For over a decade, Rome Flynn has carefully carved out his place in the industry. With each step—and each new gig—his vision shifts ever so slightly as he walks a new path. Maybe you recognize Flynn from How to Get Away with Murder; Netflix’s Family Reunion, Raising Dion, or Dear White People; or his Emmy Award-winning role on the soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful. His journey has brought him to Fantasy Football, Flynn’s most recent Paramount+, Nickelodeon feature that hosts a star-studded cast: Kelly Rowland, Marsai Martin, and Omari Hardwick also help round things out. It’s a role that helped Flynn check off a few career boxes, or so he told us in our extensive interview with him for our 12 Days of Christmas series.

It is common for creatives to hold several artistic interests, and for Flynn, it’s all about finding balance—and time. Aside from his successful career as an actor, Flynn is an R&B singer who has racked up millions of streams. However, you won’t see him on a label’s roster, at least not soon, as he has purposefully remained independent as he navigates his next steps. In conversing with him, the actor seems grounded and intentional in his moves, and we can expect to see and hear more from him as he stacks new projects and plans to release more music in the new year.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 17: Actor Rome Flynn arrives at the “Fantasy Football” Premiere & Event at Paramount Studios, Sherry Lansing Theatre on November 17, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for Paramount+)

This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.

HNHH : Thank you so much for catching up with us once again! I know Fantasy Football was recently released, congratulations on that. Tell us about working on the film with such a talented cast.

Rome Flynn: Uniquely with this movie, I got to play not only a football player but an NFL player. And not just an NFL player, but an elite NFL player in conjunction with EA Sports and Madden, and the NFL getting behind the film was a huge deal. So, it was just a lot of boxes that had been checked for me. And aside from this amazing cast, I wanted to do this for so many reasons. The people producing it, they produce amazing things with Genius Productions, which is [Marsai Martin] and her parents’ company. So, I wanted to definitely work with her. [SpringHill Productions] was another big thing for me because they do things that are really good. On top of that, it’s Nickelodeon, it’s Paramount+. It covers different bases for me.

Ultimately, working with this cast—you know, I signed on without knowing it would be [Omari Hardwick]. Then, when I found out it was him, it was another thing that I added to the list for me. And also, working with him in a capacity where he also isn’t as known as much for doing comedy. Same for me. It was a big thing for me to be a part of this, to be a protagonist and also be somewhat of a comic relief, which is not something I’ve done a lot in my past work. And yeah, it’s a great film. I think people are now starting to watch it and get behind it. I think it’ll have the same impact as cult favorites have when it comes to sports in conjunction with family and these sorts of elements that people tend to watch around this time of year.

Speaking of checking those boxes of things you wanted to do, and casting vision to do as we enter into 2023, what are some resolutions or goals you have? What do you see yourself moving into in the new year?

My thing with resolutions is, it’s sort of become a crutch for people to have this opportunity to say, “Well, I’ll start next year.” Or, “January 1st is when I’ll begin to do these things that I really want to do.” And I just say, why not now? We only have right now, that’s the only thing we have. At this moment, we don’t know what’s going on in the future. As we can see, we lost a whole year, two years, with Covid. It’s just one of those things where, if you feel that passion, you have to initiate that when you feel it. It comes and goes. Life happens! Life happens to you and ultimately, you might not be able to go do those things that you want to do when you really had the opportunity at that moment that you thought of it.

So, for me, I don’t really do a lot of resolutions as opposed to just being really specific about what I want for myself. Not necessarily just about the beginning of the year, but like, just overall, for the year. As you go further in your career and life, this goes for anybody that does anything that is in a creative space—whether it’s music, art, acting—you get more in the progression of what you do. Ultimately, what ends up happening is you become good at it. You become trusted at this thing that you do. You get more opportunities.

In the past, for me, it was just wanting those opportunities, and now I’m in a position where I get plenty of opportunities. Just trying to make the right—the one that I feel more passionate about is the one that I lean toward. Whether it’s music or acting. And so, that’s just kinda how I navigate deciding where I want to be next year.

Ultimately, I do have certain goals that I want to meet for next year. Really specific. And you kinda have to be that way. If you don’t set your intentions in a way where you ask to receive these things in the amount of time that you want them, precisely the way you want them, then I think it leaves the universe in a place to kinda fill in the blanks. If you allow that to happen, I mean, sh*t, anything can happen.

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Read More: Kelly Rowland, Omari Hardwick, & More Cast In “Fantasy Football”

Even people in your own family don’t get to live in their own purpose or truth. A lot of them have to do jobs they don’t really like. They look forward to these times of the year. Obviously, being off from work, but, you know, it also can be stressful because people depend on them to make these days special. And for me—I had this conversation about birthdays, because my birthday just passed, and someone was asking what I was going to do for my birthday. I really didn’t have a plan. They were like, “Wow, you really have to celebrate these things.”

