If you’re friends with David J. Castillo on Facebook, or follow him on twitter, @DavJCastillo, you have probably seen one of his #100beautifulPOC posts. #100beautifulPOC is something David started to highlight successful people of color, contrary to what the media portrays. He became frustrated when a Google search of “beauty” resulted in a plethora of images of white women, as if they were the only standard of beauty. #100beautifulPOC has grown tremendously and David now even takes suggestions from friends on who to post.
“It’s a simple yet important way for me to highlight an issue and try to destroy it.”
#100beautifulPOC focuses on challenging representations of beauty. Society has been conditioned to think that white, skinny, and blonde is the only standard of beauty, but a curvy, black woman with a full head of curls is beautiful, too. As an Acting major, David is involved in work that focuses on how things are represented. Actors often take a message or a theme and portray it in a way that the audience can understand.
He is a model and also works as member of the Marketing and Engagement team at Company One Theatre, a local theatre company whose mission is to “[strive] to diversify the communal face of those involved in theatre, both on and off-stage,” according to David. He believes theatre is a representational art form that tells stories “that empower the disempowered” by expanding its audience base. Anybody can experience the stories of those who are disempowered if they see a theatre performance that exemplifies that message. David’s mindset when it comes to theatre is enlightening in that he is cognitive of every aspect: the performers, the audience, the message being told, and how that message comes across. He’s aware that theatre helps individuals escape, but the place they escape to is not always quintessential, and can be filled with conflict.
Photo by: Ravi Balineni
As a performer, he is most inspired by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Young Jean Lee, and Kara Walker. Miranda is a Broadway performer who wrote the music and lyrics for the musical “In the Heights” and Lee is a writer, director, and playwright based in New York. Walker is a visual artist who explores the relationship between race, gender, sex, and violence in her work in a “beautiful, yet living, breathing manner,” as David describes. These three artists attest to what type of person David is and what motivates him in his work.
Not only is David an insightful and perceptive actor, but he also dabbles in activism. Since many of his endeavors are centered on social issues, he has become personally involved in them. Although there is not a particular moment when he got involved with activism, the death of Trayvon Martin sparked his interest in learning about inequality and systematic racism. Like Martin, David experienced racism as a minority, so his death had a personal effect on him. The way that David views himself as an activist is related to his work as a model and an actor.
“I am mostly invested in tackling issues of representation,” he said.
He is aware that representation is a broad topic that can cover anything from how the media portrays victims of police brutality to the lack of lead minority roles in movies, but all are issues that he cares about.
Photo by: Ravi Balineni
David was recently accepted to attend BU’s LA Internship Program. While there he “hopes to broaden [his] view on the film and TV industry” through the program. As if David weren’t cool enough, he was even featured in a Zipcar ad! Check it out below!
So if you haven’t already, we highly recommend you follow this campus cutie asap!