It was right after his higher education experience when actor, entrepreneur, and media mogul, Jason R.Moore, took the opportunity to move to New York City to pursue his biggest dream.
Since then, he has allowed himself to grow within each role he gained, whether it was on stage performing a piece for notable playwright, August Wilson, scoring television roles on some of our favorite TV series such as ‘Law and Order: SVU’ and even making a brief but recognizable appearance in Disney’s 2010 film, ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.’ We had the opportunity to speak with Moore on his humble beginnings, being in the middle of five siblings and now to his biggest role yet as a regular on the Netflix series, Marvel’s ‘The Punisher,’ where he plays “Curtis Hoyle;” a faithful friend to the punisher himself, Frank Castle and leader of a therapy group for soldiers battling PTSD.
‘The Punisher,’ which focuses on the complexities and trauma that can surface after military service, premiered in November of this year and has received a growing fan base and been met with rave reviews. Moore isn’t just an actor, as we learned more about his entrepreneurial work with his tech gadget, being an advocate for spreading the importance of international news, a sneak peek into upcoming projects and what to expect from ‘The Punisher.’
Moore’s childhood and the man he’s become today was highly impacted by his family. He stated although there was chaos, of course with five children in the same household, his siblings taught him the foundation of friendship and love, and how to develop different relationships with those in the outside world. “And so even through conflict, being that there is no real problem with conflict because it’s what you do with it, we found that in when encountering other people out in the world, if you don’t see or encounter and you’re sticking to something similar to this, then those people may not have your best interest at heart. And it’s a great learning experience with the family, from my siblings to my parents. It wasn’t like what ‘love may be,’ but it was real and so until this day, we have strong bonds and strong relationships with the family. You learn how to share and deal with one another and that influences my life today.”
Although he credited the environment where he came from as a position that sparked most of his ambitious decisions, the town of Albany was just too small for Moore, vision wise. That’s when he decided to go the extra 150 miles to the ‘Big Apple,’ to pursue his dream of being a full-time actor, a profession he wasn’t always completely passionate about. “No matter what, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I needed to be evolving. I didn’t know I wanted to even be an actor until my freshman year of college, which is the time when you’re trying to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life. It wasn’t a life-long passion but it was always an interest. I was always acting out and being a class clown or performing for the family and that was always the background and I started questioning, what do I want to do, what are my skills and it pointed in the direction of entertainment. So then the plan became, learn as much as you possibly can on how to be an actor and for me, that was going to conservatory in New York. That set me on my path up until now, from years ago.”
Moore’s strive and passion for his newfound love of acting allowed him opportunities that he would’ve never imagined, big or small he was able to learn more about himself through such experience until he got the big break he was waiting for. An example of that would be his most recent regular role, as Curtis Hoyle in Marvel’s ‘The Punisher’ which can be seen on Netflix. Besides the expectation of bloodshed, weaponry and fight skills, the Punisher focuses on the importance of spreading awareness on PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder), and the effect it has on our veterans. “In terms of playing the character of Curtis Hoyle, it opened my eyes up to PTSD and how much that affects these people who are returning from war. It affects their mentality, psych, and behavior and it’s a big issue and the thing about it is our government and society doesn’t pay attention to it enough. It could have tragic consequences without treating it and treating it, could just be someone to talk to. As you can see in the show, that’s what Curtis does, he provides an outlet to allow these people to express their emotions and what they’re going through, and that alone can be a treatment for them. We’re so willing to send our young people out to war, and we’re completely forgetting about them when they return.”
“It [PTSD] could have tragic consequences without treating it, and treating it, could just be someone to talk to.”
We got a small hint of Moore’s character Curtis future within the series, possibly experiencing development that may show us a different side of Hoyle, from his usual grounded self. Viewers will, of course, continue to see ‘The Punisher,’ as a lethal force to society, but also the show as an entirety will focus on more social issues that are effective through everyone. “More action and also commenting on social issues, that’s always going to be a part of it and it’s going to be some political issues on the line, every episode and subject matter. Hopefully, we can keep people gripped and at the edge of their seats as the series develops.”
