Isaiah Mustafa Talks Changes & Darkness of Shadowhunters

What's up, guys? We're hanging out in the Young Hollywood studio with the ever so talented and funny Isaiah Mustafa.

Hey, how's it going?

Good. How are you doing? Thanks for being here.

I'm doing well. Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me and with the faux carpets and everything.

Now, this isn't your first time here. You've been back.

I believe I have. I believe there was a there was a Comic Con that I was reminded about, but I I I feel like it's been a while since I've been here, though. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, first of all, I want to say congrats on going to ASU. I have to bring this up because I lived in Phoenix last year and isn't Arizona like the most beautiful place ever?

It It really is. It's Sedona is amazing, but let's talk about Tempe. I mean, what a place to go to college. Right?

Did you go out in like Scottsdale?

You know, North Scottsdale was a little bit above my pay grade at the time. So, I I I stayed in Tempe, but I mean, I think I might be able to make it out there now.

And you played ball there at ASU, right?

Yeah, played a little football for a couple years.

So, when you were in college, how did you get the acting bug? Like, what made you decide to be an actor?

My brother kind of, he did some theater and I I kind of caught it from him. But when I was in high school, I had this track coach who asked me to be in this Ojai Shakespeare Festival. Mr. Foley. And Mr. Foley was like, you want to be in Romeo and Juliet? And I thought, why not? And so that's that's kind of where I caught the bug and then from there I just kept going, see what happens.

What part did you play in Romeo and Juliet?

Oh, Romeo? No. No. I wish. I wish. Uh one of the No, actually I don't. I don't wish. Um one of the smaller roles. I think he was Sampson.

Old Spice wasn't your first acting role, right? That's just kind of what catapulted you into the acting sphere. Right.

Yeah. My first my very first acting job was uh was a Office Depot commercial.

Oh, really?

Non-speaking. I was just a softball player hitting, you know, just I was Miles the softball guy who worked at uh Office Depot.

And you did a lot of cool roles, right? I mean, you were in Horrible Bosses as well. You played the cop, right?

Yeah. One of the cops. Yeah.

So you were literally in a movie with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. These huge stars.

I yeah. Yeah.

I watched a behind-the-scenes video of how they shot the Old Spice commercial on YouTube and you literally have to memorize all your lines. They're lifting you up, taking you to all these different locations. It's crazy.

It was crazy. Yeah. Um like I I just like I just remember I've I'm like just as long as I do my job, like that that's all I need to worry about and everything else will happen. And it it was right. Like the guys they were able to get the shirt on and all that stuff.

And you said football kind of helped you become an actor. What about being the youngest of seven kids? Was it seven kids?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, man. But I was like 10 years removed, you know, there wasn't it was almost like I had like six moms, you know. Yeah. So because I have five sisters. So so yeah, I my brother's 10 years older than me. It wasn't like I was I was running around with like like competing with five or six other people. It was just me mostly. So I was kind of like an only child.

Now, I looked up some of the traits of the youngest child. I'm the middle child, so I know. We're neglected. I know those traits, but I looked up some traits for you. And charming? Obviously, we know that. You're the Old Spice guy.

Yes.

Rebellious?

Yes.

And there's more agreeable.

I'll agree to that.

There you go. Persistent?

Sure. Yeah. I I I I guess I guess so.

You have me though. If you're a ballplayer, like you have to be persistent. Like you're a tough guy, you know.

Yeah, that's true. I I always feel like the youngest child if you if you're in the mix, like you may get forgotten. I mean, I know that's a middle child trait also, but but like I think the youngest child you just kind of get left behind sometimes.

Yeah. Well, maybe that's why you became an actor, cuz you're like, Mom, Dad, look at me now. You definitely need the attention. Yeah. So now you're on this hit show, Shadowhunters. What can we expect from this season?

Oh, man, lots of changes. I mean, you're going to see people. Oh, man. I I You're so hard to talk about anything nowadays that's on TV or in film, because you can't give away any secrets. You just have to go like, oh, it's going to be crazy. Uh there's a lot of changes. People going through changes.

Yeah, so what do they tell you? Don't talk about this, don't talk about that. Just say it's going to be a good show.

Yeah. Pretty much, you know. I mean, I I can say uh my character uh is going to be faced with a lot a lot of decisions that he has to make. Um stuff like that. But you can't really get into the meat of it because it's it's you're giving away spoilers all the time. I can say this much, you'll see a lot more action and and the show's taken on a much darker tone.

But you're playing a werewolf, right?

Right. That's right.

So what's that like? How do you get into character as a werewolf?

You go down to the local kennel, just kind of start talking to, you know, dogs the best you can, you know. Um

And you have two dogs now, right?

Yeah, I do. I do. I did a lot a lot of character study on those two.

So you sit with your script and you kind of channel your inner dog.

Yeah. Uh they weren't too much help. They're pretty lazy. So it's a lot of sleeping with my dogs and barking at people who come to deliver mail.

Well, thank you so much for being here. I cannot wait to watch this season.

Me too.

You guys can catch Isaiah on Shadowhunters.