Celebrity Interview | Entertainment - From Foster Care to Hollywood: How Zay Domo Artist Defied the Odds

Greg Staffa 0:00

You're listening to the Staffa Corner Podcast, a Staffa-tarian look at entertainment and life with your host, Greg Staffa. My guest this episode is a young, versatile actor known for roles in film and television. His name is Zay Domo Artist. Thanks for joining us today. Yes, sir, I'm happy to be here. So you've been on projects such as A Quiet Place, day One, the Last of Us, and you also do voiceover work for stuff like Call of Duty, world War II, overwatch 2, and others. Tell us a little bit about your childhood.

Zay Domo 0:40

When I first started in acting I actually was in foster care and during that time I would say it was a bit of a confusing point in my life. I would say when I started acting, my first role ever was in a short film called On the Run. That's when I was open casted. I lived with my mom at the time and life was a little more steady and I'd say steady and framed rather than commotionist before the foster care and things like that. Once I got into foster care, though, my career kind of wasn't really my main focus. It was more of just school, school, school and just getting through life in general. I had a lot of problems with I'd say just problems with being away from parents for such a long period of time. Eventually, when I turned 13, I told myself that I was going to make sure I got back into it.

Zay Domo 1:36

During that time I started doing more voiceover work and I got in touch with some of the producers that I pretty much hired me to do some of the voiceover work I got into, and they thought I would be a perfect addition to green work as well. From there I kind of booked a few small roles, even a role back then. That still hasn't come out to this day, but it's finally back in production, but it was. You know, I booked a few small roles. Those small roles got me in touch with bigger directors. The bigger directors eventually gave me auditions. After hearing my story and hearing about what I went through and knowing that I didn't really have an agent or a manager at the time. Anytime an audition came they would personally reach out. And that's what eventually got me booked in some of my bigger roles, like A Quiet Place Kingdom, planet Apes and the Last of Us.

Greg Staffa 2:34

Now the foster care is an interesting twist to most people's stories. Was the foster care environment? Is that what kind of got you into acting? Because I would imagine, as a foster child, your imagination has to be running wild. You're in a position that's kind of uncontrollable and the need for an escape I would imagine would be something that, as a child, can kind of get you away from the circumstances that you're in. Did that play a large part into why you got into acting?

Zay Domo 3:08

A hundred percent. You know a lot of the. You know I grew up in the Florida foster care system and you know a lot of the kids over there. They're either thrown in jail or put into some sort of program but a lot of them never get a chance to do something big. I guess it's not as funded as a lot of the bigger states. Florida foster care system is very unfunded and very crowded packed. So a lot of times you'll go to something called a group home or like a boy's home, I'd say. Seeing all those kids go through and not really have hope or faith in what they had made me want to have hope. You know, I just couldn't believe the fact that just because I was in foster care, that meant my story was over.

Greg Staffa 3:51

Tell us what got your start in the industry.

Zay Domo 3:54

You know, kicked out of foster care, not a big deal. I ended up moving to Los Angeles but right a few months before my 18th birthday, I was reaching out. I was writing cold emails, reaching out to managers and agents, and I remember telling myself I wasn't going to reach out to any smaller agents. I was going for as big as possible because I knew what I could do. I knew

Navigating Foster Care to Acting

Zay Domo 4:14

my skills and my look was unique and I knew my story was unique, so I knew I could use that to my advantage. I ended up sending in my self-tape reels to five 600 emails and I send out a little snippet of my story to a lot of managers and agents, a lot of the bigger ones, for WME, caa, pretty much as big as it got, and a lot of them, of course, either didn't get back or said you know, I wasn't good for the roster.

Zay Domo 4:41

But my actual manager that I have right now her name's Kim Maktouka ended up reaching out and she said she wasn't sure what it was. And this is around the time of the strike too. I think it was mid-strike, so we didn't even have anything going on. A lot of people weren't even adding, adding people to their roster, but she said she didn't know what it was but she was going to take a chance and sign me just based off of my story and I said you know, I'd make sure that it was worth it and I made sure I did. As soon as she signed me she pretty much got my name out there as much as possible. She made sure people knew my story.

