Perspective: Noirs | BENZ ANTOINE (ENG)

Benz Antoine is an actor who is as much at ease in English as in French.  These days, his career  takes him from Quebec to LA, with frequent stops in Toronto and Vancouver.  Rubens Antoine was born in Montreal, the oldest of three siblings, and was so academically gifted that he skipped 4th grade.  His intellectual range and curiosity was so great that, during his University studies in Economics,  he fell in love with the world of ideas and found himself studying philosophy.  At 21 he started a rap career, which he did succesfully for two years.  That’s when he got his first acting job.  Since that first role, he’s appeared in more than 75 films and TV shows.  His most current TV series, 19-2, is a phenomenon in Quebec.  Antoine plays the sympathetic patrolman Tyler.  Never content with standing still, Benz Antoine will stretch his boundaries again when he publishes his first book in the Spring of 2013.

Place of birth: Montreal, Québec

Black roots from: Haïti

Profession: Actor, director, writer

1. What I have learned in life from the fact of being Black :

The most important thing being Black has taught me is to never let anything stand in the way of what you want.

A difference is only a negative if you let it be that. I have turned all my personal Negatives into POSITIVES.That is how I live, that is what I believe and so far I have 100% success rate, with a 20 year track record. You will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, and I will never let a simple physical characteristic define me.

2. What I’d like to tell the young people reading my note :

If I could speak to young people all day and everyday I would be a happy man.They are the present and the future. The difference between a child that we EN-courage and one this is DIS-couraged is phenomenal. When you see the world as limit-LESS anything you want you can have.

That is the attitude I would love to inject in all children and whenever I get DIS-couraged, as we all do sometimes, I remind myself of the things that have been successful for me as well as others. If Obama can be the president of the United States, anything else is a piece of cake.

3. What I’d like to let an immigrant know :

I would tell them what my once-immigrant uncle told me:

« There is no such thing as an « Immigrant ».  This is YOUR country as much as anyone else’s »  donc il faut prendre sa place »

And that is what I have done. If you master the language, and you are willing to adhere to the laws of the land, then the land will be yours!

Benz Antoine

Version française ici

« The Drewey Bozella Story » an inspirational story of persistance and determination towards the reach of one’s goal.

Présentation de Perspective: Noirs
1er février: Oliver Jones (FR) | (ENG)
2 février: Dominique Anglade
3 février: Brian Tyler
4 février: Tetchena Bellange
5 février: Ulrick Chérubin
6 février: Jenny Salgado
7 février: Dorothy Rhau
8 février: Henri Dorvil
9 février: Isabelle Massé
10 février: Fabrice Vil
11 février: Anthony Kavanagh
12 février: Jean David Prophète
13 février: François Bugingo
14 février: Sarodj Bertin
15 février: Francesca Nelson 
16 février: Étienne Routhier-Fillion
17 février: Maxën Aly
18 février: Nefertari Bélizaire
19 février: Ali Nestor Charles
20 février: Paola Rachel Jean-Pierre

21 février: Benz Antoine (RF)

22 février: Stéphanie Hyppolite
23 février: David Calizaire
24 février: Christine Mitton
25 février: Edem Awumey
26 février: Corneille
27 février: Angelo Cadet
28 février: Marie-Christine Jeanty