Meet Alijah Morris of Atlanta, GA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alijah Morris.

Hi Alijah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The main reason I enjoy what I do as a filmmaker, is that I can genuinely bring my imaginations to life. I’ve always loved, dreamlike or majestic fantasies kind of genres.. When I was a little kid, I used to reenact movies and shows with my siblings. We’d also play pretend and come up with our own stories or just simply improvise and have so much fun with it. I’d mainly do this with my little sister and so I think that’s what really sparked up the interest in acting in general. It’s also super fun because I’m not only just creating my own ideas or inspirations on to the screen but also acting in them. Acting in general is so fun to me because you’re just playing pretend to an extreme, with all these limitless amount of characters, settings, stories, and themes. It’s beyond amazing, I’m truly in love with it. You’re either doing that by yourself, with a whole crew or with little numbered amount of people. Multipotentialite, to go as far as Acting, writing, directing, film making, dancing, and poetry.. With all of those skills God blessed me with I like to believe that I am exactly a multipotentialite. Therefore I want to show others that they most definitely can be too. In today’s world we live in, it’s only getting harder to get into this specific industry as far as acting and film. So for me, I want to not only create to entertain, but create to inspire. There are so many young people like me that have the same passions and I want to show them that they can take inspiration from my work and put it into the creations of their own, but better. Not only for the younger generation right now, but for the next generation’s upcoming. It was never an interest in leaving just one legacy, but multiple of them. Now as far as dancing. I’ve been dancing since I was like 3, self taught. Later on in my pre-teen years, I took classes in hip-hop for a couple of years. My passion with dancing and acting are really close but dance is slightly higher. With dance, It feels like I get to be a whole different version of myself. Dancing sets me free and helps me just live in the moment, to really block out the noise of whatever is going on in my life. It gives me a chance to express myself with a bunch of different emotions, just like acting. That’s where those 2 tie together and why they are on the same level of interest for me. When I dance, it’s like the whole world is just quiet. Every little detail in my surroundings, my body, my mind, it’s like poetry. The one movie I loved when I was little and still love to this day is “Step Up.” It’s a dance franchise and I was always inspired by this one crazy talented character, “Moose.” The way he danced just made my body spark. There are 2 different lines he says in the 3rd movie. He says, “One move, can set a whole generation free.” Just like Micheal Jackson or Elvis. He also said, “When I dance, the world finally makes sense.” With that line right there, I take it into a deeper perspective with all of the work that I do. If I could have a 30 minute dance session with him right now I definitely would.

In my junior year I joined theater. At the start, joining theater was my first time directing, writing and choreographing my first ever “Student directed One Act Festival.” During this I learned a lot about stage acting, play writing, stage positions, communication, confidence, and technical work. My play was called “The 4 Masquerades” and this was at the school I graduated from at Riverdale Ridge. This was very hard to get done but I had a lot of help from my peers and my old teacher Judd Farner. He was seen from me as my mentor throughout my theater career in high school. Now during my senior year, I acted in my first play in Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.” In this I played the male lead, “George Gibbs” and this is quite literally one of the star experiences in my whole entire life. Not just the play itself but outside of it, as far as hanging out with my peers and getting closer with them in the build up to opening night and after closing night. Then after “Our Town” I was in the “24 hour play Project.” This is where actors and directors come together to make multiple mini staged plays in just 24 hours. This was kind of more stressful than “Our town” only because it was literally making a play in a span of a day and we mainly just improvised. We all combined our ideas into one and made it a unique story to the audience. For me, this is where I felt like my acting was at an intermediate level knowing that I literally just started out during “Our Town.” At the end of the year, theater always has a their annual “Ghost light award ceremony.” This award ceremony is when all of the theater participants whether your an actor, tech crew, student director, etc.. You have to be there, chances are you will get some type of award for participating in past theater events. It was exciting and very most appreciated when I was awarded to be a part of the thespian society. A thespian means a middle school or high school student to be a part of theater either as an actor or any other supporting role.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Getting to where I am now was not easy, it was never really supposed to be easy and that goes for a lot of other crafts. Keeping my trust and faith in Jesus is what got me through the ups and downs. Trust and patience is the key to success. Back in my sophomore year is when I really figured out I wanted to pursue acting professionally. Never am I going to forget when I got told a lot by other casting directors or acting coaches that, “ You’ll get a lot of “No’s” before you get a lot of “Yes’s”. “ That was advice for future auditions that I would have and it was probably one of the best advice I could’ve gotten at the start of my career. My mom always says to me and the rest of my family, “Your rejection is your protection.” I’ve gotten some “no’s” and some scams from auditions but that’s okay, that just means maybe that specific project wasn’t meant for you and there is something better in store for you. But, that comes with trusting and being patient within the process to get there successfully. There’s a line in my favorite musical ever, “In the Heights.” Set in Washington Heights in NYC. This character that plays an old lady, she basically raised half the block said by the main character, “Usnavi” and they all see her as their grandmother aka “Abuela Claudia.” “Paciencia y fe!” is what she always says throughout the movie. Patience and faith.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My crafts are film making, directing, acting, producing, writing, poetry, & dance in hip-hop A natural gift I have is in dancing, in various melodies, I wouldn’t be afraid to learn different styles such as jazz, salsa, etc. I’m mainly known for film making, as I make my own short films and put them on my Instagram and YouTube. Me and my good friend Yoshi Yang collaborated and did a short film together called, “Sinful Love.” He did an amazing job with this and I really appreciate his help. Another film I really enjoyed working on was this summer project that me and my friends Miya Sugihara and Roman Sena made together called, “Echoes of Yesterday.” You can go find the full film on her YouTube @miya.sugihara. Some honorable mentions are “The hours ticking By.” This is if you want more of a relatable and chill vibe. “Bro & Bro.” If you want to share some laughs and feel the summer vibe. Then finally, “Fallen in the Grass.” This is if you are interested in that Sci fi, mystery, action & adventure type field.

I’m a multi-passionate creator. One thing I don’t want to get mistaken for is that I do this mainly for me. No, I’m doing this to serve God and showcase his word through my creativity. Showcase the talented spirit he’s blessed me with into my films, acting, dancing & poetry. I’m genuinely most proud of how far I’ve come with my films. I’m also proud of the people that helped and supported me along the way. But what I believe makes me different from others is that, I want to be good at a lot of different things. many different crafts other than my main crafts. That would build a different kind of level to discipline and creativity. What I do right now is already hard because I do multiple different things, but I’ve been doing this. It’s nothing new to me to explore other different crafts while still doing what I do. It should never spark an interest to settle down with something easy. Where’s the fun in that?

Who else deserves credit in your story?
I’m going to keep this short, sweet, and simple. First and foremost. My Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for him. Then I want to thank my family. My amazing Parents, they have done more than an amazing job raising me and my siblings and they have supported me no matter what. My 2 older brothers, Adrian and Amari. My little sister, Ajanee’. They don’t even know how much I genuinely love and care for them, It is so great to have them in my life.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thee.alijahrose24?igsh=anp4a3BuOGZucWFr&utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLFMe5CuFwhD2LuoeF4co0g

Image Credits
– Amari Morris

– Miya Sugihara

– Sami Jo