Zay Domo 5:14

She got me in touch with other people and other people in the industry until eventually, when I turned 18 and I moved to Los Angeles, I ended up going to a small. There was a French man that I knew who was a previous business owner. He also used to make small movies and things like that. He connected me with someone else who ended up being a very big business owner who was retired. She connected me with what I would like to think.

Zay Domo 5:46

A lot of people say she's like the Nanny McPhee of casting directing Back in the day. If there was an Oscar award for being a cast director then she would get it. Her name is Jane Jenkins. I sat down, had a coffee with Miss Jane. I told her my story. I told her what my goals are and how much I really do love acting and how much I love it, rather than the fame or what comes from it, because I love becoming around the character. She ended up getting me in touch with Disney and it's just blown up from there. It's just connection after connection after connection, getting my story out there as much as possible, but not necessarily using it as a way of feeling that I deserve more but that I've worked for more.

Greg Staffa 6:34

And where do you think you get that drive from? I mean, I think a lot of people, after doing so many emails and stuff like that, would give up. Where was it just the belief in yourself that no one else is going to believe in you, so you have to make your goals happen. Where did you get that from?

Zay Domo 6:54

Well, growing up. I grew up in a small little mobile home. It was called Country Life. It was in Florida and my mom and my grandmother didn't exactly have it easy. My grandmother was a business owner. She did pest control and ended up getting skin cancer from the pest control job that she did. She had a stroke and it brought her business to the knees.

Zay Domo 7:21

But they never showed me any of that. They instead made sure that I believed everything was fine and they made sure that I used my imagination as much. They made sure I was out of the house learning things. I remember watching VHS tapes with my grandmother all the time, at least once a night just watching some of the oldest movies, and my mom had lost about every friend that she ever knew, a lot of them to drugs or car crashes or something different, and she, in a way, always felt like they felt cursed, but they wanted to make sure that I didn't see any of that. So eventually, when I turned into a teenager and I was going through things, eventually, when I was in foster care and whatnot and I found out a few of the things that they were going through, I naturally wanted to make sure that they got everything they ever wanted for putting me in a predicament where I could even be in a situation that I'm in now, where my imagination is so big and I don't judge people and I love everyone and I want to provide for people.

Zay Domo 8:29

My father is also a very big reason. He always taught me to work hard for everything I had. He was a single father, took me in when my mom and grandmother were losing the house and he pretty much built me up in a very physical way. Of course, he didn't really understand how to raise me the correct way and it ended up going sideways very quickly, which got me put into foster care, but I'd say I'm still very grateful for what he did teach me. He taught me how to continue the fight and never take less than what is owed to me, you know, or what I work for. Never let anybody tell me I can't do something, and I feel like that was my main motivation as soon as I got into the industry.

Breaking Into the Industry

Greg Staffa 9:10

So you got into the industry, you start making those connections. Tell us about some of the first roles that you were getting.

Zay Domo 9:16

So, yeah, my first ever role was on the run. After that, I ended up actually going to a film festival. The film festival was just a short film festival. That's where I met some of the voiceover actors and then I met the producer for the upcoming game. That was at the time I believe this is 2017. It was call of duty, world war ii.

