Actor Spotlight

Nathan Lane helps keep this Dallas actor busy in local theater

If you asked anyone in the Dallas-Fort Worth theater community who is the "glue," that person who makes every show special whether he's acting, directing, choreographing or even selling tickets, chances are they would say B.J. Cleveland.

Even if you don't know him from the local stage, Cleveland might still look familiar. Remember BJ & the Super Ones on Channel 11, or Cartoon Clubhouse with BJ & Lester on Channel 39, which ran between 1986 and 1994? He also appeared on The Facts of Life and in the film Streamers.

If you're somehow still unfamiliar with Cleveland, Uptown Players' production of The Nance would be a great introduction to this multitalented man. The Tony-nominated play about burlesque performers in the 1930s is at Kalita Humphreys Theater from June 19 through July 5.

Prior to the show's start, Cleveland took the time to fill out our survey of serious, fun and sometimes ridiculous questions.

Name: B.J. Cleveland

Role in The Nance: Chauncey Miles, "The Nance"

Previous work in the DFW area: More than 400 different shows as actor/director/choreographer since debuting onstage at age 6.

Hometown: Fort Worth

Where you currently reside: New Dallas resident!

First theater role: Hansel in Hansel and Gretel

First stage show you ever saw: Hard to remember — my mother took me to many — but I strongly remember The Wind in the Willows at Casa Manana.

Moment you decided to pursue a career in theater: As soon as I could read and had it memorized, I performed Go, Dog, Go for my grandparents.

Most challenging role you’ve played: Several, for different reasons. Of recent, Max Bialystock in The Producers — a marathon!

Special skills: Scenic painting, tap dancing, scuba diving, sky diving, Czech folk dancing. And I'm a dog whisperer!

Something you’re REALLY bad at: Saying no!

Current pop culture obsession: Whatever's trending on Facebook. I'm a 14-year-old girl. Caitlyn Jenner?

Last book you read: Yes Please by Amy Poehler. Hilarious. Even better to listen to.

Favorite movie(s): I'm a movie fanatic. I see everything. Classic fave: Singin' In The Rain. Recent fave: Love Is Strange.

Favorite musician(s): Old school: James Taylor, Billy Joel, Elton John. Recently: Meghan Trainor!

Favorite song: Show tunes!!!

Dream role: I've been fortunate to play a lot of them. Maybe Albin in La Cage Aux Folles, Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof — practically the same thing.

Favorite play(s): August: Osage County; Love! Valor! Compassion!

Favorite musical(s): Ugh! That's like Sophie's Choice. Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, The Music Man, Sunday In The Park With George.

Favorite actors/actresses: Meryl Streep, Jack Lemmon, Lucille Ball. Props to Nathan Lane — he keeps giving me roles. Right now, my current cast. I. Love. Them.

Favorite food: Brisket tacos

Must-see TV show(s): I Love Lucy — anytime it's on. Downton Abbey, RuPaul's Drag Race. How's that for eclectic?

Something most people don’t know about you: Raised in a strong Czech heritage, fundamental Baptist and former gymnast.

Place in the world you’d most like to visit: One of those beach huts out over the water in Bora Bora. My great-grandfather's birthplace is Novigrad. Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.

Pre-show warm-up: Go to the potty! And hide in a corner and run difficult lyrics/dialogue to myself.

Favorite part about your current role: I get to fall in love every night and be loved. The expanse of emotions.

Most challenging part about your current role: Stamina and the expanse of emotions. I never dreamed this role would hit me so hard emotionally as much as physically.

Most embarrassing onstage mishap: Wasn't in a show, surprisingly. I was emceeing a big event, and the PowerPoint behind me was being run from someone else's computer, and they accidentally projected porn on a 24-foot wall behind me. For the longest 20 seconds of my life. And I was onstage alone with a live mic. It's quite funny — now.

Career you’d have if you weren’t in theater: Teaching. And I do, every day.

Favorite post-show spot: It was Snookie's. RIP.

Favorite thing about Dallas-Forth Worth: My family and my theater family. There is an abundance of great theater here. Please support it!

B.J. Cleveland stars in Uptown Players' production of The Nance.

B.J. Cleveland in The Nance from Uptown Players

Photo by Mike Morgan

B.J. Cleveland stars in Uptown Players' production of The Nance.

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Mural News

Netflix House will debut in Dallas with murals from acclaimed artist

Netflix House

Jeremy Biggers at Netflix House

A long-awaited immersive venue is opening in Dallas, and it will debut with local art on its walls: Netflix House, a year-round exhibit revolving around Netflix shows and movies, will open at Galleria Dallas on December 11, with two murals from award-winning Dallas multi-medium artist Jeremy Biggers.

Netflix House is an immersive dive complete with merchandise store, film house, arcade, and restaurant-bar. When it opens, Dallas will be the second location in the U.S., following Philadelphia, where it debuted in November 2025, also with murals from a local artist.

A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School for Performing and Visual Arts, Biggers is a renowned artist whose murals can be found spashed on walls across Dallas. Many, such as the Selena portrait on the wall outside Top Ten Records at 306 S. Bishop Ave., have become local landmarks.

He's a logical choice, having worked with a number of corporations including Nike, Adidas, the Dallas Mavericks, and IBM, for whom he created the "THINK" mural in their Dallas corporate office. His works have also been exhibited nationally, including a 2024 solo exhibition "be safe out there bro" at Band of Vices, a gallery in Los Angeles.

"Being chosen to be the artist to paint this mural, it would have been a disservice to myself, as well as the art scene in the city, not to try to infuse myself into it," he says.

$\u200bJeremy Biggers at Netflix House$ Jeremy Biggers at Netflix HouseNetflix House

Biggers did two murals featuring his interpretation of Netflix figures including the Squid Game Young-hee doll, characters from KPop Demon Hunters and megahit series Stranger Things, plus Pandy and DJ Catnip, the best friends in the interactive series Gabby’s Dollhouse.

Both murals are intensely colored works that incorporate Biggers' signature motif: a grid of polka dots spread across the image.

One is on the exterior of Netflix House, at the parking entrance, a colorful collage of characters, measuring 38 feet x 50 feet — the tallest mural Biggers has tackled. He painted it with aerosol; it took him two months to complete.
The other is on the interior, on the mall side entrance of Netflix House, measuring 57 feet x 12 feet — a study in moody blacks and blues, with accents of neon-red that give it a 3D effect.

“I'm trying to tell the story of Netflix, and the story of where Netflix has been historically, where Netflix is headed in the future, and then also infusing my own narrative and my own language visually into that story,” he says.

“They could have opened this anywhere, so for Dallas to be one of the very first locations — that’s a testament to us as a market, as consumers of arts and consumers in general," he says.

Jeremy Biggers at Netflix HouseNetflix House

galleries openings