Asante Blackk is one of the youngest Primetime Emmy Award nominees of all time, having been recognized for his critically celebrated portrayal of 14-year-old Kevin Richardson in the Netflix series When They See Us. Also nominated for a Critic’s Choice Award, Blackk seems to be choosing his acting roles rather wisely. No fluff. Impactful. Award potential. And, time after time, stereotype defying.

A series regular from seasons four through six on This Is Us, Blackk also recently starred in Cory Finley’s Landscape with Invisible Hand and Natalie Morales’ Plan B, which premiered at Sundance 2023. With his signature magnetic eyes and matter-of-fact powerful command of every scene he contributes his immense talent to, now add writer/director Aristotle Torres’ debut feature Story Ave to Blackk’s growing list of poignant work. Also a product of Sundance’s Directors Lab, Story Ave, which was produced by Torres along with Jamie Foxx. Lizzie Shapiro, and Datari Turner, is the gripping yet tender tale of a teenager named Kadir.

Kadir’s efforts to be down the local gang and respected as a stick-up-kid are thwarted thanks to the heartfelt vision of a would-be-robbery-victim who Kadir attempts and fails to mug. An MTA conductor named Luis (Luis Guzmán, Wednesday) alters Kadir’s path toward peril when he agrees to give him the money if Kadir will give up the gun and join Luis for a meal as well. Their timely conversation ignites an unlikely but fundamental friendship that inspires Kadir to seek a more productive path in life using his artistic talents.

With a less refined script, the story and the characters in Story Ave might have seemed too familiar to embrace, but Story Ave is fortunately cavernous with multilayered depth. In the hands of Asante Blackk, the character of Kadir is fresh, complex, and gratifyingly distinctive, with a soul that’s dark in places but quite beautiful, just like the movie itself. Blackk recently sat down for an interview with MovieWeb to discuss his gripping performance in Story Ave.

Asante as the Anti-Stereotype

Set in the South Bronx, viewers are immersed in a world that evokes the stench of the National Gang Center’s disproportionate statistics which state that 46% of youth gang members are Hispanic or Latino and 35% percent are African American. Yeah, the numbers are a bit concerning, but with Blackk taking on one of these characters, audiences can inhale the beauty of authenticity.

Related: Exclusive: Writer/Director Aristotle Torres Talks Story Ave

The celebrated young actor made one thing immediately clear. Though Blackk’s character Kadir might initially seem to be a familiar one, think again. In a response that inadvertently explains Blackk’s mindset and approach and subsequent remarkable results, Blackk hinted at how he humanizes not only Kadir but every seemingly wayward character Blackk has ever portrayed.

“I hate the word stereotype,” Blackk said. And it’s clear — that’s exactly how he resuscitates would-be-flat fictional characters into genuine people. He doesn’t let them represent statistics.

The way it came together in my mind was that this story actually had nothing to do with a stereotype. It was more a story of self-belief. It is knowing that you’re destined to something, that you’re here for a purpose.

Reflecting on this, Blackk noted that the script’s attention to layered depth is what drew him to the role in the first place. Kadir is a gifted artist who is struggling emotionally with grief after the death of his younger brother. Coupled with pressures from school and family, he accedes to the temptations of street gangs and sets out to gain some street credibility in his community.

Then he meets Luis and, just like that, everything changes and Kadir’s path becomes redemptive and compelling. “This story just completely washed me over when I first read it,” Blackk said.

How Blackk Finds Humanity In His Characters
Kino Lorber 

At 22 years old, Blackk is already wise enough to recognize the realities and relatability of characters such as Kadir. He explained:

In the movie we start out with a terrible, terrible loss. I think that a lot of the time, as we go through things like that in life, it can be very easy to be misguided and feel lost and confused and, like Kadir, not know what’s up next for us on our path in life.

Blackk made it clear that in moments like that, that breaking down the core fundamentals of a character’s emotionality is when any temptations to label characters, particularly urban characters, as a “stereotype,” can be cracked and shattered. He added:

“I think that in those life moments that is when people tend to slap a stereotype on people and characters. It’s moments and situations like that where people almost clamor to try to define things when it is all just about that moment in life. And that moment, to be clear, for any character, is ultimately just about finding yourself.”

Related: Exclusive: Luis Guzmán Talks His Self-Proclaimed Career Defining Role in Story Ave

In an additional and unintentional nod in support of his own acting charisma, Blackk said that it is in examining those life instants where we, as people, can actually find commonality with one another despite different backgrounds.

Those moments are what make us human. That is why I struggle with that word. A stereotype is only as much as you make it so. And that’s the biggest thing that really drew me to this story, the humanity of what Kadir was going through.

Blackk continued: “The emphasis is not the fact that Kadir could have ended up a statistic. It was just him being able to go out into this world despite everything stacked against him and, at the end of the day, still dust himself off and find a new life, with the help of Luis. He found a way to make something beautiful out of his life when so many other people would have written him off.”

Story Ave is now playing in select theaters.