BRANDON JAY MCLAREN

GRENADIAN MAKING WAVES

Any Grenadian who has aspired to a career path that differs from the doctor, lawyer, nurse etc. is more likely to have experienced frustration at the narrow fields to which our parents and family members often encourage us and guide us to aspire to.

In a conversation about his acting career Brandon explained that a lot of West Indian parents push their children towards more traditional career paths. It could be a result of fear of wanting to protect, and maybe simple lack of exposure. His parents were not particularly supportive when he first forged his way into acting. He stated,  “Growing up in Vancouver, there was not a large West Indian community and as a result, I think that made the West Indians who were there closer. We would always find one another, and my closest friends growing up were West Indian.”

• 

• 

Brandon who stands at 5’ 8” was born on October 15, 1982. He was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada and is of Grenadian and Trinidadian heritage. He graduated from Johnston Heights Secondary School in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, and received a bachelor’s degree in Human Biology from the State University of New York at Albany.

His father Ira McLaren is from Grenville Grenada and worked for an airline as a supervisor and his mother Denise McLaren is from Trinidad and was a bank manager. He got his first taste of show business when his mother heard an advertisement for ethnic children needed for professional acting work.

After auditioning, Brandon booked six commercials within a year. Building upon his interest and talent, he attended the Johnston Heights Secondary School, which had an excellent student-led comprehensive drama program, during which his drama teacher had a profound influence on him.

• 

• 

In Brandon’s senior year at Johnston Heights, a casting director came to visit his class and offered one of the students a cold read. Brandon volunteered. The casting director was so impressed with Brandon’s performance that she told his drama teacher that Brandon was talented and that she would be willing to get him an agent.

Brandon landed his first paid acting role at the age of just 12 when he star­red in an ad for honeycomb cereal. However, his parents’ concerns about their son entering such a precarious career lead Brandon to continue along the traditional route of school followed by university.

• 

• 

Having won a football scholarship to the University of Albany in New York, he studied human biology but his passion for acting remained. Admitting that he had been influenced by his West Indian parents to pursue professional school, he decided he wanted to become an actor. He changed courses in his third year and began to take theatre courses.

Brandon starred in one of the university productions, Flyin’ West by Pearl Cleage, an all-Black play featuring four women part of the first generation of free Blacks after Emancipation, hoping to buy land in Kansas. He played Frank Charles, a half-Black son of a slave owner. This experience solidified his passion and resolve that acting was what he wanted to do.

He graduated and began pursuing a career as a professional actor. In 2004, he won the role of Jack Landers, the Red SPD Ranger in Power Rangers: SPD. He eventually moved to Los Angeles and eventually was cast as Toby in the movie She’s the Man in 2006.

Brandon went on to spend time in many different cities, such as Toronto, filming Being Erica in 2010 playing Lenin. In 2011, he played Bennett Ahmed in show The Killing and in 2012 landed the role of Jamil Dexter in Vancouver, in Falling Skies. In 2013, Brandon began starring in the USA Network show Graceland as a main cast member, Dale Jakes.

• 

Though Brandon initially faced resistance from his family for pursuing acting, happily things worked out for him. His parents were opened to embracing his brother Brent McLaren, aka Alma Mater, in his pursuit of a career as a Hip-Hop artist.

Brandon directed a music video for his brother, Brent (Alma Mater) “The Valedictory Address” released in June 2013. They raised money on Indiegogo and shot the video in a studio in Los Angeles. At the time, Brandon had never directed before, and so was really proud when the video received over 40,000 hits on YouTube in 7 days. As Brent is his best friend, the video remains one of the projects that Brandon is most proud of.

To Brandon, being a Black actor is no different from being “a Black anything.” There are challenges and there are lots of successes. One thing he has learned is that if you want to portray characters like yourself, as a Black person, you must be the one to write the script and even direct it too. Thus, Brandon is very interested in also pursuing personal projects and one of his goals is to get back onto the stage.

He once stated: The older I get the more important Grenada has become to me. When my grandmother passed and going back to Grenada for the service really made an impact on me. In fact, every time I go back, I am impacted more and more. Knowing where you come from, the idea of history, lineage, tradition; these are all themes that have been central to the human experience for centuries. For me, Grenada is at the center of these themes.

Hopefully, the success of a new generation of Grenadian creatives such as this Son of the Soil, Brandon Jay McLaren can inspire young people at home and abroad to have the confidence to expand their horizons, follow their dreams and fulfill their purpose in life.