Kelsey Caesar grew up in Houston and still identifies as a Texan though he’s spent the last 13 years in Los Angeles. He stars in a film showing at SXSW. “B**ch A**” is billed as the first slasher film with an all-Black cast.
Caesar has long been interested in acting. As a teen, he appeared in commercials for Academy and Conn’s. He also had a small part in a “Friday Night Lights” episode.
“They did cut my part out, so I wasn’t happy about that. But it was a pretty good experience because that was like my first time being on like a major show,” Caesar said.
Still, his acting career took a backseat for many years.
“Growing up in Texas, you are pretty much thrown into sports. It’s just the culture of the state like everybody’s in, you know, some kind of sport… I played football and baseball and track and until I got really, really competitive in track and field.”
In fact, Caesar was training for the 2016 Olympic trials until he got a call for a part in the basketball film “Slamma Jamma.”
“And so when I came back after wrapping up that film back to training, I was a bit off,” Caesar said. “So that’s when I retired and just completely just turned to acting.”
Caesar says having a film show at SXSW is like a homecoming.
“As a kid, because I studied acting when I was in high school, I’ve always known about the festival,” Caesar said.
He says it feels great to be part of something that’s breaking ground: the first slasher film with an all-Black cast.
“I’ve always wanted do something for humanity or my community that is, you know, pushing things forward… to be a part of something that actually, you know, people get to see themselves and be represented,” Caesar said.
“B**ch A**” is having its world premiere on March 14.
