Carl Rousseau Gilliard is an American actor, director, and producer. Gilliard started his career working as a radio newscaster at WGPR in Detroit. He moved to Los Angeles in 1985, where he appeared in over two dozen plays. He has also appeared in films such as Inception, The Lost Shepherd, and Retiring Tatiana.
Carl Rousseau Gilliard is the President/CEO of the Gilliard Media Group, LLC (GMG), based in Los Angeles, CA. GMG provides media consultation, casting, media content creation, publishing, coaching and entertainment production services. His wife, Latonya Gilliard, serves as Vice President of Operations.
Carl is also the Co-Creator of the Bill Duke Media Foundation’s Youth Media Camp, a non-profit organization with a distinct emphasis on offering new media arts and financial literacy to inner-city youth, ages 15 thru 18, in South Los Angeles, California.
Carl is a graduate of Michigan State University, and a native of Detroit, Michigan, by way of Chicago, Illinois. Upon moving to California, he dove into acting and landed many television and film roles, which facilitated his masterful skills in networking and forming relationships that has catapulted him into becoming extremely well-respected in the industry.
Carl has numerous film credits, including Inception (Warner Bros), Red Eye (DreamWorks), Coach Carter (Paramount), and many television credits, including Shameless, Greys Anatomy, Amazon’s The Last Tycoon & House, MD, just to name a few. Mr. Gilliard is presently recurring on the hit action/drama, The Family Business, now streaming on BET+. and on Peacock’s Bel Air. He has appeared in dozens of independent short and feature films. He is also the Creator, Writer, Executive Producer and Star of the HIT digital series, Two Degrees.
AMPS Los Angeles had the opportunity to reach out to Carl and find out more about his entertainment journey via Q&A. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0318784/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
Q&A
Q: When did you develop a love for acting?
A. As a boy, I LOVED movies and at just five years old I was already drawn to movie ads in the newspaper. While still a young tike in Chicago, my cousin took me see a movie and that was it. I was hooked.
In 1975, as a teen I saw the movie Cooley High (Cooley High (1975) – IMDb) and really identified so much with the Actor Glynn Turman. When I saw him, I saw myself, it was inspirational. While in High School (Patrick Cyccone of Cyclone Sound Inc. in Los Angeles) cajoled me into participating in a school play. It was like I was guided down this path and I embraced it. The acting BUG indeed bit me. While at Michigan State University I was drafted into the theater department (while pursuing Communications). Next, I joined a local theater group in Kalamazoo, where my love for theater and acting grew stronger. Of course, the next step was to move to Los Angeles to pursue acting professionally. History : The Kalamazoo Civic Theatre (kazoocivic.com).
Q. Could you share just one acting challenge? How did you overcome it?
One major challenge was the work inconsistency and of navigating it all while pursuing an acting career.
Mentally and socially, it is a huge challenge. One the one hand you want to pursue your acting career, but you must also eat. To keep eating, you must find a way to earn income until your career takes off. Keeping things in balance is key. For me, teaching school (my second love), has provided income and awesome motivation. Having a support system is also key. I have this with my spouse. She has been a great support. She believes in me, saw potential gifts, and encouraged me to write and helped me produce my “Two degrees Series”.
His Current Projects:
You can look for Mr. Gilliard playing Brother Minister on Carl Weber’s “THE FAMILY BUSINESS” on BET+ Seasons 2, 3 & 4. He teases that the character is a mix of the fictional character Vito Corleone
and Louis Farrakhan. Carl Weber’s The Family Business – Season – TV Series | BET+
Two Degrees has dropped on TheBrickTV! www.TheBrickTV.com
PromoCode: Gilliard007
EPISODE 204
“I Got The Funny”
Story By Carl Gilliard & Tony Winters
Written & Directed by Tony Winters
Starring: Carl Gilliard, Latonya Black Gilliard, Ajai Sanders, Tony Winters, Ninja Devoe, Kente Scott, Edwonda White, Bil Dwyer, Myeisha Lincoln, Tony Bracy, with Dino Shorte’ & Christine Horn