# Yahya Abdul-Mateen On Why He Started Acting: "I Loved The Attention"

An episode of [Angie Martinez IRL](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1633466636), 13 Sep 2026, 11 min.

Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/808/arttrk.com/p/ARTS0/podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/09313230-a088-4537-b3d1-aeca00f910df/be805337-f686-46a9-8846-b4c3011abba0/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=910ebdb0-f7f7-4c39-a376-aeca00f9f039

Yahya Abdul-Mateen sits down with Angie Martinez and explains the difference between why he got into acting, and why he loves it now. Visit your nearest Boost Mobile store or https://promo.boostmobile.com/webuiltanetwork/ytb/ Behind The Bars is presented by Sprite. Check out the full Sprite Living Tracklist and break down the stories behind your favorite bars at livingtracklist.genius.com. This is the Sprite Living Tracklist. Obey Your Thirst. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: I just wonder what's a challenge for you that people
[0:03] Speaker 1: might not expect. When we look at you, we go, yeah,
[0:06] Speaker 1: I got it together. You got 10 years. You got awards.
[0:09] Speaker 2: So you want me to tell you the truth?
[0:11] Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
[0:14] Speaker 2: You can't handle the truth.
[0:16] Speaker 1: This is in real life. Tell me the truth. What's
[0:18] Speaker 1: happening in your real life? You okay?
[0:21] Speaker 2: You troubled?
[0:21] Speaker 1: What's going on? You need us? What do you need?
[0:25] Speaker 2: No, I'm all right.
[0:25] Speaker 3: I'm all right.
[0:26] Speaker 2: No, I know you're all right.
[0:27] Speaker 3: No, you know, I'm... I'm blessed and I'm learning, you know,
[0:31] Speaker 3: I'm blessed and I'm learning. I got this, the same
[0:34] Speaker 3: thing that ails everybody is some of the same things
[0:36] Speaker 3: that ails me, you know, and I'm learning to stay
[0:40] Speaker 3: blessed throughout.
[0:40] Speaker 2: It all, you know?
[0:42] Speaker 4: Yeah.
[0:42] Speaker 1: That's a good reminder.
[0:44] Speaker 2: You see how I kept that right there?
[0:46] Speaker 1: You did. You kept it all the way out. And
[0:47] Speaker 1: it was so far in the pocket that I realized
[0:49] Speaker 1: it's not even worth me trying to dig in the pocket.
[0:52] Speaker 2: I mean, I.
[0:55] Speaker 3: Ain't thinking about nothing. You know, when you asked me
[0:57] Speaker 3: that question, I'm not thinking about nothing. So I'm not
[0:59] Speaker 3: interested in going digging, you know, to be honest. What
[1:04] Speaker 3: I used to say all the time is like everything
[1:06] Speaker 3: bad in my life.
[1:07] Speaker 1: It's literally my job to go digging, by the way,
[1:09] Speaker 1: but go ahead.
[1:10] Speaker 2: But everything is on its way. You know what I'm saying?
[1:18] Speaker 3: Like all the trouble that I'm going to have in.
[1:21] Speaker 2: My life, it's on its way. It's on its way.
[1:24] Speaker 2: It's on its way.
[1:24] Speaker 3: Also, the answer is probably on its way. So I
[1:26] Speaker 3: ain't in a rush to bring it here. You know
[1:29] Speaker 3: what I'm saying? I see you when I see you.
[1:33] Speaker 2: It's on its way. I know it's on its way.
[1:35] Speaker 1: You know trouble's on its way? Yeah, it's on its way.
[1:37] Speaker 2: That's life.
[1:38] Speaker 1: Damn.
[1:38] Speaker 2: A lot of good is on the way, too.
[1:40] Speaker 1: Yes.
[1:40] Speaker 2: You know, a lot of good is on the way, too.
[1:42] Speaker 1: I don't ever want to think about no trouble on
[1:44] Speaker 1: the way.
[1:44] Speaker 3: Yeah, but, you know, that's how it go. That's why
[1:46] Speaker 3: you got to stay vigilant, you know, so that when
[1:49] Speaker 3: it come, it only stay for a short while.
[1:52] Speaker 2: Got it. You know, when it come, I don't want
[1:54] Speaker 2: it to stay forever, you know.
[1:58] Speaker 3: Then my problem look like a cloud and nobody know
[2:01] Speaker 3: the trouble.
[2:03] Speaker 1: How do you manage trouble? Especially as an actor, when
[2:05] Speaker 1: you have to show up and be like, if you
[2:07] Speaker 1: are in one of those, if you're in the middle
[2:09] Speaker 1: of a storm.
[2:10] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[2:10] Speaker 1: A big old storm.
[2:11] Speaker 2: Now we talking.
