LeJon is a native of Southern California, born in Inglewood and raised in Compton & Carson.  LeJon’s first theatre experience was at the age of 11 when he played Travis in “A Raisin In The Sun” with The All Peoples Community Theatre group. He danced on Soul Train in H.S.  In college he was an English Major & Minored in Theatre Arts.  After College he attended Loyola Law School for 1 year. That summer he obtained employment for a private practice law firm in Century City. A year later he was hired at an Entertainment Business Mgmt Firm. Gene Hackman, Boz Scaggs, Kelly LeBrock and Apollonia were his clients.

Lejon Stewart As Cover Story – November 2024 Edition

 He was working on “Loose Ends” by J. Luksetich and he was cast in Elijah Perry ‘s & Nestor Vinelli’s “Echoes of the Forest”. Later, LeJon was interviewed LIVE by Arica TV (Chile) and he was featured in the front cover of Original MAGAZINE (UK) in the June/July 2024 Issue. He was published as well, at the Spanish magazine Ventanas Abiertas from Madrid.

In August, Lejon Stewart won the Dick Gregory Award from the National Congress of Black Women. The event was at Carson Community Center, California.

Recently , he attended the premiere of Lucy and the Lion, from Director Kalman Apple, at the Silicon Beach Film Festival in Los Angeles. Lejon Stewart has been cast in this award-winning short film. 

Reflecting on your early commercials, how did working with directors like Michael Bay and Hype Williams shape your approach to acting?

While working with the Great Michael Bay I learned to trust my own natural instincts, Yes, our job as actors are to follow their directions, but I learned that I can do better work, if I trust my own gut.

In those early years, circa 2002, 2003 I was less seasoned than who I am now.  I did not realice how expressive I could be and therefore I waited for Mr. Bay to tell me exactly how to react and how to respond.  When I reflect on that shoot I should have danced very expressively without a care in the world. I am a great dancer and I can be very creative with my dance moves but I was intimidated because it was MICHAEL BAY, it was the 50 year Anniversary of the Mercedes Benz SL series. 

We were at Paramount Studios (where THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, ROSEMARY’S BABY, GREASE etc.. were filmed).  There I was, wearing bell bottom genes and sporting a big afro representing a funky cool 70s guy but was overwhelmed.  Mr. Bay walked over to me and said “Okay, do it!  IOW he just wanted me to bust out with some cool 70s dance styled moves but I waited for music to dance to.  But no music came on.  I felt uncomfortable, awkward and not cool.

I was so nervous I forgot that I personally coined a phrase called DANCEAPELLA in 1988, several years prior. It’s similar to ACAPELLA but there is no music when you dance..  Back in the day, I would dance all the time, having fun even when there wasn’t music playing. But not that time, instead my mind danced away from my head, so to speak.  It’s like forgetting your name when a beautiful gal asks you for it. At that moment you can’t think … , I’m sure most have had that experience at least once in their lifetime and it’s not fun. 

Overall, I relaxed more, and we got through the shoot. I am happy to share that when the commercial aired I did make the final cut.  In fact, the icing on the cake:  I was watching the 2002 Academy Awards and Halle Berry became the first Black woman to win Best Actress,for “Monster’s Ball” the show cut to commercial and I saw me in the Mercedes commercial and when it returned to the broadcast Denzel Washington won Best Actor for “Training Days”.      

Throughout your career, you’ve taken on a variety of roles. How do you maintain versatility and keep challenging yourself as an actor?

Throughout my career I have indeed taken on a variety of roles from stage, television, features to webisodes, music videos & industrials. When it comes to maintaining versatility I just go with the flow. What does that mean? I have always been an easy going guy my entire life. So as an actor, I bring that natural persona to every role on every project. The Director wants me to be the character whom he/she feels will move the story, in the best way, in telling this particular story.

Many actors will turn down roles not because their busy schedule but because it affects their moral compass. Especially Black actors who will refuse to portray a crack-head (drug addict), pimp, homeless guy etc… because they feel those roles perpetuate stereotypes. Sydney Poitier, one of our most prolific and successful Black actors ever, constantly turned down roles that he felt were inferior to the legacy he wanted to leave.

I very much respect his choice for him but I am in the mindset of performing the realities of life. I believe that if we are to change things for the better, those negative things must be exposed, first. Hopefully a dialogue is created and we, responsible people work on eliminating the negatives in real life. I’m from Compton, Ca, and I can’t afford to pretend that they do not exist.

“Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest” is a film with a massive fan following. What was your experience like on set, and how do you relate to your character?

I worked on Pirates of The Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest 2006 for one year. I began March 2005 and I was released March 2006. During that year we filmed at the following locations: 6 months Grand Bahamas, 3 months Dominica, 1 month San Pedro,Ca. And remaining at Disney Studios, Burbank & Universal Studios, Universal City,Ca. S.A.G. contract stipulates that we fly in the First class section.

This was the first time in my life that I ever flew First Class but it hasn’t been the last time. In each Caribbean location our rooms have an ocean view and of course, they were breathtaking views. It was very easy to relate to my character in many ways. First, we both share the same name per Director Gore Verbinski. Secondly, in the entertainment business, I very often find myself being the only African American performing and sometimes out of the entire Cast & Crew.

At one point in a sequence of scenes with Johnny Depp, Lee Arenberg, McKenzie Cook and me were the only American performers on set that day, out of 30 British actors. Johnny Depp retorted “Guess I know how it feels to be a Minority”. And we all laughed. My character, Lejon was the only black on Captain Jack Sparrow’s close crew who accompanied the Capt. Whenever leaving The Black Pearl ship.

Social Media And Links

Facebook: Lejon Stewart 

Instagram: @lejonstewart