Q&A: Nate Parker, Voice of 2014 Intro Video

Former Oklahoma wrestler Nate Parker, a 2002 All-American and current Hollywood actor, director and writer, voiced the 2014 Football Intro Video. Sooner Sports TV Host Chad McKee interviewed Parker during "Sooner Sports GameDay" prior to the Aug. 30 football game against Louisiana Tech. Parker talked about his career, what it means to him to voice the video that welcomes to the Sooners to Owen Field this season and more.

Q: I think what is very interesting is how you kind of got involved in acting. It was not maybe the most typical route that actors and actresses take to Hollywood. Give Sooner fans and idea how you kind of got discovered.
A: “You know, it's interesting because I live in Hollywood, and when people ask me what I studied in school and I tell them computers, they kind of look at me through a cocked eye. I studied and graduated with a MIS degree and was on the way to getting a job, but I was dating a girl, a young lady from Oklahoma, who was pursing her modeling career. She asked me to go with her to Dallas to a convention, and I said “why not?” You know, hang out with a pretty girl in Dallas, there could be worse things to do with your time. So I went down and just hung out, and I was basically shadowing her around while she looked at her people and showed her book. A guy approached me and asked if I was a part of the program, and I said I wasn't. He said, “You have a good look. I'd love to hear you do a monologue.” He gave me a monologue, and I spent about an hour with it then showed up in front of a group of people and did it. He said, “I'd love for you to come and train with us out in Los Angeles. I have a class, and I'll help get you representation.” It's something about programming where you think to yourself, “Do I want to try this acting thing and see if he's legit, or do I want to go be a programmer and sit in a basement with no windows in a cubicle and see how that turns out?” So it turned out to be an easy risk. I had my degree. My mother was very supportive. She said, “You have your degree. If it doesn't work, you come back and go to work.” So I tried it and within a week, I got an agent, and then in the first couple months I got a job that would be able to sustain me for a year, and the rest is history.”

Q: Your career has really taken off in the last two or three years. One of the highlights I know for you has been to work with your acting and career model Denzel Washington (in the film The Great Debaters). What was that like for you?
A: “It was incredible. I get that question most often whether it be in my travels or from young actors, and he is everything you would think he is. He has integrity. He's just the energy when he walks into the room. He's commanding without being disrespectful. He's everything that you would want in a role model, especially someone coming up in a business that can be as difficult as this one. He was someone that really went out of his way to provide me with not only perspective and context but advice on how to choose projects and how important it is from the very beginning of your career to choose projects that you believe will create a legacy for you that you will be proud of … Like you said, I'm having a great little go at it. I feel very blessed that I can do something that I love so desperately.”

Q: What do you remember most or maybe your fondest memories and times in Norman?
A: “I would have to say my fondest memories were around sports for me. I did pretty well in school, graduated with honors, but for me, it was being able to have the comradery of my wrestling friends. E.K. Waldhaus, he lives here in LA now, he's also still one of my closest friends. We just started a kids wrestling program together. Leonce Crump was also an All-American for Oklahoma. He came into through LA going to Australia to speak, and I drove up to the airport and hung out with him for a couple of hours. It's just the relationships I've made. I was an All-American in 2002, so that was a great moment being able to bring that back home to the wrestling room and to the program. I met friends that have made such a lasting impact on my life, and to be able to still be able call on them and to know that I met them there means a lot to me.”

Q: Are you able to stay connected with OU?
A: “I am. Specifically through anything OU I can be involved with from afar from LA, I try to participate. I get the newsletters. I, of course, am a die-hard fan, and being here in California I tend to meet a lot of Dallas and Texas fans, so we always have our fun disagreements. Now, because I am still involved with wrestling, I coach at a local school, and we have some kids who have done very well, so I have a lot of contact with Oklahoma State. It's a little different when you're not competing when it can be you're actually standing in the same room, but it's good. Anytime I have an opportunity to be involved, I am. And I'm open to being even more involved. When Steve Sturges (Partner/Creative Director for VI Marketing and Branding) called me and asked if I was open to this, I told him that I'd do it ... I would offer my time and do everything I could to motivate and inspire the team to do well this year.”

Q: How did you go about the process of being involved in it? What was it like for you to do the voice-over work?
A: “It was great. It's funny because most of my experience from being in the studio and voice is what they call ADR, when I do recording for a film and say for whatever reason a plane was flying overhead and they need me to dub my own voice for film, so I have a lot of experience with it. But I've never had the opportunity to do something that was so personal that I could feel a visceral connection to with respect to the university and the team. In talking with Steve (Sturges) and setting it up, I went to a local studio out here that I work for. He gave me the text and the material and we kind of just started plugging at it. He gave me his ideas and his thoughts and his notes, and we were able to craft something that we believed would really simplify my belief in the program and my kind of encouragement to the team as it goes out there before the game.”

Q: You know that if they go unbeaten and win a national championship, they will probably ask you to do this every single year.
A: “You know what? I'm not opposed to it. If my voice gives anything toward helping them win the national championship, just count me in.”

Q: What films do you have coming up? Tell the Sooner fans what they can look forward to.
A: “On Nov. 14, I have a film called “Beyond the Lights” that will come out. It will actually be right smack in the middle of football season. It's a love story about a LAPD cop and a young lady, who is kind of like a Rhianna type pop star, and them falling in love. But there's the backdrop of her career and him wanting to be like his father, a politician, and them kind of just finding their own voices and living for themselves in the face of what their parents want for them. It's very relatable, especially for young people. It's been testing through the roof in the demographic of 25-45. Everyone can really appreciate a good love story, so I think that you guys, you'll like it. Next year I have a film coming out called “A Birth of a Nation” about a revolutionary named Nat Turner (played by Parker), so I am excited about that (Parker also wrote the script and is directing the film). I am just trying to continue to make movies that I think are positive and that portray young men in a positive light, and I am very, very appreciative to all those who support me.”

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Q&A: Nate Parker, Voice of 2014 Intro Video

Related News

Related Videos

Sponsors