We had the good fortune of connecting with Tyrone Evans Clark and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tyrone, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I’m a Chicago native and in the entertainment field I’m also known as Tyy Renaissance (stylized as Tyy Renaiⓢⓢance or Tyy Renai$$ance). I always loved comedy and horror films and I remember watching a lot of them with family members. One of the biggest comedians that touched my heart dearly was the fantastic Eddie Murphy. His hilarious films such as “Coming to America”, “Beverly Hills Cop”, “The Nutty Professor”, “Trading Places”, and more truly pushed me to pursue a creative career as an entertainer for television, movies, music videos, video games, etc.

Yes, I had great inspiration from comedians like Eddie Murphy, but my life wasn’t always easy. I was homeless a lot throughout my childhood. It was super rough and there were even moments I was forced to have to spend a night in shelters due to not having a place to live. A few years in Los Angeles, I was homeless too because my scholarship / grant money for college didn’t come in on time, so as a result I had to head to the streets for shelter. I even stayed under my school’s steps at the Art Institute of California – Los Angeles in order to be safe from the harsh weather outside. The reason why I’m sharing this personal part of my life is because the darkness was also a big motivator that pushed me as well into the entertainment field.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
What I am currently most excited about is the opportunities that are coming from my multi-award-winning “Homeless Sam & Sally” project. So far, “Homeless Sam & Sally”, the film and television series with a similar name, has made it on Binge Networks, Amazon Prime Video, Mometu, Box Brazil Play, and other streaming platforms / television channels. It’s the first film/television series I have produced, directed, written for, and starred in as the character Sam. I even made a musical soundtrack with my vocals along with the theme song “We Gotta Figure It Out,” which I wrote and performed with my co-star, Margaret Newborn, who plays my mother, Sally Silver.

The way I got to where I am today professionally is to work hard on my artistic skills and to not give up. I even watch tons of films every day. I try my best to keep up-to-date on the latest films, video games, music videos, television series, and advanced technologies (Virtual reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Extended Reality, Computer-Generated VR (CG VR), 360° video).

My success did not come over night, so yes it wasn’t easy. I came from nothing and my mother was a single parent. She had to take care of 3 boys on her own. Most of the time, I didn’t have the best clothes at school, but I always try to make my wardrobe look cool and update by playing with textures and styles.

I overcame my challenges by getting my Diploma in Arts & Communication from Benton Harbor High School and later my Bachelor of Science in Game Art & Design from the Art Institute of California – Los Angeles after I moved to California many moons later. Going to school wasn’t easy, nor was it fun. I had to bust my butt and take on an after-school job at Meijer as a Bagger in Benton Harbor, MI and in Los Angeles, CA my after-school job was at the American Party Store (now known as Party City) as their cool cashier.

The lessons I have learned are to always work hard and to be humble in everything you do. Success doesn’t come over night and you have to stay focused on the prize. Life is way too short to play games and every minute counts, period!

Lastly, I want the world to know my personal life always consists of many sacrifices. For example, the time I spent writing my award-winning-young-adult-novels “Fiends: Season 1 – Invision Wellness” and “Grapefruit: Season I – The Wrath of Love”. It took over 6 years to finish these novels. The only reason why I was able to finish was due to the world being forced into quarantine because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I was even able to finish my two award-winning cartoon animation films, “Keep The Bugs Out Of My Soup!!!” and “Gotta Get Some Tissue!” (also a Music Video).

“Gotta Get Some Tissue!” was awarded Semi-Finalist: Best Music Video / Animation at the 2022 Lonely Wolf International Film Festival, was officially selected for the 2021 Montreal International Animation Film Festival – ANIMAZE for the Experimental category, and a official selection for the 2021 Prague Independent Film Festival for the Short Film Category.

“Keep The Bugs Out Of My Soup!!!” was awarded Semi-Finalist: Best Micro-Short Film (Fiction) / Animation at the 2022 Lonely Wolf International Film Festival, was officially selected for the 2022 Sidewalk Film Festival for Best Animated Short, and was also an official selection for the 2022 Prague Independent Film Festival for the Animated Film Category.

I’m even the CEO / Founder of TYRONE EVANS CLARK Incorporation Inc, a personal brand under which I have completed a hand full of projects relating to filmmaking, music development, advertising, 3D designing, animation, video game development, advanced technologies, and others.

At the end of the day, everything I have done to this point is build off of hard sacrifices from being on reality television, creating video games, producing music, making fantastic films, writing, being a CEO/Founder of my own company, and along with creating advanced technologies for entertainment / educational purposes.

Sacrifices are always going to be made, but is it always worth it?

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would first start with Chicago, Illinois, of course, because this is where I was born and raised. We will visit some of the best pizza restaurants in the area, such as Pequod’s Pizza, Ranalli’s West Loop, Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria, etc. We would later visit a few big museums out there. On the museums’ list, my best friend and I would primarily have to hang out at the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago. At this museum, my buddy and I will eat pizza while playing on the human-sized hamster wheel. It’s so cool! We would even play hide-and-seek in the maze lined with mirrors. Everyone should visit the Museum of Science and Industry. It is everything! Plus, it’s perfect for children and big families.

Later, we would go hang out with fun folks at a few bars/clubs, such as Underground, PRYSM Chicago, Sound Bar, etc. I enjoy dancing the night away and it would be great to share it with my BFF! All of these bars/clubs have exotic drinks and good food to eat.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Tyler Perry and all of his creative and dramatic franchises. During my time at Martin Luther King Jr. High School, one of my aunties introduced a Tyler Perry stage play to me. The first stage play I watched was “I Can Do Bad All by Myself” and it was displayed on my aunt’s television screen in Benton Harbor, Michigan around the year 1999. I fell hard in love with Perry’s gifts and, of course, when he would act out the character role “Madea” pretty much in all of his plays.

The things I love about Perry is the fact he knows how to be spiritual and talk about God, but at the same time he knows how to even it out with laughter without coming across being preachy. You know, these days tons of people don’t like being preached to. I also respect his level of success and the way he got there. Currently, he is a well-known name and he is famous for movies, television, literature, music, etc.

My next shoutout will have to go to singer / actress Tina Turner, who we all know as “Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. She has pushed me with her devotion to Buddhism. Turner is also one of our leaders at SGI-USA Soka Gakkai International USA, a fellowship place where we practice Buddhism and I also attend there regularly.

On top of that, Turner came from an abusive relationship and I also have come from plenty of abusive relationships relating to my family, people I dated, past employers/jobs, etc.

What I have realized from Turner and Perry’s story is the fact that I have to take full responsibility for myself. My past doesn’t define me and it is never too late to change and do better for yourself, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō!

Website: https://linktr.ee/TyroneEvansClark

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tyroneevansclark/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tyrone-evans-clark-a418b920/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TYRONE_CLARK

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TyroneEvansClark

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBO4CLrlGKb3ABKvYe-syFg

Other: 3D Game Artist & Programmer Portfolio: https://tyroneevansclark.net/ Entertainment / Performing Arts Portfolio: https://tecmultiverse.net/ Author Official Website: https://tyroneeclark.com/ IMDb URL: http://www.imdb.me/TyroneEvansClark

Image Credits
HILARY JONES PHOTOGRAPHY

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