Audiences may not have known the name Kofi Siriboe before but they were introduced to the handsome actor in the 2008 film The Longshots and since then, he has gone from hot to hotter starring in movies such as Prom, award-winning film, Whiplash, Straight Outta Compton, the recent blockbuster, Girl’s Trip with Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and many more.
Now Siriobe plays Ralph Angel in the acclaimed Ava Duvernay-directed series, Queen Sugar, on Oprah Winfrey’s Network, OWN. Known for his killer smile, great body and sexy demeanor, he wasn’t always like that.
As a teen, he was embarrassed to take his shirt off at pool parties because he was overweight, he reveals in an interview with InStyle Magazine.
“I’m not confident,” he says. “I was overweight as a kid. I got up to 210 pounds.
I never wanted to go to pool parties, and when I did, I wore a shirt in the water and got made fun of. I didn’t have a girlfriend, I didn’t have sex. I didn’t do anything.”
When he was 16, he vowed to get in shape by his 18th birthday.
“It was not a Peter Parker moment where it just happened overnight,” he told the magazine. “I tried it over and over again. I was a child actor, so by the time I was a teenager I had a bank account with a couple of thousand in there.
I got a 24-hour gym fitness membership right down the street. Then I started creating meal plans.”
Siriboe, 22, stays fit by running 100 to 150 miles a week and limiting carbs. “To this day, with 6 percent body fat, I still have moments when I think, ‘Does this shirt make me look fat?'”
Since then, he’s still adjusting to life in the fast lane.
“Oprah called me before the show aired in September and said, simply, ‘What’s about to happen to your life is going to turn you upside down. If you’re not careful, it can destroy you, Kof.’
I knew what she meant, but I didn’t get the fullness of what she was saying until the journey began.”
“As artists, we give arbitrarily from the soul with no paradigm of sustainability,” explains Siriboe. “Such an exchange can leave you imbalanced, if not careful, as O said. There’s no one but you to tell yourself enough is enough when it comes to self expression.
It takes absolute awareness and stillness, through it all, to stay clear.”
“I thank God for sustaining me through the process. His presence is the only thing that allowed me to get through it.”
So what’s next for Kofi? The sky’s the limit. Yet the young star is humble as he looks forward.
“Our growth is aligned with our destiny. we can’t be afraid to change.
we can’t be afraid to let go. some things we experience are meant to refine us for a later experience. We mustn’t get
attached; not to people or ideals. maintain a vision, but allow it room to grow. if your goals don’t expand with your growth… chances are, you’re not growing. keep growing, my friends.”
Kofi is showing no signs of slowing down either. Most recently he has been cast in the Kenya Barris film Girl Trip, starring Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith and Tiffany Haddish. Set for a 2017 release, the film features the four stars playing friends who travel to New Orleans together for the annual ESSENCE Festival.
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