About Kiyano La'vin
BioKiyano La'vin hasn't always expressed his strength and faith in God. In fact, it wasn't until he received a 3.80 bullet to the back of the head, during a drug deal gone bad, talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time, that he re-evaluated his life. He realized that he had been spiritually guided towards acting since the age of 12, or maybe even five, where his first exposure to acting occurred.As a kid growing up in the tough streets of South Philadelphia back in the 70s, or, as anyone from there would say, "Philly", Kiyano got into an indescribable amount of trouble. Mischievous energy as a youth could, if not curbed, most certainly turn into criminal behavior. Raised by his mother, grandparents, aunts, uncles and older siblings (it takes a village was the mindset back then) he would eventually elevate above the shootings, drugs, and other unnatural ways of life to a better place - a place he is now. But, it would be decades before said changes would take place.In those early formative years, Kiyano was sent down south with family or to a summer camp, all in an attempt to mitigate the potential of what would eventually befall him. It was during those long-ago years in a Christian summer camp, 'Camp Nazarene', that his behavior would experience a whole new level of discipline. But, even in camp the temptation for conflict followed him. Upon hitting another kid in the head with a rock that was large enough to have hospitalized the child, he tried running away from camp - which is exactly when the first change began.Kiyano's discipline came in three parts: 1) his mother whooped his ass in front of the entire camp for assaulting the other child, and trying to runaway 2) she made him stay in camp for the rest of that summer, and 3) it was a Christian camp, and they put on plays every night that were taken from bible scripture. So, Kiyano was not only made to memorize scripture, but was made lead in every play when the camp supervisors recognized his gift of memorization. Which, in turn, kept him busy and out of trouble.As Kiyano grew older he avoided acting as he associated acting on stage with punishment, and not as a calling. So, Kiyano set out on many different paths, even becoming a locally accomplished model. Yet, he was unable to settle on any of these interests, as everything brought him right back to the thing he was trying to avoid - acting. Kiyano temporarily made peace with this inner-conflict, and decided he would start taking acting a bit more seriously. He eventually went on to study and train at the famed Freedom Theatre in Philadelphia, and other drama schools, where he would go on toappear in numerous Theatre projects; Romeo & Juliet, Sure Thing, Colored Museum, In The Garden, Love, Drugs, & War, Six Degrees Of Separation, Othello and so many more.But, even after years of Theatre mixed with a moderate successful modeling career, the allure of the hustle and Philly street-money eventually won him over - which damn-near claimed another youth with potential. For the second and final time, Kiyano turned his back on his passion, and took to that dark and dangerous path of street hustling again, which, as earlier stated, proved to be a damn-near fatal decision.After lying in a hospital bed in Trauma for four days, he had a true coming-to-God moment when the doctors informed him that if the bullet had been off-center of impact just millimeters, it would not have deflected off his thick and stubborn skull - it would h...