Marc John Jefferies whisked into Hollywood during the early 1990’s with a memorable and intensified flare. Jefferies, who was only four years old and still attending preschool, scored a major movie role next to Halle Berry and Jessica Lang, in the timeless classic, “Losing Isaiah.”
Jefferies portrayed other characters throughout his career in chief films such as “Stuart Little,” “Haunted Mansion,” “Big Mam’s House 2,” “Notorious,” “Spider-Man 2,” “Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle,” “Get Rich or Die Trying,” “LUV,” and “Brother’s Keeper,” to name a few.
He also made appearances on hot television shows like "Dexter," "ER," "Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit," and more currently, the Starz hit TV series, “POWER.”
Not waning from motion pictures anytime soon, Jefferies is also on the big screen as the sanctioned friend that’s weighing in on all of the non-stop dares in "Nerve", starring Dave Franco and Emma Roberts.
Word is circulating that Jefferies is co-starring in "Chocolate City 2" with Vivica A. Fox, Common and Queen Latifah, as well as the “Lucky Guy” with Angela Simmons, and a pilot on Netflix called, “The Roads.”
He’s adding another talent to his portfolio-- Jefferies plans to Executive Produce his own film called "Cop Nation.” The flick addresses the gaps between policing and the black communities.
Taking it a step further with his merits, Jefferies established the MJJ Acting Academy in addition to the Millionaire Complex Tour, a summit that provides key economic principals to entrepreneurs and business owners that desire not only to become successful, but to maintain their business practices through logical ideas, alliance and training.
To make the engagement all the more enjoyable, Jefferies invited Omari Hardwick, DJ Webstar, Naturi Naughton, Tyson Beckford, and Rotimi, Lil Mama and Romeo Miller, to come and share their philosophies with attendees.
Jefferies is also giving away an unnumbered amount of money in small business grants to the entrepreneurs and startup businesses that join the conference.
The 12 city tour [Millionaire Complex Tour] began in Washington, DC on August 12, 2016 and will end in Los Angles, California on September 17, 2016.
Amazingly enough, Jefferies recently stopped by INterrupted, to chat about the tour among other things:
Let’s talk about the Millionaires Complex Tour. Who created the excursion?
My partner, Derrick Davis, and I—we created it.
How did you both come up with strategies to make the economic summit a success?
Well, really, it’s a demand for it. It’s just a need for it. We saw something that people are missing in certain communities, so we decided to construct a whole tour and take that mindset. “The Millionaire Complex” is more of a mindset if anything. So, we decided to structure a tour and take that mindset and enlighten people to the possibilities in their own communities. Based off that, the publicity kind of picked up and started spiraling because it’s something current and it’s something needed right now—when you have that, you kind of have the masterpiece for success.
What should participants look to achieve while at the discussion?
They should look to gain knowledge, and to leave with certain things that they, themselves, can put into certain aspects of the business, to practice and change their own situations.
There are a lot of opportunities out there that people aren’t aware of, and there are people that are aware of certain industries, but because they don’t have all the information, they can’t put that to use and make something of it.
So, the Millionaire Complex Tour is going into different people’s hometown and changing that mindset so that they can see things a different way.
Let’s talk about the business grants… how can attendees qualify so that they can receive a grant?
We want to see the business plan. A lot of people want to be entrepreneurs but they don’t have any direction. They don’t have a good business strategy. They just know that laundromats sell, so they want to open a laundromat. But there’s a lot of things that go into that. So, we want to see their business plans and we want to see how much they’ve done on their own—based on that, we want to give them a two-thousand-dollar grant, to help them take the next step.
This is for people that are trying to start a business and for the ones that already have a business established themselves, that need a little bit of help to grow their business.
What’s the difference between the Millionaire Conference and the Millionaire Tour?
Well, the conference is the finale of the tour. It’s going to be in New York City. It’s for anybody that wants to fly in for the tour. It’s the big sum-up. The tours will start the mindset, to get them thinking, to give them knowledge. The conference is in November, so hopefully by then, when we stopped in their city, they’ve been able to put some of that to use. Now, the conference is kind of like the big finale, and that’s where some of my celebrity friends will be and that’s where they[attendees] will get more opinions and viewpoints that worked for different successful people. So, that’s the big, big, thing.
How should people prepare for the tour?
Take notes. You don’t want to sit there 4 hours just listening cause at the end of the day, you’re only going to remember about three sentences that we’ve said. So, come and take notes. Write down the things that stick with you. Write down some of the things that apply to you, and look back on it because it’s a guide for the future.
Can you share some of the key principles that you use on a day-to-day basis that will be applied at the tour?
Yeah, well the main principal that I live by, alright—you can be a dreamer, but dreams are dreams, and they end when you wake up. If you never take the dream and you realize that this is a goal, and then you don’t strategize, to reach that goal, then you’ll always be a dreamer. That means you’ll always live in a false sense of reality. The things that you want to do, you have to figure out how to do them. You need a plan about how to achieve your goal, and when you don’t do that, you’re not going to stay in the same spot.
One of the things I’ve realized is that every day that you don’t reach your goal, that means that every day you wake up, it’s a day to work on it. I don’t see how people can know where they want to be, know what they want to do, and spend months not doing it. Even if you aren’t an actor, but you want to be one, every day that you wake up, you should do something to work on becoming an actor.