Aside from putting in work on ‘The Punisher,’ Moore is in the works of a few more projects, including an upcoming appearance on BET’s ‘The Quad,’ in the new year. He has hopes of working with some of the greats such as director James Cameron and legendary actor and powerhouse, Denzel Washington. Although grateful for the roles he’s secured so far within his career and grateful for the ones to come, Moore revealed his favorite to take part in, was Floyd in August Wilson’s stage production of ‘Seven Guitars,’ where at the time he was underage, but took the role anyway. “That’s when I was officially bitten by the acting bug because I saw how actors are like painters and you create and design these characters as a painter paints on a canvas. I saw the depth and the love and I thought, this is what I want to do and it put me on a path, to want to where I am now. That play kicked off my interest in the whole acting world.”
“Actors are like painters and you create and design there characters as a painter paints on a canvas.”
From learning more about the inside of Moore’s position in acting, we decided to switch gears and talk more about the business media and tech side. For starters, his past involvement with Atlantic Black Star, a media outlet to unify the African diaspora community all across the globe, providing them with the issues of the day they should be paying attention to, in their interest and on a global scale, according to Moore. “To my surprise, when we launched, it was being eaten up and people were hungry for this stuff, which was awesome and I can still see people hungry for this stuff and wanting to be up to date with everything. It’s up to media outlets, with our interests, with African people’s interest at heart, to say what’s important and inform people on how to think about things. I pray that it continues to stay relevant and continue to grow. I’m no longer a part of it, but my business partners are still a part of it and growing the business and I hope it continues to grow and impact, the African diaspora.”
“It’s up to media outlets, with our interests, with African people’s interests at heart, to say what’s important and inform people on how to think about things.”
A major business move Moore is putting all his focus into now, with its approaching launch, is Anthem One, a lighting company to make filming easier and lighting, better on set. “I didn’t go to business school and I knew nothing about the process, so I had to trust myself into the business world and I’m not claiming to be any business guru, but I learned a lot in terms of business and how it’s conducted when starting Atlanta Black Star. When it came to this light system [Anthem One], I surrounded myself with people who were experts in their field. I didn’t know everything and I couldn’t do everything , so I surrounded myself with people who were able to navigate the supply chains out of different countries, manufacturers, people who were capable of doing the design of the product, people who knew about lights and how to perfect, people who knew about battery systems and designing cases. I put my money in it and with a lot of hard work, we finally reached a point where we have a product to see that’s fully assembled, it works and it’s top of the line. I’m extremely proud of this and I cannot wait until the industry gets a hold of it because when they do, the potential is out of here. This could change the footprint of film sets, where they have this big mega-light to establish or re-create daylight, they won’t need that anymore because they’ll have a tool that can sit in your hand or on top of a tripod and create a greater light. We’re ready for the market and that’s where we are and who we are right now Anthem One.”
In regards to other entrepreneurial projects Moore may want to put his time and work into, he said the ideas are there but the process is a bit premature. “With entrepreneurs, there’s always something cookin’ and you have to be ready for if one thing fails, you gotta be ready to do the next.
We had to ask Moore about his own Marvel favorites, being as he’s on a show rooted from the franchise. His loyalty and himself reigns with his Punisher fam all day, every day. The Punisher in terms of series! But my favorite Marvel character has always been Wolverine and the Hulk. And once I heard of the Black Panther, it was Black Panther. I like the Hulk and Wolverine because they got angry and they got mad and that’s pretty much what they’re known for and I like seeing that, so they were always my favorite as a kid.
Be sure to catch Moore on Marvel’s ‘The Punisher,’ exclusively through Netflix and his upcoming appearance on BET’s ‘The Quad,’ in January!
