Ashley Walters: The Unheard TRUTH About Top Boy! "Me & Kano Didn't Have The Greatest Time"

TL;DR

Ashley Walters discusses deep childhood trauma from an absent father (in prison, illiterate) that fueled anger, a belief he would die young, and a drive for perfection that led to success in So Solid Crew and acting, particularly in Top Boy.

Key insights

• Walters’ father was illiterate; learning this deepened his childhood hatred until the final two-week visit before his father’s death revealed his father’s street intelligence and forced Walters to con
• He used a camera to document his daily life because he was obsessed with dying young (age 33), a fixation he had since childhood; the father-son conversations were filmed and later lost when a busines
• The voice in his head is “a mug” – he believes it has led him to make terrible decisions, and he now tries to quiet it by seeking external perspectives from his wife or mother before acting.