.
– Did you get obsessed with it?
– I was, yeah. I was.
– What made you say this is the one?
What was it about it?
– I was such a huge Micky Ward fan.
– Always, even growing up?
– Yeah. Oh yeah, I mean, god the name Micky Ward
was to me, like the name Larry Bird, just a
local sports hero.
– Thank you guys so much for watching.
I made this video because Jay Starkilla
asked me to, so if there’s a famous
entrepreneur that you want me to profile next,
leave it in the comments below and I’ll see
what I can do.
I’d also love to know which of Mark’s 10 rules
had the biggest impact on you and why,
what change you’re going to make in your life or
business after watching this video,
what had the richest, thought process addition
to you, leave it in the comments below
and I will join in the discussion.
Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to
Saif Murtaza, thank you so much for buying a
copy of my book, it really means a lot to me.
For those of you watching, if you want a chance
at a shout-out in the future video, make sure
to pick up a copy of the book and email in
your receipt so we can keep track and give you
the bonuses too.
Thank you so much for watching.
Continue to believe or whatever your one word is,
and I’ll see you soon.
– What one quality do you think you’ve had that
gave you, allowed you, pushed you to achieve
what you’ve had?
– Um, I think my willingness to learn.
I’m pretty relentless when it comes to that.
I certainly knew everything about growing up
in the street and what it took to survive on
the street corner of Dorchester, but this is
a whole new world to me, so you know, just
being able to take advantage of the things
I’ve seen, the things I’ve been exposed to
now with my career, it’s really been.
– Now, you’ve been in show business a long time,
haven’t you? – Too long.
– No, not too long.
– It’s starting to catch up to me.
– How old were you when you first,
when you were Marky Mark?
– 18. – 18 years old?
– 18, yeah.
(audience cheering)
– I get all of the groups confused, it was
New Kids in the Hall,
– New Kids on the Block. – New Kids on the Block!
– Yeah. That was my brother.
– That was your brother. – Yeah.
– Who’s group were you in?
– I was in Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
I had been kind of of involved with the New Kids before
they actually formulated the group.
My brother and I were working with a producer,
Maurice Starr, and then we started out making
a rap album and then it turned into us going
to vocal lessons and dance classes.
I was like this is not what I want to do.
Then I end up going to jail, I’m watching them on TV.
They’re making millions and millions of dollars.
– Now wait a minute.
– They performed at the jail all the time.
– Now stop right there.
How old were you when you went to jail?
– 17. – 17, and may I ask why?
– For doing bad things.
– Bad things.
– And I don’t recommend you ever go there, especially
with the calf situation.
(audience laughter)
Could be very problematic.
– Again, another helpful piece of advice.
Did it have to do something with controlled substances?
– That always weighs into the equation.
– Was it thievery?
– All of those things, all of the above.
– How long were you gone?
– Long enough to never want to go back.
All together, I did like two and a half months,
but being tried as an adult at 17.
I was probably 5’1″, 110 pounds.
– So, your brother and his buddies are performing
on TV, you’re in prison.
– Yeah, and then they came to the jail to perform,
and then I’d be watching in the rec room, I’d
be like, that’s my brother.
They’d be like, shut up.
No, I was in that group.
They’d be like, well you’re the dumbest (beep)
ever, excuse my language.
because now you’re in here.
But I was lucky enough that my brother came
back and you know, when I got out, he produced
my album and then I was able to start my own career.
– Words of wisdom.
Well, by god that that’s it for heavens’ sakes.
And now look at you,
you’re a big time movie star,
you’ve got a lovely family,
you’ve learned a lessons the hard way in life.
Now, do you’re kids know about your time away?
– No, they don’t.
– Will that be a difficult…
That won’t be a difficult conversation, will it?
– No more difficult than daddy didn’t finish
high school, although I am going back now,
they have this new program in Massachusetts
where you can actually take the courses online,
so I’m starting this month in New Orleans,
and I’m going to go and get my high school diploma.
(audience cheers)
Also, I’m the ambassador of Taco Bell’s
Graduate to Go program, and they asked me to do this,
and I was like, dude, I never graduated, why
would you pick me to do this?
– Is what you’re doing, is it different than the GED?
– Yes, it’s an actual diploma, I’ve got to take
up all the courses that I missed.
I’m a little nervous, but I’ve got a lot of time
on my hands to study.
– How much did you have to make up?
– I never graduated the ninth grade.
I quit during the ninth grade,
so she said my geometry scores are pretty good.
They’re going to give me whatever credits
I already have, which is probably like one
or two, but I’m going to make it happen.
It’s one of those things, where I said,
you know what, I’m going to make it happen.
– Now will it take another three years do you think?
– No, I could do it …
I have a lot of down time on sets in the trailer
and stuff, so I just want to blast through it
and hopefully be able to do it in maybe
six or eight months.
– Maybe go out for the track team?
– I would love to.
I would love to.
I want the whole deal.
I want the cap and gown and it’s important,
no matter how old you are.
I’d love to, at some point, go to film school.
– This is a great example, for not just
your family, but I mean, my god, because how
many people are in a situation that seems
insurmountable.
At 17, who would’ve bet on you?
Honest to god, who would’ve?
And now look at you.
– I’m very fortunate.
– And why, what is different about you?
What changed in your life, was it
the stretch in prison?
Something else?
– A lot of things, you know, I’m very much
into my faith and I just wanted to turn my
life around.
No matter what I was doing, whether I was working
on a construction site, driving a tow truck,
which was my last real job, whatever I was doing,
I was going to end up on the right side of the law.
I was going to be a positive and productive person.
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