Jordan Peele has climbed to the top of the metaphorical mountain in Hollywood with an Academy Award for writing Get Out and his latest film Us is breaking box office records for an original horror movie, but his incredible success can be tracked back to a decision he made after he experienced one of the biggest letdowns of his career.
He was asked to join the cast of Saturday Night Live in 2008, a lifelong dream, but producers of MADtv [which he was featured on] wouldn’t let him out of his contract.
He dealt with depression initially, but recently told a packed house at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Hollywood, eventually a lightbulb went off.
He says: “I realized I needed to be my own producer. These producers were making these decisions about my art and comedy and they didn’t know anything about art and comedy. I wanted to be a producer to bring my artistry to that.”
By 2012 Jordan was producing his own sketch show, the legendary Key and Peele, and hasn’t slowed down since.
His movie Us is out now.
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