"What's For You Is For You": Charles L. Smith II on Manifesting His Way Into Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married Again?"

Charles L. Smith II remembers exactly where he was when his agent called with the news: at work, going about a normal day, when the phone rang and changed everything. "He was like, 'You booked it. You're going to Italy!' And, man, I was running around in circles. It was crazy." Smith laughs recalling it now, but in the moment, he says, it didn't feel real. 

The role was Denver, one of the "kids" in Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Again? - the long-awaited third installment in a franchise that first hit theaters nearly 20 years ago. The film reunites the original couples for a destination wedding in Italy's Lake Como, and it landed on Netflix already sitting at No. 1. For Smith, it's the biggest credit of a career he's been quietly building for years, one acting class and one "no" at a time.

From Howard's Basketball Court to Ava DuVernay's Set

Before Hollywood, Smith was at Howard University, where he played basketball and figured he'd end up behind the camera as a director. "I knew I wanted to be in the industry. I had a lot of people out here just telling me, 'Just try everything.'" So he did - producing classes, writing classes, and eventually an acting class that changed his trajectory. "The class was just so welcoming, and it was just fun."

Fun turned into a calling the day Ava DuVernay cast him in her OWN series Cherish the Day. "She just blessed me that day. She said, 'I'm gonna put you on my show.' That's when I really knew — this is what I want to do."

Knowing did not mean it came easy. Smith describes a full year of just training before he even started auditioning, followed by a wall of rejection once he did. "It was nothing but nos," he says, laughing. "Literally nothing but nos. Until this day, I still get a lot of nos. But I think it's just a part of the game." He credits his basketball background - and his parents - for the persistence that got him through it. "I think that's just the athlete in me. I played basketball at Howard, so I just try to keep that moving-forward journey for my whole life. With acting, I kind of translated that over." His family, Smith adds, never wavered: "My parents are everything. They have always backed me."

Landing Denver — and a Lesson in Manifestation

Smith's path to "Why Did I Get Married Again?" started, fittingly, with a different role entirely. He originally auditioned for what would become Derrick King's part, but casting called him back for Denver instead. 

The Colorado native is not shy about crediting something bigger than a callback sheet. "What's crazy is that I'm from Denver," he says of his character's name. "It was pretty crazy when I saw the name. I was like, 'Wow. This is, again, what's for you is for you.'" He'd told friends and family - and posted on Instagram - that he wanted a billboard on Sunset Boulevard, long before it happened. "I'm big on manifestation and just, like, God and all that, man. I think it's true... It really is all God. He's just doing his big one, you know? He's just listening, and I'm just trying to listen back."

Stepping into a franchise with almost two decades of history came with its own kind of pressure, and Smith says Tyler Perry defused it immediately. "The table read, he immediately told us, 'I believe in y'all. You guys are good. Your tapes are amazing. Do what you do. I chose you for a reason.' And once he said that, I think we all really just relaxed." What stuck with him beyond that first day was watching how Perry runs a set. "He's very laser-focused... and he took care of us, man. He took such good care of us on that trip, on both trips - Atlanta and Italy." Smith is direct about what that opportunity means to him as a young Black actor. "I love that he's trying to bring more Black people into this industry and showcase our abilities, because there's a lot of talented people in LA, man, and I think we're all just waiting for that one chance."

Playing Denver, Smith says, didn't require much of a stretch. The character is described as the peacemaker of the group's next generation - and so is he. "His parents are so peaceful and loving and caring, and out of all the kids, he just wants to make sure the wedding happens and that everybody's together... Anytime there's an argument, he's like, 'Yo, everybody calm down, we gonna figure it out.' That's truly who I am." He's just as animated talking about the friendships he built off-camera with the film's other newcomers - Da'Vinchi, Laya DeLeon Hayes, Jaden Michael, Everett Osborne, Armani Greer, Sydney Winbush, and Derrick A. King. "These guys are all like my family now. We have a whole group chat... we're still hanging out, still rooting for each other." He noticed the same thing watching the film's veteran stars, from Taraji P. Henson and Tasha Smith to Jill Scott and Lamman Rucker, fall back into an easy rhythm after years apart. "They haven't been around each other for years, but once they got into that table read, it was just automatic for them. I think that rubbed off on us."

As for what audiences who've never seen the earlier films will take from this one, Smith points to timing: "With social media and what's going on in the world with dating and all that mess, I think people think marriage and dating is perfect. What this movie is showing is that it's not... It's messy, it's funny, it's a lot. It's about learning." In a moment saturated with curated relationship content, he thinks that honesty lands differently. "This really grounds and shows what real marriage is like... despite everything that's going on, we gonna figure it out and we gonna love each other."

Advice for the Next Wave

Asked what he'd tell Black actors just starting, Smith doesn't hesitate: go easier on yourself. "You're so hard on yourself when you're first starting because you're just trying to figure it out. I was very hard on myself... but I'd just say give yourself some grace, and it's gonna work out. Just stay persistent." He pairs that grace with a work ethic he doesn't apologize for. "I'm not from Hollywood. I don't have a Hollywood background. It's just all been work - keep building, keep building, keep building."

That building continues well past this film. Smith has a role in the Apple TV+ series "Shrinking," appears alongside Omari Hardwick in the MGM+ "Bosch" prequel series Bosch: Start of Watch, and has a part in the upcoming Snoop Dogg biopic. He's already worked with Chloé Zhao and Ava DuVernay, and rattles off his dream collaborators without missing a beat: Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, Christopher Nolan. "There are so many great directors. I'm just gonna keep trying to get better so I'll be able to work with these people one day."

For now, he's letting the moment - the No. 1 movie, the trip to Italy, the group chat full of new castmates-turned-family - sit in its proper place: proof, as he puts it, that the work eventually shows. "What's for you is for you."

Why Did I Get Married Again? is streaming now on Netflix.