[2:12] Speaker 1: And you got to go play.
[2:13] Speaker 2: Now we talking. Yeah, what do you do? That's why
[2:15] Speaker 2: I love this job.
[2:16] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[2:17] Speaker 2: Because I have to, I must put all my stuff
[2:22] Speaker 2: down at the door.
[2:23] Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
[2:23] Speaker 2: To come and do my job. That's the beautiful thing
[2:25] Speaker 2: about acting.
[2:27] Speaker 1: Sometimes- You get to disappear, right?
[2:28] Speaker 2: You get to disappear. You get to hide in this world.
[2:31] Speaker 2: You know?
[2:33] Speaker 1: Is that a real thing? Can you really do that?
[2:35] Speaker 2: Absolutely.
[2:35] Speaker 1: All right, guys. You know what is so funny? Hip-hop
[2:38] Speaker 1: fans can literally debate anything. They can debate the best rapper,
[2:43] Speaker 1: the best era of hip-hop, the best album, and it
[2:46] Speaker 1: gets serious, these conversations. And now Sprite is giving us
[2:49] Speaker 1: a whole new argument. It is the Sprite Living Tracklist.
[2:52] Speaker 1: It's 50 songs that help shape hip-hop culture from rap
[2:55] Speaker 1: legends to the hottest artists carrying the hip-hop torch today.
[2:58] Speaker 1: But the coolest part isn't just the tracks. It's the
[3:00] Speaker 1: stories behind them, the lyrics, the moments, the impact, and
[3:04] Speaker 1: plenty to argue about. Check out the full Sprite Living
[3:07] Speaker 1: Tracklist and break down the stories behind your favorite bars
[3:10] Speaker 1: at livingtracklist.genius.com. This is the Sprite Living Tracklist, and it's
[3:15] Speaker 1: so much fun. Obey your thirst. Behind the Bars is
[3:18] Speaker 1: presented by Sprite.
[3:19] Speaker 4: Super thug. One of the most influential songs, according to
[3:25] Speaker 4: the Sprite Living track list.
[3:26] Speaker 5: This was an example of what happens when a producer
[3:32] Speaker 5: and an artist just flow.
[3:34] Speaker 1: They're in the flow. This is the absolute, this is
[3:37] Speaker 1: the absolute perfect version of that. Even when, you know, sometimes,
[3:42] Speaker 1: sometimes you expect it because the artist and the producer
[3:43] Speaker 1: are similar. But when you have two different types of personalities, vibes, flows, styles,
[3:51] Speaker 1: and then you mesh them together with this like artsy
[3:53] Speaker 1: creative vibe mixed with like, this street, just raw vibe together.
[4:03] Speaker 1: And it's really like the perfect cocktail.
[4:05] Speaker 4: Opposite to track type of vibe.
[4:07] Speaker 3: Yes.
[4:07] Speaker 1: It's so good. And sometimes it's just explosive and just works.
[4:09] Speaker 1: And also it's like the type of song that like,
[4:12] Speaker 1: it will get you out the bed. Like if you're
[4:15] Speaker 1: feeling lazy or if you're in a club, you probably
[4:17] Speaker 1: want to fight or you want to, you want, I
[4:20] Speaker 1: don't know.
[4:20] Speaker 4: It's just, you want to feel something.
[4:21] Speaker 1: You want to feel something like you, there's no sitting
[4:23] Speaker 1: back and relaxing, listening to that song. Like it's going
[4:26] Speaker 1: to get you up. You're going to, you're going to
[4:28] Speaker 1: feel that motivation, that kind of like, and I think
[4:31] Speaker 1: that at that time we liked, we, we wanted that.
[4:36] Speaker 4: You wanted hype. Like you wanted to get hype.
[4:38] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[4:38] Speaker 1: You wanted something to get you hype. And I think, um,
[4:40] Speaker 1: I mean, this was like the perfect song for that.
[4:43] Speaker 1: So this song had ripple effects on you. Yeah, it
[4:45] Speaker 1: had total ripple effects and benefits. Yes. So I got
[4:49] Speaker 1: to stand in the whirlwind of that whole movement. I
[4:52] Speaker 1: love that for you. It was definitely a movement. It
[4:54] Speaker 1: was definitely, I don't know, a sound too, a very
[4:56] Speaker 1: specific sound that takes you to a time. I love
[4:59] Speaker 1: when a song does that too. Like sonically, the sound
[5:03] Speaker 1: of a song could take you to a time.
[5:05] Speaker 4: It was futuristic, too.
[5:07] Speaker 1: For that time, for sure.
[5:08] Speaker 4: Yeah, it was definitely like.
[5:09] Speaker 1: But for now, when you hear it, it immediately will
[5:11] Speaker 1: put me in that place. It still sounds good, but
[5:14] Speaker 1: it just puts you into it.
