The Real Reason You Don't Hear From Brandon T. Jackson
Whatever happened to Brandon T. Jackson? If you recall, this rising young actor from "Tropic Thunder" and "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" seemed like he would only keep moving upwards. But more than a decade later, Jackson no longer appears to be on the map. Outside of Jackson's upcoming independent film "Trap City," his most recent acting credit is playing Barack Obama in a 2019 episode of "Historical Roasts." Where has he gone?
As it turns out, this is a question that the actor has grown a little tired of answering. Luckily, this time, we might be able to answer it for him. Sifting through countless interviews that Jackson has done throughout the years, it's clear that he wasn't exactly exiled from Hollywood. His exit was mostly by choice. Jackson stepped away from the spotlight for various reasons, including a spiritual awakening and the desire to return to a career field that he put on hold while he was starring in movies. So let's delve into why you don't hear from Brandon T. Jackson in Hollywood anymore.
Jackson experienced a spiritual awakening
According to Brandon T. Jackson, a spiritual epiphany convinced him to move away from Hollywood and start focusing on what was most important to him. "In my life [my art] was always first," he told The Koalition Entertainment. "But it became secondary once I started to grow as a man, and learn, 'Okay, I need to be a man before I hit the stage.'" When Jackson took a break from Hollywood, he took some time to reevaluate his career and his personal life. He went on a pilgrimage of sorts, traveling to places such Egypt and Ethiopia and learning about his ancestors and Black history. Once he returned to the public spotlight, Jackson decided, "You know what? ... I've got a lot to talk about."
Now Jackson is happy to share what's learned on his journey, as well as raise awareness about the Hebrew Israelite faith. "I made a covenant in front of the Most High when I was a child that if he made me famous, I would build his kingdom," Jackson explained to Sister Circle. For a while, said Jackson, he forgot that covenant, but now he is back on track, using his platform as a Hollywood actor to spread his message and help underserved communities. Jackson is confident that his life has transformed for the better, telling Comedy Hype that stepping away from the spotlight allowed him to "move like I wanted to move, not how people wanted me to move."
Jackson believes he was cursed after wearing a dress
Brandon T. Jackson regrets dressing up as a woman for the movie "Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son," because he insists he has never been the same after this role. "Everything went wrong when I put on that dress," he told Comedy Hype. Even if Jackson's career wasn't necessarily damaged, he still felt like he lost some of his creative spark. More importantly, added Jackson, "My personal life was in shambles."
Jackson is convinced that his personal struggles were God's way of punishing him for breaking from the Torah. "If you don't follow all the commandments that the Father says to do, you'll be cursed," he told TMZ. Jackson explained his belief that portraying Trent and his female alter ego Charmaine in "Big Mommas" violated Deuteronomy 22:5, a line from the Bible that some believe forbids cisgender men from wearing women's clothing.
Jackson has cautioned other comedians against wearing a dress for a role but added that each person's religious beliefs are different — and that,for some folks, the experience might actually be enlightening. After all, observed Jackson when speaking with Comedy Hype, "[When] Tyler Perry [dressed up as a woman to play Madea], he got stronger." Still, it was a bad experience for Jackson, so he has vowed never to do it again. "You couldn't pay [me] a trillion dollars to get in a dress," he declared. Of course, he must not be counting the time he wore a dress in "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters."
The Percy Jackson franchise crashed
When Daniel Radcliffe signed on to the "Harry Potter" franchise, it propelled him into stardom. That initial wave of success carried Radcliffe through seven Potter sequels and beyond. However, the "Percy Jackson" movies had no such impact on the career of Brandon T. Jackson, because the movies were not the next "Harry Potter" like everyone hoped.
"Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" alienated fans of the original books by aging up the main characters and straying too far from the source material. To be fair, it was hardly Jackson's fault. He admitted to The State that he needed to deal with "the pressure of knowing that you're young and you've ... got to carry this movie on [your back]." Given that the movie needed to please fans of the book, and that Jackson and lead Logan Lerman were working alongside major stars like Pierce Brosnan, they had some pretty big shoes (or in Jackson's case, hooves) to fill.
Getting cast as the goat-legged Grover would have ordinarily given him a job for years to come, had the franchise continued. However, we never even got a third "Percy Jackson" movie. The franchise sputtered out after the second film, "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters," thanks to its underwhelming box office returns. No doubt this made a dent in Jackson's bankability. Of course, it probably didn't hurt that Jackson's bad CGI goat legs were impossible for fans to un-see.
Jackson has grown frustrated with the industry
Brandon T. Jackson has never much cared for showbiz. As early as 2010, when Jackson was promoting the first "Percy Jackson" movie, he told The State, "I don't really care about the fame," insisting that he was just glad to be able to share a film that he was proud of. Jackson has pointed out that fame simply means that the art you create is taken out of your hands. "You could be famous all day and earn no intellectual properties," he told Forgotten KingsTv, referring to how actors can help create a movie but the final product belongs to the studio.
He has also expressed his frustration at how Hollywood is always churning out sequels. Producing sequels for their own sake, whether or not fans want them, seems ridiculous to Jackson. "If something does not work the first time, why do it again? It's like, that's insanity," he told Comedy Hype. That's why he turned down an offer to appear in "Coming 2 America."
