Multi-talented artist Christian Keyes explained how one performance in front of Tyler Perry led to a lucrative career that included acting and producing shows for the media mogul.
Keyes is a singer, writer, producer and actor. The Detroit-born entertainer has appeared in films like “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” and TV shows that include “The Boys” and “Supernatural.” The highly touted stage actor also has participated in a few other classic Perry plays such as “What’s Done in the Dark” and “Madea Goes to Jail.”
In an exclusive interview with Atlanta Black Star, Keyes talked about how his upbringing as a foster child in Flint, Michigan, impacted his life and his relationship with Perry. He said the only consistent things that he had in the foster system were “pencil and paper.”
He shared that writing stories became his “refuge” after he endured abuse at the hands of his first foster mother. Writing for him was “a place to escape this or that, or child abuse, or feelings of neglect, or not being worthy.”
Keyes later made a deal with his first foster mom that if she would relinquish his adoption rights, he would drop any charges he made against her.
The “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” actor later was adopted by a second family that showed him love and “taught him how to be a man.” He later went off to college at Ferris State University to study social work, but he ended up focusing more on his music and writing.
Initially, Keyes had dreams of being a singer like Babyface or Brian McKnight, but his calling ended up being on a different stage.
“I started doing local stage plays and some commercials,” he said, adding that in 2002, “I auditioned for my first national touring stage play, gospel stage play musical and I booked it.”
I just witnessed an #Artist #Actor #Creative #Singer my brother @ChristianKeyes who I’ve had the pleasure working with on #SaintsAndSinners. His stage performance crazy go get the album “GET INVOLVED” available everywhere! Download it Stream it pic.twitter.com/8vixcoCLrn
— Tray Chaney (@traychaney) November 16, 2023
This led him down a path of learning more about acting and getting more roles in plays. In 2004, Keyes got the lead role in the play “Not Another Day Goes By,” but he didn’t know that Perry was in attendance during a tour stop at the FOX Theatre in Atlanta.
The 48-year-old said that after the play, Perry came up to him and said, “I believe you. I believe that you’re the character and not you saying some memorized lines.”
After their talk, Perry asked him to be a part of his movie “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” and his play “Madea Goes to Jail,” which started touring in 2005.
He agreed to Perry’s proposition, and during their time together Keyes learned about professionalism, structural production, stitching a story together, preparedness and punctuality. He took what he learned from Perry and made the switch from the performance stage to the television screen.
After facing some self-doubt, Keyes made a breakthrough as he began to get hired more and more because of what he learned from all of his prior experiences. He pivoted again as he stepped behind the camera to begin producing and writing scripts.
Keyes had the idea for a movie called “Black Magic/Ladies Night,” which eventually ended up as a book and a TV series. He wrote it in 2010 and began shopping the show a year later at networks such as BET, which initially turned it down.
“People weren’t getting, got a few nos,” he admitted. “Rewrote it, tweaked it a little bit. 2012, 2013, I was co-producing ‘The Man in 3B’ with Tri Destined Studios and Carl Weber.”
He continued, “I gave him the script and asked him to look at it and he was like, “You got something. You should build this out into a book.'”
In 2015, Keyes released his book, “Ladies Night: Carl Weber Presents.” Years later he called up his former employer to see if he could get another chance at working with him.
“2019 came around, and I knew Tyler had just done the deal with BET+ and I’m like ‘He’s gon’ need some shows,’ ” said Keyes.
He then called Perry and asked if he could pitch the show to his team, and the meeting ended up going well as the show was greenlit.
“They got it, they understood it, they took him two of three shows that I pitched and he ended up liking ‘Ladies Night.’ But by then because BET had come up with a show called ‘Ladies Night.”
The title for Keyes’ series was changed to “All the Queen’s Men,” which follows Eva Marcille’s character “Madam DeVille,” as the owner of an exotic male club who strives for success as she struggles to keep power.
The show’s first three seasons are available on BET+ and the show has been greenlit for a fourth. But Keyes is already looking to the future, adding, “I don’t think BET+ is the end of, I think like a lot of shows it may end up…who knows where it’s gonna go.”
But “All the Queen’s Men” isn’t the only thing on his mind as he recently released his new album, “Get Involved.”
