Hey, guys.
This is Arlen Escarpeta from "David Makes Man."
And this is OWN's 20 questions.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Have I ever had a nickname?
I've had tons of nicknames.
But the one that really stuck for me, my football friends
and my friends from high school called Esco
because my last name is Escarpeta.
And you know, in football, you kind of refer to everybody
by their last name.
And since they couldn't always remember my last name
or pronounce my last name, Esco stuck.
Noz's album was in at the time.
So Esco was cool.
So now I'm Esco.
Oh my gosh.
Probably Belizean food and my family.
I'm from Belize.
So it's kind of hard.
Wherever I go, people find me in someone's front yard
getting some fruit from a tree.
If I go to another city, I'm trying to find the closest
Caribbean restaurant.
Yeah.
It's in me.
When was I most proud of myself?
Fifth grade.
I did the play "Hamlet."
I was tricked/coerced and pushed into playing
Hamlet by my teacher.
And she knew that I could do it.
I didn't think I could do it.
And doing that really kind of just kind of
pushed me into a place of feeling good about myself
and gave me self-esteem that I didn't think that I even had.
And that's probably why I even fell in love with acting.
It made me feel good about myself.
So yeah.
What advice would I give to my teenage self?
I was a good teenager.
I didn't get in trouble.
So I would tell my teenage self to have a little bit more fun.
I mean, because I did have a good time.
But I was pretty chill.
I was easygoing.
I was a happy camper.
But yeah, have a little bit more fun.
If I could be anything else in the world and why,
oh boy, I would probably be a chef.
I love food. I love to eat.
And anyone in the cast would probably tell you that.
I love to eat.
But I also love to cook.
That process of going from ingredients
to mixing to seasoning to putting something on the stove
or in the oven or on the grill and then
the finished product on the plate, making it
look right, and then, of course, the taste.
Yeah, I think I'd probably be a chef.
I like the kitchen.
What song would I sing on karaoke night?
Oh boy, real talk?
You give me any Beenie Man.
Give me Sean Paul.
Some Mos Def.
I love music.
So I don't know if I can give you just one.
We should just all set up like an OWN "David
Makes Man" karaoke Zoom and then do this thing right.
That's the only way to answer that properly.
Oh my, if I could have dinner with two people
dead or alive, who would be?
So it would be a combination.
It would be my mother, who is alive.
And it would be my father, who passed
when I was very, very young.
So much so, that I have almost no recollection of him.
So I would love to get a taste of how they loved each other
when he was alive and, at the same time,
get a chance to really know him and, you know,
let him see who I've become.
That's something that I think would
be very, very special to me.
I don't know if they told you guys this,
but I actually am a superhero.
And I don't know if I can reveal exactly
what my superpowers are.
But let's just say that I'm faster than most.
And I have the ability to be very likable.
Charm.
What makes me laugh the most is probably my family first.
We love, love, love, love to play games.
If it's a family game night, we're
always having a good time.
And then I'm a really big kid at the same time.
So for me, you throw on some cartoons, and I'm good.
Give me some old-school "Dark Wing Duck" or some "DuckTales,"
"Tail Spin," and I'm good to go.
"David Makes Man" gives you tons of lessons that I think people
can definitely grab a hold up and use in their regular life
versus TV, obviously.
But for me, I think the biggest lesson
that I've taken from the show is knowing that growth is OK.
And it's important.
And it's necessary.
You know, to be stagnant is not safe in any way, shape or form.
You always want to be growing, no matter if it feels good
or it feels bad.
Growing pains.
What was my favorite scene to film this season?
I had a really pivotal scene at The Ville.
I had a really amazing scene at The Ville.
That, you know, we're 15 years in the future.
And The Ville is still there.
It's still alive.
So for me, watching season one, going to The Ville
and shooting in The Ville, that made me it was official.
I was here.
I'm in the world of "David Makes Man."
And it was special, yeah.
How would I prepare for a day in the life of adult JG?
Cayden would be hooping.
So I might go get some shots up, get a good workout in, get
a run in, and then just relax.
JG is a very easy going.
You know, things are good for JG's world.
You know?
And even when they're not, in his mind,
the glass is always half full.
So I just try to stay positive, you know,
and walk into everything with a positive outlook
and go from there.
I would absolutely be friends with adult JG.
He's cool.
You know, he's that dude, you want to be around him.
He's likeable. He's funny.
He's got your back.
You know?
He's got a weird, cool brother who probably has
a better apartment than him.
Yeah, JG is cool.
I like him.
I like him a whole lot.
In a bio, who would I want to play?
So I've had the fortunate blessing to play Bobby
Brown in the Whitney biopic.
And that was great.
I really enjoyed that.
Or biopic, depending on who you're speaking to.
But now one of my favorite artists and someone
that I'd love to portray is Mos Def, [INAUDIBLE]..
I think he's incredibly layered and super talented.
He's an actor.
He's a musician.
He's an activist.
Yeah, I would love, love to step into his shoes
and try to get into that mindset because he's
just a creative genius and someone
that I definitely look up to.
In my life, the area that I'm trying to own and, obviously,
become the best and continue to grow
is to just be happy with what's in front of, you know?
We work in an industry where there's a lot of success
and there's a lot of like, you know, disappointment
at the same time.
So my goal is to learn that there's
lessons in both of those.
And one is not necessarily better than the other.
I can lose a job and learn a lot more about myself
than I can booking a job.
And I want to apply that to just everything
across the board in my life.
When I'm up, I want to be pleasant.
When I'm down, I want to be pleasant.
I just want to continue to be grateful.
I think that's the key.
It feels very, very, very special
for me to be working alongside a Black cast and crew.
Early on in my career, a lot of the jobs that I booked,
I was token, you know?
I was a token Black guy on a lot of great shows, mind you.
And I love where my career's gone.
But this feels special.
It feels nice.
It's challenging.
And it feels like home at the same time.
And it's just great to see a set on camera
and behind the camera that really resembles the world
that I live in, you know?
It's multicultural.
It's multifaceted.
You've got layers.
You've got textures and different flavors
and different walks of life.
It's beautiful.
It really, really is.
My take on David moving through his mental health struggles
is one that we all need to take heed
and really pay attention to.
There's a lot of trauma that we've all dealt with at one
point or another in our life that we've either
put to the side or we kind of just
made it into character traits of this is who I am.
And watching David go through his
has made me really say, you know what?
Let me kind of take a second and kind of reflect on my own,
you know?
And I think that's something that everyone watching the show
will get a chance to do as well.
Something that I learned about myself in the past year
is that the best is yet to come.
And we are always a work in progress.
Movies or TV shows that I can watch again and again
without getting tired of it, my castmates
probably know this about me.
And anyone who knows me knows this about me.
I love cartoons.
Any '80s cartoons, I'm in.
"Thundercats," "Heman," "Transformers," "Care Bears,"
"Alvin and the Chipmunks."
it does not matter.
I literally watch.
And I've seen all these episodes,
of all of these shows.
"The Jetsons," "The Flintstones," "Flintstone
Kids," it doesn't matter.
I will watch these cartoons over and over again because it
makes me-- it's my happy place.
Makes me feel good.
I think you guys should ask Zsane, who plays Shella
in the show, does an amazing job,
why we have yet to taste the baked goods
that she brags about all the time but didn't make for us?
We had ovens.
We had stoves.
We had the ability.
I even suggested to go buy the groceries.
I want to know.
We're waiting.