Luke James is a man of many talents. As a native of New Orleans, he was exposed to several artistic outlets at a young age, but shined as a musician above all. After beginning his career singing background for Tyrese, he then went on to write for entertainers such as Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, and Snoh Alegra, among others. Since then, he has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and successfully transitioned into the film industry, showing his range and versatility as a true creative.
The “I Want You” singer got his big break as an actor with his role as Johnny Gill in 2016’s The New Edition Story. This was followed by stellar performances in Star, Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G., Genius: Aretha, and the critically acclaimed The Chi, created by Lena Waithe. Now, the 39-year-old talent will appear alongside Deborah Ayorinde and Pam Grier in the second season of the horror anthology series Them, which was truly a special opportunity for James.
“I’m so grateful to be a part of it, really something for us, by us, and it’s an anthology,” he says of Them: The Scare. “It was already going to have its second season, so when I watched the first season, I was just glad to be a part of the new season—it’s high level work. Very different from the first season, but just as exciting and very much thrilling, for sure.”
From starring in critically acclaimed films and hit television series, to releasing #1 albums and touring the country with some of the biggest superstars in music, James has become one of the most watched multi-hyphenate talents in the entertainment industry today.
ESSENCE: You’re such a well-known singer. What prompted your initial entry into acting and when was it that you caught the acting bug?
Luke James: As a kid, I always admired people who had been on TV, and in some ways I aspired to be, especially if they brought joy to people’s lives. So, I watched Fresh Prince, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, Smart Guy, and Mo’ Better Blues. My mom loved Denzel, so I knew watching all types of Spike Lee films as a kid, but it always had been something I wanted to get into. It just so happened that music just took more precedence in my life and it’s through music that has allowed me the opportunities that I’ve been blessed with and are being blessed with. So it was just in a sense, a natural progression. It’s just another art form. I think if I had the opportunity to go to the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), I would’ve gone for theater and music.
In working with Lena Waithe on The Chi, and all those amazing actors that’ve been on set, what have you learned as an actor since you’ve been a part of this show?
The power of being a vessel as an actor, it’s really, really taking yourself out the center of it. It’s you and your experiences and your feelings and you’re the one that has to interpret what’s being written, what’s given to you on script. Also, especially if it’s a new character that doesn’t exist, you have to use your imagination to really create who that is and to breathe life into that person. This opportunity to be on The Chi, man, it really was, just as an actor, another opportunity to act and to perfect yourself and to be on this drama.
It was another opportunity to just really perfect my craft and being surrounded by an ensemble of actors, young and seasoned, I’m a sponge bro. I’m really a sponge for anything I take interest in the arts and totality. So, it’s just a blessing to be around such actors like Curtiss Cook who plays Douda, just breaking bread with him and just getting grounded just because I’m not from Chicago and we kind of all hang out together, because some of us are not from Chicago. So, on our off days and being able to break bread with such an actor who’s been in the business longer than I have and been acting most of his life, just to really be able to talk to somebody who’s been doing it and doing it at a high level. That’s been the experience being here on The Chi, bro, just seeing phenomenal people really put in all their effort to tell a beautiful story.
It’s been really cool to just be in that space. And I can’t quantify how much I’ve learned, man. I’m still learning how to tell a story, how to direct. I’m talking from the crew, to the writers, I’m learning so much about writing, how a camera’s supposed to swing. I’ve learned so much, man. The experience has been just really, really, really awesome and pivotal in my life and in my career.
Staying on the topic of acting, you’ll be on the new season of Them, which is an amazing show. I wanted to talk to you about that role because this is a series that’s a little different from roles that you’ve done in the past.
Very different from the roles in the past, but my preparation didn’t change. The preparation is what it is, learn your lines, learn the work. It’s a series, so if there’s a season that came before, watch that, so you understand the level of how everything is being moved, how things are being shot, the drama behind it, because each show is different and you can tell. Not all shows are the same, the way that the words are spoken, things that are being said, but when I watched the first season, that really put me on to the level that I need to succumb to in a sense. It was just a matter of just getting back into the basics of what I normally do to discover a character, especially if it’s something that’s on page and you’re trying to just understand what the creator has in mind for this character and also what you feel from this character and what you read. It’s just that simple preparation and telling the truth.
