Who do you think you are?

Are You Here To Be In Show Business? 75

Who do think you are?

I am inspiration, freedom and healing manifested in form. That’s exactly
who I am. All of the things I do in terms of my career - singing, acting,
stage, film, television, transformational speaking - are a platform for
those things to show up and for people to see them. I realized three or
four years ago that I no longer had to try to be anybody or be anything. I
realized that as soon as I walked into the room people knew exactly who
I was. The only person who was kind of clueless at that time was me. I
thought that I had to do certain things or dress a certain way. I finally got
it, that whenever I step into the room I am inspiration and freedom, I am
healing. That’s what I’ve been put on the planet to be. I’m just using the
platforms of stage, film, television, music and speaking to get that message
across, to inspire somebody to heal the planet. That’s what I’m about.
I’m about the greater good of the planet, and seeing in people the brilliance
and magnificence that we all have.

What events or series of events led to your discovery?

I’ve always been guided by divine beings, by spirit, by my ancestors. I
had moved to Atlanta to spearhead a new company and a year from the
date I started they terminated me. I was talking to one of my friends,
who is now one of my mentors, and I was telling him that I got fired. I
was actually on the phone with him while I was in my office reading the
letter of termination. For some reason, I was not at all shaken by it. I
could not understand it. I was sitting there thinking, “I just got fired, I
don’t know what I’m going to do, but everything is perfect. I am at peace.”
The first thing he said was, “You got fired; good, now you can
start doing what you’re supposed to be doing.”
“What is that?” I asked.
“You’re an entertainer, Charles,” he said.
I said “Okay, how do you know?” This guy was Stevie Wonder’s
choreographer for his world tour in 1988 and 1989 so I believed him.
I’ve always had the gift of song. I’ve always been able to sing
and act. I’d do skits and stuff like that, nothing really big. But music and
storytelling have always been a big part of my life. So I took his advice
and I took an acting class at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. That’s where
my career as a performing artist began. While I was doing a show at The
Alliance in 1996, I got a big break during the intermission. I sat down in
my dressing room and I heard a voice. I know now that it was the voice