A Conversation with David Ajala

[00:00:00] Hi, this is David Dejala and I beautiful thing. Thank you. Far too good. Appreciate you. Thank you too. Now, brother, like we saw you on Discovery and we literally lost our men. I think women all across America, first of all, lost their minds. They were like, who is that?

[00:01:41] That's a vicious rumor, damn it.

[00:01:43] People that didn't watch Star Trek

[00:01:46] started watching Discovery. Between 2006 and 2007, I was with Roy Shatesbeck Company, and we were doing three different plays. One of the plays was Hamlet, and that's when I got to work with Sir Patrick Stewart. Sir Patrick Stewart, now known to him, because I've had this conversation with him, he was

[00:03:00] my kind of real bonafide introduction into Star Trek, this was my introduction into professionally performing Shakespeare.

[00:04:22] Because I did it in drama school,

[00:04:24] but this was the first time being. They just have a vibe all their own because when you walk on the boards and if you've ever been in a school play, whatever you've done, you remember it

[00:05:41] because it's something that you have to rehearse

[00:05:46] and rehearse and rehearse. in this industry, doing theater. That's my roots. Yeah, yeah. That's beautiful. I feel like, I feel like theater is like more akin to jazz that way, you know, I mean, you know, with the improv, not the improvisation, but the interplay between the audience and the, you know, no performance. You don't know where somebody's going to take that solo or what choice they're going to make. Yes. And next thing you know,

[00:07:02] you're on a whole different, different trip, you know, because we the dock workers and but so the has these little, you know, very old several hundred for our country, very old, you know, several hundred years old streets and stuff and blues alley is down one of these old alleyways. And in this building and my, my ex-husband who I'm still really good friends with, he used to be the head sound

[00:08:22] engineer there. And I used to do coat check there. But I

[00:08:24] literally grew up going to that experience, as you were talking about feeling the presence and of the people who came before, it's that type of place. You feel it, but also because it's got,

[00:09:41] this building had a history before it was a jazz club,

[00:09:44] you know, had it, you know,

[00:09:46] and so this just like, you know, Brooklyn, wherever. It's just something that just feels right. That one was for you. That one was definitely for that. That was for that. You know what, we're going to the Pizza Wars, but... Right. But it's so true, I get it.

[00:11:00] You know, when you go to these places where it's originated, I think that's why so many

[00:11:04] Americans are so in love with British theater and with British actors, too. my career has been so beneficial because it just opens up your creative portals to deal with any kind of text to embrace and see how much value there is in this great literature. It's a wonderful thing. And then, you know, getting to work in America is some, it's amazing.

[00:12:20] It really, really is because then we embrace that experience, the experiences that they have, me being able to watch it.

[00:13:41] So because of that,

[00:13:42] when it comes to doing an American accent,

[00:13:44] we have all these voices in our heads.

[00:14:41] Yeah, that show.

[00:14:47] That show, similar to My Wife and Kids, but I think Fresh Prince really

[00:14:51] was the trailblazer for it.

[00:14:55] As much as it was fun and humorous

[00:15:00] round the corner, just the beat way, there was always something edifying,

[00:15:03] profound or give you pause for thought.

[00:15:06] Yeah. And I thought they just had that balance so well. solid and it's such a blessing that he's on that show they're blessed to have him he's blessed to be working with them oh i've seen bits of it but i um and what they've done they've they've smashed it directionally they've gone i loved it very impressive yeah yeah and i was i was uh you know i don't know what they're gonna redo you're gonna reboot fresh prince what are you trying to

[00:16:21] do but it was an interesting take i i loved'all can try with the hair. You think you're gonna dim his light somehow. Oh my God, we're afraid of the bald black man.

[00:17:41] It's too powerful.

[00:17:43] Oh, that shininess, too much power.

[00:17:45] Right?

[00:17:46] And like, you know? So when we, it just seems like every conversation that we have around our representation in these various different ways takes on more meaning for me today. You know, especially I was sitting here watching and watching some, a couple of documentaries

[00:19:02] about Juneteenth and about our history

[00:19:04] and the systematic erasure of our history Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. By the way, I really appreciate that. It was super sweet because you, as an actor, you never know where you're at in your personal life and what role will meet you at that moment in your life. And when I was first, when I first had these conversations with

[00:20:24] the guys on Trek, they,

[00:21:22] I remember reading and thinking, this is so cool. And I could see the direction that you guys

[00:21:23] are going with this.

