Keith Powers has the kind of face that looks like a guarantee.
You know the kind: A beautiful visage of surety and symmetry, typically reserved for a football town's star quarterback, a cane-wielding, crimson-wearing undergrad, or a pop star who sits on the throne of a Top 40 chart. With a face like that and a superhero-esque surname, extraordinary success — hell, even glory — seems promised. Yet this model-turned-actor is quite open about how ordinary he has felt and how uncertain his journey has been, a Clark Kent hiding under a glowy Hollywood veneer.
“Honestly, I feel like I didn’t really have a talent,” the New Hollywood 2024 honoree tells Teen Vogue. “And if I did have a talent, I never discovered it. Growing up, I guess football was a talent that I developed naturally…. But I never really put my all into something, so I didn't know what I was going to do.”
The Clark Kent version of Powers is the one who calls me via Zoom, wearing rectangular black glasses and doing laundry in his LA apartment. He’s on a short break from shooting a new television series with Forest Whitaker in Chicago, and over the next few weeks will touch ground in Aspen, Atlanta, and Paris before returning to the Windy City. Before the Hollywood strikes put everything on hold, Powers juggled multiple projects in 2023, including reshoots for his forthcoming role in the film adaptation of the YA novel Uglies and his breakthrough role in the Netflix film The Perfect Find, alongside Gabrielle Union.
Leading-man status is something Powers says he never could have imagined. He wants so many things for himself, but he’s also afraid of those things. While talking me through his story, the 31-year-old actor is self-effacing, humble almost to a fault. He frequently interrupts his own thoughts with affirmations, gentle reminders to give himself grace as he continues to get accustomed to the mystifying finery of a leading man on the silver screen.
“It's something so captivating about fame when you're young,” reflects Powers. “I've always been the type of person, especially when I was younger, to seek validation. I felt like fame was validation. But that's so not true.”
Powers hails from South Sacramento, California, where he grew up among a tight-knit brood of siblings and cousins. He participated in nearly every sport under the sun — football, basketball, baseball, track and field — and attended the same high school as singer-songwriter Victoria Monét. At age nine, his mother submitted his photos to a modeling agency in nearby San Francisco, and he ended up being cast in a number of print ads.
After some glossy success, Powers’ mom gave him a rather mature ultimatum of commitment: Go forth in the modeling industry or continue to play sports. Without hesitation, Powers decided, as most energetic kids would have, to quit modeling. “Like, ‘Hell, nah, I’m not about to do that,’” he recalls with a laugh.
He continued to excel at football as he entered adolescence, relying almost entirely on raw, natural talent. Academically, though, high school was tough for Powers, who struggled to maintain the disciplined attention required of a student athlete — especially one with hopes of collegiate success. He studied to get a grade and keep his spot on a team, not to learn.
“I got ADD. I had all Bs, which was weird — I feel like you never hear people say that,” he says jokingly. “Football wasn’t working out like I thought it would. I didn’t work hard enough. I [also] didn't have any guidance. I didn't know how to get into different colleges, the recruiting processes, what camps to get into. I was never educated on any of that stuff. I just thought it was going to happen.”
Powers started to brainstorm alternate routes for his future, riffling through his interests, referring to his idols. “I knew I always wanted to be in entertainment,” he maintains, pointing to the theatrics of his childhood favorites, like Ludacris and WWE. “I just didn't know how or what to do, necessarily.”
Shortly after he graduated high school, with his prospects for a professional football career dimming, Powers moved to Los Angeles and signed with the Wilhemina agency. After initially living with his godmother, the 18-year-old working model soon made enough money to get a studio apartment in Long Beach. His bookings paid the rent, in addition to part-time jobs at Hollister and Guess at the local mall. He used what little free time he had to take hybrid classes at the University of Phoenix and try out for a spot on the football team of a community college in the Valley.
