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Coop City raised actor, Brian Gilbert, expects 2016 to be a big year

2016 is starting off well for Brian Gilbert, an aspiring film actor, writer and producer.


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In late 2008 and early 2009 Brian Gilbert appeared in Hip-Hop Monologues: Inside the Life and Mind of Jim Jones as young Jim Jones in New York City.

Brian, 19, who was raised in Co-op City, but now makes his home for most of the year in Los Angeles, as he pursues an acting and writing career in the film industry, is in town this week for a sneak preview of "Last Night of the Year," the latest independent comedy feature film by young director Ralston Ramsay, which features Brian in a lead role as one of a group of friends who get together for a New Year's Eve Party that doesn't turn out as planned.

The film, a sequel to Ramsay's acclaimed film "Young Love," is just one of a series of projects that the young Co-op City actor is involved in. Later this year, he hopes to premiere a film he has written and directed himself: "Smacked Boys and the Sweet Kandy Kid in the Trippin' Balls Dabbed Adventure: In Three Acts."

Brian said that he will finish filming later this spring in hopes of showcasing the works later this year via a series of online platforms.

In an interview with the Co-op City Times this week, Brian said that he believes that the vast majority of films released in theaters today do not relate to this current generation, adding that there is really nothing out there currently that he or his contemporaries would go to a theater to see, with the one exception being "Straight Outta Compton," the hip hop film biography that became a huge financial success earlier this year.

So, aside from acting, Brian said that he is dedicated to creating works that his contemporaries will relate to and be inspired by. He said he has been writing screenplays since he was in middle school and his latest project is a series of stories which combines two interests ever since those days, his love o irreverent humor and his fascination with the comic book stylings and heroes that he loved as a child.

Brian said that he counts Seth Rogers and Eddie Murphy among his comedy role models and in his latest project, "Smacked Boys and the Sweet andy Kid in the Trippin'' Balls Dabbed Adventure: In Three Acts," he tries to do justice to the irreverent, almost raunchy, style of humor which they and others like them have popularized.

But for Brian, acting still pays the bills as he has done some television commercial work recently to also help fund some of the modest production costs involved in making his latest project and another in the works based on another 140 page comedy/drama screenplay he completed called "Score."

While his heart and his creative energies are tied up in independent filmmaking, the graduate of the prestigious Performing Arts High School in Manhattan is also no stranger to major studio work.

In 2011, when he was just 14 years old, he acted alongside such legends as Al Pacino, Ray Liotta and Tracy Morgan in the gritty crime drama, "Son of No One," in which he played the main character of the film, who was portrayed by Tracy Morgan, as a teenager during flashback sequences in the film that was featured at the Sundance Film Festival prior to its release.

Even going back as far as 2007, Brian acted beside the likes of another former Coop City resident, Queen Latifah, in the theatrical movie, "The Perfect Holiday," and before then, had a brief role in the legendary HBO hit, "The Sopranos." As a child, he also performed for the Classical Theater of Harlem as part of the "Hip Hop Monologues."

Brian's father, Co-op City resident Brian Gilbert Sr., remembers that his son knew what he wanted to do with his life ever since he was six years old recalling that even at that young age, Brian showed interest not only in movies as entertainment, but how they were made, how they were written and how they were produced.

"I thank my parents and many others who helped drive me to many auditions as a young person," the young Brian said during an earlier interview. "Rejection is a big part of the business, you have to deal with rejection and not let it affect you long term."

Landing roles as a child is a difficult task for any young actor and now as a 20 year old trying to write and produce your own projects is even more challenging; but that does not deter Brian who said recently that his experiences both in Hollywood and in New York have helped him develop the contacts he needs to work with the best young talent out there and become part of the movement towards expression in film that relates to this new generation.

Brian Sr. said about his son this week: "His drive and tenacity are amazing. The entire family is extremely proud and inspired by Brian's drive to win. His ambitions and actions have motivated me to stay driven and be my best just as I am sure he motivates others around him and who work with him to accomplish their vision."

By Bill Stuttig
Coop City Times is now online

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