Who came first? The actor or the rapper?

With a flourishing acting career and a well-respected name in hip hop, it's a question Mos Def finds himself answering quite a bit these days.

"They happened together," he explains to JET during a phone interview from Los Angeles. "I started rhyming when I was 9 years old and I caught the [acting] bug in [grade] school, so there's no real separation to the genesis of all of this.

"I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice."

Over the past few years movie directors and producers have taken more notice as to just how nice the proud New Yorker's acting abilities really are.

Currently Mos Def, short for the affirmation "most definitely," can be seen on the silver screen starring in the recently released film The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, an adaptation of Douglas Adams' best-selling book of the same name. In the science fiction comedy Mos Def takes on the role of alien journalist Ford Prefect who visits Earth for a special research project just before it is demolished.

"I'm really excited about this character because it's imaginative, playful and clever," he says. "I get a chance to play a character that transcends certain boundaries whether it be racial or cosmic.

"He's a character that could have been played by any actor, Black or White. I'm just grateful that I got a chance to do it, and I'm really excited and interested to see how people are going to receive it."

The Brooklyn native, born Dante Smith, landed his first professional acting gig when he was a high school freshman in the late '80s on the ABC movie of the week God Bless The Child. More work followed, but his most memorable role was as a character on the short-lived TV show "The Cosby Mysteries."

It wasn't until the new millennium that Mos Def's acting career really began to take off. Supporting acting roles in the films Bamboozled, MTV's Carmen: A Hip-Hopera, Monster's Ball, Brown Sugar, The Italian Job, The Woodsman, and the recent HBO flick Lackawanna Blues helped him build his acting resume.

While his appearance in many of these films may have been brief, they served as excellent preparation of what was to come.

In 2002 Mos Def co-starred in the Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play Topdog/Underdog. In the two-character piece, also starring Jeffrey Wright, he received rave reviews for his portrayal of Booth. That following year he made another theatrical stage appearance, this time in another Parks' play.

But it was his portrayal of heart surgery pioneer Dr. Vivien Thomas in the HBO movie Something The Lord Made that won him praise from fans, peers and critics alike. For the role, Mos Def was nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globe award in the best actor category for a TV movie/miniseries.

In spite of all the accolades, a humble Mos Def hasn't let Hollywood stardom go to his head. Though he's been in the game for some years now, he admits that acting is still a process that he learns more about every day.

"I'm just grateful to be able to call myself a professional, work with good people and be able to do this vocationally," says Mos Def, who lists S. Epatha Merkerson, Jeffrey Wright, Phylicia Rashad and the late Ossie Davis as a few of his favorite thespians. "There are so many talented people who don't get the opportunity to earn a living at it and do the work they want to do," he says. "I'm just grateful to be here and I want to keep doing the best work that I can."

Another way that Mos Def chooses to express his creative self is through the power of words and music. As an underground rapper he was embraced by the hip-hop community when the collaborative hit CD Mos Def And Talib Kweli Are ... Black Star was released in 1998. A year later his reputation as a skilled MC continued to grow with the debut of his solo project Black On Both Sides.

Due to a "long debate" with his record label at the time, hip-hop heads everywhere would have to wait another five years before Mos Def's next solo release. His latest CD, The New Danger, features his rap/rock band Black Jack Johnson and showcases the musical style that he refers to as "ghetto rock."

The 18-track sophomore CD is a fresh, eclectic, mix of rap, a little crooning, jazz, rock and blues that's taking hip-hop music to another level. The first single, Sex, Love & Money, earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative/Urban Performance.

Because Mos Def's early rap flow lacked gangsta mentality and celebrated Blackness instead, he became known as a socially conscious rapper. While his current style of music is what he calls "a natural progression" from that of Black On Both Sides, he still remains true to the issues that affect him, the community and his beliefs.

"My work is a reflection of the human condition," says the 31-year-old who also plays the bass, drums and piano. "I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't want to mislead people. I want to tell the truth.

"All my songs are not happy. Some of them are even aggressive-some may say mean, but we all experience these feelings in life. I'm just being honest about what I feel and what sounds and ideas were motivating me at the time."

To say that Mos Def is a busy man is an understatement. When he's not making movies or touring the country to promote his music, he can be found in his hometown playing host to "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry" on HBO. As co-executive producer of "Def Poetry," now in its fifth season, Mos Def takes great pleasure in being a part of the show.

"There's nothing quite like it on television," he says. "So many people with beautiful things to say have been on like Oscar Brown, Sonia Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni.

"I can't think of a place in popular American culture with that level of exposure where you can see these people. [The show] speaks to many generations on a personal level."

Always mindful of how fickle the entertainment industry can be, Mos Def is enjoying the moment and taking advantage of every opportunity that comes his way to make a respected and lasting career out of both acting and music.

"There's so much that I'd still like to do," he says. "I feel like every day is a new opportunity, a new enthusiasm, a new inspiration.

"I'm just looking forward to what's to come, enjoying the beauty of now and being totally grateful and blessed."

COPYRIGHT 2005 Johnson Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group