Christian Keyes is an actor, singer, and writer who has been in the entertainment industry for over 20 years. He is currently on a tour with City Winery, and his single “Under That Veil” is in the top 30 at radio.
Keyes grew up in Flint, Michigan, and he credits his work ethic and hustle to his upbringing in the blue-collar city. He started his career in theater and commercials, and he eventually moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting and singing. Keyes has been in a number of successful TV shows, including “Saints & Sinners,” “The Family Business,” and “All The Queen’s Men.”
He is also a writer, and he has written several books and scripts. Keyes is a passionate advocate for diversity in the entertainment industry, and he is always looking for new ways to challenge himself and grow as an artist. He is also a generous mentor to other young artists. Keyes is an inspiration to many, and he is sure to continue to be a successful and influential figure in the entertainment industry for many years to come.
City Winery Tour
Kevin Ross: Tell me about the City Winery tour that you are currently on. How many shows is it, and how has it been so far?
Christian Keyes: So far, we did two in Atlanta, the same night, which was different because, I mean, it’s work if you’re going to give them a show and give them energy, and you’ve got two 75-minute shows. That’s some work. So, I’m grateful for it. And you know, I learned a lot. And then we did a show in Pittsburgh and a show in Philly. And that was wonderful as well.
KR: You say it’s work, Do you mean just the stress of actually doing a show that long?
CK: Oh, no, just that on top of the rehearsals on top of, you know, wanting to give them your all. Like, I’m a firm believer in wanting to give people their money’s worth. You know what I’m saying?
And if they’re going to come out, especially like, we’re in St. Louis, it’s cold. They come out of a nice warm house. You know, we’ve got to give them something to experience and feel and not just, you know, I don’t want to just stand there and sing 10 or 12 songs or something, I want to move around and have some interaction and make them feel like they’re part of this show, and give them a wonderful musical experience.
Growing up in Flint, Michigan
KR: So tell me about growing up in Flint, Michigan? I’m from Buffalo and Flint, from what I understood, makes Buffalo look like LA.
CK: Buffalo feels in certain pockets like Flint, but Flint is a little more country, but the people are beautiful. It’s hella melanated. And the city raised me, you know, that’s where I became a man. I found my family. My second adoption there. That was incredible. That helped change and saved my life, probably. And yeah, just really shaped me because you’ve got to grind in Flint. And nothing comes easy. So I’m grateful for that.
KR: So what helped you make up your mind to be successful, especially growing up in an environment where you have so many opportunities to go the other way?
CK: I think the grind of it, you know, you learn. You can’t teach certain talents; certain things are God-given. If you have a yearning or longing for something, and you have some talent in that space, you can build upon that. But therein lies the grind, and the work ethic and the hustle.
And in a city like Flint and a lot of these other cities in the country. You know, they’re grinding cities, they’re blue-collar cities, you know, where people just want to work hard, go home, enjoy their time, save up and go to a concert, save up and take a trip. Get some good presents for Christmas for the kids and for the family members, or for their wife or husband, or whatever the situation is.
And Flint’s like that; it’s just a blue-collar city where you grind and work at all those big automotive companies and stuff like that. I used to want to try to get into GMC, and I thought maybe that might be my future. You know wanting to work a good job, make some good money, good legal money.
But getting out of college and then you start to realize there’s other things out there and like, you know, I could potentially make a decent living at being a creative and acting and singing and then you’ve got to be brave enough to lean into it, do the work, study, take the classes, and then trust God to do the rest.
Early Beginnings in Show Biz
KR: What was the first professional thing that you did?
CK: Um, commercials and theater in Michigan back in the day, around 1999? Geez, 25 years ago. You know, seeing yourself on TV in a commercial, you know, that’s kind of cool. Because it didn’t go to my head, it went to my heart. I was like, Yo, this is crazy. But I can do it. This is possible. Some people think that because you’re on TV, you’re automatically a multimillionaire, or whatever. That’s not the case. It’s a blessing, you know.
KR: So you, were you approached to do commercials? Or did you actually seek them out on your own?
CK: Well, I was modeling, I was doing like talent, I was putting together my own calendars. And all that I had, I had really long John the Baptist, Jesus hair, like really long hair. That looked a lot like my mom with that hair, because 
I just want to, I want to be good. And here and in here and have my peace. So once it got to cooking, and once that got to cooking, I was okay, well, let me try some theater because that looks challenging, then that’s not going to be easy, and they hold you accountable, and they’re going to kick your behind.
And I’m glad I did. Because again, that work ethic, you know, it is hard. You do have to commit to it and put time in and miss events because of it. Because you need to practice and rehearse and get ready. And the more I started to sew into that, you know, more opportunities came and I was even more ready for this new opportunity than I was for the last one.
Moving to LA
KR: At what point did you move out? You live in LA, right? Yeah, at what point did you decide to make the move?
CK: Um, in ‘06, after the Madea stuff. I had put up all my Madea money and made the decision to make the jump and was like, you know, this is going well. And I’m theatrically trained. So let me go and shoot my shot at commercial TV and film.
KR: How did that work out?
CK: It was scary. It was slow. Yeah, I almost gave up. Because work wasn’t you know, coming in fast enough, and you start burning through your savings and you know, but um, so, you know, you figure it out, man, I was doing background for three or four days out of the week, for months and months and months. But, you know, when people were like, Yo, you were just the lead in the Madea plays.
