Jovan Adepo Is Here to Stay

"Success means different things for different people in our business," reflects the actor Jovan Adepo. "There's hundreds of thousands of actors out here, producers, writers, filmmakers, and everybody has their own idea of what success is." This theme is captured in his latest film Babylon, Damien Chazelle's twenties-era epic about a cast of Hollywood characters pursuing their dreams and grappling with their realities during the pivotal transition from the silent era to sound. With its starry cast including Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie and its early awards buzz, Babylon might be the grandest showcase for Adepo yet, and with a career already built on challenging roles and acclaimed collaborators, he's steadily stretching the bounds of his own success.

Born in England and raised in Maryland, Adepo's path couldn't have been predicted by anyone—himself included. His Tennessee-native father was in the military ("Being in the military, his idea of a career is a bit more…foundationally sound,” the actor explains) and his British-Nigerian mother was more inclined to the arts, but her father was an advisor to the Nigerian president who also insisted on raising his descendents in fields like medicine or law. But Adepo was keen on carving a more unique path. While playing football at Bowie State University in Maryland, he once dreamed of going pro, but he's quick to poke fun at what he now realizes was wishful thinking. "I had a humbling moment where I realized I wasn't going to be playing football," he laughs. "I think my coaches and my teammates felt like I should have come to that conclusion earlier."

As a political science major, Adepo briefly considered politics as an option, but instead gravitated to something he had a natural skill for: writing. His interest in creative writing came largely from his love for movies, something he credits his father for exposing him to when he was still young. "My dad was—still is—a big cinephile, so he's seen everything," Adepo explains. "We would always spend our time together as a father and son watching movies." Of all of those, Adepo recalls the influence of the Ridley Scott's Gladiator on his interest in writing scripts and acting, with particular reference to Joaquin Phoenix's Oscar-nominated turn as the cruel prince Commodus. "I might have been in like seventh or eighth grade and I didn't understand why I enjoyed watching the villain more than the hero," he recalls.

After college, Adepo moved to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting. While living with an aunt and uncle, he came up with a plan to support his writing: "The idea was to try to do commercial acting. You might luck out and get a national campaign or something, and then you could afford to stay home and write." That quickly brought him to commercial workshops, in which casting directors would encourage him to try scene work and round out his acting skills. That was all he needed to shift his focus away from writing and commit to acting.

The effort he put into honing his acting skills proved fruitful. He burst out on the scene with high-profile parts, first a recurring role in the second season of Damon Lidelof's acclaimed series The Leftovers, after which he was promoted to a series regular. His big breakout was in Denzel Washington's 2016 Fences, in which he starred opposite Washington and Viola Davis. That experience so early in his career prepared him for sharing bigger stages with A-list talents. "Once that tape ripped open by Denzel Washington, one of the biggest movie stars in history, you just learn that they're normal people like you," he explains. "They get nervous about performance, they worry about the same things in life that we do."

Adepo continued with a string of successes: He was cast as the lead in the World War II action-horror movie Overlord, performed as Lionel Jefferson in the Emmy-winning special Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons, and appeared in Ava DuVernay's critically acclaimed Netflix mini-series When They See Us. He teamed up with Lindelhof once more in the HBO miniseries Watchmen, which earned him an Emmy nomination himself for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

Babylon brings something new to his CV, if for no other reason than the sheer size and scope of the film. Within the first half hour, viewers take a dizzying ride through a lavish and debaucherous scene where they're introduced to Diego Calvo's wide-eyed assistant Manny Torres, Pitt's silent-era leading man Jack Conrad, Robbie's resolute aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy, and Adepo's perfectionist jazz trumpeter Sydney Palmer. Across their intertwined journeys, the characters all experience their own arcs in navigating the reverie and the struggle of Hollywood at the start of the sound era.

While Sydney was influenced by several musicians of that era, Adepo worked closely with Chazelle to hone in on what those musicians experienced to succeed in that world. "I remember our first conversation when we were talking about who Sydney is and what he comes from," he says. "He is one of the first artists of color who are able to kind of change their circumstances and find himself in the forefront and in the center of Hollywood." His scenes find him balancing the intensity of performing at a high level with the reserved determination required in a place where everyone is trying to change their fate. "That's what my main goal was," Adepo adds. "Whether it was just a short conversation with a bandmate or if it was a moment between me and one of the main cast, I always wanted to try to express a coolness and an effortlessness. But also there's passion in there somewhere." While the characters all aim to be a part of something bigger than themselves, Adepo sees Sydney's story as unique within the movie, with a special earnestness. "I think for him, the thing bigger than himself, it's really just finding that perfect note, that perfect transition in the perfect song," the actor says. "I think that's what he really is after."

Adepo is more upfront about his own goals: "I've said it before, I don't think it's a big secret as far as how I pursue my jobs. I want to be remembered whenever my time in film is done. I would like to be an actor that these people enjoyed watching and believed every character that I played." Based on his career already, he's figured out that part of success comes from seeking out the right challenges—and it's that approach that makes his next moves worth watching. "I think I've found myself in situations before where if the role wasn't challenging enough, I got bored," he admits. "That's no space for any artist to create if you're doing it out of boredom, because then you're just not giving your best work. So I've learned to be really selective and take my time."

Babylon is out now.

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