Knoxville actor Cylk Cozart steps behind the camera for 'Inherit the Land,' now filming

Actor Cylk Cozart is a born and raised Knoxvillian. His father was African American, his mother Native American (Cherokee). Cozart’s looks didn’t do him any favors when he was bused to a school far from his home in the ’70s. He suffered racial violence, including two burning crosses in his yard and the hanging of his beloved pet German shepherd, King (a great-grandson of Rin Tin Tin).

“I saw systemic racism from my coaches and other kids who didn’t know better. I was very alone during high school, but sports kept me out of that negative funk and gave me a positive mindset,” said Cozart.

Cozart turned hardship into success on the football field and the basketball court, earning a basketball scholarship to King University in Bristol, Tennessee. He was on track to becoming pro when a foot injury took him out of the game.

Cozart used his undefeatable spirit to become a sought-after model in Miami in the early 1980s, then a working actor in L.A. He has appeared in more than 30 films and 20 television shows, including “White Men Can’t Jump” with Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson.

These days he’s directing a film, “Inherit the Land,” a true story written by Gene Stowe about Bob Ross, a Black man, and his daughter Mittie Bell Ross Houston, who inherit an 800-acre antebellum homestead from two white sisters.

Cozart directed the film, sings the title song, wrote the script, and wrote the underscore. He borrowed the period costumes from Oak Ridge High School.

“I don’t consider myself a musician. I can play drums, and a little piano. This tune haunted me for days, I couldn’t sleep. It had to be written, the whole thing. Not many people know I can direct, write, sing, produce,” said Cozart.

Cozart said the acting bug hit him when he was about 11 and he happened be visiting the area where “I-40 Paradise,” a comedy, was being filmed.

“I wandered into the production area and I knew I wanted to do what they were doing. Ross Bagwell (a local broadcasting executive) told me to study and study hard, then get an agent. I didn’t know what an agent was. At that point I was playing superhero in my room to escape what was happening to me. I just imitated characters I saw on TV. I was escaping … and still do … because I never really got over what happened to King.”

He said he remembers his first laugh on stage well. He was about 6, playing a wise man in a church play.

“My line was ‘I bring you Frankincense.’ Instead I just froze, and suddenly the line comes to me ‘Frank sent me.’ The whole church erupted in laughter. It scared me at first, then I knew they weren’t laughing at me, they were laughing at what I had said. And a current of electricity went through me.

“Now, I inspire others to follow their dreams whenever I can.”

Info: Find Cylk Cozart on Facebook and Wikipedia.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knoxville actor Cylk Cozart filming new movie, 'Inherit the Land'