Lorenzo “Renny” Cromwell has stayed busy since his Brooklyn College days. The Queens native now has four major movie roles under his belt, a Honda commercial, was cast on MTV’s Wild ’n Out, has toured the country selling out stand-up shows, and recently released his first music single, “Playin’ Wit Me.” The former theater major turned multi-hyphenate entertainer has fond memories of his favorite theater professor, Rose Bonczek (now retired), and hanging out with fellow members of the Haitian American Student Association. They were part of the community that supported him when he got his start as a social media comedian and influencer, amassing nearly two million followers on Instagram by posting skits on everything from the nuances of dating to life with a sleazy stepdad (with Cromwell playing both the characters “Tyrone” and his ridiculous blond-wig–clad stepfather). Congratulations on all your success. You achieved your first taste of social media stardom during your Brooklyn College days. What was that like? I was already studying theater, so I used the skills I was learning on stage and put that into the content I was creating on social. My Instagram picked up quickly, and I started doing branding for a few companies and then hosting events on college campuses. That was wild. I would have an event in Albany or Syracuse or Connecticut and race back to the city to study for midterms. It became a challenge to stay on top of my academics, but I knew the work I was doing was feeding my career. Things were starting to happen for me, so I just pushed through it. And you started getting noticed by your fans on campus! That was a lot at first because I’m low-key at heart. I have an obsession with entertainment. I can be a people person when I need to, but I can also be anti-social. Figuring out how to balance that—just being a student headed to my class in Whitehead and being someone noticed by my peers—was a lot to get used to. When did you first become interested in a career in entertainment? Honestly, my first love was singing. Since I was little. My mom would take me to auditions for music groups that I was too young for, but I would sing my heart out! When I was in fifth grade, I was in the school choir. In middle school I started dancing. In high school, I got my first taste of theater when I was a sophomore, and we did Hairspray. That’s when I realized I wanted to do it all. What’s next for you? I still have so much I want to do in this life! I want to do more of what I have been doing: more movies, some television. Ultimately, I want to arrive at a point where I’m greenlighting projects. A lot of the success I’ve had still feels surreal to me. Honestly, I haven’t done anything yet.
