Omar Miller

His most recent film is about four soldiers from the army's Negro 92nd Division, who find themselves separated from their unit and behind enemy lines. Risking their lives for a country in which they are treated with less respect than the enemy they are fighting, they discover humanity in the small Tuscan village of St. Anna di Stazzema.

Apollonia: Omar, what's been going on in your career lately?

Omar: I've just been blessed. Every since I graduated from San Jose State, I've been out in the world and it's just been going down. I have three films coming out this year. One is called "The Express," which is a movie about the first Black man to win the Heisman Trophy, back in 1961. The movie stars myself, Omar Miller, Rob Brown, Dennis Quad and Charles "Rock" Dutton. It's a great movie and an inspirational story because nobody really knows about how this guy broke down a lot of color barriers in his life.

I also have a movie coming out that I produced with my family titled "Gordon Glass." It's a small film about believing in your dreams and how we should never give up on anything we want to achieve or accomplish in life.

Then I got the real head banger coming out called, "The Miracle at St. Anna." This is just a wonderful film that is produced by Spike Lee, starring some of the most talented young Black actors: myself, Michael Ealy, Derek Luke, Laz Alonzo and Terri Washington. It's a story about four African-American soldiers, the Buffalo Soldiers, who are caught behind enemy lines. We are caught behind the Nazi line and we are roaming through the mountains of Italy and we must decide whether or not to go back home to our country and be treated like less men there or to stay where we are and receive the love. There is a lot of parallel between society at that time and where we are as a people now; it's going to be a great film.

Apollonia: I know you co-starred in the movie "Get Rich or Die Trying" with rapper 50 Cent and actor Terrence Howard. What was that experience like for you?

Omar: It was great. Terrence taught me a lot about performance and taking risk. 50 Cent is just a great dude; he's like your homeboy that just won the lottery. He's a lot smarter than what everybody gives him credit for, which helps him all the time. It was just a fun time. We really had a good time.

Apollonia: Who are some of your influences or people in your life that you look up to or inspire you to keep moving forward in your career?

Omar: I'm the youngest of seven kids, so I grew up idolizing my brothers. It's six boys and one girl, so I looked up to them and watched them raise their families, which is something that I hope to do someday.
As far as professionally, I look at people like Will Smith and past greats like James

Earl Jones and how he was able to overcome a stuttering complex to being one of most famous voices of our generation. I really admire the people who do the right thing and try to take from that and learn from it within my life.

Apollonia: Along with being an actor, you are also a director and a writer. Can you tell us some of the movies you have written and/or directed?

Omar: I've written a few films, but I've only got to produce one of them, which is that movie I was talking about before: "Gordon Glass." It's a film that I hustled up the movie to produce. I produced it with my brothers and we shot it with all my nieces and nephews and my brothers and my mom.

My mom was in the movie and she was doing the cooking for the movie; it was a definite family affair. I also directed the film. It was just shown at the Pan African Film Festival and at the American Black Film Festival. We are in the process of getting the movie distributed, so people who are interested in checking it out could go to the website, www.gordonglassthemovie.com, and get updates for when you could look for that movie coming near you soon.

Apollonia: Now, you went to school in the Bay Area; you graduated from San Jose State University. Do you ever go back and visit or give back to the school?

Omar: All the time - that's where I got my start. This teacher named Buddy Butler kind of discovered me. I go all the time to speak with the students and show my face. I plan on doing some productions with the school. I got nothing but love for the Bay Area; I did a lot of growing up there.

Apollonia: Is there anything you would say to encourage other young Black actors who are trying to pursue a career as an actor?

Omar: I would tell them to be relentless - you have to be relentless and never accept no for an answer. A lot of people are going to tell you no, but you have to be truthful to yourself and pursue your passion. As long as you love what you're doing, keep doing it, even if it doesn't pay off now; it will in the future as long as you continue to push forward.

It doesn't matter if you have to do it after work, after school, when you put ya baby to sleep, whenever. Just continue reaching for your goals. Now, there are so many different ways you can put projects together independently that you can't let anything stop you from doing what you want to do.

Apollonia: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know before we wrap this conversation up?

Omar: I actually would like to add that I just started up a new magazine for women called "Pink Scoop." It has a lot of celebrity interviews and a lot of information and latest fashion that women can relate to. Go to the website www.pinkscoop.com and check it out. Late ...

Email Bay View staff writer Apollonia Jordan at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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