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Saturday, July 25, 2020

Actor Sean Ringgold: Benefiting from Hard Work, Patience and God's Timing


by Cyrus Webb

Actor Sean Ringgold is a man that is not afraid of putting in the work, and now he is seeing the results pay off for him in a big way. We first connected in 2019 when he was on the hit show Family Business on BET, and 2020 found him on another hit show, For Life.

In this conversation we talked about the success, the power of patience and relying on God’s timing in his career and life.

Sean, thanks for the time. We're just going to jump right into it. 2020 is probably not shaping up exactly the way that people felt that it would, but you are just roaring along. What has that been like for you professionally to look at how things are lining up for you?
Oh man. I sometimes pinch myself and say it's all about God's patience and His will. I've also learned God will never give you more than you can handle. Everything that is happening is happening in it's divine order. It's funny: the people that you see in the beginning of your career you'll see through the middle and towards the end of your career. I've learned it's very important to nurture relationships and be respectful and never have that ego. Do the best you can on any job, no matter how small your character is, how medium, how big it starts to get. Have that certain level of humility.  If you do the doors opening just keep going on and on.

People look at where you are now, Sean, and will say, ‘Wow, look at that.’ But they don't realize what it took to get there. Do you think your appreciation for the process in addition to the patience is kind of what helped you to be where you are today?
I definitely appreciate the process, because it gives me the gratitude for where I'm at. Some people get to a certain place in their career very fast, and they just feel like they got there all on their own. They forget about certain levels of rejection. Everyone has their own journey and their own path.

I just have extreme gratitude, and I'm enjoying the journey. And I love the rejection, because when you start reaping the fruits of your labor, you look back and you just never forget how challenging it was. You never forget. And I try to help motivate and inspire other actors who are coming up to be patient and to work hard and to have rhinoceros’ skin. Do not have thin skin in this business. You have to be able to take everything that comes with it. It's a lot of rejection, but the reward is unbelievable as you continue to keep moving forward.

Let’s talk about the importance of relationships, nurturing those and not burning bridges. Like you said, you never know what's going to happen. How has that lesson served you?
I think a lot of times people don't realize that you treat everyone with respect, because you never know who you're going to meet on this journey. You never know who's going to come back into your life. I would say it served me in an incredible and an incredible way. It's everything. It's probably more than half of my career.

You have to remember something, Cyrus. Everything that you want to obtain in this world is controlled by people. There's a book that changed my life that I read probably when I was about 17 years of age. It was called HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCER PEOPLE by Dale Carnegie. That book changed my life. There's another good book called PERSONALITY PLUS. It talks about the different personality types.

Everything that we want to obtain has to do with our interacting with people. It seems like things are becoming more distant now, because we're going through computer screens and having less human interaction. But common courtesy, decency and respect are things that I've learned never to falter from. And it's very important to show everyone, whether it's the janitor, the PA, or people who are on their grind coming up the chain in the entertainment world courtesy, decency and respect.

Stay connected with Sean and what’s to come on Instagram at www.instagram.com/seanringgold.

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