![]() That's something that we've all experienced to a certain extent. Especially as Black men, there is a pressure to suck it up, be a man, and be better. Find ways to cope with the stresses of life that are healthy. OS: I think as a community in general, I don't think we do enough to center self-care in a way that isn't just 'go get mani-pedis,' but also just take care of your mental health, take care of your wellbeing. What's the importance of having conversations about mental health when it comes to Black men? xoN: One thing that I love about 'Bel-Air' is that it normalizes conversations in the first season about anxiety and coping mechanisms, especially as it pertains to Carlton's storyline. I'm a much different Olly now than when I started, and I feel like I've grown in so many ways that I'm really proud of. A friend pointed out the other day that I shot 20 episodes of television, which when you put it like that, it's like along the way, I'm going to learn things. We're about to wrap on the second season. ![]() In that way, it's different because there's a feeling of mastery that comes with just doing it two years now. Every single day, when I wake up before I go to work, before I go to set, there's that pinch me, I hope I'm not dreaming kind of feeling that doesn't go away. There's the realization that your life is about to change in a way that is inconceivable and that is still a feeling that I experience every single day. I feel the same and different in a lot of ways, and from the moment I was cast, I think that there's an excitement that doesn't ever go away. Olly Sholotan: It's funny because I don't think I've ever changed how I felt. xoNecole: How did you feel when you were first cast in 'Bel-Air' in comparison to you now amping up to wrap up production for the second season? I feel like as an artist, I'm in this space right now where I'm kind of becoming the artist I've always dreamed of being." I was literally just talking to Morgan Cooper ( Bel-Air creator/EP) about this earlier today. Because we're about a week and a half or two weeks away from wrapping on Bel-Air, there's kind of this energy of 'Holy shit, we did it,' but we did it again- twice. “Honestly, my mental health is doing great. He continued to tell me about the current state of his mental health before we dove into our candid conversation. ![]() “I'm actually in a fitting right now, so if I have to take five seconds to put a shirt on, my apologies again,” Sholotan said during our phone interview for xoNecole. Fast forward just a few short months later, I dialed into the conference line excited to speak with Olly once again. A good actor evokes emotion, but it takes a phenomenal thespian to take the audience on a journey filled with mental and psychological turmoil for the first time since Gossip Girl’s Chuck Bass.ĭuring our meeting, he shook my hand and greeted me with a genuine smile that was hard to forget. And, not too much to my surprise, he was the exact opposite of the character he plays in the series, Carlton Banks. I was already a fan of Bel-Air, so I knew exactly who he was when my friend introduced us. The first time I met Olly Sholotan was at a Tier NYC fashion show during New York Fashion Week in Brooklyn. ![]()
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