Nate Parker was born in Norfolk, Va., on Nov. 18, 1979 to a 17 year-old single-mom who never married his biological father. He and his younger sisters were raised mostly in Bath, Maine, where his stepfather was stationed in the U.S. Air Force.

Parker started acting after graduating from the University of Oklahoma. His breakout role came as Hakim in the desegregation drama “Pride.” He has since starred in other sagas with civil rights themes such as “The Great Debaters” and “The Secret Life of Bees.” Later this year he’ll be playing a Tuskegee Airman in the WWII epic “Red Tails.” His current release is “Blood Done Sign My Name,” a bio-pic about the rise to prominence of a young Ben Chavis, who went on to become chairman of the NAACP in the wake of a lynching in North Carolina.

Kam Williams: What interested you in doing “Blood Done Sign My Name” to play an important civil rights figure like Ben Chavis?  

Nate Parker stars a young Ben Chavis, who Parker says stepped into unfolding events and changed the community around him. (Courtesy photos)

Nate Parker: To put it plainly, it was the fact that it fit my model. I prefer to make movies (that) not only have a message for “then” but a message for “now.” Here was this 22-year-old brother who had no idea what was about to happen, and yet, when it did, he stepped into it in a way (that) changed an entire community. There was leadership and a sense of accountability in this young man, and those are qualities I can talk about in 2010. So, when I read the script, I knew that it could serve as a tool in the present for some of what ails our community.

KW: How did you prepare for the role?

NP: I read everything I could about the period, including the book the film is based on. The book was incredible because it deals with racism, white supremacy and the black inferiority complex in a real way, and it illustrates how they can be a cancer on a community.

KW: And how does that relate to today?

NP: I look around today, and I see the prison-industrial complex, and how 50 percent of our brothers and sisters are behind bars, and how half of us are dropping out of school. And I look at the escalating HIV rate in the black community. These are issues now, and we need leaders to address those crises in the way that Ben Chavis was effective at inspiring a whole generation of kids.

KW: Is it true that your showbiz career got started when you were spotted by a talent scout?

NP: Yeah, I was working in computers when this stranger approached me out of the blue, saying I should become an actor. I took it as a gift from God, because I had been praying for clarity about what He wanted me to do, since I wasn’t happy in computers. So, I gave my employer notice, and moved to L.A. in two weeks. It was definitely Divine intervention. And six year’s later, here I am, and Jon Simmons, the guy who signed me up, is still my manager….

KW: Why are these message movies you make so important?

NP: Because the way in which we were disconnected from our continent has left us in this limbo when it comes to identity. Our community lacks a rite of passage that you see in so many other cultures, that celebration where you’re surrounded by other people who look like you, explaining to you what it means to be a person of African descent coming of age. When I was young, to have a big nose, big lips or dark skin was the worst. You were the wretched. That was something I not only felt, but I participated in….That’s why I believe the first step we need to take to change our community is in identity, in learning who we are and why we are. In understanding the struggles we went through in Africa, the strength that it took to endure the Middle Passage, and the struggles we’re going through now.

KW: In seeing all the civil rights movies you make, it seems like you’re consciously picking socially relevant projects.

NP: Absolutely! My community has to come first. How we feel about and what we’re willing to do for our people has to be imbedded in our very bones. When dealing with our people, we don’t have the luxury of treating it like a hobby.  

KW: There comes a stage in every black actor’s career where Hollywood forces him to put on a dress and act the fool. How have you been able to avoid that?

NP: Through the grace of God who gave me this opportunity. I have to acknowledge Him as the one that has blessed me, and I put my faith in Him. Will I explore other genres? Definitely, but like I said, my community has to come first. I know this attitude is rare, especially in a capitalist society where we’re encouraged to stay away from the ghetto if you make it out. Sadly, black people disassociate ourselves from the things which make us who we are, identifying them as lesser, or inferior. It’s a form of self-hate. So, with reckless abandon, we strive to be like the majority….

KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

NP: To take the steps, and to believe.

KW: How do you want to be remembered?

NP: As a servant.