Brooks Darnell (ex-Nate Hastings Jr, Y&R) talks his time on Y&R, previews his new Hallmark Christmas movie, upcoming projects and more. Read here--->>>
Photo: Tommy Flanagan
Brooks Darnell, actor, model, producer, photographer. Brooks
Darnell, easy-going, creative, athletic, talented and good looking. We Are Entertainment News (our sister site) had a fun time speaking with him. We discussed an array of subjects, seamlessly going from one topic to another. We
learned some really cool and interesting tidbits. The time just flew by and
there was still much more we wanted to ask. We suspect we merely scratched the
surface of the multi-layered, Mr. Darnell. But rest assured we discovered
some great stuff!
What’s in a name? In
Brooks’ case a lot. Born Darnell B. Rodgers, Brooks’ fate was fore written that
he would be either an athlete or an actor. Brooks, also his father’s nickname,
came from the late baseball hall of famer, Brooks Robinson. The name Darnell
also comes from Brooks’ father. Brooks’ grandmother named her son (Brooks’
father) after her favorite actress, Linda Darnell.
“My name is tied to my
athletic background and to my artistic talents as well. I was destined to be either
an athlete or an actor and I grew up doing both.” Growing up Brooks played
football, baseball, taekwondo, basketball, and gymnastics plus he performed in
the arts; acting, singing (R&B and in the gospel choir) and dancing (his
favorites were Michael Jackson and Bobby Brown). Here are a few fun facts from
Brooks’ dancing and singing “careers.”
**Brooks would go to school sporting full dress suits. He would wear the same type of suit
that Bobby Brown wore in the Don’t Be Cruel video. Yes, he did. His fellow jocks had a field day with
it. LOL.
**The gospel choir
Brooks sang in traveled and performed in Ohio’s large gospel circuit. Their
choir opened for award-winning gospel artist, Donnie McClurkin.
**When Brooks met John Legend at an event, they discovered they
sang at the same gospel concert when they were younger. So cool!
It was at the age of
sixteen when Brooks became confident enough in his acting abilities to consider
a career in acting. He began performing at NYC showcase competitions and placed
third among over four hundred monologue contestants which won him an invitation
to study at the prestigious Conservatory Theatre School in San Francisco.
However, Brooks, who was also a good student, elected to accept a football
scholarship at Indiana University where he attended and studied pre-med. “When
I was sixteen, I made a conscious effort to start trying to figure out what I
wanted to do. At that time, I didn’t know much about acting. I didn’t know you
could go to school for it. I didn’t know all the avenues that were available so
I gravitated toward what I knew. I gravitated toward sports. It wasn’t until
later that I fully committed to pursuing acting.”
Brooks left higher education after two and a half years to
pursue acting. Before working in the industry full time, he worked as a barber,
trainer and in security. He then moved to Canada and kicked up his pursuit a
few notches. For the next seven or so years, Brooks really honed in on the
craft, he; studied, attended classes, studied with acting coaches, attended
plays and performed in the theater. His dedication and efforts paid off when
Brooks landed his first major role in the film, Total
Recall. Brooks’ next major role was as “Charlie” in the
international TV series phenomenon, Shadow Hunters.
Next, he played Dr. Nate Hastings on the soap opera, The Young and the Restless.
We have heard more
than a few times that actors can face a few challenges when making the
transition from working in film, theater and/or primetime to working on a soap
opera due to the significant amount of dialogue and the rapid pace of
production in daytime. This was not the case for Brooks. “It wasn’t a difficult
transition for me when I started working on The Young and the Restless. I was
born with a gift to retain lines and my theatrical training helped too. In
theater, you have an abundance of lines and there are no retakes. So, in some
aspects, I found it easier.”
Brooks played Nate Hastings for a year. His last air date was in
March of this year. His career hasn’t missed a beat. He shared with us the
awesome projects he has coming up including a television movie premiering next
month. It is that time of year again when all of the networks are gearing up
for their annual holiday programming. Hallmark, who is known for producing some
of the holiday’s premier programming, is back at it this year. Hallmark is
celebrating its 10th Anniversary of ‘Countdown to Christmas’ on The Hallmark
Channel. And the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel is featuring the
‘Miracles of Christmas.’ Across both networks, Hallmark’s celebration includes
forty new titles including A Christmas Miracle.
