Jharrel Jerome’s Young Hollywood 2019 Interview on Portraying One of the Central Park Five and the Everlasting Impact of Moonlight

When he was growing up, Jharrel Jerome’s family knew he was a drama queen. So when he was headed to high school and looking to broaden his horizons, his parents suggested he try acting. The now 21-year-old actor went to LaGuardia High School, taking the train every day from the Bronx to the famed New York City institution, where he learned the ins and outs of performing. During his junior year, Jharrel went to his first audition and completed a form that asked who he was represented by: He put down his own name.

Just a few years later, Jharrel played the charismatic teen Kevin in Moonlight, the groundbreaking, Oscar-winning film that catapulted him to fame. Soon viewers can watch him help bring the devastating story of the Central Park Five to the screen in an upcoming limited series from Netflix, directed by the legendary Ava DuVernay. As part of Teen Vogue’s Young Hollywood Class of 2019, Jharrel opened up about embracing the art form, working with Ava, and more.

Teen Vogue: What’s your biggest challenge in terms of proving yourself in the industry?

JJ: Well, I'm a Dominican from the Bronx — that's one. Growing up, this field I'm in was not even in the scope. I didn't think of acting. I didn't think of wanting to be in movies or on TV. I knew that it looked incredible, and it was something that in the back of my mind I was like, Damn, imagine that. Being from the Bronx, everything's a hustle. You either gotta stay in school to get away from the streets, or stay in the streets to get away from anything else. You know? I feel like, just that mindset growing up, it all came to me out of nowhere — the idea that I can break out of that. The second I graduated high school is the second that things started to roll. It proved to me that, no matter where I'm from, I can do this.

TV: Moonlight has become one of the most important films in cinematic history. What did you learn from the movie and the reception of it?

JJ: It sounds cliché, but you really can't judge a book by its cover. You don't know who's who on the inside just from what you see on the outside. I played Kevin, who, on the surface, is the coolest guy you know — the swag, the smile. But on the inside, he has so much hidden that he only lets Chiron see for a brief second on the beach. He has a lot of inner feelings he hasn't even addressed personally. I feel like Kevin, Chiron, the characters of Moonlight, they were stuck in a community and forced to be a certain way when all they wanted to be was the complete opposite. Moonlight isn't a story for one set of people. It's not just for black people. It's not just for gay people. It's for everybody who's truly lost to themselves. Moonlight taught me what coming of age really meant.

TV: What do you hope young people can take away from the projects you’ve worked on, including Moonlight and the upcoming series about the Central Park Five?

JJ: That there are so many stories to be heard out there. I just finished the Central Park Five project. That is a story about five men from Harlem who are falsely incarcerated for a crime they didn't commit. Things like that happen every day, incarceration in America.

I feel like every project I've done, I've learned something myself. Doing the one about the Central Park jogger case, it completely opened my eyes to what it means to be incarcerated and what it means to feel almost like a slave in this modern world. I hope that once anyone else sees the project, you get that same learning and that same understanding that will spark another mind to create another project.

TV: What responsibility did you feel taking on a story like the Central Park Five?

JJ: It’s a true story, so no matter what, that in itself becomes the biggest responsibility, because you want to do right by these men. Before I even got on set, I knew that it was my job to embody this human and do it the right way. It's my responsibility as an actor to make sure that I show the world who Korey [Wise] is without meeting him. It was a lot of days of me not being able to sleep because I'm thinking about the next day, the next scene, the plight that they went through. These guys were falsely jailed for years. They were put in prison at 14, 15, 16. They were so young. It's never easy to dive into that kind of character, to sit inside of a jail cell for eight hours on set, because it starts to feel like a real jail cell. Then you really start to feel like, how can this man have gone through this [while] innocent? Having all that in the back of my head during this project definitely fueled me and pushed me to get there with Ava and the rest of the cast and crew. It was the hardest thing I've probably ever done as an actor and as a person.

TV: What did you learn working with Ava DuVernay?

JJ: It was a master class every single day. I didn't even feel like I was acting. I was just learning while I was doing the experience. Ava taught me so many things, from how to stay grounded in such a tough project, being a professional, and making the right moves in my career. The way she would just grab my shoulders and keep me in place and talk to me while she was giving me a note, knowing I was shaken up, knowing I was weak and a little nervous to dive in. She would always know how to get me there the right way. Ava was one to give me a lot of good advice on that and guide me in a way of how to become a better actor. Not just onscreen, but also offscreen. Working with her was a dream come true and a blessing in every way.

TV: What depictions of young black men do you want to see more of in Hollywood?

JJ: All kinds of roles. When you are wondering about a white actor, you don't really question what kind of roles you want to see because you see them in every role. I would also love to see young black actors, young black women, young black boys, be anything. Superheroes, cops, good guys, bad guys, the lead, the protagonist; we can be in sci-fi. I think the films that I'm doing and films that a lot of my peers, like Ashton Sanders, are doing — I think films like that are proving that we can be anybody. We can be in this, we can be that, because we're also actors. I want to feel as though a black actor can just be an actor and not a black actor.

TV: What’s a dream role of yours?

JJ: To play Miles Morales, live version.

Fashion stylist: Solange Franklin

Hairstylist: Dennis Gots

Makeup artist: Sarah Uslan

Manicurist: Holly Falcone

Set designer: Bryn Bowen

Location: Smashbox Studios L.A.

BTS content: Hannah Choi

Photo assistants: Maria Troncoso Gibbs, Cailan O'Connell, Jason Renaud

Fashion assistants: Christine Nicholson, Corey Cano

Set design assistants: Thomas Anderson, Molly Painter

The future of Hollywood is in good hands. Teen Vogue chose seven emerging actors who are paving the way to a better tomorrow. They're shattering stereotypes, bringing a new authenticity to their roles, and challenging age-old expectations. Say goodbye to the industry's tired ways and hello to our Young Hollywood Class of 2019, a group we'll be celebrating with at a party in partnership with Snapchat. Check out the rest of the group here.

Related: Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome on How the Movie Changed Them for Good

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