Biography
Damian auditioned for his first professional role in Robert De Niro's "A Bronx Tale" at the age of 15. Although he didn't get the role, De Niro was gracious enough to employ him as a biker and its been on ever since. Work followed from theatre, student and independent films and roles appearing on 100 Centre Street and All My Children. After struggling for roles and performing monologues on the streets of NYC, Damian created Glory 2 God Productions LLC in 2001, to create work for himself and his acting buddies. The Mission for Glory 2 God Productions is to display the gospel of Jesus Christ through bold and realistic entertainment.
G2G first production was the full-length play "The New Testament: Story of Paul the Apostle" which opened in Harlem.
New plays dealing with tough issues followed such as "Brotherhood: the Americanized Version" which tackled issues of 9/11; "The Life of An Addict" told the story of a Christian man living the life of a heroin addict, "Midnight Hour" displayed the dangers of Christian teenage prostitution in the United States; The award winning play, "Precious" shared views on abortion and rape. Not all projects were from a Christian point of view such as the comedic "South Bronx 10467" a spoof of the popular show "Beverly Hills 90210".
2003 was a year of change for the actor turned writer / director. After performing monologues for a dollar on the streets of NYC, Damian continued to create work for himself and his friends by venturing into the film business by writing and producing a short film based on his life. The film was called Big Wes, which told the story of a struggling actor who has a baby on the way, tries to get into Hollywood by following the footsteps of his favorite actor, Wesley Snipes. The short was directed by his twin brother Jermaine Bailey and co-starred April Lee Hernandez (Freedom Writers), was filmed in 4 days and entered into numerous film festivals.
In that same year, Damian wrote, produced and directed Surrender, which opened in Harlem with free admission. The idea of Surrender came about from a good friend; Anissa Chalmers who suggested that the first play "The New Testament" should be performed with an all female cast. The idea was rejected at first because Damian had no knowledge of female gangs in our society but after hearing Anissa's own story and researching this heavy issue, Damian was enlighten and informed on the issue and felt inspired to enlighten the world on the issues young women are face today.
In the years to follow, Damian continued as a struggling actor, and continued to auditioned and take classes, etc. until it came upon him to do something that was much bigger than himself; making a feature film. After writing a total of 24 scripts, Damian felt that although the stage is magical, "film last forever"; and as it turned out, the first project wasn't going to be a film to showcase his acting ability, but to enlighten the world. Thus Surrender was the first film for Glory 2 God Productions.
Damian submitted into numerous requests for help with producing and sought representation from Agents and producers but no one wanted to touch the subject, as it has never been shown before, so Damian thought the only way this film was going to happen was if he did it himself. He hired a small professional crew who were Gun ho on the project, and hired 33 actors. Surrender began Principal photography on June 15, 2006.
It was a dream came true that shortly turned into a very difficult time period in Damian's life. Within the second week of shooting, the Director of Photography, who owned all the filming equipment dropped out of the project due to a family emergency. This was a bad situation as Damian and the DP jelled so well together; however the DP liked the project so much, he loaned all of his equipment to Damian to shoot it himself.
Damian has never been to film school but is a trained comic book illustrator and these tools were helpful in making a film. Each frame had to tell a story so he based his filming techniques on illustrating techniques. With the strong guidance from his talented make-up artist, Jennifer Suarez and his Assistant Cameraman Ryan J. Lee, (who was in film school at the same time), the three of them filmed Surrender from June-November 2006. They had a grueling 6-month period of filming on a shoestring budget, the film featured 33 actors, (most women), in the heart of the Bronx, NY, while working as a Personal Trainer on the side to pay for the bills.
Now that the film is completed and will hit the film festival circuit, Damian continues to make a name for himself as an actor, writer, producer and director. He is in preparations to make another feature film based on one of his plays and continues to strive for excellence.