“My biggest fear was having to go back to Sacramento and be looked at as a failure,” he says. Facebook comparisons to his friends and former classmates who were succeeding at four-year colleges cut him to the quick. “I missed my friends. I missed my old life. I was out here, lonely. I was so worried about what other people were doing.”
After a couple of years of frenzied hustle, Powers' Wilhelmina agent asked him a question that altered the course of his life. Have you ever thought about acting?
“It literally offered me a voice,” says Powers, whose first acting credit was in 2013’s direct-to-video fifth sequel of the House Party franchise. He lived in South Africa for two months to shoot the film. Already impressed by the better working conditions for actors than models, Powers also fell in love with the craft. He became the meticulous student he hadn't been growing up, taking classes, doggedly reading scripts, and eagerly hugging the learning curve.
Powers has been on an honor roll for the past nine years now, landing main and supporting parts in, most notably, Straight Outta Compton, The New Edition Story, Fear of the Walking Dead, The Tomorrow War, Freeform’s Famous in Love, Netflix’s Reality High, What/If, The Perfect Find, and Avan Jogia’s directorial debut, the indie neo-noir thriller Door Mouse.
Early in Powers' acting career, insecurity and imposter syndrome made him feel as though he didn’t “belong” on a film set, which caused him to overthink and over-apologize after bad takes to actors and directors he’d looked up to for years. “Wood Harris would say, ‘When you get in front of the camera, f*ck everybody.’ I'm always thinking about what other people are thinking of me, so that was really good advice. You can't explain to people when they watch the movie, ‘Oh, I was nervous that day.’ You gotta do whatever you can in that moment to deliver.”
Now Powers is able to escape the push and pull of self-doubt by entering the mind of a character, through the uninhibited play of pretending to be someone else. Acting saves him from himself.
Nevertheless, being, as he calls it, “late to the game” keeps him grounded, grateful, and on his toes. It constantly reminds him that natural talent can only get you so far. As life has taught him, it is the work that gets you farther. And make no mistake, Powers is not afraid of doing the work; the potential for failure, or fumbling, scares him more.
Powers' deep understanding of the responsibility of a storyteller and of a leading man conjures some natural nerves. “You have to be very educated on the story you tell…. When I was doing PR with Gabby [Union], she took the lead on a lot, but she also coached me up by doing that, because some people ask hard questions,” he says.
“I don't feel like I'm the most educated in the world," Powers continues, "[but] I'm emotionally intelligent. I'm really good at reading people. I have good common sense, good street smarts, but I've never been book smart, and I'm not scared to admit that. So when I speak about a project, I feel like I have a great deal of responsibility to get a message across that is accurate and that people respect and [can] learn from.”
Powers strives to be a different kind of leading man, one that values collaboration and support over control and ego. After filming an intimate scene in The Perfect Find, Union took him aside to thank him for “not being a weirdo and making her feel comfortable.” “That's the responsibility of a leading man on set,” he says. “To create a safe space, to make sure everybody feels good, to know how to assert yourself in [certain] moments…. I'm building that confidence.”
He adds, “Now I'm becoming that dude on set that has been in this industry for some time. There’s some younger actors that look to me for advice, and even though I'm still learning, I have to set an example; I have to set the standard on set. I can't wait to be number one on the call sheet and get to create that from the beginning.”
Powers has “overwhelming” ambitions for directing and producing to “give people opportunities,” of starring in action blockbusters and innovative musicals. The old adage that says do the things that scare you has become a mantra for the next chapter of his career, as his dreams and future in Hollywood expand naturally, like lungs, like breathing. He was made for this.
Powers talks about being hand-selected for a part, like Door Mouse’s Ugly or The Perfect Find’s Eric, with startled pleasure, as if he found money in an old jacket pocket or turned on the car radio right at the start of his favorite song, as if his talent is aleatory. It is not.
