On the eve of releasing his single “Good Life,” we talked to Keiynan Lonsdale about, well… himself. While knowledge of the actor may be restricted to teenage-channel surfers and comic nerds from his role on CW’s The Flash as Wally West (which premiered Oct 9), he is without a doubt, one to watch.
Forget his boyishly good looks and charming Australian accent, the 25-year-old can act, sing and dance. Oh! And he’s pretty self-evolved when it comes to sexuality and gender conformity.
Learn more about Lonsdale aka Kid Flash from our interview with the actor, below.
Music is a huge passion of his.
Simply look through Youtube and you’ll see the many covers he’s done in addition to original music. “I started writing when I was like eleven, we couldn’t afford private lessons so I had to teach myself how to sing through recording songs on GarageBand,” he told ESSENCE. “No one really had to encourage me to become an artist, it was just something I knew I had to do. I was drawn to things that seemed impossible.”
He’s half Nigerian.
Although Keiynan was raised in Sydney, Australia by his mother, his father is Nigerian. Keiynan’s is large with a total of eleven siblings. “I grew up with my mom and my mom had six kids and I was the youngest, but I had a different father than my brothers and sisters, and I only met him when I was ten years old, then he introduced me to his other children,” Lonsdale told USA Today. “So it’s been a bit of a whirlwind, and I guess over the years I’ve gotten to know different brothers and sisters as I’ve gotten older, which has kept life fascinating.”
He has an interesting process of making music.
While some singers write lyrics first or even rhyme words, Lonsdale works on melodies first. “I record into my phone as soon as I hear a track,” he told ESSENCE. “Melody comes first for me, and then my gibberish usually forms into lyrics and a concept from there.”
His playlist is popping.
“Currently SZA’s ‘CTRL’ and Daniel Caesar’s ‘Freudian’ [is on my playlist],” he said. “My favorite Aussie artists are Rufus Du Sol, their music can significantly alter your life, it did mine.”
He’s been open about his sexuality.
“Whenever I reach a standstill in my spirit, I make a drastic change,” he said about his much-talked about “coming out” story. “I honestly just wanted to grow as a human being, I love learning, and I realized there was a huge barrier in the way of that. The support was overwhelming, and it’s also just cool to see others be inspired simply by me living an authentic life – or my constant attempt to (laughs).”
In addition to acting and music, he dances.
Two of Keiynan’s first roles involved dance, which he still incorporates into his music videos. But he’s admitted in the past that dance was initially his main creative interest.
The Flash fans can expect more character development— similar to his real life evolution.
“Funnily enough…Wally and I are both struggling with, and questioning, similar things right now,” he revealed. “I’m positive we’ll become more of ourselves and be further equipped to take on life’s future challenges.”
