| About Sheaun McKinney | |
|---|---|
| Age | 42 Years |
| Birth | July 24, 1981 Miami, Florida |
| Gender | Male |
| Job | Actor, Writer, Producer |
| Alumni | Miami-Dade College |
| Hometown | Miami, Florida |
| Ethnicity | African-American, Caribbean |
| TV Shows | The Neighborhood, Vice Principals, Great News |
Sheaun McKinney is the breakout star of TV comedies. His acting and comedic timing is getting him the recognition he deserves. His latest role as Malcolm Butler in CBS’ The Neighborhood is his biggest role to date. This guy’s going places, which certainly warrants this Sheaun McKinney wiki.
He’s from Miami, Florida
Sheaun McKinney was born on July 24, 1981 and is 37 years old. He was born and raised in Miami, Florida and is of Caribbean descent.
“I was born in the projects in Coconut Grove…the area that some people might not want to walk in,” McKinney said. “Coconut Grove was founded by Bahamian settlers, and my father’s mother is Bahamian, so we always had a deep connection there. I was also raised in a neighborhood called Richmond Heights.”
He credits the city for shaping him as a person and actor. A former athlete, he’s an ardent supporter of all of Miami’s sports teams.
After working in theater productions in Miami, McKinney moved to Los Angeles to further his acting career. But it wasn’t without difficulties and he almost gave up.
He Aspired to Be a Rapper, Footballer, and Chef before Acting
Growing up, McKinney aspired to be in the spotlight. He dreamed of a football career and even formed a rap group, 3 in Da Clip, with his friends in high school. When he felt that he couldn’t be a star athlete, he considered becoming a chef.
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However, his seventh grade teacher recognized his natural talent as an entertainer when he did a reading of A Raisin in the Sun in class. Urged by his teacher, he took drama classes in high school while also honing his culinary skills with his grandmother and parents.
Ultimately, McKinney didn’t enroll in a culinary arts program and acting had initially taken a backseat when he attended Miami Dade College. His Humanities professor, who happened to be one of the theater directors there, said that those auditioning for a play would get extra credit in his class.
McKinney did audition on his mother’s insistence. It was a novel and exhilarating experience for him to be casted and act on stage. His performance was enough to earn him a theater scholarship and become president of the campus theater club.
After that, he began expanding his credits and participated in professional theater in Miami.
He Left the Police Academy for Vice Principals
McKinney went through a bit of slump in his career when he moved to L.A., with only a few minor roles to his credit. He decided to head back to Miami to explore an alternate career in law enforcement. Some of his relatives worked in the police and military fields, and that inspired him.
“At one point, I decided I was done with films, and that I was going to move back home to Miami and become a cop. I had always had an admiration for police work and really wanted to serve the community I grew up in,” he said.
He began training to be a cop upon returning to Miami. He even passed the preliminary tests and was waiting to be accepted into the police academy while working at a law office.
He still kept in touch with his manager to tape auditions on and off. One day his manager called him saying that the casting directors who had seen his work wanted him to audition for HBO’s new comedy series, Vice Principals.
At the same time, he got a letter from the police academy saying he wasn’t accepted. So McKinney decided to give this audition a shot.
He initially didn’t think he’d make it or even stay in L.A. for longer than a weekend. He bagged the role of a lifetime as Dayshawn in Vice Principals, which was a smash hit.
McKinney enjoyed a streak of success after his return to L.A. Along with his HBO role, he was cast in NBC’s Great News. He now stars in his first network TV show alongside Cedric the Entertainer in CBS’ The Neighborhood and has a movie, Boss Level, slated to release in 2019.
He Started the Theater Company, Ground Up & Rising
When his passion for acting was ignited at Miami Dade, Sheaun auditioned at professional theaters all over Miami together with his best friends, Arturo Rossi and Bechir Sylvain. The trio, however, discovered that the kind of roles they wanted to play were scarce.
So a 4:00 a.m. meeting at a Denny’s led to their brainchild, Ground Up & Rising, their very own theater company. “That’s where it was birthed out of, that need for a voice for people who are somewhat under-served. We felt like we weren’t listened to, and we had so much to say,” said McKinney.
They staged hard-hitting productions wherever they could perform and bagged an agent who helped McKinney’s acting career. After garnering critical acclaim for his theater work with Ground Up & Rising, McKinney came to L.A., and the rest is history.
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