It was absolutely fun, bro. I ain’t going to lie to you. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever done so far, and it was just so much fun. It’s a horror anthology. The cool thing about horror, that genre, it’s super creative, because you’re really just trying as much as you can and just seeing what lands, what moves you in so many ways. And I feel like the space that was created on a set, man, was different from any other space that I’ve been on. Not that no other spaces aren’t warm and inviting, but because it’s such a high octane series, if I can say that, there’s a lot at stake. The space that Little Marvin created was really cool for me to have fun and really just dive in and do something I’ve never done before.
I want to jump back to what we started this conversation with. Your introduction to the general public was Luke the musician. So, I know there’s so much money in acting, and the music business is really fickle right now, too.
Music is trash. You can say that.
I’m glad you said that.
The film business can be weird, but the checks are always on time. The work is the work and you get paid for that work. In music somehow there’s some shiestiness that always finds its way to weasel in. But in film, everything’s in black and white. There’s a lot on the line, there’s insurance, there’s so much other stuff, and that thing is not fickle. The date is the date. It’s not changing, and if it changes, there’s a lot of money involved. But in music, anything can happen, man. Anything can happen. That’s why music is in the state that it’s in. You’re better off on your own, by yourself, and you can get a lot more done.
The whole stigma behind the music industry now, has that kind of dimmed your passion for it a bit at all?
Not at all. At one time I didn’t feel the love, and that’s not so much a need for some outward love from the powers that be. And not simply just that, but also inward love, and I didn’t feel at a moment of not feeling that passion that I had as a kid when I heard music to create music. It was myself jumping into a film and doing something I’d never done at that level, like New Edition.
That was the thing that moved me and opened me up and allowed me to find my love for music via that project, and that was a musical project. No, I could never be out of love with music. It’s just what my responsibilities, I guess my perspective has changed, because I guess with filming, I love it, I love it, I love it, but it also gives me a space that financially that I can make music how I want to make music and from a space of love and truth and from my soul, rather than being signed to a label and everybody has their wants and needs for you.
And I don’t think music is supposed to be like that. I think music is a spiritual journey for each individual and I think you have to give music its time, and I think in the business, they rush a lot of things. Artists aren’t quite ready to reveal themselves, but they get pushed out here, because they got a single and they give you a lackluster performance when you see them live. It just doesn’t move you the same as the record does, but that’s just because it’s just the record.
There’s no artist development, there’s no time. The artist hasn’t even found who they really are and I think that’s a big problem in music today, but man, I’m grateful, man. I’m grateful for everything. I think real music has allowed me to understand how to break down humanity in a person in something that I read. It’s just made me a more soulful person. And I think if it wasn’t for music, I wouldn’t be right here, just the opportunities itself, but also just how I understand life I learned through music. So, I could never not do music. Music and acting help each other for me, personally, especially at this point in my life.
You’re singing, acting, all types of other endeavors, what is it that fuels your creativity?
At one time, I say at one time. I think a piece of it is moving the souls of man, the possibility that I could move somebody into a space of reflection. Whether that’s loveful—I think for me, for everything, the nucleus is love. Everything I create via music is love. That’s my north star. I think for me, every time I create something, it’s always trying to understand love more, get to love, let go of love, or just let love, love. That right there moves me a lot just to fill the room with the spirit and just get people in such a frenzy and a loveful frenzy, that excites me. And I guess the other thing is just the opportunity to just shine. I’m an only child, I guess for me it was always every opportunity just to feel worthy. I don’t know, that’s a deeper idea, but I think a lot of entertainers, and one of the reasons we do what we do is for just an opportunity to feel purposeful.