A Christmas Miracle stars Brooks alongside Tamera Mowry-Housley (The Real). The movie tells the story of ‘Markus’
(Brooks), a creatively stifled hotshot working at a trendy magazine company as
a photographer who is looking to move on to something new. The company has hired
a new girl ‘Emma’ (Tamera) to help bring in new and fresh ideas for the
magazine. As the office “grinch,” ‘Markus’ is hesitant to be a team player and
accept the new higher until he sees her ideas being claimed by someone else at
the company. Coming together and growing closer as they continue to work
together, ‘Markus’ with the help of ‘Emma’ discovers the true meaning and
importance of the holidays.
I, like millions of people, watched Tamera and her twin sister,
Tia, on their popular show Sister, Sister in
the ’90s and have supported and followed both of their careers ever since. We
asked Brooks about working with Tamera and about his experience with the movie
overall. “The experience was amazing. I watched Sister,
Sister like everyone else so I was excited to have the chance
to work with Tamera. You know, I wanted to sing the theme song from the show so
bad but I held back.” Laughter. “We clicked
right away. We had a very good time filming and you guys will see the
chemistry. Everything you will see; how much we laugh, how fun it is, all of
it, is genuine. We had a blast.”
One of the things
Brooks loves most about the film is that it is a Christmas movie with a bit of
everything else. “It has everything for everyone. It’s a Christmas movie, which
everyone loves, and there’s also drama and tension with lots of love and
laughter. I think viewers will be intrigued by it.”
We were intrigued to learn Brooks is producing a feature with
prequel and sequel potential. He and his team are in the
process of “nailing down a location in Russia” for filming. And Brooks is also
working on his own art series “I’m also a street photographer. I’m currently
shooting a series that will be displayed in a gallery. And soon I will begin
putting a lot of my art on Instagram.” Exciting!
As we said, Brooks is keeping it moving. He is actively
broadening his career while simultaneously building toward the future he
envisions for himself. “In the next five to ten years, I would love to see
myself leading an action film franchise like Hobbs and Shaw and Fast and Furious. Total Recall hooked
me. I fell in love with the action genre of film making. I love the special
effects, the action, and the costumes. I can see myself doing it for the next
30 years. Tom Cruise is the best example of what I’d like to do.”
In Brooks’ crystal ball, he also sees Broadway in his future and
dropped another big name to depict his ambitions. “I’d like to do Broadway and
do what Denzel Washington did when he bought the rights of August Wilson’s
10-play, The Pittsburgh Cycle, to produce for HBO. I’d like to
do something in a similar vein. It’s so important to bring those kinds of
stories to light. It’s important to bring black stories to light and it is just
as important to bring multicultural stories to the forefront. I want to do
international stories beyond the United States.”
An essential key to life is to have clear and specific goals
along with keeping an open mind to life’s continual taste tests of new
opportunities. Brooks had his first taste of being a romantic lead and it tasted good to him. “I didn’t feel this way
before shooting A Christmas Miracle because I
hadn’t had any experience. But now the thought of doing more romantic leads is
very appealing to me. It’s fun and relaxing and although in a very different
way it was just as fulfilling as Total Recall.”
Action films, romantic leads, Broadway and there was one other
thing Brooks spoke about that he wants to see in his future. Sam Cooke. There
is the possibility he could play the renowned singer, civil activist, and
songwriter in a Sam Cooke biopic. Take a second and visualize it. Can’t you
just totally see it? We absolutely can.
We spent our remaining time nudging Brooks to join the
Twittersphere. He joined Instagram last year and joining Twitter is on his
to-do list. It’s just with his busy schedule he, “just hasn’t gotten to it
yet.” We then nudged him a little harder to join Twit so he can live tweet, A Christmas Miracle, with us. So, if you see him
on Instagram and have a moment give him an extra nudge to join Twitter!
LOL.
Thanks a bunch, Brooks
for talking to us.
Mark your calendars and watch A Miracle Christmas on
the Hallmark Movie & Mysteries Channel on Thursday, November 14 at 9 PM
EST!
Keep an eye out for
Brooks’ art series on Instagram!
Brooks, we will see
you soon on Twitter, right?
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