To me, my birthday could be today or it could be three months ago. I live my life every day like I’m celebrating it. ‘Cause I’m just so fortunate to be where I’m at. You know, on my birthday, I do reflect on where I’ve come from and where I want to be and take a moment to appreciate that. I think, to me, it becomes more about people celebrating you and you doing sh*t in order to celebrate yourself with them. As opposed to me, I like to kind of do my own thing. So, Christmas is one of those things where I’m looking forward to being with my family and doing what I can to make it special for my nephews and everybody else in my family.

I’m ready for the year to start, honestly. That’s where I’m at. I want to get back to doing what I love and I’m anxious about trying to see what the universe and God has for me next year. It’s just always a journey. It’s always a surprise. So, I’m looking forward to that.

It’s all about the journey. Speaking of, this is my final question. I’ve asked it to you twice before for our previous interviews [laughs]. What is something about you as a person that doesn’t always translate to the world because of the veil of celebrity? People think they know you based on what they can see or interpret, but that’s not truth. What is something about the heart of Rome Flynn that you wish people could see if the veil of celebrity was removed?

Yeah…I don’t remember what I said last time [laughs]. You know, I think, the thing about me that people probably misunderstand—I’m not as vain as people may think [laughs]. I think a lot of people think that I’ve got to this position because of how I look. That doesn’t bother me. I understand the ideology behind that because from the beginning of time, that has been the door opener for people.

But, the thing that I don’t care too much about is people not giving me, or even people like me, the opportunity to grow. To dip your hands into other things. Like I said, it’s kind of a double-edged sword. I’ve spent my career doing work that I’m proud of. So, when you transition to do other things, it feels a bit disingenuous to people ’cause they just don’t know you, when you do something different.

And so, I think my ability to play the game—when I say play the game, I always tell this to other actors, like, you gotta play the game, or the game plays you. The game is the industry. The game is all of the little sh*t you have to do in order to carve out your spot. When I say “the game,” I’m talking about People of Color because my white counterparts don’t. They get to live seamlessly through art. They transcend art. There are so many actors I know, they have bands, music, they release their own this, their own that. They don’t receive pushback, but when it comes to actors or artists that are predominately successful in a certain art field that are Black, it gives a certain pushback from people…which is a deeper conversation [laughs].

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To me, a lot of people kind of misjudge my purpose, and I think they take the perception of my mysterious, laid-back energy to be as if I don’t care about certain things. I’m very passionate and I have a deep, burning desire for love. Deep burning for what I do. And that sh*t will reveal itself in time, as it does when you’re great at something and finding your way. Those paths will open up. So, I’m not too much worried about it but yeah, those are things that I’m very much interested in.

And I’m also interested in keeping a fine line between my private life and the life I allow people to see. I think there are two different ways to go about this business—business meaning like, celebrity status, whatever you want to say. There’s people who live their life through Instagram and social media and they need to be as transparent as possible for people to feel them.

For me, mine is more of a funneled perspective, a very small window of who I am, which is what works for me. Which is interesting, I remember when I saw in the beginning when Will Smith started to put out YouTube videos and social media videos, just really pulling the curtain back on who he was for people. Which was a huge thing for someone in his position because, as an actor, it’s not about who you are as a person. Actually, it’s less about that.

Some of the most successful actors don’t even have a social media imprint. ‘Cause we don’t want to know who you are. We want to forget who you are while we’re watching what you do. So, it’s a fine line. And music is the complete opposite, which is the interesting thing. Music is a place of genuineness, and transparency is what sells in music. People feel what you’re saying and believe what you’re talking about. It’s a fine line to walk to try to do both of those things, trying to bridge that gap when I try to put music out and say, “Hey, this is something I really want to say. This is who I am.” And trying to have people believe that and see that. It’s a battle, it’s an uphill thing. I love it, though. I’m just thankful I’m able to do these things. Honestly.

Read More: Rome Flynn Gets Tipsy On “Drunk With You” R&B Single

This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.

Read More: Rome Flynn Moves From Acting To R&B As He Puts Vulnerability On Display

Read More: Rome Flynn Shares R&B Slow Jam “KMIM (Keep Me In Mind)”

Read More: Rome Flynn Chats With Us About His Upcoming Project “Energy” & Drops Off New R&B Single “Brand New”

Read More: Kelly Rowland, Omari Hardwick, & More Cast In “Fantasy Football”