MUSTAFA SPEAKS

PHOTOGRAPHER: DIANA RAGLAND, FASHION STYLING: APUJE KALU, GROOMING: REBEKAH ALADDIN, BARBER: DARRIN LYONS,

Hi Mustafa, how are you doing?

Blessed. Thanks for asking.

How excited are you about your character Nate in the Spectrum Original series, Joe Pickett?

I’m ecstatic about my character Nate Romanowski. One of my dream roles.

Tell us more about your character and his evolution in the show.

Nate is the baddest man on television.  I say that humbly, yet emphatically. He is an ex-special ops soldier, Master Falconer, and superior survivalist. But, what sets him apart is his heart, integrity and intellect. At his core, Nate is a simple man who’s forced to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and he always rises to the occasion.  He’s heavily guarded and mysterious due to past trauma, which is revealed over the course of the show. Nate develops an unconventional relationship with Joe that builds into an invaluable bond which carries throughout the series.

How would you describe the show?

Joe Pickett is an interesting mirror into the beauty and hideousness of humanity wrapped in the beautiful backdrop of nature. Author CJ Box does a great job capturing that in the series of books and our showrunners do a great job translating that on screen.

What drew you to your character?

What drew me to Nate is everything described above, in addition to the journey he experiences throughout the series of books. I’m excited to bring it to life.

Talk to us about the challenges and the highs that you experienced during filming?

One of the biggest challenges I experienced was continuously pushing myself to find the courage to dig deep and find the levels of vulnerability necessary to tell Nate’s story. For him, as you’ll witness when watching, it’s about what is NOT being said. For a man like Nate, his frequency and level of communication is far beyond the norm. My highs were the days I trained/worked with the animals (falcons and horses) and being on location. Shooting in the gorgeous lands of Calgary, Alberta, Canada was a dream.

How did you manage to rise above the challenges?

Just did it. No other option.

How did acting start for you? Was it something that you’ve always wanted from a young age?

I began acting at Hampton University after ending my football career to accept an academic scholarship in Marine and Environmental Science. At the time, I published a scientific research paper on shark behavior and was awarded funds to continue my work. With a little more time on my hands, I decided to try a stage play at the school. I fell in love. From there, I decided to take it seriously, invested in training, developed my craft, and turned it into my career.

Who and what inspires you?

My family and my community inspire me every day. Growing up in Booker T. Washington projects, Jersey City, NJ, family and community were the only way for survival. That holds true today. Knowing where I come from, what I’ve overcome, and who’s by my side is all the fuel I need to keep pursuing the vision.

What’s your dream project?

Since getting in the business, I’ve always dreamed of working on an action/drama project as well as a football-based project. I’m currently working on two shows that check those boxes, so I’m currently living my dream: JOE PICKETT as NATE ROMANOWSKI and ALL AMERICAN as COACH KENNY BOONE. My next step, feature films.

Out of all the roles that you’ve played, is there any role/character that resonated with you the most and why?

Nate Romanowski currently resonates with me the most simply because of who he is at his core and who he develops into. I have and will continue to learn a lot from this character. I’m excited about our journey together.

What’s a valuable lesson that you’ve learned that you always carry with you?

“For as a man thinks, so he is…” - King Solomon. This is a quote I live by. Once I learned what it meant to me, a new world…my world opened up. My mind, my thoughts, my perspective controls my reality. This lesson I carry daily. 

If you were a book, what book would you be and why

The title of my book would be the book I wrote in 2016 entitled, “The Mind Muscle Method: 30-Day Guide To Self-Empowerment”. Creating this book single-handedly saved me in an extremely dark period in my life.