We had the good fortune of connecting with Sterling Hunter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sterling, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
It was something that someone started just out of curiosity. My daughter was born in December 2009 and I stayed home with her during her first year to keep her from going to daycare.

I would wake her up in the middle of the night to keep her from waking her mom up since her mom went back to work pretty quickly, and while I would have her up at night feeding her, I would be watching old A-Team episodes, and one night I said that I wanted to try to cut my hair like Mr. T so that I could be him for Halloween.

From there, it turned into people telling me I looked a lot like him and eventually ended up, turning into a business after Covid hit in 2020.

What should our readers know about your business?
When I initially started doing Mr. T impersonations as a business, I only thought about being hired to attend parties, but there are a lot more other things that you can bring to the world than just that. I had a dentist office actually hire me to do client appreciation deliveries and so I added that to the list of services.

I’ve had people reach out to me to do social media and even television commercials for their business, I bring energy and awareness to various businesses that hire me for their expo booth, I’ve even done some motivational speaking engagements and look to partner with schools in the future to do anti-bullying campaigns. Golf tournaments, birthday shoutout videos—you name it and I’ll pity it!

Overall, I am proud at the fact that when the world was shutting down and people were worried and thinking about what they were going to do with their futures, I basically created a lane for myself with impersonating one of the biggest and most positive celebrities in the world and even though it has been an uphill battle at times, I have stuck with it.

It is definitely not easy because your biggest struggle is awareness. People that live around you and see you frequently know about you, but there is only so much that you can do while you’re in front of someone locally. My goal is to market myself better utilizing social media and other platforms, so that if someone wants to hire me across the country, they know that there is a Mr. T impersonator available.

The main thing that I would want people to know about my story is to never give up and stay optimistic. In March 2020 when I was laid off from my full-time job, it would’ve been so easy to drown in my sorrows and worry, but I created this persona and was able to capitalize on it and not only make a living but spread joy and positivity and hope in the process!

It is very rare that I leave a place that I go into without at least one person saying that I made their day or that I am the best thing that they have seen in a long time And it’s ultimately because Mr. T is a great man and I strive to be like that too in my every day life.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is such a funny question because it was reality in August 2022. I am originally from the Corpus Christi area (Kingsville) and I had a friend that hasn’t been up here in the 15 years that I’ve lived up here.

He came to visit for a weekend, and I took him to the Stockyards to go hang out, we went to Arlington to a shoe convention and then I took him out for some night life fun and Deep Ellum.

He liked it so much that he said he wants to come back and visit so I will definitely find some other new spots like West 7th St. in Fort Worth or some of the lounges in Addison to take him to check out.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My daughter, Oksana, and her mother, Christina, are the ones that I shout out the loudest when it comes to this, because as rough and crazy as it can be trying to be an impersonator, they are usually right there dealing with the ups and downs with me.

My parents, Walter and Rita, as well as my sister, Alauna, are also deeply ingratiated in my growth as an impersonator, so a loud shout out to them as well.

Instagram: mrpityt1983

Facebook: sterling.a.hunter

Other: Snapchat: sterby42 Facebook: mrpityt1983

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