You should grow something in some way. If you want to be an entrepreneur, that means your job never ends. Every day that you wake up, you should be learning how to grow your business. What’s the next step? What’s the plan? Oh, I don’t have money? How can I raise money to get my business off the ground? If you want to be a musician, you need to be in the studio. If you can’t afford a studio, you need to write the music. Once you write the music, record it on your iPhone. Do things that progress your steps towards where you want to be, every day.
You’ve been in the film industry well over two-decades. How did you remain determined the whole time?
For me, I just know where I want to be, and my goal is a long-term goal. I want be 75, looking back at hundreds of films and TV shows, and say, “Wow, I’ve really made a career out of this.” I don’t want to be one of those actors that peak in their 20’s and you never hear from them again. And another thing, I want to be one of those people that influence, not to have people follow me, but to influence in a way that people are able to change their lives off of the example that I’ve set. Since, I’m nowhere near 70, that’s what encourages me every day. I set short term goals that are all leading in conjunction to my long term goals.
Do you consider acting a job, passion or both?
It’s both. It’s definitely both. Acting is a job, and you gotta go to set. Everything that you love, there is certain times that you don’t want to do it, and I don’t care what it is. I love chicken and I love seafood, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood for it. Even family—I love my family to death, but sometimes I gotta leave. I gotta walk and get away.
Definitely, in those moments, I think it becomes a job because it’s something that you have to do. You have contracts. There’s no, “I’m not going to set today. I’m not getting on script with this, or I’m not going on an audition.”
It’s a job and an obligation, but it is a passion as well, and it is something that I love. It’s something I enjoy very much. People do what they love for a living, but it doesn’t change that its making them money. Anytime that you work to make money, it’s a job. Its definitely a passion.
Is it highly competitive to be an actor?
Very, very, very—there’s new people that get into the industry every day. The characters that are written, that keeps them acting. It’s definitely competitive. It’s just another obstacle to overcome. For me, it’s going into a room and being better than I was before, and showing them the reason why I’m the one that they need to hire.
It is a competition, but there was a picture I saw on Instagram, one of the swimmers was looking at Michael Phelps as he was passing him, and Michael Phelps was focused on the lane in front of him—that’s how the industry is, you gotta focus on you cause there is a lane for everybody, and when you cut somebody off and try to swerve in their lane, you’re getting the worst of the accident.
I realize there is a competition, but at the end of the day, the biggest competition is with myself cause I'm the only one that can stop me from succeeding. So, I stay in my lane and keep my blindfolds on, and you know, I keep going. I chug-on.
What advice would you give young adults?
Um, one of the main things that I would say for young adults, is realize what you’re doing with your time. Time is something you cannot regain, so don’t waste your time. You waste money, you make more money. If you lose love, you find love again. If you waste time, there is no going back. So, realize what you’re doing with your time.
For me, I know what I want to be, and the majority of the time that I spend each day are the necessities, going towards what I want to be. Evaluate what you’re doing with your time. Evaluate what is acceptable to you. Now, we have the internet and we have Instagram. We have resources now, that people, ten-years ago, couldn’t imagine being around. It’s so easy to get certain things done. So, realize what you want to be, realize how much time you’re spending on it, and increase that time until it becomes a career.
You’ve worked on over 45 projects, this doesn’t include the work that you have coming out this year—how does that make you feel to make your own history?
It’s not history yet, because I’m still here, and as long as that’s the case, I’m continuing to have the stats. I’m one of those people that knows, “What I’ve done is nothing compared to what I’m going to do.” I really have that mindset. I don’t really dwell on the things I’ve done. If you constantly live in the past, you don’t have a future. Presently, I’m working on growing my future projects, and working on myself, to becoming something bigger.
Some people don’t like that about me. But, I’m very realistic. Like, with POWER, my acting students, friends, family and acting colleagues were like, “Yo, you were on Power” … I pulled up the IMBD and said, “Yeah, but this dude just booked for “Star Wars.” "POWER" is a great step, but it’s not "Star Wars."
That means, I have a whole lot to do. That’s just the type of person I am… there was a big, big, celebration. I was happy as hell that I booked "POWER" just cause it’s a dope show and I was trying to get on it for a while, but I’m one of those people that once I obtain something, I want the next thing, now. I’m that type of Dude.
What words of encouragement would you like to leave with other actors and entrepreneurs?
Ah, words of encouragement—Just do it. that’s the main thing. Do it. A lot of people waste time thinking about the outcome and what can possibly go wrong instead of doing it. Once you know how, just do it. There should be nothing else holding you back. That’s the biggest thing, people are walking around and they do have the ambition, and they do have the knowledge, and they do know what to do—they just don’t do it.
That’s so idiotic to me... If you’re an actor or entrepreneur and you know how to take the steps or strides in what you want to be, and the field that you want to be in, just do it. At the end of the day, life is a race, and the one thing about being in a race is that you have to be at the starting block. Once that gunshot rings, you can bet on the fact, that’s not gonna run the race for you no matter how hard you try. You gotta take action. If you know what you want to be, and you let your past cut in front of you, you gotta run that race cause no one else is going to do it for you.
Is there anything else that you want to leave, that you think we’ve left out?
Yeah, I just want to say: Everybody, make sure you go to www.millionairescomplex.com and also make sure you got to http://www.mjjactingacademy.com/, if you need some classes. Follow me on Instagram at (@) MarkJohnJ. Thank for reading slash listening.