Issa new column, y’all! Welcome to the second edition of #MCM — a new post section comin’ atcha the first Monday of every month about your fave celeb crushes. Sometimes, it’ll be an extended look into our print issue’s Bae Watch and other times, it’ll be someone we haven’t featured yet. Let’s get to it. Next up: Skylan Brooks.
Skylan Brooks has this to say about his name — and the name he’s making for himself: “I wanted to take it from ‘Skylan’ to ‘Skyland,'” he says. “I came from the sky to the land with the master plan.” And no cap, the 19 year old is slowly taking over the the entertainment industry one project at a time — from The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete to Netflix’s The Get Down to his newest project, which is unlike any role you’ve seen him play before.
In The Darkest Minds, hitting theaters August 3, Skylan plays Chubs, who he describes as a “cocky know-it-all” in the midst of a post-apocalyptic America. “He is very sarcastic, which comes off comedic,” Skylan says. “I’ve never gotten to be straightforward in a comedic role. I’m like the comedic relief in this film.” In this dystopian world, some kids and teens have developed very powerful abilities, making them targets of the government. The movie follows Ruby, one of the most powerful with these abilities, on her journey of escaping from encampment and meeting up with a group of kids just like her who squad up to fight back.
Being attached to so many big-name films and projects early in his career, Skylan has learned what it means to be trusted with a significant portion of a story line, how to become quicker with learning lines and coming up with ideas, and the importance of improvisation, among other things. After all, he’s legit been training since he was 5. You name it, he’s done it: pageants, modeling, dancing, theater, and acting classes. “Without doing all those things, I don’t think I would be as confident as I am now,” he says. “I would probably be a little shaky on delivery.”
He also sings. And raps.
“I’m low-key on the SoundCloud tip right now,” Skylan says. “I wasn’t always into music until very recently. Me and my friends got together and said we should make our own music. A lot of the music today is very generic and the same across the board. I do hip-hop, jazz, soul … I’m working on an album.”
Busy with a lot of projects right now, including a movie with Miles Brown (from black-ish) called Emmett, Skylan hopes to put out an EP either by the end of this year or the beginning of next. “It’s been a little rough. I’ve already started it, and the stuff I’ve come up with is pretty dope,” he says. “Hopefully, I can work my schedule out enough to get a steady flow coming along. I can’t wait!”
Aside from acting and music, Skylan hopes to diversify his career by breaking into philanthropy, motivational speaking, and writing. “I’m writing something right now that’s in the works. I’m thinking of it becoming either a video game or a book or even a screenplay,” he says.
There’s nothing this dude can’t do.
Main Image by Daniel McFadden
