Cross Star Johnny Ray Gill Isn’t Chasing Fame—He’s Building a Legacy (Exclusive)

Johnny Ray Gill isn’t just thinking about starring in one of Prime Video's most successful shows and his next roles. The Cross star exclusively explains to Men's Journal about the vision he has for his career, which includes working with the highest-caliber directors and most respected actors.

Why Johnny Ray Gill Is Focused on Longevity Over Fame

Men’s Journal: Are you eyeing broader Hollywood success, and how are you preparing for that?

Johnny Ray Gill: Oh, man. I’m just taking it in stride. The end goal is to be on the Oscar stage, man. I want to win a couple of them things. I think I got the talent to win a couple of them. I understand that to some degree that’s outside of your control. But that is the level of project that I want to align myself with.

I played sports a lot growing up. So, to go back to a sports reference. I think you have to decide what kind of athlete you're going to be. Are you going to be the casual cat that plays at the rec center every now and again after work? Or are you going to put in the next level amount of work and preparation that could give you the opportunity to be in the NBA? Obviously, the NBA and sports are more of a meritocracy than Hollywood is, but that's got nothing to do with me.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to align myself and work with the Ryan Cooglers of the world, with director Bong Joon Ho, who is one of my favorites, with Guillermo del Toro, et cetera. I want to be able to step in the ring with the upper echelon folks.

Men’s Journal: In addition to the directors that you want to work with, do you have any dream co-stars who are your dream person to work with?

Johnny Ray Gill: Oh man, dang. Meryl Streep comes to mind. I wish I was in that new Devil Wears Prada sequel. I would get to stand next to Stanley Tucci, you know what I’m saying? Ken Watanabe is somebody I want to work with very much. His performance in The Last Samurai and his work as an actor has always been beautiful for me. Tom Hanks. I want to work with him very much. Pedro Pascal is somebody who has consistently done phenomenal work that I would love to work with. Emily Blunt is a G, bro. She’s a gangster. Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen. Shoot.

It’s a whole bunch of folks that I would love to rock with, man. That’s just a hooper in me, bro. When you go to the rec, you want to ball with the best. I’m always studying, always watching people’s work, and trying to sharpen my knife. So when I get in the room with Pesci and me in the same room, we can get active.

Men’s Journal: As a successful actor, you have achieved something that most can only fantasize about. Outside of what you have said about being prepared, do you have any advice for people who feel like their dreams might be impossible?

Johnny Ray Gill: I think persistence is key. It’s crazy because it really is all of the cliché advice, like showing persistence and stick-to-itiveness. You know what I think it is? I think there’s a severe lack of self-awareness in America in general. A lot of people think they want to be actors, but they only think that because they see us on TV. They don’t know everything that is required to be a working actor. They don’t know about the people that’ll leapfrog you just ’cause they got a hit record one year and now they’re in that movie that you auditioned for, not because they are better than you. It’s just like people who think that they want to be football players, but they're not ready to deal with Wednesday after they tore their ACL.

I think the way you achieve your dreams is by having the self-awareness to know what your dream actually is. That’s when you’ll never quit. That’s when you’ll be okay with being broke. That’s when you’ll be okay with “Oh, this is outside my control, but I’m a painter because I love to paint,” or “I’m a shoemaker because I love to design shoes,” or “I’m an astrophysicist because I love the stars.” You see what I’m saying? “I’m not a doctor because my mama told me to be. I’m doing this thing because it speaks to my spirit. It speaks to my soul.” I think there is a need for self-reflection.

I think about "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke, where it says you have to tunnel inside yourself. Folks have to tunnel inside themselves. That’s the advice. Tunnel inside yourself and find out what you are called to do. And then when you hear that calling, that’s when you will start down the path to your dreams. There’s a lot of folks who are living other people’s dreams. They’re living their parents’ dreams. They’re living capitalism’s dreams. They’re living materialism’s dreams. And then they get to that point and they feel unfulfilled because “Yeah, man, you got a lot of money, but you was never supposed to be the IT tech dude.” Self-awareness. It’s self-awareness that pushes you on the path to persistence and the path to being able to achieve what you want — what your soul wants to achieve.