[00:21:25] In my mind, I was thinking, let me

[00:21:29] have another conversation with Alex Kurtzman and Michelle

[00:21:31] Paradise, the showrunners at the time.

[00:21:35] And then we spoke, and they were just

[00:21:36] sharing some ideas with me.

[00:21:38] And it sounded really, really cool.

[00:21:39] And then I spoke to my team that represents me.

[00:21:42] And they said, well, they really would

[00:21:45] love for you to take this invitation to play this role. So having that kind of underpinning, the inward confidence of this guy, I thought just worked really, really well. So he could walk into any room confidently knowing he has something to offer. And it would look people at the eye knowing that you're not above me and I'm not beneath you. I'm not above you and I'm not beneath you.

[00:23:02] There was just something about that character as a black man.

[00:23:05] I wanted him to have two characters meet in such hostile, unfamiliar territory. And then off the back of that first encounter, they now have to kind of help each other to navigate through stuff. And then they start to naturally form a closer bond of trust, just because they have to protect each other and save each other's lives from the enemy.

[00:24:22] That was it.

[00:24:23] Because your space broke.

[00:24:24] Right.

[00:24:25] You know? array of light and absolute joy to work with. She is, she is lightning in the bottle, but in the bottle just smashes because it can't, you can't contain that. She's just amazing. Wonderful, wonderful. In the few minutes that we got to spend with her when she came on our show, you know,

[00:25:40] it was that we felt that, you know,

[00:25:42] and that respect for it that you have for each other,

[00:25:45] it really comes across, you know,

[00:25:47] I mean, it is everything. It is everything. You know, and you said that word like for, you know, the Cleveland Booker is fighting for to save these endangered species. And I'd like, oh, well, who's more endangered right now than the black person on this planet? You know, we are. And that's what this role represents to me.

[00:27:00] Yeah, it was so layered.

[00:27:02] And that's so deep that that was something that touched in the way that you guys could talk about. You would just say one word and you knew what the other one was going to do next. I loved that part of it. I just loved it. Are we going to do that thing that we did on Alpha 2 or whatever? Whatever. You're like, oh, not that again. And it was just divine.

[00:28:22] I loved it. I loved it.

[00:28:23] We all were just like, oh, these two are bonded at the hip.

[00:28:26] She knows what he's talking about. There's so much heart, there's so much love in it. Oh. There are, geez, goosebumps, there are some moments that are just so richly and deeply touching. And I can't wait for y'all to watch it and experience it. Really? And I'm happy that we didn't know it was the final season

[00:29:43] when we were shooting it.

[00:29:44] Yeah.

[00:29:45] Because it gave us the freedom to really be very dude i know and that's saying a lot because on death season four when we thought you were gone and oh yeah jeez all of us we're feeling for burnum we were all wanting to just hug burnum that we were like burnum is not going to be able to deal if this is the truth this can't be right

[00:32:00] Yeah.

[00:32:05] You cannot wait. I cannot wait for see I mean, like, I can't I mean, I can wait because I have to, and I have I'm powerless

[00:32:10] over the situation. But inside, I'm like, Come on, all right.

[00:32:15] Let's go. But I don't want it either. Because I know it's

[00:32:18] gonna be my final season. You know, but, but you know, so we

[00:32:23] telling everybody from discovery that, you like Deep Space Nine, just because he's black. Number one, you're right. Number two. It's a phenomenal show. And if you had half a brain, you would be in love with it too. You know, that's the way I feel about, you know, disco and Deep Space Nine got all it was ahead of its time. And I feel like disco in a lot of ways is ahead

[00:33:42] of its time for us older fans. And with Brooklyn, San Paz of Brooklyn were quite rough, but rough is all subjective. Right. And in Hackney, because we knew the way of the lay of the land,

[00:35:02] what may have been rough to someone else was

[00:35:04] just Palm Paslep just living in this area,

[00:35:07] but we didn't have any other way.

[00:36:20] So can we go back before?

[00:36:22] Because I know our time is about to run out.

[00:36:24] And we had hinted.

[00:36:25] I'm just myself. I love to dance on set. I love it. You gotta get on the cruise baby. I don't need to draw attention to myself. I couldn't care less.

