Broadway actor Stanley Wayne Mathis struggled for eight years before he finally got a break.

It finally came just when he was about to walk away from his dream.

He hopes to show residents what’s possible through hard work and determination. If you’ve seen The Lion King, Kiss Me Kate or the current US tour of The Book of Mormon, you’ve likely seen the 59-year-old in action.

“I had auditioned for lots of Broadway shows like Dreamgirls, but didn’t get the part,” he said. “Around that time, I threw up my hands and was about ready to give up, then miraculously a Broadway job came my way with Oh Kay!

“It taught me a very important lesson about not quitting even when you feel that you’ve got to the end of your rope and want to walk away from it.”

Mr Mathis will tomorrow host Bermuda to Broadway, a series of performing arts workshops organised by Troika.

“Those who want to perform professionally will walk away with some tools they can use to further their careers,” he said. “And those who don’t plan to do it full-time, I hope they have a great time and walk away with some tools they can use in their everyday lives.

“These qualities, like discipline, can be used throughout their lives, regardless of their chosen profession.”

Mr Mathis was raised in the projects of Washington DC. He describes it as an “underprivileged and underserved community” in the US capital.

“My interest in the arts actually started with my English teacher in junior high school,” he said.

“I was a very quiet child and at one point I had become mute and wasn’t speaking in class. That was because there was so much trauma going on at home. I had emotionally shut down because I didn’t know how to deal with it.

“My teacher noticed something was going on and gave me a blank book to journal in. She wanted me to write down how I felt and told me not to worry about the grammar or dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. That was the very beginning of me expressing myself, around 13 or 14 years old.”

He spent his summers with a performing arts programme and continued with the Ebony Impromptu Theater Company during high school.

“For me the performing arts was something I could do that I was good at because I wasn’t an athlete and not really a scholar,” he said.

“Coming from my neighbourhood it was certainly a great thing to keep me off the streets and out of prison. It was something I was good at and showed interested in.”

He would wake up each morning at 6am and not finish rehearsing until 10pm.

In 1982, he moved to New York City.

He worked a series of odd jobs in the theatre and hospitality industry before landing his first acting gig eight years later.

His advice to young people is simple: do what you love and success will eventually follow. Good contacts also help.

“Sometimes you have to allow the universe to do its work and not force your way into it. It reminds me of this saying my mom had, ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans’.”

He continued: “It’s more important to do what you love than just work for the hell of it. I think to be an artist, it has to be a calling. Whether you are a writer, singer, dancer or graphic artist, it’s a calling and not just an everyday thing.

“A lot of times people go against that and go for safety. Then, they end up being very unhappy about it or regret it.

“You won’t necessarily get famous. Fame is what others give you and success is what you give yourself. People can attach fame to you and it has nothing to do with you, but to be successful is something that you work hard for and people don’t necessarily see. But, if you’ve been working at it and honing your craft from the beginning, then you’ll know when you’re successful at it.”