[5:16] Speaker 4: That's the other part, too, right? It aged well.
[5:19] Speaker 1: It did age well. You're right.
[5:20] Speaker 4: You could play this song now. It doesn't feel dated.
[5:24] Speaker 1: There's no.
[5:27] Speaker 4: There's a time and a place for that, for sure.
[5:29] Speaker 4: But that is not this song.
[5:31] Speaker 1: I only say that because the youngins were making fun
[5:33] Speaker 1: of that when we were having the hip, the hip,
[5:34] Speaker 1: the hip. The hipity hop conversation.
[5:36] Speaker 4: The one, two, three, ABCs.
[5:37] Speaker 1: First of all, don't be disrespectful.
[5:40] Speaker 4: We love our pioneers.
[5:42] Speaker 1: We love our pioneers. But not every pioneer song, um,
[5:46] Speaker 1: It doesn't age. They don't all age the same.
[5:48] Speaker 4: Yeah, it doesn't.
[5:49] Speaker 1: Some age better than others.
[5:50] Speaker 4: You could say the same thing about movies. For sure.
[5:53] Speaker 1: There's movies. Style, fashion.
[5:55] Speaker 5: Yeah, anything in the arts. Some stuff transcends. Some stuff
[5:59] Speaker 5: is way too early. I think this song was early.
[6:04] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[6:04] Speaker 1: It sounded sonically fresh.
[6:06] Speaker 3: Yes.
[6:07] Speaker 1: And innovative and... yeah for sure it was like leading
[6:11] Speaker 1: the wave for.
[6:12] Speaker 5: Absolutely yeah for sure absolutely this changed how probably rappers
[6:16] Speaker 5: and producers together thought about what things.
[6:19] Speaker 1: It might have made a certain producer or a certain
[6:22] Speaker 1: artist think nah that it's not my style of producer
[6:25] Speaker 1: might open their eyes to.
[6:26] Speaker 4: Be like let me try something new let.
[6:28] Speaker 1: Me widen my net a little bit let me let
[6:30] Speaker 1: me see that um And to me, those are the
[6:34] Speaker 1: best collaborations because you're like forcing each other to be
[6:37] Speaker 1: kind of almost... Push out of the box. Yeah, you push.
[6:39] Speaker 1: You push a little bit.
[6:40] Speaker 4: Which is good for them and it's good for hip hop.
[6:42] Speaker 1: It was clearly good for hip hop. Superthug's a great song.
[6:46] Speaker 5: Whatever frequency, you know, some people be like, listen to
[6:48] Speaker 5: the da-da-da hurts to like get your vibes up.
[6:51] Speaker 4: I don't know what the frequency of this song, but
[6:53] Speaker 4: I'm sure it's.
[6:53] Speaker 1: Good for the gym. Get on that treadmill. There you go.
[6:55] Speaker 1: Get on that bike.
[6:56] Speaker 4: It's gym frequency playlist.
[6:58] Speaker 1: It's gym friendly. I'm at least going up two levels
[7:01] Speaker 1: on the bicycle if Super Thug is on.
[7:04] Speaker 4: Heard you.
[7:05] Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying? Check out the Sprite Living
[7:07] Speaker 1: track list and break down the stories behind your favorite bars.
[7:11] Speaker 1: The link is in our show notes so you can
[7:13] Speaker 1: check that out. This is the Sprite Living track list.
[7:16] Speaker 1: Obey your thirst. Like if I'm devastated for something that
[7:18] Speaker 1: happened to me this past week.
[7:20] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[7:21] Speaker 1: And I have to show up and be in a
[7:22] Speaker 1: scene with you right now.
[7:23] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[7:24] Speaker 1: It's just supposed to be gone for me.
[7:28] Speaker 2: It may.
[7:28] Speaker 1: Any type of pain or stress?
[7:31] Speaker 2: I'm not going to say that it... Look, I'm speaking
[7:33] Speaker 2: for myself.
[7:34] Speaker 3: No, no, no.
[7:34] Speaker 1: I'm putting myself in your position.
[7:36] Speaker 3: Yeah, but it can because I got a job to do,
[7:39] Speaker 3: you know? And sometimes you have to drop your shoulders,
[7:44] Speaker 3: be where you are, feel what you feel, and then
[7:46] Speaker 3: go from there. And then now life feeds me. But
[7:50] Speaker 3: life feeds my work. But there's other times when, like,
[7:54] Speaker 3: I don't even have the brain to deal with that
[7:57] Speaker 3: So I'm just going to deal with this and live
[8:00] Speaker 3: the life as this character. Sometimes, you know, you go
[8:03] Speaker 3: on a job for six, seven months. You spend more
[8:05] Speaker 3: time as a character than you do as your real self.
