Actor, Dancer, Musician: Anesu Mutara
Q: To the people who do not know you how would you describe yourself and your work? What part of your career are you most passionate about?
A: To those that may not know me, my name is Anesu Mutara, also known as Starh (pronounced Star). I would describe myself as a professional actor first, a dancer, musician and a creative in business, an extro/introvert that feels like he is on the wrong planet! I would say I am most passionate about my acting and I fully believe in myself with all my heart and mind that I will get to the place God has written for me to be in, in my career.
Q: What is the story behind getting into acting? What was it like to do a commercial with some of the biggest basketball stars?
A: I have always been into sports first, around the age of eleven is when I played football (soccer) and tried for professional academies such as Birmingham City FC, Leicester City FC, Cardiff City, Watford FC and many more! Unfortunately, I always ended up with coaches who had the worst interest for me, I remember being one out of two players being watched by a scout that wanted us to trial for Leicester City. The coach put both of us on the bench the entire game until the last five minutes, when the scout walked away. That is when the coach decided to bring us on the pitch, the same coach that lied to my father and I saying Birmingham City and Aston Villa are not interested anymore, to later on find out from a Birmingham City scout when I moved local clubs that I was supposed to be at the trials the summer before. The same coach that rang up the scout that took me to Burton Albion to tell them that he did not want me to trial there anymore. The same coach came back years later to apologize for what he did, but… even though I forgave him, what’s the use when it ruined and took away a kid’s dream? Sooo, with complications like that and injuries coming along I spoke to my parents and decided I wanted to move to Los Angeles to pursue a new career in Film and Television, they were with me all the way, and besides from the little second thoughts in the back of their heads of their son moving to a whole new country and staying by himself at such a young age, I still had their full support which I am forever thankful to God for. I moved to Los Angeles, where I lived by myself, adjusting to such a fast and crazy city which I fell in love with and helped build my character! Trained at one of the best acting schools in the world ( Stella Adler Art of Acting Studio: Los Angeles / New York ) to later on being spotted by eleven acting managers and Agents after performing in a showcase. After signing with my previous management, I went for rounds with agents & doing meetings, I instantly clicked and fell in love with my agent ( Melissa Mangum ) at Minc Talent who had and still has the best interest at heart for me. I have not come across many women that work as hard and smart as she and my mother do! I booked my first ever professional TV spot with Melissa which was a territory Worldwide national commercial for APPLE. Filming with some of the biggest NBA Stars for 2K Sports was an incredible experience! They were casting for that principal role in Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York City. I had to go for three rounds of Auditions, 1ST stage audition and two call backs after that, and this was all while I was filming A TV show in Sherman Oaks, CA, I loved it! I found out I booked the role while on a lunch break just a few minutes before getting back on set to shoot the next scene! The wardrobe team for 2K was super cool! I think I have a crush on Shadi but don’t tell her that! Shout out Dash and Katie! I remember being on set and Justin Timberlake’s choreographers were supposed to turn up but they never did so I had to choreograph all of the handshakes you see in that commercial haha! With credit to Kyrie, Devin, PG and legendary Bill Walton assisting on their handshakes with me! I wish they would release the unseen footage of the handshake I done with Bill, it was insane!!! We had an incredible director, Stacy Wall and It was dope to wrap up such a huge production and having made good friends and some big brothers with Kyrie Irving, Paul George and Devin Booker.
Q: What do you like the most about fashion? How would you describe your style in three ways?
A: I love the simple fact that you do not have to spend so much on clothes and shoes to look good! If you got style, then you just got it! Spending money is a choice and I respect anybody who does what THEY want to do, whether they want to spend a lot or little money, I respect it! Do your thing and shine! As long as you feel good in what you are wearing and you are true to yourself there is nothing else that should matter. Describing My Style in three ways is a tough one. I would just say it is influenced from how I feel when I wear certain clothes and shoes, along with the L.A lifestyle all mashed up into one. An Actor Rockstar! I always wear a red bandana below my right knee and a lot of people have their own perspective as to what it means but I do it for my own reasons and because I do not really see anybody else do it! I love to see people who are different and that can express themselves through fashion! It is pretty cool!
Q: What made you decide to make a song about Quarantine? What have you been doing with stay at home orders?
A: It has been crazy with the whole pandemic but Quarantine N’ Chill was made on a day where I was locked in at home, bored as heck, laying in bed and decided to make a song about exactly what I was doing! I had to create SOMETHING, my head feels like it is going to explode if I do not do something to feed that side of my brain haha! I have my own views about what is currently happening in this world right now but it may be better for me to let it be and wait for my people to take me back home far far away from here haha!
Q: What company was your favorite to work with why? Would you ever want to work with them again?
