(Photo courtesy of Sallieu Sesay)
By Colleen Bement, Editor
His agent, a film producer, and Jesse Eisenberg himself were all singing Sallieu’s praises. This breakout actor knows that this is his destiny!
The love and passion this actor has for his art can only be matched by his love for his family. Sallieu Sesay is a Sierra Leonean / American actor who always wanted to perform. After a career helping others as a nurse, he moved to LA to pursue the dream he knew was meant for him. Now he will appear in John Trengove’s nihilistic thriller “Manodrome” alongside Jesse Eisenberg. In addition to this role, he recently stepped off the set of a 3-episode recurring role on HBO’s hit “Barry,” and has been seen on CBS’ “Seal Team.” This talent was also featured in Tyler Perry’s “All The Queens Men” winning Best Supporting Actor at the Queen Palms Film Festival for his portrayal of Snapper in “Bloodhound Disciple.” Get to know this amazing talent in our up-close interview.
Colleen Bement: Congratulations on your role in the exciting new film “Manodrome.” It looks right up my alley. Tell us about your experience on set.
Sallieu Sesay: Absolutely. First off, the booking itself was wonderful. My manager, I remember her reaching out to me and saying you should hear what casting is saying about you. My manager at the time was British. She had this British accent saying (with a British accent) “Sallieu, you’re the next big thing.” You know, it was very nice to hear that. Very thrilling because you do all of these auditions as an actor and sometimes you hear nothing, and the part that’s most painful is when you hear nothing from the auditions that you nailed. You know what I mean, where you’re like ah, that was my role. I didn’t get it, though. To get this one was great. I didn’t know the magnitude of the project. It just said untitled Riley Keough project. I didn’t know the name, but I knew the actress. I’d seen Riley in “The Girlfriend Experience” where she plays a very high-end prostitute going through law school. I thought she was an amazing actress.
So, I auditioned, and I finally got to set, and the first person I ran into on set was Gina Gammell, who happens to be like best friends with Riley. I did my homework. I did my due diligence before I got there. I’m a big researcher, so I show up on set and I know that this producer is really good friends with Riley. I say hello, and she says (in an Australian accent) Sallieu, I’m never going to stop singing your praises. Oh my god, your audition tape. Oh my god. We all just fell in love with the character you made. I was like wow, thank you. Just to get that validation and that genuine, that sincere you did your thing, was so nice.
And then working with Jesse (Eisenberg) was just very, very cool. The guy is very funny. He’s very witty. He talks very fast, but he’s very gracious and very kind. He made sure that I was comfortable with a lot of the stuff we were working through. He made sure that my eye lines were good so I could see him and connect with him when he was off camera. I mean, he stayed there. He delivered his performance which boost my performance. It was just a wonderful, wonderful experience.
Colleen: That’s amazing!
Sallieu: It was just phenomenal. I broke so many rules in that audition, Colleen. They say don’t play music, and I love music. I LOVE music. I think in another life I was a dancer, or something, right?! So, I danced in my audition. I played some music in my audition. I brought some spice and some flavor to it, and they loved it!
Colleen: What can share about your character in “Manodrome?” Expand on why Jesse Eisenberg referred to your depiction of Ahmet as “mesmerizing, and really sweet and scary at the same time”.
Sallieu: I love that that’s what he said to me. He was kind of echoing what John Trengove. Apparently, after Gina saw the audition, she sent it to the director, John, and didn’t really say anything. She wanted to make sure he had the same sort of visceral reaction. And he did. Now, as far as Jesse saying that the role was mesmerizing and really sweet and scary…what I brought was an element of charm. Very charming and very sly and confident, which kind of makes him a leader, which is why he’s got his buddies around him. He’s kind of the guy—the leader, and they’re all following him.
He’s also got this charisma, and he’s got this indeterminate sexuality. I think some of the most charming people–some of the most brilliant people can make men and women both equally seen. Make men and women both equally feel attractive. You don’t have to necessarily put any label on it. That’s what I built. That’s the character that I developed, and I think that was part of it. Scary in the sense that I’ve got a cult switch in there. Where he’s speaking with a little bit of a hood persona, and he’s got this swag to him. Then all of a sudden he switches to an African dialect when I’m talking to Jesse. I’m delivering these lines to him and there’s a different essence there. I think there’s kind of a push and a pull, and it’s fun to play with. I think he enjoyed that.
Colleen: How did you deal with the African dialect? How did you prepare for that?
Sallieu: The cool thing is his character happens to be from West Africa and the West African accent is pretty similar from the West Coast. You’re talking about Ghana, talking about Nigeria, talking about Sierra Leone. Growing up, first generation here in America, I have genuine authentic African features. Going to school, it wasn’t a cool thing to be African. I was different. I was segregated. People made fun. They called me tar-baby, you’re dark. As a kid, you’re sensitive to these things. I don’t want to be African. No, no I’m like you guys. I’m American. You want to fit in. But what I found as an artist is this: It’s my true authentic self that I bring to the screen for my audition that’s booking me these roles.