But being background, it taught me to be around the cameras and get comfortable. I was in Britney Spears videos and Nelly videos and just any commercial like Party City commercials. it was $135 a day, right? You know, three, four days a week, you know, four weeks out the month. I just made my rent doing background work, and I’m still getting a little bit better every day at my craft. So I didn’t think it was a step back but I thought it was like a pivot.
Becoming an Author
KR: You wrote a couple of books as well?
CK: Um, we were filming a project that I co-produced, The Man in 3B. I was associate producer on that. I was co-producer on that. I don’t remember because it was a while back but talking with Carl Weber and I was like, Man, I got a couple of scripts.
And would you mind looking at one of them to see if there’s something there, if there’s enough meat and potatoes there to build that out into a book. Because I had been chopping it up for like four or five years and people weren’t getting it. And I figured, you know, if you’ve got a really good script, and it’s already a book out there that’s making noise and getting buzz, that’s going to be tough for some network or studio to say no to because it’s, you know, it’s just multi-platform buzz and excitement about this thing.
And he read it, came back, and said, Yeah, he’s like, you know, you can do it. I know, it’s intimidating. But you can do it. Let’s do it. And that was Ladies Night. I changed the title because by 2019, when I licensed it to Tyler Perry Studios, BET already had a show called Ladies Night. So and I’m glad, because I like All The Queen’s Men, title better, but that first book ended up being “All The Queen’s Men.”
KR: And now when you were shopping it? Do you think that the issue was you weren’t shopping it to people who were interested? Or do you think you weren’t? In other words, just like, were you shopping it to the wrong people? Was that the lesson from this?
CK: I don’t think so. I don’t think I was shopping it to the wrong people. I think, you know, if anybody is gracious enough to let me in the room and discuss my intellectual property, my content.
You know, I’m going to seize that moment and have fun with it, I’m going to try to make sure I’m prepared to answer every question that they have, and even some that they wouldn’t even think to ask, okay, you know, I want to know, the world that, you know, that I’ve been blessed to be able to create, you know, fictionally. And that’s how it went. And it went well.
And like, even when I pitched to BET, they were like, wow, you wrote the book and the script. I was like, Yeah. And they, you know, they were like, well, we got to look at you a little different now. You know, not just, you’re not just an actor. And I respect that and appreciate it. But it, I think it ended up where it was supposed to be, but it got optioned once by a major, major studio.
They had it for 18 months, and they never moved on it. I rewrote it like four or five times while it was there. And then I got it back. Because the time lapsed and then a casino in Vegas optioned it for about six or nine months. And they never did anything. And I think actually that casino kind of looked at mine and wrote one of their own. And I got mine back and they put out something else similar.
KR: The Magic Mike thing?
CK: It’s not that one, but it’s something similar. Because, you know, this was 2016 or 17 something like that. And there was nothing like that. I wanted to do this, like, yeah, it would have that Magic Mike, Chippendales element but the rest of everything in it was going to be you know, the show All The Queen’s Men, it was going to be the dramatic moments.
The you know, somebody owes somebody money, Licensing “All The Queen’s Men”
KR: Now when you say you get it back, didn’t you just sell it to Tyler Perry? CK: I licensed it. So once we’re done, I think I think three years after we’re done, I get it back. So if it goes to season six, or season seven or 100 and some odd episodes, that’d be wonderful. And I think that’s the goal for all of us. But once it’s done, I can relaunch new books, I can spin off and do movies for certain characters that I want to do in that world and take it whatever direction I want to and I love that part. You know that the ownership of it. KR: So you do so many things from singing to acting to writing books now producing TV shows. Will you continue to be in the show and continue to write on it or is that going to be in Tyler’s hands? CK: Um, no, actually, thankfully, my show was WGA. So contractually, I get to have a say in where the show goes and get to consult on, you know, the seasonal arcs and what each character is going to have to do and that kind of thing, my character is going to stay; we’re not killing me off my own show, that’s not going to happen. And I enjoy it. I mean with myself and the cast and the people that helped me develop it, Ilan Johnson, Michelle Sneed, and Deandra Short. It is a family member. And even though it is my show, it does feel like it’s ours, because I brought them a really good show. And they, they helped make it into a great show. They challenged me on things and said, “Hey, we should do this here. And that sounds good. But what if we did this?” And then some of those components actually made the show even better. So it’s going to keep growing. I’m excited to see where it goes, and all of that. KR: What has the viewership been like? CK: Um, that’s a good question, because I don’t know how many subscribers BET Plus has. But when seasons first dropped the program on BET streaming, and then I know there are two or three million subscribers over there. And then they do an edited version, and then play like that. The first season has already aired on BET. And I think the second season is about to drop on BET. And the first season is now over on VH1. So, you know, people are seeing it; we’re getting millions of people watching each episode, which is wonderful. And it’s good for the show, good for the network, good for the actors, the newer actors, and the establiMan of Many Talents
KR: So when did you get the idea to diversify your skill sets? I mean, because a lot of people, they’ll do one thing, and they do it well, and they stick with it. But I was going to say you do so many different things. Where did you get the idea to say I better? Or maybe I should do as many things as possible? In other words, what’s your purpose for doing so many things? CK: To avoid regret is one of them. You know, I would much rather try and it just be okay. Then not try. And wonder like what it could have been, you know, I’ve done that before. I tell the story often that back in college, 20-some years ago, I drew the Bentley SUV, and I never told anybody, never showed anybody because I thought they’d laugh at me. And what came out in 2018, or 2017, the Bentley SUV, and an expensive lesson—they didn’t steal my idea; God gave that idea to somebody else, and they actually moved on it.
