Sarunas J. Jackson gained some notoriety for his performance in the HBO comedy-drama Insecure. Jackson stars in the new series Games People Play after beginning the year with the Fosters spinoff Good Trouble. His baller days are brought back to him by his new role. The spotlight is on this up-and-coming actor you need to keep an eye on in our Sarunas J. Jackson page.
Afro-Panamanian Sarunas Jackson
Sarunas J. Jackson was born in the Inland Empire of California on March 12, 1990. His father, an African-American, was born and raised in Philadelphia, where he also has origins.
Jackson was inspired to join the Panama National Basketball Team since his mother, Yhinyer T Hubbard-Jackson, is from Panama. Jackson claimed that both his younger brother Darius and himself have strong ties to Panamanian culture. Jackson was attempting to gain dual citizenship in 2017 so he could play in Panama as well.
He is only moderately proficient in Spanish, despite the fact that he fully comprehends it. Jackson claimed that he once knew more Spanish but that he has since lost his proficiency.
Jackson admits that growing up with a mixed ethnicity wasn’t easy, despite the fact that he completely appreciates his Afro-Panamanian roots. “The black community accepted me more. I was not among the other Latino students since the Mexican students weren’t as receptive of me and I wasn’t necessarily someone they could identify with. Because “Afro-Latino” wasn’t really a [known] concept to them, my black friends identified with me more than other youngsters did. Some people are still learning about Afro-Latinidad, according to Jackson.
Sarunas Jackson And His Love For Basketball
He is a towering 6’8″, which certainly helped him when he was a young basketball player. Before he got the acting bug, he had always seen himself as a basketball player.
Jackson stated, “When I was a kid, I always enjoyed the three major sports: basketball, football, and baseball. As I got older, it was basketball and football. I started playing basketball every day when I was three or four years old. Because you had to share the basketball with the kids on a rotating basis, I would occasionally get into trouble and end up attempting to steal it from them in order to play as much as I could.
California’s Roosevelt High School is where Sarunas received her diploma. Jackson attended Post University in Connecticut after a brief spell at a junior college, where he studied sports management and participated on the team.
Alongside future NBA All-Star Paul George, he also had experience in the Amateur Athletic Union. Although he failed to be selected in the 2013 NBA Draft, he played professional basketball in Asia. Also playing with him was Malcolm Washington, son of actor Denzel Washington. Even though he frequently saw the magnificent performer at the games, he never mustered the confidence to approach him.
As recently as 2016, Jackson played on the hardwood floor. But his passion for writing and acting overcame that. He is currently one of his generation’s emerging actors and has received numerous accolades.
Some of his personas benefit from his basketball skills. He currently plays a professional basketball player in the brand-new BET series Games People Play. He portrays Lauren London’s character’s husband. Since her partner, Nipsey Hussle, was killed in a shooting on March 31, 2019, this will be London’s first acting role.
He first appeared in commercials
Basketball dominated the young Jackson’s professional aspirations. But because of his mother, he did enjoy performing and watching movies. According to him, his mother took him and his younger brother to the movies every Friday because she wanted to spend time with her kids since she worked most of the week.
Jackson developed a love for movies and aspired to work in the industry. Will Smith from West Philadelphia struck him as inspirational and sympathetic.
His acting instructor was the first to notice his talent and inform him that he had promise in the business. He tried acting while playing basketball because of her encouragement.
When he participated in a commercial at Paramount Studios, he gained his first acting experience in the basketball industry itself. Chris Paul, a new addition to the Clippers, was the focus of the advertisement.
Paul Hunter, a well-known music video director in addition to being familiar to Sarunas’ family, directed the advertisement. Hunter worked alongside his older brother, who attended film school.
Back then, when Sarunas went to see his brother, he met Hunter and told him he wanted to explore acting. Jackson was given many opportunities after Hunter offered him the Chris Paul advertisement.
Jackson immediately began working for a respectable salary and making appearances in a number of basketball advertisements alongside well-known players.
Insecure Had Jackson’s Breakout Performance
Jackson claims that in 2012, when his prospects for a baller career were becoming more restricted, he was leaning toward acting. He performed in short films and TV shows like Transparent, Major Crimes, and Hollywood Darlings in addition to basketball-related ads.
His breakthrough performance, though, was in the HBO popular series Insecure. Alejandro “Dro” Pea is portrayed by Sarunas J. Jackson on the show, which has remarkably delved into racial and social concerns.
Like the actor who plays him, Dro is an Afro-Panamanian. To help Dro seem more relatable, Jackson offered that detail to the show’s creators.
Jackson has excelled himself as Isaac Hall in Freeform’s Good Trouble since the popularity of Insecure made him famous. And he currently appears in Games People Play with London.
Gael Martinez from “Good Trouble” and Tommy Martinez’s wiki are related reading.
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Dominique Perry and Jackson had a daughter
Zen was born in May 2018 to Jackson and Dominique Perry, a co-star on Insecure. Due to the fact that their characters, Dro and Tasha, never actually met on-screen, many people had a difficult time understanding how these two actors could become parents.
Perry’s prior social media activity also suggested that the two weren’t dating since they didn’t confirm their relationship. They do, however, seem to get along well as co-parents now. So how did they go from sharing a workplace to starting a family? Jackson claims that it just occurred.
It’s never a planned event. I never want to cross a line while working on a show or a movie. However, we quickly became and remain close friends. All this time, we have been friends. We’re just extremely good friends, so it was never a problem until this particular weekend when one thing just led to another. And it did,” the Insecure actor stated.
“The way it started was we met at a fitting and she was incredibly cool,” he continued. She’s amusing, too, isn’t she? So I would occasionally ask her to go out and hang out with us. However, no intention was ever there. We were simply hanging out as friends. We knew we were on the same program. After that weekend, something just happened as we began to hang out more.
Jackson allegedly strayed on his ex-girlfriend Kaylen Zahara with Perry, according to rumors. After Zen was born, Zahara poked Jackson in a subtle way, to which he responded on Twitter. Later, Zahara claimed that she and Jackson had resolved their differences and that no infidelity had occurred.
Jackson is relishing parenting despite the rumors of a relationship. He undoubtedly enjoys posting adorable photos of his kid on Instagram.
Are Sarunas Jackson and Ice Cube related?
The rapper and actor Ice Cube, whose true name is O’Shea Jackson, has long been the subject of speculation on the internet. Many people wonder if Sarunas is Ice Cube’s kid or brother because they share the same last name.
Marques and Darius, Sarunas’ two brothers, are not related to Ice Cube. O’Shea Jackson Jr., Shareef, Karima, Deja, and Darrel are the rapper’s five kids, along with an elder brother. He has a half-sister who was shot and lost her life.
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