A: I Have had exceptional experiences in all of my professional career with every company that I have worked with so far. It is TOUGH to pick one out but my top THREE ( I will cheat and give you three!! ) Apple was incredible to work with, we shot in two states for that commercial and one of the biggest film studios in the world which I do not think I am allowed to tell till this day! I had Keitrell Hamilton as the other lead barber for the commercial and he’s now one of my best homies out in LA and most probably one of the funniest guys that I have met, nearly getting me fired on set for making me laugh multiple times JUST before the director called ACTION!! Shout out to him being scared to fly on the plane and his car alarm going off in the middle of our audition when we first ever met HA! Hilarious! I thought he had messed it up for us! I said WHO the heck IS this guy! Then we both booked it!! It was great to speak to and have the production for Apple shot by Oscar award winning Cinematographer: Linus Sangren for LA LA Land. Shooting with Painless TV for the TV show Evil Things was insane! Both scary and fun! I enjoyed being around genuinely good people and working with some of the best producers and directors I have worked with, shout out Patrick and Gabe. They even had more projects lined up for me after that production, including NETWORK Shows which is huge!! Super grateful for them. I do not have to say much about working on the set of NBA 2K as I met some incredible people out there, got to play ball with Kyrie, took fan pictures with some of the bystanders who were watching on the street, I would shoot it a million times more! Great security team, drivers and everybody else involved behind the scenes.
Q: Have you had a fan that inspired you to keep going or to go even harder?
A: I appreciate every single one of my StarhCitizens along with my other supporters that are always showing love. I have definitely had a bunch that have kept me going and striving to never give up and always do better. But my heart hurts for a very special girl that was a fan of mine. A massive shout out full of love to Sara Ryan (14) who sadly passed this year early February. The most sweetest, supportive and intelligent girl with a pure heart of Gold. She is a huge reason to ask why I want to do better and level up in my career and in life generally. With my heart I thank her for her endless support and love with a big shout to her father Brad Ryan who has looked out for me on my journey with music, an incredible songwriter with a great ear for great music, but an amazing Father and friend first.
Q: What are you working on now? What excites you most about it?
A: I am grafting hard with my U.K and U.S agents, as I am still self tape auditioning and knocking out meetings with TV producers and directors, as well as brands and other business partners. Trying to not get distracted by anything that does not serve my purpose, but besides from Film & Television projects, which have been delayed because of the situation the world is currently going through at the moment, I have been putting in a lot of work in the studio cutting records independently as well as keeping up with social media ( even though I hate social media haha! ) I’m excited to share with you some projects that are soon to be released. I will also be working on dance visual concepts, music videos, collaborations with other creatives in all different types of fields as I love to keep expanding on my skill set and creativity. I also have three projects titled: 80’s Love, Complacent and Overdose that are next to be released alongside others, here is s a preview: 80’s love was made during quarantine so I decided to have a few close friends of mine jump in and do a quarantine style music video with me! Shout out to everybody involved in the full video from Miami, Los Angeles, Rome Italy, Greece, Poland and more! Also keep a lookout on a record entitled ROYALTY by my fam EBBY ft. myself under my music artist & nickname STARH, shout out to EBBY! An incredible songwriter, producer and vocal performer! I’m excited for that one and I can’t wait for you to check it out. I am always excited about creating new work because I love to see what my brain is going to come up with next, I have a billion ideas and concepts running through my head every single day and I just want to put it all out there! It drives me crazy not being able to put these idea’s out! This is why I love Los Angeles so much, because EVERYBODY is hungry and ready to make moves! Everything moves a 100,000 miles per hour compared to being in the U.K where in some cities it is here and there! For me personally anyway!
Q: What is your creative process when choreographing a dance?
A: When choreographing a dance I usually like to find music that moves me in some sort of way, whether it makes me feel cool, or makes me feel a certain emotion etc. Anything that has that something that gets me excited about it! I will then spend some time listening to the lyrics, the artist’s delivery and the beat and it all comes together on which sections I need to hit. The crazy thing is that it all happens naturally and I just have fun and do my best to enjoy the process before the final product. After that, I will spend my time rehearsing it and I always think of visuals in my head while rehearsing it, that’s when I then reach out to other dancers or anybody that handles visuals well ( If I don’t do it myself ), we set a day to rehearse if not we learn it on the day and film it on the day and then on to the next one!
Q: How do you implement what your fans ask you to do? How do you adjust on what they want to hear with your music?
A: I am always open to feedback and or constructive criticism, I have very supportive fans and other supporters that check in with me, so first I always make sure to create music that I personally would want to hear, something that I personally like, music that makes me feel! After that I leave it for the world to discover and make their own opinions on it, as much as I also want to do my best and please my supporters.
Q: Where do you want to take your career? Is there a main focus or main goal? If so, what is it?
A: I belong in Los Angeles, CA. That is where God allowed me to fall in love with what I do professionally. My main focus is in film and TV for sure but my ultimate goal with my acting career going on as well as music and dance, is doing something in the future to help other young talent find more opportunities because I know how tough it has been and how much work goes into it all. Having said that I also like for people to go through tough times and experience some of those hardships so that when they get to their “end goal” it is WORTH it. My father always tells me If everything just came easy then you will never truly understand what you have, when you’ve worked hard and struggled, cried, and experienced everything else that comes with it… You’ll know how to keep it once you’ve got it. It all builds character instead of ego. year early February. The most sweetest, supportive and intelligent girl with a pure heart of Gold. She is a huge reason to ask why I want to do better and level up in my career and in life generally. With my heart I thank her for her endless support and love with a big shout to her father Brad Ryan who has looked out for me on my journey with music, an incredible songwriter with a great ear for great music, but an amazing Father and friend first.