Demetrius Shipp Jr. made his talk show debut Monday night on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show. The All Eyez on Me star dropped by 30 Rockefeller Plaza to discuss his inspiring journey to the iconic role of the late Tupac Shakur, telling Fallon he actually never aspired to be an actor prior to Benny Boom's highly anticipated biopic.
"It kinda just came," Shipp said. "My best friend, who's here with me in the backstage, he's like 'Dude, you gotta do this audition, the casting call for 2Pac, you gotta do that.' I was just working, just regular jobs, trying to make a living. I always wanted to be a music producer, so, you know, working on that and then just doing my regular job, paying the bills."
Those regular jobs, Shipp added, included a multitude of retail positions. "Target," Shipp said. "Shout out to Target for the job. Sam's Club, Sears." Shipp also talked about nailing the eventual All Eyez on Me audition and joined Demi Moore and Leslie Jones for a round of charades:
All Eyez on Me opens Jun. 16 and also stars Jamal Woolard, Danai Gurira, Lauren Cohan, and Kat Graham. Watch the trailer below: