Daniel Kaluuya credits THIS ‘sidelined' actor for acting career

Daniel Kaluuya was inspired by fellow actor and close friend Ashley Walters when he chose a career in acting

During the BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday, Oscar-winning British actor Kaluuya said that seeing Walters’ face on the cover of a magazine while shopping in a supermarket, was the “moment I believed it could happen… I was like, ‘Oh, he looks like me.'”

He noted that seeing Walter’s success “really gave me the kind of belief” that a career in acting could be rewarding. However, he noted that Walters, who starred in Top Boy, Bulletproof, and Two is a Family, was “sidelined” by the industry.

“They’ve not really taken in your craft and your work and how hard it is to do what you’ve done,” he said. “I’m adamant, because you make mistakes in your life and you get defined by your mistakes, especially if you’re Black. You never get defined by your work if you’ve made a mistake.”

The Get Out star named another star who helped him during his rise to fame: his Black Panther co-star Chadwick Boseman. When Kaluuya’s critically acclaimed movie Get Out was about to be released, Boseman could see that his “life was changing, and I didn’t know,” so he guided him on “what to say, what not to say.”

“He really helped me out,” said the Nope star.

This comes after Daniel Kaluuya unveiled his Get Out inspired statue in Leicester Square in London. The actor gushed about the honor and invited fans to take photos with the statue, which came to be as a result of their love for the movie.