His impact comes not from signature body language like Denzel or Brad, or — despite his 6’2” frame — physically commandeering the screen, but from that face. Watching Powers’ acting evolution onscreen, there is a quiet, magnetic moment, one that plays across the unique shape of his buttery-baritone line delivery, the flick of his wide, almond-shaped eyes, and a top-row smile or the clench of his jaw. With skin like the cube of caramel at the bottom of your grandmother’s purse, it takes Powers only a second to enrapture an audience. He belongs to a contingent of millennial actors who have parlayed their hotness into an honest career, pivoting freely between YA heartthrobs, debonair charmers, and gritty, unrecognizable characters — see Zac Efron, Charles Melton, Robert Pattinson, etc.
The vehicle that could very well launch Powers into RPatz-level fame is the upcoming dystopian YA film Uglies, adapted from the popular 2005 novel trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. The film doesn’t yet have a confirmed release date, but it is slated to arrive on Netflix later this year, and also stars Joey King, Chase Stokes, Brianne Tju, and Laverne Cox.
Powers developed a bromance with Stokes during the production. “That's when I seen the power of Outer Banks," he recalls, "because, Jesus — we couldn't go nowhere sometimes.” And they had “the best” time filming in the woods of Atlanta.
Powers' role in Uglies is being kept under wraps, but apparently he did such great work on the film that the creative team asked him back to add more scenes with him than had originally been planned. “Got one more round of reshoots,” he says. “It was super dope to hear that, and flattering, because shooting it was tough.”
Powers isn’t worried about being pigeonholed in the YA genre, especially given the ranging filmography he’s amassed thus far. “A good story is a good story, no matter what,” he says firmly. “I think you should touch every single demographic you can…. I'm never going to downplay an opportunity. I understand that I have goals past YA, but I'm not gonna trash the genre. I think YA is fire! Our YA [growing up] was Twilight and Hunger Games. We were spoiled, we got heat. That's what we want Uglies to be. We want Uglies to be that next thing.”
He’s aware that if Uglies does become that next thing, the simple pleasure he finds in eating out alone and picking up his own coffee could be taken away by being “too famous.” Right now, though, Powers says he’s in a gray area of fame, which can feel like an awkward scene from a sitcom. On one hand, he sees the hundreds of TikTok fan-cams and fans in France screen-printing his face onto throw pillows. On the other…
“People will ask for a picture, and then somebody will walk by and be like, ‘Who is this?’ And now this person is trying to explain who you are, but they not explaining it right, so now you're giving your whole résumé. Then somebody else is like, ‘I don't know who you are. I've never seen nothing that you've been in.’”
Hollywood feels different to Powers in the aftermath of the simultaneous 148-day WGA and 118-day SAG-AFTRA strikes that began last summer. He rattles off a string of negative adjectives to describe the industry’s aura during the double strikes: greedy, selfish, evil, depressing. “At one point it felt like it would never end,” he remembers. “It had my family stressing over it…. But it was needed. [Striking] works. Power to the people. It was a challenging time, but it opened my eyes and changed my whole perspective on the industry, for good and bad.”
The movement was especially poignant for the actor, who had been worried about the fate of Uglies after the majority of the crew was laid off, multiple reshoots were requested, and the strikes put everything on pause. “It's scary with movies now,” he says. “They write stuff off, they cancel stuff.”
For Powers, the strikes were a necessary reminder of the importance of ownership, pay equity, and independent storytelling for Black artists. “Issa [Rae] was just talking about how if she wants to protect Black stories, she has to do more independently and own more [of her projects],” he says. “That is where I want to come in and assist her in any way that I can. I'm still learning myself, and I know that I can't make the most change… but let me be a soldier in your army. Her saying that was really powerful, and what Taraji [P. Henson] was going through with her career — it's scary for Black women to speak up about that type of stuff. [When] they do, you got to back them in any way that you can.”
