Jimel Atkins

The Jamaican native spent his early childhood in Springfield, Massachusetts where he attended elementary and later high school. At age 7, Jimel's interest in sports led him to baseball, basketball; where his team won a hard-fought high school championship and football. Football however soon became his favorite and so he began his pursuit of a career in the sport.A wide-receiver for the University of South Florida (2012-2014), sports and academics kept him pretty busy but whenever he found a few hours of downtime, he would head to the movie theaters. He soon noticed a change in his desire to continue the pursuit of a career in football and instead decided to follow an over-whelming yearning for the arts. He recalls his early childhood where he would spend almost every weekend at the movie theaters with his family. When no one was looking, he would act out scenes from his favorite movies.In 2016 Jimel decided to leave the football field for good. He registered to attend an acting school in the Tampa Bay area. There, he spent countless hours emerging in the art of acting. After booking a few small roles in a couple films, as well as television commercials, Jimel landed his first recurring role as Ray Kelly in the OWN's TV series "David Makes Man" Show less «