Zay Domo 9:34

Eventually, I ended up getting a part through that producer in Call of Duty, war of War 2, which actually kind of struck I would say I kind of struck gold in the gaming community because I was very young and at the time nobody really knew my story. So it was more of he's just young and he's actually really good at it. And that led to more roles in more video games. My next one was Overwatch. The first one and that is what really, I'd say, catapulted my career in voice acting. Of course, it was never the goal to be a voice actor. It was just what I was good at. I've always been very good at accents and tone of voice and understanding. You know this the smaller quote or the small things within the voice that hints at different roles. So eventually, when I got the role in Overwatch, they transferred it to Overwatch 2. Overwatch 2 blew up to a whole nother level. That really blew up my career. That got me into the video game Fortnite, which was more recent than anything, about two years ago. And once I got into Fortnite I'd say those connections all together I forgot exactly what it was. But, like I said, those led to actual film and television connections because I wanted to show people what I could do on film and TV. My first ever film and TV role besides On the Run was another small film that I actually filmed almost four or five years ago called hey, mama, I Got a Job. It still hasn't come out but it is finally in post-production. I met a few very big actors in that film, which eventually led to my role in the Last of Us. The Last of Us was just a smaller background role but one of my first major, or I would say my first ever major show and TV role, which was very big for me at the time. The Last of Us led to my role in A Quiet Place and then A Quiet Place. About five months into A Quiet Place, right before the strike happened, I ended up getting casted because I'd seen an open casting through. Well, I wouldn't say it was really open, but I'd say a closed casting to um. I'd say some actors that were um unsigned. Uh, I've seen it for Kingdom Planet Apes and Kingdom Planet Apes.

Zay Domo 12:02

I ended up actually having the chance to go out of the country and film that um in Australia, which was a very big thing.

Zay Domo 12:09

I never thought I'd be able to leave the country and that was a very big problem on its own because during that time I was still in foster care and actually before that time I mean I've done my research and other people have done the research I don't think there's ever been an actor who has worked on a major film while being in the foster care system. It's almost impossible because of the limitations. I ended up having to go through judge after judge after judge and it came down to the simple idea that if I could graduate high school early and I could show them that everything was legit and I was actually going to film for a major studio and I could have supervised calls once every month I think yeah, it was once every month If I could have supervised calls, then they would allow me to go out and film it. And that's exactly what I did. I ended up going into virtual high school. I graduated within five months two different grades and I agreed.

Greg Staffa 13:16

I signed contracts and I was eventually able to fly out to Australia. So, looking back, I mean this is, I think I mean you keep on mentioning your story, your story. It's an incredible journey, did it? While you were going through this, did you realize the significance of what you were doing, the impact that it would? I mean this is a lot to undertake as a young person

From Voice Acting to Major Films

Greg Staffa 13:40

to be driven, to have this motivation to see what you want to see and go for it. I think a lot of people would have given up. A lot of people would have been content just doing you know, being happy, doing video game voiceovers. The drive that you had, was it a self-fulfillment thing? Was it something that you wanted to prove to yourself and others that the stigma of being in foster care wasn't going to hold you back? What was your driving force? What was that light at the end of the tunnel that you were searching for?

Zay Domo 14:18

Well for me. I didn't even realize I wanted to win and actually become one of the greats until I turned 18. I told myself you know, I really want to take this to the next level and I do want to, by 25, have an Oscar award. That was, and still is, a goal of mine. But I'd say, at the time when I first got into acting, especially in foster care, there was a person, a caseworker, that would throw it in my face and tell me that I wasn't going to do it and that I was naive, and that why did I think something would happen to me? That's special if it didn't happen to every other child. And he would throw it in my face. And I can't lie, I have a little bit of an ego. Especially when I was younger, I always wanted to prove people wrong who doubted me or told me I couldn't do something. I was very rebellious. So when he told me that that it was kind of like okay, okay, that's, that's fine, I'm gonna watch, I'm gonna show you this, and that's what I did. I ended up, you know, showing them. You know I could take it to the next level. But that, of course, put me into a place where I wanted to learn more and I ended up learning to actually love acting and learning that this is something I'm good at and this is something that I you know because I kept being told, especially by agents and managers, and I wasn't sure if they were just trying to make me feel good, but they kept saying how I was really really good for my age and really really good for someone who's never had any prior acting training my manager. One of the first things she asked me was who do I have in the industry? Who's my family? Who taught me what I know? And I kept telling everybody all I've done is watch movies, that's it, and gone through life and I'd say, the more the I didn't realize it was going to scale up as much as it has.