[8:08] Speaker 3: And life be happening on the outside. And life being
[8:11] Speaker 3: some even more messed up stuff be happening to the character.
[8:14] Speaker 3: You know, but the thing about that is at the
[8:17] Speaker 3: end of the day, you know, as the character, I
[8:20] Speaker 3: ain't going to get no phone calls in the middle
[8:22] Speaker 3: of the night saying that, you know, so-and-so going to
[8:25] Speaker 3: die and I ain't going to get no You don't
[8:27] Speaker 3: get no unexpected phone calls.
[8:29] Speaker 1: You don't get the trouble.
[8:30] Speaker 2: Well, you don't... Rock with me for a second.
[8:33] Speaker 1: You don't get unexpected trouble.
[8:34] Speaker 3: Yes, you don't get the unexpected phone calls as an actor,
[8:38] Speaker 3: like as a character, because when I get the script,
[8:41] Speaker 3: I know everything that's bad that's coming.
[8:43] Speaker 2: I know what it is. You know what I'm saying?
[8:47] Speaker 3: My life has been such that I have gotten unexpected
[8:50] Speaker 3: phone calls. So one of the things that I've learned
[8:54] Speaker 3: about myself in the past.
[8:57] Speaker 3: Uh, two years is that like, and I don't think
[9:01] Speaker 3: I'm there anymore, but where I was at that point,
[9:06] Speaker 3: I reinvestigate, I was reinvestigating. Why do I do this
[9:09] Speaker 3: in the first place? At first it was because I really, I, I,
[9:12] Speaker 3: I liked the, I loved the attention, loved it. And
[9:17] Speaker 3: then I grew out of loving the attention and it
[9:19] Speaker 3: was like, I'm not, not, that's not the reason no
[9:21] Speaker 3: more because if you, if it, because I, I've fallen back.
[9:25] Speaker 3: So I'm not doing it for the I'm not doing
[9:27] Speaker 3: attention seeking things anymore.
[9:30] Speaker 2: I'm I'm chilling.
[9:31] Speaker 3: So I was like, well, why do I still do this?
[9:33] Speaker 3: What's really going on? And it was like, oh, at
[9:35] Speaker 3: that point in my life, it was like because life
[9:37] Speaker 3: is scary. So you're doing this because in this because
[9:42] Speaker 3: when you are operating in this character, you already know
[9:46] Speaker 3: the script and there's no anxiety in that character.
[9:50] Speaker 1: But that's not real life, though.
[9:51] Speaker 3: But that's not real life. But you got to deal
[9:55] Speaker 3: with real life. You see what I'm saying? And so
[9:58] Speaker 3: once I learned that, I was like, oh. okay well
[10:00] Speaker 3: there's beauty in this there's therapy in this now let's
[10:04] Speaker 3: let's go deal with real life and let's go get
[10:07] Speaker 3: uncomfortable and deal with like fear and you know uh
[10:12] Speaker 3: finding something to help you to cope with the fact
[10:14] Speaker 3: that all the all the problems that you have are
[10:17] Speaker 3: on the way now i'm talking a little bit great
[10:19] Speaker 3: right now right but i have so much beauty and
[10:21] Speaker 3: you know love and positive things in my life too
[10:23] Speaker 3: so i i want to i'll be remiss if i
[10:25] Speaker 3: didn't if i didn't if i didn't say that.
[10:27] Speaker 1: Well everybody got everybody got great.
[10:30] Speaker 3: Shit everybody got everybody got a little everybody got a
[10:33] Speaker 3: little problem everybody got a little problem in their pocket
[10:36] Speaker 3: and that's cool that's something.
[10:37] Speaker 1: Good to remember if you're ever in like nervous about
[10:40] Speaker 1: being in the presence of somebody. Sometimes people get nervous
[10:43] Speaker 1: to walk into an interview or nervous to be, or
[10:45] Speaker 1: think somebody's better than them for whatever reason. Reminding yourself
[10:49] Speaker 1: that everybody got a little problem.
[10:51] Speaker 2: Now everybody gonna watch this. Think of it. So, okay.
[10:53] Speaker 2: So all I got to do is project.
[10:55] Speaker 3: Okay. All I got to do is project all my
[10:57] Speaker 3: problems on Angie. And then I feel good about myself.
[11:00] Speaker 1: Well, don't put it on me. My own damn problems.
[11:04] Speaker 1: I don't need that. That's pretty great though.
[11:08] Speaker 3: Yeah.
[11:11] Speaker 2: This is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in real life.
[11:14] Speaker 1: Hey guys, thanks for watching. Make sure you subscribe, like, comment,
[11:18] Speaker 1: and check out all of the other episodes we have
[11:20] Speaker 1: on H. Martinez IRL Podcast.

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