Powers has a reverence for female figures in Hollywood, especially filmmakers like Kathryn Bigelow and Greta Gerwig, his fellow Sacramento-native; he says women directors have a precise and compassionate attention to detail. Powers hopes his collaborative spirit will lead him toward other dream partners, such as Bay Area icon Ryan Coogler and the “classic” Spike Lee. “I'm trying to do something dope with Spike, when he really on his Spike vibe,” Powers says with a grin. “I’m talking, sitting in one spot with the camera moving. I need to be in one of the Joints.”
Powers may not have spent years and years achingly manifesting a future for himself in Hollywood, but he is now intent on making the most of his time in the spotlight, reaching people where they are — the same way acting met him when he needed it most.
He’s prepared for the increased attention. He’s building his confidence and reckoning with self-doubt. He’s aiming for people to ultimately pass down his movies to their grandkids, like heirlooms. “I’m built for this now,” he says in his most assured tone yet. “I’m ready for it.”
Read all of our New Hollywood 2024 stories below:
- Maddie Ziegler on Dance Moms, New Movie Fitting In & Embracing Hollywood
- Ariana Greenblatt on Barbie, Borderlands, Billie Eilish & Child Stardom
- Keith Powers on Uglies, SAG Strikes, Issa Rae & Finding His Own Lane
- Christopher Briney on Reneé Rapp, Summer I Turned Pretty Season 3 & Hollywood Next Moves
- Aida Osman on Rap Sh!t Cancellation, Black Stories in Hollywood & Facing Acting Fears
- Iñaki Godoy on One Piece, Latinos in Hollywood & Living His Best Life
- Megan Suri on Valentine’s Day, Bollywood & Movie Career Post Never Have I Ever
- The SAG Strike Proved How Unions Help Make Young People’s Dreams Viable
Photo Credits
Photographer Josefina Santos
Lighting Director Brian McGuffog
Gaffer Daniel Patrick
Gaffer Kane Katubig
Digitech Isan Monfort
Stylist Ian McRae
Stylist Assistant Auden Alblooshi
Stylist Assistant Mason Telles
Hair Stylist for Maddie Ziegler, Megan Suri Candice Birns at A-Frame Agency
Hair Stylist for Aida Osman, Ariana Greenblatt Suzette Boozer at A-Frame Agency
Groomer for Chris Briney, Keith Powers, Iñaki Godoy Melissa DeZarate at A-Frame Agency
Makeup Artist for Maddie Ziegler, Megan Suri Miriam Nichterlein at A-Frame Agency
Makeup Artist for Aida Osman, Ariana Greenblatt Rob Rumsey at A-Frame Agency
HMU Assistant Jenna Lee
Manicurist Rachel Messick
Prop Stylist Annika Fischer
Prop Assistant Elvis Barlow-Smith
Production Hyperion
Design Director Emily Zirimis
Designer Liz Coulbourn
Visual Editor Bea Oyster
Sr. Fashion Editor Tchesmeni Leonard
Associate Fashion Editor Kat Thomas
Assistant Fashion Editor Tascha Berkowitz
Video Credits
Director/Producer Logan Tsugita
Director/Producer Catherine Mhloyi
Social Video Director/Producer Ali Farooqui
Director of Creative Dev Mi-Anne Chan
Camera Op Nick Massey Ga
Social Cover Video Editor Lindsey Fink
Site Video Header Editor Crystal Waterton
Editorial Credits
Editor-in-Chief Versha Sharma
Executive Editor Danielle Kwateng
Features Director Brittney McNamara
Talent Director Eugene Shevertalov
Senior Culture Editor P. Claire Dodson
Entertainment News Editor Kaitlyn McNab
Contributing Editor Alyssa Hardy
Associate Director of Audience Development and Analytics Mandy Velez Tatti
Sr. Social Media Manager Honestine Fraser
Social Media Manager Jillian Selzer
Copy Editors Dawn Rebecky and Leslie Lipton
Research Editor Cristina Sada
