Hello and welcome to the Scene 2 Seen podcast, and I am your host, Valerie Complex. T Sorry for not posting last week, but the Sundance Film Festival was brutal and couldn’t get an episode out in time. Sorry!!

Today’s guest is Till star Jalyn Hall.

At 15-year-old, has already developed a huge following being a current fan favorite on the uber popular CW series All American, where he plays the series regular role of “Dillon James,” since 2018. Segueing into film, Jalyn can next be seen in a ground breaking performance portraying Civil Rights icon, Emmet Till in MGM/Orion Picture’s upcoming motion picture Till. The film is an biographical drama written and directed by Chinonye Chukwu and also stars Danielle Deadwyler, Whoopi Goldberg, who also produces the film. The film tells the real-life story of Mamie Till-Mobley (Deadwyler), an American educator and activist who pursues justice after the 1955 lynching of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till (Hall). The film is set to release October, 14, 2022 and is poised to make Jalyn a star.

In addition to Till, Jalyn recently wrapped production on the new Disney+ series, The Crossover. Based on the bestselling Newbery Award-winning novel-in-verse by author, poet and educator Kwame Alexander, this drama tells the story of 14-year-old basketball phenom brothers, Josh (Hall) and JB (Amir O’Neil) Bell. The boys come of age on and off the court as their former pro-baller father adjusts to life after basketball and matriarch mother finally gets to pursue dreams of her own. This aspirational and emotional family drama is narrated entirely by Josh (Hall) through his lyrical poetry. Alexander, Damani Johnson and Dee Johnson executive produce with Tillman, Bob Teitel and Jay Marcus via State Street Pictures (Barbershop, Soul Food) and LeBron James will also serve as executive producer.

Growing up Jalyn knew at the age of four that he wanted to entertain and act. He didn’t know what it was called, he just knew he wanted to do it! His mom noticed that Jalyn was really serious about it and decided to enroll him in actors’ workshops in Atlanta where they are from. Jalyn, remembers being so excited to wake up and go to class and couldn’t wait to learn new techniques and to start honing his acting skills. It was after a few years that his current agent discovered him at one of the workshops talent showcases and the rest is history.

On this episode, Jalyn and I discusses learning about Emmett Till and how he crafted the character, working with Danielle Deadwyler and Whoopi Goldberg, and how he stays grounded among success.