Just Keep Working: Actor/Comedian Kurt Elliott II on Being a Creative
- Alana McCarthy Light
- Jan 17
- 3 min read
Kurt Elliott II has received numerous remarkable opportunities and recognitions for his theatre and comedy content creation talents. In November 2025, he won the Mama Award for film and music, an honor presented to DMV-based creatives. Regarding his comedy, Kurt has received over a million views on several of his videos.
Additionally, actor Michael Rainey Jr., musicians Keyshia Cole and CeeLo Green, NFL running back Clinton Portis, and popular social media accounts The Shade Room, World Star and DMV Hoodz nd News, have reposted his content. Additionally, History Channel gave Kurt screen time and speaking time on the reality show Pawn Stars.
Kurt’s ventures exemplify diligence and perseverance, the DC native reflecting that, “Obviously, you want to get paid for what you do… but don't worry about it happening so quickly. I feel like, in today's generation, people see other people's success on social media and be like, ‘damn, I want to be like [them.]’ But, little do they know, those people put work in, hours behind the scenes, and just keep working.”
He advised how in “acting, be prepared to be told no. That's acting. Doing this profession, I would say, is a top five career that you're going to get told ‘no’ in the most... I got told ‘no’ for the very first three auditions I had ever been on.”
Kurt emphasized to not get discouraged and to not compare one’s own pace to others’. He himself kept auditioning until he got his first gig. The actor lauded BlackRock Center for the Arts in Germantown, Maryland for launching his professional career in performance.
He started doing theatre in elementary school in Washington DC, his hometown until age nine, where he described himself as the “class clown,” always enjoying “entertaining [and] making people laugh.” He did drama in high school but “drifted away” from it because he felt it would not make the people around him happy.
“So that's another thing I would say. You know your parents want you to maybe do X, Y and Z, but if your heart is there, I'll say, go for [that] and put your heart into it, because money is definitely great, we've got to pay the bills and everything, but there's no sense of being somewhere if you're not happy,” Kurt recommended.
Now based in Montgomery County, he finds the region unique because, “you get to learn about different people's ethnicities, cultures, religions and everything. Montgomery County’s like a mixing pot, like a mini kind of New York.”
Kurt remembered that when he “moved to Montgomery County, I went to school with my first Pakistani, Indian, Sri Lankan, Caucasian, Italian [and] Mexican. I love Montgomery County and I hope to stay here because I love how diverse it is.”
Supported and inspired by his friends, family, and peers, Kurt shouted out a few of his favorite local artists. Infinite E, stage name for touring actor, director and rapper Edwin Michael Sheriff, came to Kurt’s mind, as well as performance artist Derick John King, whose work has been featured at several Baltimore theatres and on the streaming platform Tubi.
Multifaceted in the arts himself, Kurt strongly believes that, in order to have prolific creativity, one can and must make time. “If it's something you really like, you're gonna find a time to just map it out and be like, ‘Hey, okay, I have rehearsal from this time to this time. Maybe, before rehearsal, I can get a few videos and create some drafts, or maybe after rehearsal. Or this day, I don't have rehearsal, so I can use this whole day. So, you just got to map it out and plan it.”
Kurt Elliott II stays busy in theatre and content creation. This year, Kurt takes the stage at Warner Theatre for the funk, gospel, soul and R&B musical The Wiz and a children’s show at Smithsonian Discover Theater called Seasons of Light.
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