Meet Alijah Morris | Actor, Director, Writer/Poet, Dancer, Filmmaker, & Model

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alijah Morris and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alijah, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
The one thing I promised myself before I even started doing what I do professionally as far as Acting, directing, writing, and dancing, is to inspire not only the next upcoming generation, but future generations further on. My work I put out is me giving younger or even older audiences the entertainment, joy, ideas, gratitude and finally.. Inspiration. There is crazy things that happen in this world, life hits us like crazy when we least expect it, so I want my projects to give people a smile on their face.. Even if it’s just a little smirk or giggle or some type of emotion of relief but also knowing that I’m doing this to spark a, “An escape from reality” type of feeling. The lovely blessings from my projects pouring onto them making their day at least a little better, that’ll let me know I’m doing my job just fine. In the world we live in today and so forth, I want people to look at my work and not only support it, but take in the ideas and put it into their own minds and possibly be better than mines. As a young black man, I want to also provide cinematic creativity for the younger black individuals. Going back to when I said in the world we live in today, us black men and women have been doubted, unnoticed, rarely appreciated in the acting industry and much more.. It’s the hard truth and so I want to show them how creative we are and how they can implement that into their own work. It was never just about showing the world how creative I am, but showing the world how my creativity can really have a huge impact on the younger generations.. I don’t want to leave this earth with just one legacy, I want to leave knowing I’ve made room for multiple Legacies. So with that being said, God has blessed me with a vision to create my own production company. With that will also come with a variety of diversified universities strictly to study in Acting, filmmaking, directing, writing, & dancing. There will be no such thing as any core classes, only in those specific studies listed.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The main reason I love doing what I do as a filmmaker is that, I can genuinely bring my imaginations to life. I’ve always loved, dreamlike or majestic fantasies kind of genres.. When I was a little kid, I used to reenact movies and shows with my siblings. We’d also play pretend and come up with our own stories or just simply improvise and have so much fun with it. Mainly I’d do this with my little sister and so I think that’s what really sparked up the interest in acting in general. It’s also super fun because I’m not only just creating my own ideas or inspirations on to the screen but also acting in them. Acting in general is so fun to me because you’re just playing pretend to an extreme, with all these limitless amount of characters and it’s amazing. You’re either doing that by yourself, with a whole crew or with little numbered amount of people. Multipotentialite, to go as far as Acting, writing, directing, filmmaking, dancing, and poetry.. With all of those skills God blessed me with, I like to believe that I am a multipotentialite. Therefore I want to show others that they most definitely can be too. I’m my junior year I joined theater, it was my first time directing, writing and choreographing my first ever “Student directed One Act Festival.” During this I learned a lot about stage acting, play writing, stage positions, communication, confidence, and technical work. My play was called “The 4 Masquerades” and this was at the school I graduated from at Riverdale Ridge. This was very hard to get done but I had a lot of help from my peers and my old teacher Judd Farner. He was like my theater mentor throughout my theater career in high school. Now during my senior year, I acted in my very first play in Thornton Wilders “Our Town.” In this I played the male lead “George Gibbs” and this is quite literally one of the star experiences in my whole entire life. Not just the play itself but outside of it, as far as hanging out with my peers and getting closer with them in the build up to opening night and after closing night. I’d also really want to play “George Gibbs” again in the future if I ever get the chance, his character fit my interests like a glove. Then after “Our Town” I was in the “24 hour play Project.” This is where actors and directors come together to make multiple, mini staged plays in just 24 hours. This was kind of more stressful than “Our town” only because it was literally making a play in a span of a day and we mainly just improvised. We all combined our ideas into one and made it a unique story to the audience. For me, this is where I felt like my acting was at an intermediate level knowing that I literally just started out during “Our Town.” At the end of the year, theater always has their annual “Ghost light Awards.” Both my Junior and Senior year is when I got to experience this amazing event. This award ceremony is when all of the theater participants whether you’re an actor, tech crew, student director, etc.. You have to be there, also there’s chances you will get some type of award for participating in past theater events. It was exciting and very most appreciated when I was awarded to be apart of the thespian society. A thespian is a middle-high school student that is apart of theater either as an actor or any other supporting role.
Getting to where I am now was not easy, it was never really supposed to be easy and that goes for a lot of other crafts. Keeping my trust and faith in Jesus is what mainly got me through the ups and downs. Trust and patience is the key to success. Back in my sophomore year is when I really figured out I wanted to pursue acting professionally. Never am I going to forget when I got told a lot by other casting directors or acting coaches that, “ You’ll get a lot of “No’s” before you get a lot of “Yes’s”.” That was advice for future auditions that I would have and it was probably one of the best advice I could’ve gotten at the start of my career. My mom always says to me and the rest of my family, “Your rejection is your protection.” I’ve gotten some “no’s” and some scams from auditions but that’s okay, that just means that there is something better in store for me. That goes for all of you as well. But, that comes with trusting and being patient within the process to get there successfully.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Okay so first, we have to go get something to eat- but something light, like a snack and a drink. A nice walk through the park to get that good and natural sunlight. After that, it’s a must to take them to the Georgia Aquarium. The atmosphere, the sounds of the animals and the water, the smell, it’s really peaceful and so aesthetically pleasing. The overall experience is just pure greatness, so I promise, you will have the greatest time. Then we could go out and get something to eat, if it’s lunch time, I would most definitely put them onto Zaxby’s. Or if they are down for a cool hour drive then I would take them to Buc-ee’s, but the traffic is beyond crazy out here so that’s just something to think about. In between time I’d take them down to the city to get some good pictures. Maybe go to some coffee shops, clothing stores, malls, etc. Dinner time, I don’t know which one but we have to go to a BBQ spot somewhere. we gotta get some type of ribs, chicken, baked beans, and more. Then after an hour or so, we would go get some desert at the Peach cobbler Factory. We could dine in, eat at a park, or drive to a good hilltop and look at an amazing view while it’s night time while we listen to music. The city is also the most beautiful at night. Then after that, no- the night is not finished yet.. After that, if the streets aren’t as crazy- which they probably will, I will take them for a nightly drive with the right music and it’s a vibe for sure. That’s just to give them that great night feeling in Atlanta and to really soak in the view of the city and the atmosphere in general as we’re cruising through. Alright, Now… Goodnight.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost, I wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.. It’s a must to keep him first before anything and I keep my whole hearted faith in him. Then I want to shoutout my family, my amazing and lovely parents.. They did more than an amazing job raising me and my siblings and I love them so very much. That leads on to my next shoutout.. My siblings. My little sister Ajaneé, and my 2 older brothers, Adrian and Amari.. I don’t think they understand how much I love them and I thank God for them every single day.. My family has believed in my journey and goals and without hesitation, I will always continue to do the same for them.

Instagram: @alijah_rose24

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@alijah_rose?si=kZvhnAvm9_psuKzL

Image Credits
•Amari Morris – IG (Moreisamari) •Sami Jo’s Photos – IG (Samijos_photos) •Miya Saugihara – IG (Miya.saugihara)