Clarke, is a multi-talented writer,director, producer and actor, hailing from West London. He is most notably known for writing UK urban films for Kidulthood and Adulthood. But he hasn't limited himself to being only involved with socio-realist films, as he has has gained commercial recognition by starring in Doctor Who and landing a role alongside Benedict Cumberbatch in the Hollywood Star Trek sequel.
One of Clarke's tattoos bears the thought-provoking saying, 'be the change you wish to see in the world'. Speaking of how he would change the world, he said, "There's loads of things that are bigger that I can do. The fact that people don't have clean water is ridiculous. Politicians have real power, but they're not doing anything about it." It was refreshing to hear such a comment by Clarke, as the rate of inequality really surfaced in my brain juxtaposed with the wealthy lifestyles lead by government officials.
Trinidadian born Clarke, was raised by single mother, Gemma in a West-London home. Clarke discussed how he respects his mum for being able to bring him up, despite the difficulties she faced. He made references to how this appreciation had grew when he had his own offspring. "On a more personal level, I wasn't raised by my father, I was raised by my mum. But I'm making a change by raising mine. I take them football, swimming," he said.
Another tattoo that particularity stands out is 'keep your faith, live love imagine', which implies that Clarke is very spiritual and grounded. "I was raised as a Christian, in the church. Doesn't necessarily mean I believe .." he said hesitating before claiming, "As I got older, I started asking questions, I'm not gonna follow blindly."
Clarke came across as being respective of subcultures in society, "Some people have piercings, some have crazy hair, let them be."
Slowly drifting into the topic of his next movie appearance in 'The Anomaly', he describes the film briefly by addressing that he plays an ex-soldier who wakes up in the back of a van and has only nine minutes and 47 seconds to figure out how he got there. The film will be released on the 4th of July.
Clarke understands that often black actors can usually fall into acting drug dealer or negative stereotypical roles, as it is what is often requested from the industry for an audience to relate to. However, he strongly believes in portraying positive personalities for members of ethnic minority backgrounds. Speaking about his previous acting roles, he said assertively "If it inspires someone somewhere else, the fact that a black man can play an action hero, I've done my job."
Reflecting on his debut film 'Kidulthood', Clarke discusses the purpose behind the making of the film, as he explained "The whole message with 'Kidulthood' was that, if you behave like this, you will die." He then went on to say, "The whole message with 'Adulthood' is that just because you've done bad things, it doesn't mean you're a bad person. You can walk away."
Delving on to his close work with young creatives, Clarke often receives tweets asking him generic questions about how they should go about writing a script for example. Clarke stresses "Every time you think of something,someone is doing it." He goes on to warn, "If you want to get left behind,carry on thinking."
Overall, Clarke is an inspiration to aspiring media creatives', although he is adamant he does not set out to be any ones inspiration or role model.
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