I just did a 3-episode recurring role on “Barry” on HBO, and I’m playing an African character. I just did 3 episodes on “Seal Team” playing the African character. I just flew back from New York. I did a “Dick Wolf” top of the show guest star and guess what—an African character. My tapping into my cultural heritage is actually working in my favor. It’s allowing me to book a lot more roles. If that has to be by niche for now, so I can get my foot in the door—I can do a vast array of other things, but if that has to be my niche for now, I’m happy to do that. I think my whole thing is range. I did a non-binary character when I worked as a guest star on one of Tyler Perry’s projects “All The Queen’s Men.” I had the wig on, I had the heels, and I slayed the role. I couldn’t be classified and I think that is a huge compliment.
Colleen: So authentic, I love it! So… “Barry.” I love, love, love that show!
Sallieu: It was a dream. Season 4 I believe episodes 6, 7, and 8. Working with Bill Hader…I mean, they reached out to my reps and they said Sallieu was Bill Hader’s first choice. Can you imagine?! Multiple Emmy-Award-winning Bill Hader creator of this great show is super kind and super easy to work with. I just remember going to the studio, at the table read, and I’m thinking to myself like—wow, it’s so cool –his process–he’s got his laptop open, and we’re doing the read-through, and it’s phenomenal to see how he’ll see that something works, and then type it in. It was almost like a mixture of a writer’s room and a rehearsal. It was the coolest thing.
I got to meet Stephen Root. Super nice, and he was so kind. Anthony Carrigan–same thing. I didn’t get to meet Henry Winkler, and I really wanted to meet The Fonz, but I didn’t get to. Got a lot of love and respect for the guy. Great experience.
Oh my god, listen Colleen, there’s this one project that I worked on. Ultra low-budget thing, but I tell you. I really got some of my best work. I played a nurse who ends up getting sick from Lou Gehrig’s Disease. It affects you from your extremities and eventually affects your central nervous system where you are asphyxiated. You can’t breathe, and your lungs stop working. The diaphragm is the biggest muscle in the body, and it fails. So this character goes through this personal transformation and he’s a father, and I’m a father—there again, there’s a parallel. He gets sick, and his wife starts having an affair with his brother-in-law’s best friend. I don’t want to give the story away, but I will tell you this, the transformation was just phenomenal. Some of my best work. I’m full-blown loving the journey. Loving the training. Loving it all.
Colleen: I can see that on your Instagram. You’re loving your life; you’re loving your journey. Your career. Your family. Where do you get your ideas from?
Sallieu: It’s very eclectic. It’s very heavy in the family stuff. I have an 11-year-old daughter, she just had her birthday. Shout out to my daughter, and then mine is February 10th. She was like an early birthday gift to me. They live in Seattle, and I took a day trip. Caught a plane, flew up there, and brought her flowers, balloons, and cupcakes for her classmates. What I did was had her brother come into the office, and he walks in there with his cute little self like am I in trouble? Meanwhile, his dad’s in the corner, hiding. I said Sallieu–we share the same name. He runs over and gives me this big hug and starts crying. He misses his daddy. Ya know, relationships, sometimes they don’t work out, but you have a responsibility–you’ve created a life–and the bare minimum, make sure that life you created is fostered, encouraged, and nourished. That’s my thing. Being a father, next to acting, is one of my favorite things in the world.
Colleen: You have a recurring role on “Seal Team.” That show is amazing. Would you happen to have any stories from the set? Was there a lot of fitness training involved to play that role?
Sallieu: I try to stay between 2-5 percent body fat year around.
Colleen: Oh my gosh. That’s a lot of work!
Sallieu: It’s a lot of work. My diet, my nutrition is huge. Right now, the winter months it’s cold. Getting out can be hard. I do about an hour of cardio every day. Yesterday, I did an hour and a half of cardio on a stair stepper. I’m able to do that because I read. Right now I’m reading Michael Shurtleff book called Audition. I’m also reading a book called Sapiens about the evolution of mankind. A bit ago I had to bulk up a bit more because my role was that of a bodybuilder. I continued my same routine, but instead of doing an hour of cardio, I take on a few more calories and lift a little heavier. That’s kind of what I do. In this last role I played where I played an East African character, I lost 15 pounds. Now I’m trying to gain the weight back. Whatever I have to do for a role, I do.
Colleen: Tell us your story. You were just three years old when you left Sierra Leone and immigrated to the United States, right? You were all set to be a nurse, and then you caught the acting bug? Can you fill in the blanks for us?
Sallieu: I studied theater first at Central Washington University. I was a freshman with a lot of upperclassmen juniors, seniors. Then I ended up transferring to Washington State University and did West Side Story, and more. I did actually end up getting a degree in nursing. I have a bachelor’s degree in nursing. There was a lot of push and pull between my mother. Being a single parent, wanting to have a good degree so that I wouldn’t have to struggle in life. There’s a lot of resentment in sometimes because I just wanted to be an actor. I’m grateful that I got the degree. I graduated and worked for about three years, and then I said hey. I woke up and said I’m going to LA. Everybody thought I was crazy. I was creating art, having that outlet and that expression.
What’s funny is how things work out, how God, the universe, whatever you want to say. I’ve always loved film more than TV. It’s so funny and coincidental because here I am in my very first feature film and it’s premiering in Berlin. It’s international. I’ve always wanted to appeal to a global market. This is literally my destiny.
Follow Sallieu on his Socials:
- Instagram: @sallieu
- Twitter: @Iamsallieusesay
- Website
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