Justin Malachi

The actor Justin Malachi was born in North Carolina. His father is from Bennettsville, South Carolina and his mother is from Hamlet, North Carolina. Justin was raised in the small town of Hamlet. He is the youngest of three children. As a young child, he watched his grandmother every Sunday as she stood on the pulpit and preached to the congregation; he would then mimic her and the other ministers. At the age of 5, he went on a school trip to see the stage production of "Harold and the Purple Crayon" and he was in complete shock having never seen anyone other than his grandmother and pastor on stage. He was amazed. A year after the play, Justin's grandmother learned that a movie was being filmed in their town of Hamlet, and so she decided to take him to watch the filming. When he saw all of the cameras and all of the actors, his passion for acting began. They were filming Billy Bathgate starring Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman. He later told his mom all about it and said that he wanted to be an actor; she told him he could do anything that he put his mind to. In class, Justin took every chance he could to get a laugh from his fellow students. His ultimate goal was to get the teacher to laugh as well. In the 2nd grade, his music teacher noticed how he enjoyed entertaining the other kids and picked him to be in several school plays. After graduating from high school, Justin decided to move to Washington D.C. to pursue a career in acting. Having very little support from his family for his acting ambitions, he enrolled in a small college in Maryland. He studied acting part-time at the theatre lab. He would send out headshots and go to auditions as much as he could. Due to a sudden turn of events after three years in D.C., he decided to move back home to Hamlet, North Carolina. He decided to take a job with The North Carolina Department of Corrections. As he started getting familiar with the job and knowing the staff and the inmates, he would start imitating the inmates and the staff. He decided that he wanted to pursue acting again. Justin went to his town theatre to audition for a part in a stage play. When the director handed him the script, he noticed that the part was that of a preacher; he smiled to himself knowing that he would nail the audition and get the part, which he did. After two weeks, the production was over and his pursuit to follow his passion was at an all time high. He decided to take the same path Denzel took and moved to San Francisco to study at the American Conservatory Theatre. He hopped on a plane one day and did just that. He enrolled at The American Conservatory Actor Studio. Happy with all of his progress, he knew that he would soon have to get a job to support himself. He applied to a fitness gym and was hired as a fitness trainer. He felt personal training is the perfect career for an actor: you can make a lot of money, meet people, and look great. He was right. After two months of work he was able to get his headshots taken. He sent his headshots to every casting director and agent in Northern California. It paid off. A casting director called him in for a small role as an extra in the film "Bottle Shock" starring Chris Pine and Alan Rickman. He knew the film was set in the 70's, so to make a good impression he went to a thrift store to buy his own costume. The next day when he showed up onset, the wardrobe women loved it. The director loved it so much that he upgraded Justin to stand behind Chris Pine and Alan Rickman. When finishing "Bottle Shock", Justin continued to study his acting and to perform in theatre productions. More extra work in film and principal Television work started to come. In 2010 he received a call from a casting director about a film called Red Tails. Having been frustrated with all the extra work with no SAG union incentives, he turned it down. Moments later he called back and asked if he can still have the part. Understanding his dilemma the casting agent said, "Of course." Days later he showed up on set, knowing everyone from the grip guy to the director. He sat with the producer of the film, Rick McCallum while having lunch and talked to him about how he looked him up before he came onset. Rick laughed. After the film was finished being shot, Justin expressed to Rick that if he wanted to compete in this industry as an actor he needed his SAG card. He asked Rick if he could give him a headshot and Rick said, "Sure." The next day, Justin received a call from the same casting agent. She said, "You must have hit it off with someone big onset. They are requesting for you and guess what? You will be SAG eligible when filming is over!" Justin is still in San Francisco. He just finished up his first self-directed and self-prod