Terence J Leaving BET’s 106/Park To Be An Actor

During a recent interview with Complex Magazine, Terence J from BET’s 106 & Park talks about leaving the show, perusing his acting career and the role models that inspired his transition…

When speaking to Complex about his hiatus from 106 & Park:

“I’ll be away from 106 & Park for a month. But the great thing about 106 is that it’s a friendly show for all talents. I know with Rocsi, if I’m out for a month, she can jump in. But already they’ve had guys like Lloyd and DJ Khaled come co-host.

“I know they’ve got Dwight Howard and Lamar Odom scheduled. They’ve got athletes and artists coming in. So we’ve got all types of celebrities that are coming in to host the show during my hiatus. And of course, the lovely Rocsi. So the show will not miss me, they will roll on.

“I think everything in life is a stepping stone, but 106 has been great because I’ve been able to network and do something I love. Right now, I’m like the only young African-American on TV every day. That voice is very important to me. So when we have a presidential election, or when a situation happens in Haiti, or when Michael Jackson passes, I’m blessed to be in that position to be able to get that news to the youth.

“I’m under 30—I’m not saying being over 30 is old—but you’d be hard-pressed to find another African-American male on television every day. I think there’s some CNN guys, but they’re not under 30. 106 doesn’t muzzle me if there’s something that I want to get off my chest.

“That’s what I love about Stephen Hill and Deborah Lee, they don’t censor me. If there’s something I feel passionate about, I’m able to express my feelings and my voice. BET lets me talk about it. They don’t write the script for me. They let me say what I need to say and I appreciate them for it.

“[The future for me is] more movies and more television stuff. I want to get into producing and directing hopefully. It’s not going to stop. We’re working hard, I’m blessed, and I’m really enthusiastic about life.”

When speaking to Complex about his acting career Terence said:

“When I was in college, my favorite actors were Jamie Foxx, Will Smith, and Martin Lawrence. I noticed that the common thread was that all of them kind of had a training camp before they went into feature length films.

“Martin had his own show. Jamie Foxx had In Living Color and he had his show. And Will Smith had The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. So you always need that five-year maturity window to learn as much as you can about your craft.

“When I came out of college, it was at a time when reality shows had really just taken off. So no sitcoms were really getting green-lit. There was really no work in Hollywood where you could train as an actor like that. Jobs were scarce.

“So 106 has been this amazing opportunity that’s come into my life. Stephen Hill and everybody at 106 have been amazing. It’s given me some training camp to act and they’ve been so flexible that they’ve allowed me to go off and do movies. Hopefully, in my life post-106 I’ll be able to transition into film. That’s kind of always been the plan.

This is just a portion of the interview. To read the complete interview between Terence J and Complex Magazine click here: