The complexity of a rising star at home but a bonified International star
It’s about 2:00 a.m. on a early Saturday morning a plane is arriving from the USA to Sao Paulo Brazil ,a crowd of about 5,000 consisting of fans and media gather along the tarmac as the a private jet taxis near the crowd at Sao Paulo Campo De Marte Airport ,the vacuum on the plane’s exit door decompresses,as door lowers to the tarmac the crowd begins the cheer. A tall, muscular figure exits the plane and is met by four security personnel at the bottom of the stairs..Raw Leiba has made it back to Sao Paulo,Brazil and the people can’t get enough of him. A spotlight and flashing cameras light up the early morning sky. Hands extend from the crowd hoping to shake hands with the famous actor,former athlete and humanitarian and Leiba does not disappoint shaking every hand taking photos,signing pictures and clothing, everything from socks to women’s panties (yes you heard that correctly) you see most of Leiba’s fans here seem to be women “My only rule is they have to have the tags on them,gotta be new”,not surprising for Bone Tomahawk,The Heat and Burn Notice star who once made the list of Hollywood’s Sexiest Men and still possessing that chiseled 6 ft 3 in frame..trying to hide something like that would be tough enough but being famous “while trying not to be famous is even tougher”.
“It’s funny how I can’t walk the streets here in Brazil” Leiba says “I love the fact that I’m so loved and appreciated and I want to reciprocate that same love and energy back to them” (the fans).
But not everyone is thrilled when Leiba makes these kinds of visits, Andrei Rodrigues is the head of Brazils security for special events and was the head of security for the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro “the problem here is we as police and security don’t know he’s coming and this is a security issue not just Mr. Leiba but for his fans and other patrons that are visiting and flying in and out of the airport” he said. “This also cost the state money to have extra police here covering his arrival so my hope is in the future we can work with Mr Leiba and other celebrities who want to vist our wonderful country to make it a safer situation for everyone involved”.
This is just part of the complexity of being Raw Leiba, he is Brazilian, African-American and Native Comanche Indian and even lived a small part of his life on the Comanche Indian Reservation in Oklahoma at the behest of his father who was half Comanche and half African-American. Born in Newark ,NJ at the now defunct Presbyterian Hospital, Leiba lived on 12th and Central Ave for a part of his life where all his friends were African-American and Hispanic and didn’t really meet white kids until he moved to Woodbridge NJ and later to the mega wealthy Franklin Lakes NJ.
Having done dozens of movies and television shows in the U.S and dozens more in Brazil and other South American countries Leiba recently made the “most famous Brazilians list” which is headed by mostly soccer players
and has not only solidified his place in the world of entertainment but has made his mark as a staunch animal and human rights activivist having championed causes for African-Americans, Native Americans,and South American people, as well as countries and animals around the globe, sometimes garnering the ire of even his own family, ” I’ll put it this way there are parts of my extended family that don’t agree with what I say in the press or on social media but I don’t care, I will not sit back and watch marginalized people become even more marginalized by racism, sexism and lack of economic and educational opportunities”.
“At the end of the day I’m just a regular guy I love lifting weights and playing basketball at my local gyms,I didn’t wanna be so known in the U.S. to where I can’t do certain things anymore, Im just famous enough and I like that” he said.”So every once in awhile someone will say they saw me on tv or the big screen or want a picture or autograph and im ok with that”he says.
Obviously there are some things about Raw Leiba that are not “regular.” For example he occasionally flies on private planes to movie shoots and has met most of Hollywood’s Elite as well as two U.S presidents (George Bush Sr and Bill Clinton) well technically three.He met Donald Trump in the 90’s at his places of employment a television station NYC and again at a NYC radio station on Madison Avenue (when Trump was a Democrat)”I had a picture with him too, got rid of it I’m a die hard democrat” he said.
Dipak Hedesh is the head of the International Film and Television Research Center (IFTRC) which researches TV and Film viability as well as trends around the world says “Raw Leiba has a unique brand,he has bigger star power in foreign countries especially Central and South America ,India and the Middle East than he does in the U.S” he says, to prove this lets take what we can argue is his worst movie “Blood and Love” which garnered $150,000 in the U.S, but in those markets we just mentioned that movie made about 12 million dollars and we can see this trend with other things he’s done as well” Hedesh said. “In television Burn Notice was a popular show in the U.S. but at best did a 3 share on our scale internationally ,however the episode Leiba was on did a 9 share! so this along with other data we collect tells us they are “watching him” not necessarily the TV show itself”. As for a reason for this? Hedesh thinks it has alot to do with Leiba’s versatility and being multicultural, the fact that “people like to see people who look like themselves and in Mr Leiba’s case he can be Hispanic he could be North African (Egypt,Morocco) African American,American Indian or Pacific Islander and as I understand it he has most of those roots in his family tree so it makes sense.”
“Remember Raw is not just an actor” says Arthur Sadoun a French businessman and chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe “he is an “Award winning” actor but hes also a journalist, a stuntman, a NAGA champion martial artist,he had a national entertainment talk show,he was a great athlete and excelled in 2 sports, CEO of a film company and what he does for human and animal rights is incredible and we have we mentioned that Raw’s done a pretty good job of navigating his life” said Sadoun.”I’ve met him twice once in Paris the other in New York City and he can totally engage you with any conversational topic under the sun”..”this was the guy you envied in high school cause he just does everything well”.
Leiba does acknowledge that now that the paparazzi are photographing him around the world the days are coming where he can no longer be in those basketball games in public anymore and will have to go to a private gym ..”I will approach that road when I come to it but right now I’m just enjoying myself, my family of dogs and my time,he says. And hey when that time comes I will be very ,very sad but I know it’s in the plan.
Asked what are his goals are? Leiba responds “I don’t like the term “goals” so what are “goals?” he questions ,”When im talking to kids I tell them setting goals isn’t smart because if you have a “goal” and you reach it thats great but thats the end its over it has a finality, also lets say that you say “my goal is I wanna be a millionaire by 30 or I wanna have 2 kids and a big house by 35” if you dont reach your “goal” then you can become depressed and your self worth becomes fragile because in your mind you have failed ,I like terms like lets say “like to accomplish” or “ambitions” so I have things that I want to accomplish in this business and have the ambition to do so” he says, I have not ruled out owning a TV radio station or numerous stations because that is an ambition of mine” he goes on, “I look at someone like Byron Allen and what’s he’s doing and I’m like that would be pretty damn cool! I mean think about it, Byron Allen owns The Weather Channel!”
