Photographer: Storm Santos
Rhyan Hill was halfway down the arena staircase when it stopped feeling like dress-up of Tito Jackson.
He thought: this is all “too real.”
Decked head-to-toe as the Jackson 5 guitarist, sunglasses on, guitar strapped, and lights strobing over 500 screaming extras shrieking like it was 1984, he remembers thinking: “’wow, we’re really here,’” he recalled. “The first take we did of our performance, I was like, ‘oh, I found it. I found the rhythm.’”
In Michael, the forthcoming biographical musical drama about Michael “the King of Pop” Jackson, Hill steps into the role of Tito Jackson, the often-understated older brother who helped anchor the Jackson 5 and later The Jacksons. The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, follows the troupe from their early Motown days through the beginning of the late 80s Bad era, zooming into family drama – as much as zooming out to the global musical supernova phenomena.
For Hill, a multi-hyphenate actor and dancer who has performed with Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl, appeared in “This Is America” with Childish Gambino, and landed roles on “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Lovecraft Country,” and BET+’s “The Michael Blackson Show,” stepping into Tito was all about inhabiting a real person’s humor, loyalty, and quiet authority, at a pivotal moment in his own career.
“To be a part of this project just means the world to me,” he told SWAGGER.
In the process of the role, Hill never actually sat down with Tito himself, but he did brush against the family orbit during production. At a fitting, he met Tito’s son TJ Jackson, who casually dropped a detail that helped unlock the man behind the myth. “He actually gave me some insight that Tito used to coach him and his brothers in baseball, which was a fun fact that I had never known,” Hill said. “It was great to be able to meet someone that was part of the family.”
Researching Tito, Hill discovered a personality that was far more than the “quiet one” at stage left. “I learned that he really was the more reserved and relaxed of the Jackson brothers,” he explained. “But he really did love his brothers and his whole family. He liked to crack jokes. He was that big brother figure for the family, and I really loved being able to use that and play with that with the rest of the cast.”
That big-brother energy became the foundation of the on-screen dynamic between Hill and the ensemble, including Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Jaafar Jackson, and Jessica Sula. Hill described a set where the family chemistry didn’t need to be manufactured. “We had a great time bonding with each other,” he said. “That organic brotherly chemistry and that family chemistry… really blended well together when we were on screen. It just allowed us to have freedom and play and really be able to play this iconic family.”
Stepping inside the Jacksons’ world — especially opposite Michael’s real-life nephew Jaafar as Michael — forced Hill to internalize the singing legend’s professional trajectory. “It shows him trying to find that independence of wanting to go on his own path. The story also shows how supportive the family was and how tight-knit the family is, which I can relate to as well. I have a very tight-knit family who have always been supportive of all of my endeavors.”
For all the emotional preparation, Hill knew he couldn’t fake Tito’s musicianship. He had never played guitar before signing onto the film; suddenly, the instrument was the key into the character. “I practiced for countless hours,” he said. Guided by instructor Erica Shafer, he started from scratch. “It was first figuring out how to play a stringed instrument… learning what chords are. From there, I had an understanding of what it means to play the guitar.”
The work didn’t stop at basic proficiency. Hill loomed over archival footage: Tito on the Victory Tour and Triumph Tour, any scrap he could find of him playing live. “I was studying his fingers and how he moved across the stage, and how he liked to hold his guitar,” he said. “Things like that really helped me. I was also looking at not just Tito playing, but Prince playing, and other guitar players to get the understanding of what it means to play the guitar.”
All that homework converged on that first day filming the recreated Victory Tour performance — the moment Hill now describes as the day Tito “clicked.” “Once I found the rhythm with the guitar, I would say that was one of the aspects of me finding Tito,” he said. But the real revelation came with the full arena illusion. “Once I was in that costume, in the wig, all that prep and hard work had paid off once I was on that stage.”
Hill was candid about the weight of portraying a real person that music fans would take especial note of. “I think it was a big responsibility and there was a little bit of pressure. And I put it on myself to make sure I had it down,” he said. “I even faced imposter syndrome thinking like, ‘can I even do this?’” What helped him ‘beat it’ was the homework, due diligence and determination. “Once I was putting in the work and continuing to train and watching videos, looking at pictures and reading articles, I was like, ‘okay, I’m called to be here. This role was for me.’”
Before acting, Hill’s first language was movement. He has been training since he was five, in hip-hop, contemporary, dancehall, and jazz, and his résumé includes marquee stages like Super Bowl LIX with Kendrick Lamar. That background still underpins his performance choices. “I’ve really, over the past few years, dove into choreography,” he said. “I’ve been setting pieces on competition teams and making my own choreography.”
Now that Michael is wrapped, Hill is not going to stop ‘til he gets enough … of his own writing and producing. That includes a new short film, “Hitman,” accepted into multiple festivals; and he’s thinking beyond the lens. “I think it’s really important for me to be able to create those opportunities for me and my friends,” he said. “I have dreams of one day being a showrunner” – that is, a tour de force who has overall creative authority.
He said he is “really inspired” by Quinta Brunson (creator and star of the ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary”), Issa Rae (co-creator and star of the HBO series “Insecure”) and Rob McElhenney (co-creator and star of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”.) Multi-hyphenates who turned their own sensibilities into long-running shows.
“Being a showrunner on a comedy series like that would be amazing. Also starring in it.”
He still wants to put his stamp on the kind of stages he once danced on — Coachella, the BET Awards, the Grammys — but the throughline is authorship. “Just continuing to expand and kind of have my hands in all these different fields in the entertainment industry is what I really want people to know about me,” he said. “I act, I dance, I choreograph, but I’ve also started to dive into the behind the scenes as well of writing and producing work.”
And if, along the way, audiences walk out of Michael not only with a renewed appreciation for a music catalog he calls “timeless” — “Blame It on the Boogie” is his favorite, for the record — but with a new understanding of the beloved brother Tito, Hill will have done what he set out to do. “Knowing their full story, and knowing how they came up, and knowing how supportive they were of each other, I have even more respect, and even more of an honor, to be able to be a part of a film like this.”
Michael hits theatres Apr. 24
