The Outsider
So Good At Being Bad
From being a fashion stylist, starring in adult films, and acting in Emmy award winning series like When They See Us, Antino Crowley-Kamenwati is a creative force in the New York City art world. In a candid interview diving in to his creative journey, Antino reveals the different sides of the fashion industry, how prison pushed him to go further, and why being bad is fun.
Photographed by Benjamin Kabin
Produced and Art Directed By Claudia Lake
Grooming By Claudia Lake, using Chanel Beauty Boy de Chanel
You grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and moved to New York City as a young adult. Why the move? What did New York City offer that Atlanta didn’t?
I moved because at the time, literally 2000 before the digital world we know today was born, NYC was still the one place in the country for the misfits. The outsiders. The ones who didn’t fit in, in their own more close minded conservative hometowns. The dreamers. I had always dreamed of living in NYC. Grew up watching it on tv. The grit, the style, the art, the cultural melting pot. Atlanta didn’t provide that so it wasn’t for me. Now in the age of social media you don’t really have to physically relocate to find your tribe. Nowadays folks do it digitally over social platforms.
Once you moved, how did the city force you to grow and evolve?
Oh so much has changed. The city has grown. So have I. I went through my 20s, 30s, and now going through the 40s here. Oops I just gave a hint to my age lol. NYC is not for the meek or the weak. Being a country boy from the South I learned and evolved fast. The pace here is much faster than anywhere else in the world really. And I’m in tune with that pace.
I was visiting NYC for several years before I actually made the permanent move. So I knew what I was getting into and I embraced it. I was a New Yorker trapped in an Atlantan’s body since childhood I always tell people. The city speaks to me in away other cities don’t. It constantly changes while somehow still remaining the same. And that goes for me too. I’m constantly evolving yet I’m always Antino. The city and I get each other.
How did being a fashion stylist allow you to express yourself?
Fashion been in my blood since early childhood. Fashion is art. A stylist is an artist. I’m an across the board creative. Not just fashion. But fashion was one outlet to express my creativity.
It was quite a surreal experience. I worked for TimeOut, Interview, CondeNast, and went from fashion assistant to breaking out on my own. Rubbed elbows with the very movers and shakers of fashion and art I used to read about in magazines as a teenager. I saw the beautiful side and also the ugly side. Eventually realized it wasn’t for me. Not fashion in itself. But the fashion industry. I hadn’t found my true calling yet. But I still have my old portfolio and tear sheets. And the memories.
You spent two years in prison. What is the story behind that? What were your initial feelings during that experience?
I used to engage in criminal activity in my youth. Fraudulent activity. Eventually it caught up with me and I paid the price.
Prison was quite a lonely yet discoverable place. I discovered a lot of things about myself and others during that solitude. You find out who your real friends are, as they say. There were sides and identities I never knew existed within me that I explored in prison.
This happened in the middle of my fashion career actually. Some things and people I had previously cut out of my life came back I ended up reverting backwards. And that moonwalk was a direct path to jail that time. It was supposed to be my big last score. You know, like in the movies. And it was, but it took prison to wake me up and truly make it my last.
Once out of prison, what did you learn about yourself? How did you change ? What did you learn about the system? How did it push you to go further in your career?
What was only 2 years seemed like 10 years. Oh man, so much had changed in that short span of time. Time freezes in prison but it’s still going outside in the real world. I knew I had to make a change in my life. I also became even bolder and more uninhibited than I ever was before. After being physically caged I came out of a mental cage; whereas before I had been holding myself back creatively and artistically before. One of the things prison taught me was that life is short so there is no time to be wasting.
As far the system: As a Black man in America you are educated on the ‘system’ from a very early age. So you’re very aware and keen on that system even if you never have to experience prison. So being incarcerated had no bearing on that. It just reinforced what I already knew. The inequality of the criminal justice system here. And how it’s all just for profit but not real justice. For profit. Which is really what all of America’s institutions are about. What America is really only about. But I’ll try not to get too political here, haha.
