Brooklyn McLinn is a busy man. He is a full time actor who spends his spare time coaching troubled youth and helping younger actors hone their skills. How could you not have an immediate crush on a guy like that?
McLinn calls Sherman Oaks, California his home. It’s a popular area in the San Fernando Valley. “I enjoy it because it’s centrally located near the freeways for easy access in an out of Los Angeles,” he says. “It’s also an area where you can walk to activities and night life.”
“The most enjoyable part of my childhood was living in a two bedroom, one bathroom duplex with my family and sharing a room with my three older brothers,” says McLinn. “It was cramped but fun!”
Ladies hoping to be McLinn’s main girl will have a little friendly competition to face. “My father passed some time ago and I miss him dearly,” he explains. “My mother and I get along great; she is my rock. I’ll always love my mama, she’s my favorite girl.”
McLinn begin acting as a child in school. The school put on shows and performances in order to raise funds to keep its doors open.
“My father acted professionally for awhile but stopped to start his own business,” says McLinn. “It became my profession as an adult after I stopped pursuing basketball professionally and felt acting was something I still had a passion for.”
Brooklyn has a long list of acting credits to his name. His booked commercials for Gatorade, Coors, Domino’s Pizza and Pontiac in his early acting days and has since guest starred on hit shows like Justified, Days Of Our Lives, Hawthorne, Parenthood and Rules of Engagement.
McLinn is a series regular on the web shows Buppies for B.E.T. and Diary of a Single Mom directed by Robert Townsend.
“I absolutely love what I do,” McLinn tells us. “Acting saved my life, it taught me to feel and be okay with it. However, in this society, shown emotion from a man is looked at as weakness, so it took some time to break down those walls.”
“What inspires me to keep going is the belief that anything is possible and that God would never give anyone a dream that he didn’t plan on fulfilling,” says McLinn.
McLinn is a bookworm who also enjoys surfing the web.
“I get to the gym about four times a week,” says McLinn. “There are no secrets or tricks, there is no substitution for eating for health and hard work in the gym.”
Before he pursued acting personally, McLinn was quite the jock. He played professional basketball in Mexico and Taiwan.
Overachiever McLinn was quite studious as a child. “I graduated high school at 16,” he boasts.
“I am single, for now, by choice,” says McLinn who is waiting to be truly wooed. “I have yet to find a woman currently who would make me change that.”
“I’m interested in someone whom I can grow with and who is always working to be better,” says McLinn. “A perfect date could be a hike, lunch or dinner with good conversation and both of us just being open to getting to know each other.”
“The bravest thing I’ve ever done was to decide to stop being angry about the past and giving myself permission to enjoy the present and the future,” admits McLinn.
Brooklyn is one of the teacher’s in actress Tasha Smith’s prominent Actors’ Workshop and his passion to teach doesn’t stop on stage and screen. He speaks to at risk youth on personal development and consistently reminds them that possibilities are endless.
