Why Cedric McKinzie Is Determined to Tell the Stories That Refuse to Stay Silent
The Call Came Right on Time
Sometimes life changes because you’ve spent years planning every step.
Sometimes… It changes with a single phone call.
For Cedric McKinzie, that phone rang at 9:30 the morning after he submitted his very first acting headshot.
The voice on the other end wanted to sign him. Just like that. No years of chasing agencies. No endless audition circuit. No wondering if he belonged. The opportunity arrived almost immediately. Most people would call it luck.
Cedric calls it confirmation. Because long before talent representatives saw an actor… He believed God had already shown him the destination.
“I knew I was going to do this from a young age,” he says. “I was just waiting on the call time.” Ironically, acting wasn’t even why he submitted in the first place.
Six years ago, after relocating from Virginia to Georgia to be closer to his son, Cedric introduced his son to acting.
Almost as an afterthought, he submitted a photo of himself. Twenty-four hours later…Everything changed.
That first opportunity led to representation with Alliance Management, followed by East Coast Talent Agency and Starburst Talent Agency, launching a career that continues to grow with each passing year.
For Cedric, however, the contracts were never the destination. They were simply the beginning.
“Some people chase fame. Others chase purpose. Cedric McKinzie has spent his life answering a calling that was waiting for the right moment.”
THE MANY HATS OF CEDRIC McKinzie
The Actor
Building a career one role at a time across television and film.
The Executive Producer
Helping bring meaningful independent stories to life.
The Writer
Developing original projects rooted in truth and family history.
The CEO
Founder of Freetown Entertainment, a company dedicated to creating films, music, books, and content that leaves a lasting impact.
“I wasn’t chasing the industry. I was answering a calling.”
More Than an Actor
Many performers spend years trying to figure out what kind of career they want.Cedric already knows. Acting is the passion. Producing is the mission.
Writing is the legacy. Through Freetown Entertainment, he’s building far more than a production company. He’s creating a home for stories that deserve to be remembered. Movies. Music. Books. Content creation. Merchandise. Every creative lane points toward the same destination. Truth. “I’m about people,” Cedric says. “I’m about the story. I’m about substance.” It’s a philosophy that’s quietly guided every decision he’s made.
Rather than chasing projects simply because they’re commercially successful, he gravitates toward work that leaves audiences thinking long after the credits roll.
That includes his growing acting résumé, with appearances in Come Out Fighting, Manifested, A Law for Christmas, Redemption, and upcoming projects including Plus Size Divas: Revelation and Mama Hearing Us Gospel Singers. Each role has become another opportunity to sharpen his craft while preparing for the stories he ultimately wants to tell himself.
His acting coach, Gil Everett Smith, has become an important part of that journey, helping Cedric continue evolving as a performer while expanding his work behind the camera as an executive producer.
For Cedric, every project is another classroom. Every role another lesson. Every experience another step toward something bigger.
THE PROJECT THAT CHOSE HIM
Every storyteller carries one project that refuses to let go. For Cedric McKinzie… That story is called I Pray for Love. It’s not fiction. It’s family.
Based on the life of his grandmother, the film explores a devastating chapter of his family’s history in Mississippi—one marked by violence, racism, generational trauma, and unimaginable loss.
After his great-grandfather killed his grandmother, official documents revealed that he was released from prison after only eight months because the state declared it would not raise the couple’s children “on taxpayers’ money.” Those words have echoed through generations.
Today, Cedric is determined to ensure they are never forgotten—not to reopen old wounds, but to help them heal.
Researching the story has meant revisiting painful truths, speaking with relatives, and uncovering family history many preferred to leave buried. It hasn’t been easy. But some stories demand to be told. Not because they’re comfortable. Because they’re necessary.
Turning Pain Into Purpose
Cedric McKinzie is not interested in telling stories simply because they are entertaining. He wants to tell the ones that heal.
The ones that challenge silence.
The ones that force families, communities, and audiences to confront truths they may have spent generations trying to avoid. That purpose is at the heart of I Pray for Love, the deeply personal film he is developing about his family’s history. The project carries the weight of his great-grandmother’s murder, the injustice that followed, and the emotional consequences that continued long after the official record was closed.
For Cedric, the story is not just about one terrible act.
It is about what happens afterward.
The children left behind.
The trauma passed from one generation to the next. The family members who learned to survive without ever truly discussing what happened.
The complicated process of uncovering facts that are painful, uncomfortable, and sometimes fiercely protected.
“It is a sensitive topic,” he says. “But the truth is the truth. It has to be told.”
Cedric believes stories like this carry a responsibility. They should not exploit suffering for entertainment. They should reveal the humanity inside it.
That is the difference between simply producing content and creating something with purpose.
STORIES THAT BREAK THE SILENCE
Cedric’s commitment to meaningful storytelling extends into his work on Plus Size Divas: Revelation, the upcoming sequel to The Untold Secrets of a Plus Size Diva.
The project explores self-worth, healing, empowerment, domestic violence, and the difficult work of breaking cycles of abuse. Cedric portrays Wayne Clark in the film while also supporting its promotional and content strategy.
