Demetrius Shipp Jr brings Tupac Shakur back to life in All Eyez On Me

MEET the dead ringer for Tupac Shakur who, despite having never acted before, is bringing the superstar rapper back to life in a new movie biopic.

DEMETRIUS Shipp Jr was destined to play Tupac Shakur.

So says Benny Boom, director of the new film All Eyez On Me in which Shipp embodies the late rapper and actor. So said Shipp’s old high-school mates in Long Beach, California, who used to call him “Pac” due to the striking resemblance he bears to Shakur.

So said Shipp’s cousin, who urged him to submit an audition tape when a casting call for the movie went out on Facebook back in 2011.

Told he was a dead ringer for Tupac Shakur, unknown Demetrius Shipp Jr has kickstarted an acting career by playing the rapper in long-awaited biopic All Eyez On Me. Picture: Quantrell Colbert/Roadshow

And, so, “after a certain period of time”, 28-year-old Shipp started to feel like it was destined, too.

At the height of a brief, controversial, hit-laden career, Tupac Shakur (or 2Pac) died in Las Vegas in September 1996, aged 25.

His drive-by shooting murder has never been solved, a gap that for the last 21 years has been filled with theories and conspiracies (including one that Pac is alive and chilling in Cuba) that have only served to grow the mythology around the man.

All Eyez On Me attempts to map out how Tupac’s journey led him to being in that car, on that street, that night.

The real Tupac Shakur leaving a New York court in 1993. Picture: AP

First-time actor Demetrius Shipp Jr as Tupac. Picture: Roadshow

Shipp was just seven when Shakur died, nevertheless like most hip hop fans he knew all the songs (California Love, Keep Ya Head Up, Changes, Dear Mama) and that he’d been shot.

But, just as many viewers of the film will be, Shipp was “endlessly surprised” by the other sides of Tupac he discovered as he began researching for the film.

The rapper was raised by Black Panther Party activists — his mother Afeni and stepfather Mutulu. Mutulu spent time on the FBI’s most wanted list in the early 1980s and Afeni (who died last year) was not only militant about African-American rights but also in encouraging her son to read, write and question.

As the movie shows, Tupac could quote Shakespeare at the drop of a hat and was determined to create and lead a positive movement for black people (though the movie also shows the many ways that mission was derailed).

“As I got a little bit older I knew some controversial things were going on, but never the other side of Tupac, how he was raised,” says Shipp. “That’s a whole other side, it helps you figure out from how he came to go from the 17-year-old innocent kid that cared about social issues, raising awareness in school and stuff, to being the ‘Thug Life’ outlaw, but still the visionary, the prophet and the revolutionary for the culture.”

Shipp as Tupac with Danai Gurira as Tupac's mother Afeni — a Black Panther activist who raised her son to be a leader for black people. Picture: Roadshow

Shipp never met Afeni, but EDI Mean, of Tupac’s Outlawz group, and other friends like Naughty By Nature’s Treach were on hand to give the first-time actor personal insights he could feed into his portrayal.

And, going back to that destiny thing, Shipp’s father also had insights to pass on, having been a producer at Tupac’s final label, Death Row Records.

“He produced Tupac’s first single off his album Makaveli, which was one of the last albums that he did while he was living,” Shipp explains.

Shipp as Tupac with Dominic L. Santana as Death Row Records boss Suge Knight in All Eyez On Me. Picture: Roadshow

Tupac with the real Suge Knight around a month before he was killed. Knight was driving the car the night Shakur was shot. Picture: Supplied

What Shipp’s dad impressed on him most about the late artist was “that Tupac’s work ethic was unmatched,” he says.

“He had never seen a work ethic like he had. He was a workaholic.”

Growing up in California, Shipp had never dreamt of being an actor or a rapper. Rather, he hoped to follow his father into music producing and was working installing satellite dishes for a pay TV company when the Tupac casting call went out.

Making All Eyez On Me — especially the movie’s celebratory concert scenes — gave Shipp a taste of the superstar rapper life, which he liked ... but not that much.

All Eyez On Me’s concert scenes allowed Shipp to live out his rap superstar fantasies. Picture: Roadshow

“I’ve always wanted to know what it felt like to be at the peak on stage, everybody rockin’ to your lyrics — it’s not that I personally wanted to do that, but I always wanted to know what that experience felt like.

“It was a great experience, it was cool, but I don’t really wanna be a rapper — too much responsibility,” Shipp laughs.

The hip hop life isn’t for him, then, but does Shipp want to continue acting?

“Oh my goodness, of course!” he exclaims. “This is the life for me now. I fell in love with the creativity, the challenge, the art of it ... I completely love it. I plan on making it happen. Acting is definitely the way for me now.”

Shipp with Annie Izolzeh (who plays Tupac’s fiance Kidada Jones in All Eyez On Me) in Los Angeles. Picture: Charley Gallay/Getty Images

Even before All Eyez On Me reaches cinemas, the budding thespian reports he’s had “inquiries” about other roles.

“For me, it’s taking the right one. I want the roles that I take after this to be just as pivotal as what I did here. Because the next one dictates how my career will take off and how I will be respected as an actor.”

ALL EYEZ ON ME OPENS THURSDAY

Originally published as Demetrius Shipp Jr brings Tupac Shakur back to life in All Eyez On Me