Black History Month: Rise Celestial Studios Honors Chaz Shepherd

Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, he walks into mine.

He was in 7th Heaven, BET’s The Game and most recently Luke Cage, which is one of the only black superhero series streaming online!

Chaz is a walking talking legend, a bonafide classic. I’ve never taken our casual friendship for granted prior and when he entered my film set for the first time he lit up the whole scene and instantly added so much color and life that it was impossible to not smile and feel a bit accomplished at the current milestone moment of my career.

By the end of the night it was clear that he enjoyed himself enough to maybe even agree to do it again some day, maybe a part of my next big project when that day comes…who knows.

“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

— CEO of Rise Celestial Studios, Ralph Celestin describes his first introduction meeting Chaz, their friendship that spans over a few years and his ode to classic legendary actors that create memorable Classic films like Casablanca (one of Ralph’s favorites).

Shepherd’s professional debut came in a production of Fame staged by the Walnut Street Theatre.

On television, he portrayed Al Bryant in the NBC miniseries The Temptations(1998). He also played Artis Tower, son of Steve Tower (Steve Harvey) on Me and the Boys and appeared on In the House, Moesha, and Sister, Sister.[1] He played John Hamilton on 7th Heaven,[3] had a recurring role as Trey Wiggs on The Game, and portrayed Raymond “Piranha” Jones in the second season of Luke Cage.

Shepherd appeared on film in Set It Off in the role of Stevie,[1] On Broadway, he portrayed Billy Flynn in Chicago (1996) and Harpo in The Color Purple (2005).[4] His other work on stage includes appearing as Curtis Taylor, Jr. in a 2009–10 national tour of the musical Dreamgirls.