As part of a stand-up routine, Jackson summed up why he left Hollywood: "I was tired of being unhappy," he declared. "I don't like it when stuff gets too fake." Of course, Jackson added that there are still plenty of good folks in Hollywood who are involved because they love making cinema, but the red carpet is simply not for him. Jackson reminded viewers that Dave Chappelle quit his own comedy sketch show, so what he's doing is hardly unprecedented.
He has been raising four children
Brandon T. Jackson has shared that fans are constantly asking him why he disappeared from Hollywood, and he feels like the answer ought to be obvious. "They ask me where I've been," he told Comedy Hype. "I've been raising four children. Where have you been?"
Jackson believes that it's his responsibility to look out for the youngest generation, especially his direct descendants. He told Forgotten KingzTv, "It's about feeding your children and leaving an inheritance for your children's children." Parenthood has been a transformative experience, according to Jackson, who told the Dear Fathers podcast, "I'm almost too protective," now that he has a daughter. What's more, Jackson believes raising a daughter has made him a better actor (whenever he does take the time to act). "Being on a movie set all day, that's not very relatable. But raising a daughter is," he told The Bellevue Reporter.
Jackson has largely kept his children out of the spotlight, but that doesn't mean he wants them to stay out of Hollywood altogether. If his children ever decide to participate in the entertainment industry, Jackson says he would support them and encourage them to do it on their own terms. "I'm gonna teach my kids to produce their own stuff," he told Dear Fathers. "We're not just gonna be sitting back here waiting for somebody to pick you. No. You're gonna pick yourself." It seems like Jackson wants to teach his kids what he only learned later in his career.
Jackson is tired of being conflated with his characters
Brandon T. Jackson feels that his fans sometimes have difficulty separating fact from fiction. "They look at my characters — and it's kind of fun but it's kind of annoying — they look at my characters and think that's who you really are," he told The Koalition Entertainment. "When people see who I am in real life, they're like: 'Who's this guy?'" he shared in an interview for Pop Entertainment.
Many of his fans know him from the movies that he filmed in his 20s, so he will always be young in their eyes – no matter that he is now well over 35. Other folks assume that Jackson must be a rapper, just like his character Alpo Chino from "Tropic Thunder." Jackson needs to constantly remind his fans that he is the son of a preacher and is now raising kids of his own. "I gotta explain to them who I am," Jackson told The Koalition Entertainment. He's even met kids who watched "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" and were surprised to find that he didn't have goat legs in real life.
That's why Jackson chose to return to stand-up comedy, a medium that allows him to simply be himself and share his own personal experiences. He admits that at first it was hard to return to the realm of stand-up because audiences needed to reconcile the characters they'd seen him play with the real Brandon T. Jackson.
He wants to focus more on stand-up comedy
Brandon T. Jackson has always been a stand-up comedian at heart, though he is more well-known for his acting. In fact, Jackson was doing stand-up routines long before he ever appeared in any movies. Unfortunately, his film career got in the way. "Every time I went to do a stand-up comedy special, my agent would pull me in a movie," he explained to The Koalition Entertainment, "and I wouldn't turn down the movie because, I mean, why would you?"
Yet despite his success in Hollywood, Jackson still felt incomplete. In the same interview, Jackson recalled that when he was in New York filming "Deadbeat," he spent every spare moment on the New York comedy scene. "After [shooting], I would go right to the comedy clubs," he said. He describes this moment as a low point in his life, since he was watching instead of performing, but he also credits it for rekindling his love of stand-up comedy.
Jackson still acts in the occasional movie, such as the independently-produced "Trap City." In fact, he is glad that he has one foot in each medium, because it means he can do a stand-up routine one day and a serious drama film the next. "You [can] be a Michael B. Jordan and an Eddie Murphy," Jackson told The Koalition Entertainment. Still, it's clear that stand-up is where Jackson's passion lies. He told The Interrobang, "I did a lot of movies, but okay I'm grown now and I wanted to step back into stand-up."
He has been busy with other projects
Just because Brandon T. Jackson doesn't star in movies anymore, that doesn't mean he's not busy. The reason why you don't hear from Jackson is because he's got plenty of other projects cooking that have nothing to do with Hollywood.
For one, Jackson has written a book: "The Actor's State of Mind: 7 Secrets to Unlocking the Movie Star in You!" He's also taken up boxing. His YouTube channel shows that he has been taking boxing classes with Phil Paolina, a trainer who has worked with countless professional boxers and celebrity clients (including Jon Favreau and Mickey Rourke). And of course, Jackson is still doing stand-up comedy.
Making good on his promise to use his fame for the greater good, Jackson has kickstarted several Black-owned businesses meant to help people of color. For instance, he launched Kingdom Over Everything (KOE) Studios, an independent media producer for Black voices. It was through KOE that Jackson produced and starred in "Trap City." He is also the co-founder of KingdomPay, a Black-owned app for banking services. Jackson has even produced his own line of shoes called Kingdom Heirs, and recently announced on Instagram that he plans to launch his own podcast.