Gossiping about famous friends with Denzel Washington, chatting with Timothee Chalamet and getting advice from Viola Davis may seem like a celebrity whirlwind to most, but it’s just an everyday occurrence for Dusan Brown, a Chapman freshman and film production major.

During the Super Bowl Feb. 7, Brown could be seen starring in a commercial alongside Timothee Chalamet and Winona Ryder. In the advertisement for Cadillac, a parody of the film “Edward Scissorhands,” Brown throws a football to Edgar (Chalamet), who promptly punctures a hole in the ball. Brown said he was filled with joy and awe when he saw himself on screen during the game.

“I’m like, ‘Wow, this is hilarious,’ and ‘Oh look, there I am,’” Brown said, recalling his reaction to the commercial. “Whenever I do stuff, I always forget that I have done that or that I am in it. My mom and dad were cheering — it was so much fun. I was excited, elated and so happy.”

A Super Bowl commercial alongside such esteemed talent might seem like an overwhelming appearance for a young actor, but Brown has been acting since he first learned to walk and talk. What began as baby print ads for Sears and small movie roles blossomed into a lifelong passion. 

During his junior year of high school, Brown wrote, directed and colored — despite being colorblind — a film titled “REECE.” The film earned him the “Spark Award” at the All American High School Film Festival, the National YoungArts Foundation and a medal for Presidential Scholar in the arts for filmmaking from the Board of Education at the White House.

Over the years, Brown has developed a robust portfolio: featuring in an episode of the hit series “How I Met Your Mother,” voice acting in Nickelodeon’s “Blaze and the Monster Machines” and Disney’s “The Lion Guard” and starring in the Netflix film “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” 

That last project in particular was a formative experience, as Brown acted alongside the award-winning Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman in a story portraying the exploitation of Black recording artists by white producers in the 1920s. Brown said the most enlightening aspect of the experience was a single conversation he had with the late Boseman. 

“There was one scene where my character kept getting his words wrong because he had a stutter and I myself started to get nervous,” Brown said. “(Boseman) seemed to tell and he came over. He gave me some advice and said, ‘You’re here for a reason and you just need to take your time and enjoy the experience around you instead of letting it get to you.’ That was helpful to me not only in that moment, but also in my life, because I need to take a moment and take it all in instead of letting things overpower me.”

In the future, Brown is unsure if his destiny lies in acting or writing. Ultimately, regardless of either path, his primary goal is to create entertainment that both educates and charms. 

“I hope I make stuff that I enjoy and that people watching enjoy,” Brown said. “My only goal and aspiration when it comes to creating, acting, directing or anything in life is to make things that I or other people enjoy or that people might learn from.”