[00:37:41] I love the freedom of being able to dance, you know.

[00:37:44] You gotta get you on the cruise

[00:37:45] so you can get on the dance floor with the rest of the- the school. I'm going to out myself and let everybody know that I'm that one black person that's not a good dancer. Like I've got my two step. I got maybe. There's something with that. It might be the Indian. It might be Filipino. It's definitely my Indian blood because the Filipino like like, like I'm Indian American

[00:39:02] Filipino and black.

[00:39:04] American Filipino and black. I have begged for this my whole life. When I get reincarnated, I want to come back as a dancer. Like, I want to be a professional dancer on my next life. Why not? Huh? Why not? You deserve it. Why not? Yeah, why not? You know, like, right now, these 52-year-old hips ain't going to be, like, getting that limber. But, you know, I mean, they might get a little bit more

[00:40:21] limber than they are at the moment,

[00:40:23] but they're not going to be, you know,

[00:40:24] but I just love dance.

[00:40:26] And I love, I think it's super cool, man. It's like performing, it seems like you've always been a little performer. One way or another, yeah. I think so. I think it was just at the age of like 15, 14, 15, just having too much kind of bouncy energy and needing a way to channel it somehow.

[00:41:43] I found my... fell into dance, fell into kind of acting, garage. We say garage. Yeah. Garage. Not garage. I gotta get my garage right now. It's downstairs. So I need to take it out of the suitcase and just set it up. Because if it's in a suitcase, I'm gonna play it. But if it's set up there with the sticks next to the drum kit, then I'm more like...

[00:43:03] All right.

[00:43:04] I was married to a drummer, so...

[00:43:06] Oh, yeah?

[00:43:07] Yes. the symbols are right, long positioned. But this, funny enough, having this conversation, it's just really reminded me that I need to get a drum kit out of the suitcase. Out of your garage. Just have it there. Out of the garage. Just have it there. Just get set up. Get it out of the garage. Get the drum kit out of the garage. I'm used to hearing that accent. But if you do that, I'll get my piano out of the closet.

[00:44:23] I've got a key script in the closet.

[00:44:25] Oh sweet. You need to get them.

[00:44:27] No. out. You're going to get the piano out. I'm going to get out the pen. All right. And I will write if you're going to drum and you're going to play, I will write. And that is that's our creative commitment to one another. And you know what? We're going to check back with you on Instagram or Twitter and be like, are you doing it?

[00:45:41] Well, absolutely. Please hold me accountable so true. I got to see a Maja mall at Blue's Alley. Going back to Blue's Alley. What a beautiful show. We got to go to Blue's Alley. I'm just telling you, you know, I would love to.

[00:47:01] Absolutely love to. It's like this all all brick, you know, the like below,

[00:47:05] like it's like you go down the steps and it's this little room.

[00:48:07] in there and so we thought that it might be the end of Blue Sally but it wasn't thank god and yeah. No, we're gonna say David.

[00:48:10] Yeah and long live David Ajala man.

[00:48:16] Yay!

[00:48:17] I mean what a joy and...

[00:48:19] He's a king!

[00:48:20] He's a king.

[00:48:21] He's a king.

[00:48:22] He's a king.

[00:48:23] He's a king.

[00:48:24] Y'all the queens.

[00:48:25] And Grudge is our queen too.

[00:48:27] Like we love Grudge.

[00:48:28] She's a queen. In my mind, I always knew that people kind of do two parts. So you just let me know and then we'll make it happen. I think it would be so. I think it would be so. Yeah, it'd be great because I want to talk to you about all the things, all these aspects of book that you've sprinkled in, that goes into the seasoning, the roux of,

[00:49:42] and like how much are we gonna get?

[00:49:45] Like, are we gonna be able to taste the finished product? very important and you will see that there are some moments there are some moments in this season the new season that um are very healing for the character and to see a character see a character healing

[00:51:08] yeah from moment to moment and from moment to moment almost in real time on screen Come what may that there would be so much adventure and fun In this new season So much and every character goes on a journey as they're supposed to Yeah, he was gonna get the quality and the better versions of ourselves is is

[00:52:20] Wonderful to see I can't wait for y'all to see it. We can't wait to see it. We can really really talk

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