What resonates with him most is the project’s refusal to treat abuse as an issue affecting only women.
Men suffer silently too.
They receive the messages.
They carry the shame.
They struggle to admit what they have endured.
Yet many never show up, speak publicly, or allow themselves to become part of the healing conversation.
Cedric understands that silence can become its own prison.
He has seen the consequences of emotional pain within families, including the challenges his own mother endured before rebuilding her life through faith. Those experiences shaped his determination to create work that gives people permission to tell the truth.
Not for attention. For freedom.
THE FREETOWN BLUEPRINT
Film
Original stories rooted in family, faith, history, healing, and lived experience.
Music
Songs created to support the emotional worlds of Cedric’s projects, including music written for Plus Size Divas.
Books
Personal testimony, collaborative anthologies, and future work designed to inspire readers.
Content
Promotional campaigns, social storytelling, branded media, and audience development.
Legacy
A creative company that Cedric hopes will continue growing through his son and future generations.
“Teach me how to act. I’ll take care of the rest.”
A FAMILY BUSINESS IN THE MAKING
Freetown Entertainment is not simply Cedric’s company.
It is part of a family vision.
His son, now studying television, film, and sound at SCAD, is building his own path in entertainment. He works on sets, studies production, creates music, and plays multiple instruments. While Cedric jokes that his son takes the instruction to “be better than me” very seriously, the pride in his voice is impossible to miss.
Cedric moved from Virginia to Georgia to be closer to him.
At the time, the transition came with uncertainty, sacrifice, and the emotional work of repairing and strengthening their relationship.
Looking back, Cedric sees the move as one of the best decisions of his life.
The son he once introduced to acting is now pursuing a future in the same industry.
The father who relocated to support him discovered a new creative calling of his own.
Together, they represent two generations building something neither could have created alone.
That is legacy in real time.
“I want to tell the stories people are afraid to talk about.”
Faith Through the Fire
Cedric’s calm presence might suggest that life has always treated him gently.
It has not. He has faced health challenges connected to his military service, the loneliness of time away from family, difficult relationships, financial pressure, and the emotional weight of starting over.
But Cedric speaks about those struggles without bitterness.
He believes God showed him a glimpse of where his life was headed long before he understood how he would arrive there.
That vision carried him through the uncertainty. “The fire and the storm got me here,” he says. “I could not have made it if God had not shown me the end.”
Faith, for Cedric, is not passive.
It does not mean sitting still and waiting for miracles. It means working while believing. Forgiving while healing.
Showing up even when the outcome is uncertain. It means trusting that pain can become preparation for something greater. That belief also shapes the kind of comedy Cedric wants to create. Although his projects often address serious subjects, he remains drawn to humor because he believes laughter exists in every part of the human experience.
Even sadness. Even struggle. Even grief.
“If you cannot laugh, what is the purpose?” he asks. “I could not enjoy the happiness I have now if it were not for the pain I knew.”
That tension—between joy and sorrow, faith and fear, humor and healing—is exactly where Cedric’s voice becomes most compelling.
CREATIVE NORTH STARS
Dream Collaborator: Samuel L. Jackson.
Preferred Genre: Comedy with emotional depth
Storytelling Influences: Artists such as Tupac Shakur and Bob Marley, who addressed social realities others were afraid to confront.
Creative Mission: To make work that touches hearts and souls long after he is gone.
The Work Before the Reward
Cedric does not romanticize the entertainment business. His advice to aspiring creators is direct. Do not begin with money. Do not begin with fame.Do not begin because you want attention. Begin because the work is already inside you.
“If it is not in your substance or your foundation, this may not be what you need to do,” he says. “Find something your heart is in.”
Cedric understands that ambition is necessary.
So is training.
So is discipline.
He continues working with his acting coach because he wants mastery, not shortcuts. His philosophy is simple: Teach him the craft. He will handle the rest. That mindset has carried him from military service and federal recruiting into acting, producing, writing, songwriting, content creation, and company ownership. Every new title has been earned. Every opportunity has required work. And every project points toward the larger legacy he is building.
EDITOR’S REFLECTION
Cedric McKinzie is not simply trying to be seen. He is trying to make sure important stories are no longer invisible.
He is building a company that honors family. Developing films that confront generational pain.
Creating music that supports healing.
Helping others share experiences that shame once forced them to hide.
And showing his son what it looks like to pursue purpose with discipline, faith, and love. Cedric says he wants to create work that touches people long after he is gone.
That may be the clearest definition of legacy. Not fame. Not money.
Not applause. But the courage to tell the truth so honestly that someone else finally feels safe enough to tell theirs.
Freetown Entertainment may still be growing, but its foundation is already clear.
Real people. Real history. Real healing. Real stories.
And at the center of it all is Cedric McKinzie—a man who is not waiting for someone else to preserve his family’s story.
He is writing it himself. Absolutely. I would actually start over completely.
After reading Nial’s interview again, I think the strongest article isn’t about the play.
It’s about why he has spent 30+ years creating theater that heals people.
That is much more unique.
The play becomes the centerpiece of a larger story.
“I taught my son to be better than me.
Now I get to watch him build on everything I started.”