Matondo Kiantandu
Matondo found his passion for writing at young age. He was forced to write an essay on law enforcement in Elementary school which would later be a foreshadowing moment as he would later sell a film about police officers. Matondo's English teacher secretly entered the essay in to a state wide competition and it won first place. He was ten years old when he won a young author award. Matondo's traveling Minister father led him to live all over the world. Matondo's parents from Zaire now Congo moved to the United States and he was born in Virginia, but moved all over the United States. He lived in four states by the time he was 13 and even spent his fourth grade in Kenya. He traveled all over the world with his family but eventually settled in Atlanta.
Matondo's gift for writing led him to writing and rapping original music. He found a manager who became his mentor. He performed locally, wrote music that was featured on a local radio and was on a CD in stores. Matondo's passion for writing led him to leave music and focus on screenplays and acting. He wrote his first feature film. The death of his manager/mentor/friend and a car accident where the jaws of life were needed to extract him, changed his life. He survived after a scary ambulance ride to the hospital and decided to focus on acting. He moved to Los Angeles with $300 and a new car he could not afford. He stayed with a struggling actor/comedian he met in Atlanta but the actor stole money from him and he ended up sleeping in his car and defaulting on the loan. He moved back to Atlanta broke and embarrassed and he sent back the car and had nothing left. He tried LA again with no car and only income form extra work, he crashed on the couch of a fellow extra. He was one day late on rent and she threw him out. He ended up sleeping in the park. He took what was supposed to rent money and was left after expenses was not enough for a plane ticket back to Atlanta. He bought a bus ticket and took what he called one of the worst experiences of his life. He was stuck on a cross country road trip on a bus.
Matondo decided to get back to L.A. and pursue his dream. He continued to struggle, sleeping in his car, doing extra work and going back and forth to Atlanta, he had a car totaled in an accident and with nowhere to sleep, he moved again. He left LA, came back years later and again was broke and sleeping in the car. The car was towed for expired tags, leaving him homeless yet again. It got so bad he had to collect food stamps to survive. Matondo again moved back to Atlanta, failing yet again. He produced his first feature film in Atlanta but never saw a dime.
Matondo made a decision, one more time back to LA and no turning back. He produced his second film, got distribution and finally made a profit. The third film made the biggest profit to date and shared some of the profit to the actors despite them working for no pay and no future payment promised. He booked his first major acting job in LA. It got slow for a few years but he came back strong booking two national commercials back to back. He got distribution for his Cop movie which is what started his writing passion winning a law enforcement essay in elementary school. Matondo has multiple films produced, in development and several finished screenplays. The journey has made him stronger and he has yet to reach his destination which clearly involves more success.
