Meet Cali Dequan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cali Dequan.

Cali, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue entertainment in January of 2019, and although LA has been a roller coaster, it also has been a blessing in disguise. I drove 21 hours from DTX to LA and have been in so many projects for the past six months. I started off by linking up with a mutual friend (James Wilkerson) who ended up becoming family and giving me some In and outs about the city. He introduced me to central casting and fr there the rest was history. I started off making my living doing extra and background work, landing principal gigs here and there. But central casting is what gave me a taste of what it would be like to eventually be behind the camera and on a live set. From there, I signed up with LA casting and started to self submit and book my own work, booking things like Commercials and stand in jobs that paid a pretty hefty coin. I’m currently in the process of getting signed to a big agency out here, and despite all the good things that have happened to me in LA there have been some trials that took me through a learning experience

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
If I say it was smooth, I’d be lying. I think the smoothest of it all was my ride to lax I legit coasted here and only stopped like three times to get like 30 mins of sleep. There have been multiple challenges the most difficult was trying to find housing in LA when I first got to the city after about a week there were nights I legit slept in my car because I was unaware of the resources around me all I wanted was to get to LA knowing that things will eventually fall into place. Other than sleeping in my car some nights there came a time where work was very slow, and finances started to become scarce, but I didn’t let that put fear in me, I signed up for Uber and Postmates and made a pretty good amount of money doing deliveries and such. There was a time where I got cast into an Issa Rae project and had an amazing day on set but when it was time to go home I noticed I misplaced my keys to my car and where I was staying was super far. So I went all night without my keys and had to sleep on the train because at that point in time all of the hotels around the area were booked or more than 300/ night. Until the next day, I got a call saying that production found my keys. During the time I didn’t understand why I out of all people had to get through that, but that experience taught me a lot and honestly made me aware of a person that I didn’t know I was capable of being.

Please tell us about your work.
I am an actor and songwriter I would say overall entertainer, but acting is my niche and my passion and what I want to be known for. I’m currently signed to Hayes talent Agency but in the works of signing to a huge agency out here in LA that has to remain unnamed until set in stone. I’ve worked in a hand full of shows some of you might know like, Brownish with Yara Shahidi. “A black lady’s sketch show” with Issa Rae as the producer and also has filmed a commercial for AT&T along with many other projects.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would definitely take my time with certain ideas and situations, and I would be more prepared to tackle a city I knew nothing about. I would also take time and dedicate it to finding resources that are helpful instead of waiting until the last minute to do things.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @CaliDequan
• Twitter: @hipster_kicks

Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.