LaMonica Garrett Interview

LaMonica Garrett's career has begun to take off within the last year. He's had a recurring role in Hawthorne, is in the new Transformers film and is working on his own project, Mouthpiece to name a few of his current endeavors. Garret talked to TheCelebrityCafe.com about his projects and shared a personal experience that highlights dating in L.A.

TheCelebrityCafe.com: How do you go from SlamBall to acting?

LaMonica Garrett: Acting is something I've always done. I did theater in college, theater, I did it when I was younger in plays and I knew I always wanted to do it, but SlamBall there's that window you have. You know that takes a toll on your body. You only have so long to do that, so I figured…I went from football to SlamBall and when I knew that that was over, I would gradually go into acting.

TCC: Was it hard to adapt from sports into acting?

LG: I think in a lot of ways it's similar. You know, it's a discipline, dedication, teamwork, like a lot of stuff that goes on with it. There's a lot of stuff that's out of your control in both categories. All you can do is the best you can and you have to wait for the results and see what happens. Like in an audition, you might do a great job, but they end up picking someone that is a 5'6" Asian. I can't play a 5'6" Asian, so I didn't get it so you just have to keep everything in perspective.

TCC: Your nickname was The Machine, why?

LG: I had a relentless approach in everything—I never took plays off, I didn't really tire out too much. Kenneth Hahn Park in L.A. and about a group of 20 of us used to run trails and we used to come back and work out in the park and then go run trails again. It was a real hot day, there was a bunch of us running and there's this big hill called King Kong at the end of the trail and it just beats you up and by the time you get to that hill you're so spent, you just have to walk up it. And I got to this hill and I started passing people up the hill, not running full speed but I had a pretty good pace, and one of the guys was like, 'this guy's a machine. He doesn't quit.' That kind of carried over onto SlamBall—it could be the fourth quarter or second half and I'm still playing as hard as the opening. So that stuck with me.

TCC: Do you think that translates with your life and your acting? Is that nickname still relevant?

LG: I think the work ethic I had in sports I carried it over to acting. It's, a lot of the business is, how much you put into it. You know, you're your own CEO. Say you get an audition, and you look at it a couple of times and say, 'yeah, I got it. Let's do it,' and you go in there and bomb. That's your own fault for not really breaking the script down and reading the whole script. You have to be fully committed to it. I don't have a regular job, I don't have a lot of distractions, you know, so I put everything I got toward it. Just like I did with sports and lately it's been paying off.

TCC: Your resume is growing fast, you just shot Transformers and you've had recurring roles in Hawthorne and Dark Blue, how have you adapted to the changes in your career?

LG: Each job I get just validates what I'm doing and what I should be doing. Transformers was huge. That's the gold star in my resume so far. Working with Michael Bay was great and it just gives you more confidence. Each time you go into a room now to audition I feel like, 'this job is supposed to be mine.'

TCC: What was your role in Transformers?

LG: I was General Morshowers aide, like his right hand. He was in the previous two movies and he's just like anything involving military/White House/Pentagon, he's the main guy. He's the one that calls the shots and I'm his right hand man—he doesn't make a move without me.

TCC: Do you see a lot of action in the movie?

LG: I didn't. I wish I was though. My huge goal is to be an action star. I want to do all that, like what The Rock is doing….That's what I see myself going toward. Most of the stuff I did in Transformers was White House/Pentagon stuff with suits on. I wanted to get out there and get my hands dirty with Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, but maybe on the next one.

TCC: What was Fight Night Champion like?

LG: It's a video game from EA sports and I and Eliza Dushku were the leads in that one. That was awesome. That was the most fun I've ever had on any project, just all the sensors and the motion captures doing all the scenes. The writer from Monsters Ball, Will Rokos, wrote the script. It was like a 75 page script and that was just so much fun to work on. And a lot of what's going on in movies now is imagination, like green screen and you have to picture being in it and that's how it was.

TCC: Is that hard to do?

LG: No, it just takes getting used to. If you believe it to be true, it is. That's how a lot of the stuff is going, with CGI, and if you're not used to it, you should start getting used to it.

TCC: You also have a new show that you're producing and starring in, can you tell me about it?

LG: It's an urban Entourage meets the Hangover. It's a dra-medy, it's hilarious, it's funny and its real life stuff that goes on in the city. Most of the stories in the pilot that we shot were real stories that we've been through. It involves trying to make it in L.A. and dating out here…, this dating pool in Los Angeles is worse than any other place in the country. It's just weird here.

TCC: There are some weird people out here.

LG: There are a lot of weird people and I think we get the weirdest people from all over the world and they come here and try to make it. Just trying to date these people, and not just dating, but just being friends with people that do weird things, it kind of throws you off. Mouthpiece is the name of the pilot. It expands on all of that.

TCC: What has been one of your craziest dating experiences out here in L.A.?

LG: My craziest dating experience…wow…let me think. I met this girl at an AMC theater. It was like maybe 6/7 years ago. I met her at an AMC theater and we were talking on the phone a little bit, setting up a date. So I go pick her up at her place, and she's living with her girlfriend. And that just threw me for a loop. I'm like, 'wait a minute, we're going out… it's not your roommate, it's your girlfriend.'

TCC: Oh, you mean like an actual girlfriend…

LG: Actual girlfriend, yeah. I go to pick her up, and I'm waiting at the door and she invites me in and I see a girl, she's coming out of the bathroom and I'm thinking they're roommates, everyone has roommates out here, it's cool. So, she comes and she gets her jacket and we're about to leave and her girlfriend comes out the back and is like, 'Oh honey, I'll see you in a little bit?' she says 'yeah' and gave her a kiss on the mouth. A good kiss, you know what I mean? And she looks at me and is like, 'are you ready?' I'm just sitting there like what's going on? (Laughs.) … That's just one. In Mouthpiece we have a lot of them. You have to check it out once we get it up and running.