Zay Domo 16:10

But I definitely started to realize the impact that can be made because I, when I first got into the acting, I didn't even realize that it's never been done by by a person in foster care. You know, nobody's ever had a major, a major career while being in foster care. I didn't even know that was. That was a thing, you know. I mean, we live in a generation where everybody's you have 18-year-old business owners, so I didn't think someone hadn't done that yet. If I did, I feel like I probably wouldn't have made it happen. I probably would have thought it was impossible. But I didn't look for that sort of thing, I just wanted to make it possible. And when I turned 18 and I learned these things, I realized the impact that it definitely could possibly have.

Zay Domo 16:51

And yeah, I remember the first time that my group home, full of kids, found out that I was an actor. It ended up blowing up really big. The Florida foster care system ended up. I mean, it traveled from home to home to home. Every time that a kid left a group home and switched to another home, it would travel to that home. And I remember the last home that I ever went to after leaving the group home.

Zay Domo 17:16

After graduating high school, I told the father I wanted to be an actor and the father was telling me oh yeah, I heard there's this kid in, you know, in the Florida foster care system, and he's playing in quiet plays. And I'm not sure if it's true, but maybe you could find him. And it's funny because he was talking about me

Making History in Foster Care

Zay Domo 17:38

the whole time and he didn't even realize it. And then I told him and he looked it up and he was shocked out of his mind. So it's just I realized how important it actually is and how rare it is and how unbelievable and how much it can really inspire people when I make it happen.

Greg Staffa 18:00

Is that something that you appreciate? I mean, so often we put labels on people and we say what you're doing is an inspiration and that you, is that a burden that you feel? Is that something that you? You enjoy being able to inspire other, foster kids to perhaps dream not to become an actor or actress, necessarily, but to be able to to to achieve their dreams and to find a dream that is passionate as you are, and and go for it. Is that something that you appreciate? Is that a burden that you you feel that is part of what your story is is to help others, or are you just doing your thing and if that lifts up others, great yeah.

Zay Domo 18:45

Absolutely no. I definitely do appreciate that people are inspired by it. I can never really imagine myself being a role model, because I was a nobody. When I was in school. A lot of people didn't know who I was, and especially through middle school, I would say I wasn't say anything bad, but I used to paint school walls and sneak people into bands by creating custom wristbands and things like that.

Zay Domo 19:18

It was always something that I'm happy that I'm able to inspire people in a way that makes them want to be more rebellious towards a system that has failed them, you know, or a system that doesn't really give them the option, because, at the end of the day, that you can't do something, you know. And that's exactly what I was told. Out of jealousy or spite or whatever it was, I was told it was not possible and in a very rude way, you know, and saying oh, you know, you're going to see kid, you're going to see. It's not possible, and I don't think anybody should be told that when they're in a situation that isn't their fault and they're already beat down, you're just trying to beat them down more rather than lift them up or tell you can make it happen. So, yeah, I'm happy I can inspire people through it.

Zay Domo 20:07

Was that the goal? Absolutely not. I didn't realize it was going to scale up this much and I really didn't realize that I was even going to have a shot at becoming one of the greats. But here I am and I'm happy I'm here. I'm grateful for every single thing and every connection, every opportunity, every audition, every job that I book. I'm grateful for it all, but I take it like a grain of salt because I always knew I was going to be great. You know, I grew up in a family that taught me that my imagination is everything and that I wasn't going to be average and that I was going to do something great.

Greg Staffa 20:41

And here, I am Well, zay, it's been fascinating to talk

Inspiring Others and Future Goals

Greg Staffa 20:47

to you. Well, zay, it's been fascinating to talk to you. I wish you all the success. I want to kind of set my TiVo for five years and uh get ready to record the Oscars, because I think uh, someone as driven as you, what you put in front of you, that path uh is achievable, and I think your determination. It's easy to dismiss people when they say you know long shot, things like that, but given your history, I firmly believe that anything that you choose to accomplish, you can accomplish, and so I wish you all the luck and I look forward to seeing what the next few years have for you, and I will remember this recording all those years from now and be able to say he said he was going to do it and he did it, and he never had any doubts. So thank you for taking your time. I know you have a busy schedule and I look forward to what the future has for you.

Zay Domo 21:46

Yes, sir, thank you so much. Thank you for meeting with me as well. Thank you.