As far as pushing me to go further, it most certainly did. The parts of my self realized and explored in prison came with me to the outside world as well. And manifested themselves through my performance art and then eventually porn.
How did you get into the adult film industry?
I simply applied to studios online. That simple.
What were some of the highs and lows of being adult films? Looking back at that time, how do you feel?
My intention with deciding to do adult films (I prefer to actually call them that, adds a little more haute to it,if you will) was that it would lead into more arthouse films. From there, I could get to work with some of my fave directors like Bruce LaBruce and Gaspar Noe. But that’s not exactly what happened. And I didn’t expect to become as popular as I did.
I actually wanted to first stay performing in edgy, more underground and European porn. But the road lead to more commercial mainstream American stuff. It was a remarkable freeing high...at first. I was curious and excited for porn since I found my parents stash as a kid. We are talking VHS here too, haha. I’m uninhibited and have no concerns about others opinions. So sex in front of the camera was nothing for me. I’m totally comfortable with my body and sexuality. I had some fun times, met cool people, and traveled to cool places.
However, I’m intrinsically an artist and bring my creativity and ideas to anything thing I’m doing. I had my own ideas about shaking things up in porn from the norm, specifically with American porn. As usually with art in any form, the international is edgier and more provocative versus American which loves to play it safe. The gatekeepers of the industry, the producers and directors, were not interested in my visions. It was very much an “this is what has always worked we don’t need variety” attitude. Or my ideas were too racy or controversial. Sometimes racially controversial too. Also it became clear the only thing I really had in common with most acquaintances I met doing adult films was that we didn’t mind fucking in front of a camera. I was the oddball out weird one once again. So I got bored, uninspired, unchallenged and I retired.
I don’t regret it. It was just a step in the direction to brought me here to tv/film acting.
How did you get into acting? How does it fulfill you differently then your other creative mediums?
I got into acting around the time I was transitioning out of adult films, at the end of 2011. I started out doing work as in extra. I officially retired from the porn industry in 2012.
I was auditioning and also attending a actors conservatory in NYC, the Maggie Flanigan Studio. I finished conservatorship in 2015 and booked my first co star role on a hit network show in 2016 on my own without any representation.
In 2017, I started working with an agent and 20 years later since 2011 here I am, man. Take me or leave me, haha. Acting is my calling. I have a lot inside. Alot. Acting affords me the catharsis I need in a healthy way. I get to exercise my demons in a controlled environment. Otherwise I’d probably be still incarcerated or in a mental home.
What were some of your favorite roles and why? Which ones are you most proud of?
I’m always the bad guy; and I love it. Good guys always finish last. I’m a good guy in real life, I know. Being bad is fun. Being bad is being free. I know that’s bad right? See.
I don’t think I have a favorite character. They’re all sides of me. So I love them all. I am most proud probably of my work in When They See Us, because of the cultural and historical impact it had, being a true story and all. So I’m grateful to have been apart of that project. I mean, I got to work with Ava Duvernay. Jharrel Jerome. And it won an Emmy too. That’s definitely the one I’m most proud.
Do you have a dream role or character?
As uninspiring as it may sound, I want to be a superhero or villain or both. I’d love to play a character from the X Men whose tatted up for Marvel, Or Tattooed Man, another tatted character from DC. Or a twisted diabolical villain everybody loves to hate, like the first Black Joker or JR Ewing.
Is there a certain director you want to work with?
I want to work with Ava again. And Alex Pina who created Money Heist and Sky Rojo.
What’s next for you ?
You never know where I’ll pop up on tv. Most current SWAT and Law & Order: Organized Crime. I’ll be starring in rapper Maliibu Miitch’s new music video “I Like What I Like”, dropping Friday May 21st. I’m also in a really dope film with Adrien Brody starring called “Clean”, an edgy thriller. It premieres at Tribeca Film Festival in June.
