LOS ANGELES — Brandon Perea still couldn't believe it.
His face is on a billboard of the much-awaited Jordan Peele-helmed science fiction film, "Nope," together with Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun.
When his family brought him to the site where he first saw the billboard with his face on it, he cried unabashedly.
"This is my dream come true," he said.
The 27-year-old Fil-Am-Puerto Rican actor, in fact, couldn't believe it when he auditioned on Zoom for filmmaker Peele and the latter offered the part to him via Zoom.
"I cried so much, and Jordan cried as well. That footage is actually somewhere. You know how we're recording on Zoom right now? They recorded that footage somewhere. So, I'd like to see it. I'd like to cry some more," he said.
"It's far bigger than anything that I can dream of, and to be in a Jordan Peele film, I've always been such a fan, but I never could imagine myself in a Jordan Peele film. So being the first Filipino actor cast in one is an incredible feat. That's why I call this the God-given miracle job. This goes further than what I can imagine. So, it's a miracle," he added.
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
A former jam skater (a person who combines skating, dance, gymnastics and roller skating) who was featured with his group, Honor Roll Skate Crew, on "America's Got Talent," Perea daringly left home in Chicago to pursue his acting dreams in Los Angeles at the age of 16.
"My parents let me leave at 16," he said. "That's so funny to say, but they trusted me a lot because I break dance on roller skates professionally. That's something I was doing to make money growing up. Luckily, I was blessed to have those opportunities. I was traveling the US a lot. I was going to roller rinks doing shows."
"So, 14 to 16, I was on the road 40 weeks out of each year. I was never home. I was missing so much school that I had to do online school. The opportunity to move to LA popped up and I've always wanted to act, but I just never knew how to do it."
"Someone told me, 'You've got to move to LA.' I was like, 'Oh, sure. I'm going to move to LA. I'm 15 right now.' When I turned 16, an opportunity popped up where a skater that was on the same company as mine, he said, 'Hey, a room's opening up in my apartment. I need you to take it if you want it now.' I was like, 'Okay, I'll take it.' Then I left to go to California, and I've been here ever since. So very blessed. I'm so grateful that my parents trusted me and it's working out, thank God."
The middle child among the three sons, Perea has an older brother, Mike, and a younger brother, Jordan. "We are all three years apart," he said.
Asked how he got the gig, Perea said, "I sent in a self-tape audition. We do a lot of these things as actors nowadays, especially after the pandemic. A lot of it is just filming at home. I'm at home right now and I filmed it in this little room over there. I was with my friend who's an actor as well, and we conjured up a plan to attack this audition tape and sent it in the verse of the unknown."
"Luckily, I got a call back on a Zoom call with Jordan and I read for him. I got a Zoom call improv session with Jordan, improv session, I say, because he lied. It was not an improv session. He offered me the role on Zoom."
Perea shared that he learned a lot from Peele.
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
"I learned from Jordan that you can be so collaborative, even while being the director who's spearheading the story and who's navigating all of the actors. You can be so collaborative as long as there's trust, and that's something I've been lucky to have in my career as well."
"I did a show before and I remember the director said, 'I trust the actors more with the character than I trust myself with the character.' That meant so much to me that there was this much trust."
"I remember Jordan said the same thing. He's like, 'I trust my actors with the characters more than I trust myself with them.' That is a key ingredient that I've learned throughout my career. Jordan's taught me that."
"Also, yeah, just his spontaneity as well. It all doesn't have to be so one way. He's down to switch things up and he's so good at improvising in that setting. I respect that so much. He's surprised me with just giving me more to do on the day. I would never expect that, especially for how detailed he is. He's such a detailed director and his films are so detailed, but he's also so free. I would never expect that. I'd feel like he'd have a game plan that needs to be done from this point to this point with nothing else getting in the way, but he allows those things to flow so much freer than I'd expect."
Perea, who has appeared in short films like "How Far" and "Oh, Sorry," is also known as Alfonso "French" Sosa in the TV mystery drama series, "The OA." "Nope" is his first feature film.
"I've been lucky enough to work with talented actors in my career so far," he told us. "I've learned so much to lead to this moment. I was able to work with Scott Wilson and work with Arez Ahmed and Brit Marling. I felt like that shaped the nerves away for me, where I was like, 'Okay, I've worked with some high-level performers, and then now it's got me to this spot where I'm working with Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, and Michael Wincott.'"
Asked how it was growing up in a multicultural family, the charming and eloquent Perea replied, "It's great. I feel like I get multiple sides. I wish that my parents taught me Tagalog or Spanish. I speak only English. I'm very Americanized. I want to cry about it. That's one thing I'm so insecure about. I'm like, 'Oh, I wish I spoke more. I only know bad words in both languages. (laughs) 'Why did y'all only teach me bad words?!'"
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
"But yeah, it is so good to just be cultured in that sense, though, just growing up. I just appreciate life so much. They really made me appreciate life, and the way that they raised me makes me appreciate being in Los Angeles and appreciate what I'm doing. So, it's very great."
But of course, he confessed that he ate a lot of Filipino food. "There's adobo right now in my fridge. I keep it strapped. I keep it close," he said.
Perea, however, also admitted that he hasn't been to the Philippines yet but would love to go. "I need to go. Can we start a riot to get me to go in a tour? Someone trap me in the Philippines for a couple months so I can learn Tagalog completely, and then you can send me off on my way."
As for the Philippines, he said he heard that "it is beautiful and stunning. I heard there's just a great way of life there in certain areas. I would just love to check it out. I know my mom wants to go back, and so I'd love to go with her. But the pandemic hit and that halted all the plans. So hopefully things continue to slow down some more so we can all go and have a good time. Hopefully, I can meet some people there. I'd love it and I can eat great food. Now I want to do it. I want to fly out tomorrow."
Talking about the diversity in Hollywood, Perea felt that it’s been long overdue for opportunities for diverse actors in this industry. "I feel like this movie, 'Nope,' will prove that we've been missing out for a long time because when you add culture to it, there's just so many different things that you can learn. There are so many different aspects. Music's different, food's different, movement's different, the humor's different. You get so much more color in life, you know?"
"So, I think it's so key to have that represented in films. Seeing the poster makes me emotional when I see all of us up there and just seeing all the diverse actors. It's a privilege to be up there. I think it's just long overdue, and I hope that there's more opportunities for diverse actors, Filipino actors, in Hollywood. I think it's so important. I think it's key. I think everyone deserves that representation, honestly."
A very active person—a jam skater, rock climber, break dancer, BMX biker, gymnast, skateboarder, snowboarder–Perea said, "I just love anything active, anything with wheels, or anything utilizing my instrument, my body. I love it. But now, now that this acting thing's actually going well, everyone's like, 'Please be careful.' I'm like, 'Guys, I'll be fine. I promise.'"
His next film, "The Faith of Long Beach" with Common, he will be playing a street fighter who turns into a professional boxer.” It is one of my dreams, because I trained in mixed martial arts. I trained in boxing, Muay Thai. I grew up around combat my whole life because my dad would sneak me into rated R movies where there's fighting scenes when I was a kid. I grew up watching all that stuff. I hope we can get this film done to the best of its abilities and that's a gift and homage to my Pops. That'd be an awesome gift for him to watch that type of movie."
—MGP, GMA News
