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  • Karlton L. Ruffin

                                   

    Karlton L. Ruffin was born on June 18, 1970.  At the age of 3yrs old, he was already an entertainer.  Besides the annoying taps on his father's bongos, Karlton spent hours with his siblings playing the ever so popular game of "Mommy and Daddy". He was able to mimic his father's behavior so well that an interest in acting was birthed. When Karlton was 6yrs old, he began practicing on his sister's drum set; adding to the  growing list of instruments he took  interest in. In middle school, he chose band as an elective and the Saxophone was his instrument of choice.  By 18yrs of age, Karlton had become skilled in playing six different instruments. 

    In 1991, Karlton established his own recording studio, K-Ruff Recordz. He operated it in the livingroom of his one-bedroom apartment.  During this period, Karlton was beginning to enjoy life as an adult and at times, the events of his life were quite amusing to others.  From that, the idea of writing a movie script sprung forth, with hopes of sharing the laughter of his life on the silver screen. Within a year, his first screenplay, "N 2 Deep" (formerly "Campus Heartbreak") was complete. However, at the time, Karlton was not familiar with the necessary processes of the filming industry. His script, stored on a floppy disk, became lost in an old box, tucked away in the corner of his closet.  

    For 10yrs, Karlton's dream remained dying in that closet.  But because of the constant inquiries about his script from family and friends, the spark was re-ignited and he resurrected his dream and tried once more.  This time around, Karlton  educated himself about the workings of the industry and gained the knowledge and information that would segue him into the next phase of his career. He pulled out the old floppy disc, polished the story, and sent the script to an literary agency. Having re-written the story five times to bring it up to industry standards, the script was finally done.  It was now time to find an agent that believed in his talent and dream to see that the script made it to the right hands at the right time. The dream was alive again and writing became Karlton's primary career interest.

    While waiting for the visible success of his writing endeavor, the entertainment bug was still embedded deep and Karlton began a career as a national radio announcer at WTJZ radio in Hampton, Virginia. His passion and natural gift for entertaining gave him notoriety as one of the top-rated radio announcers in the area. Soon, other radio stations began to desire an announcer of his caliber, and opportunities to work in other arenas and at other stations began to present themselves. Due to the financial hardships of WTJZ, after twelve years in the radio field, Karlton was forced to make a difficult decision.  Although his exciting and charismatic radio-show "Happy Hour" was top-ranked across the U.S., he resigned from his position at the station.

    In 1998, Karlton recieved the word that the Suffolk-based company, New Dominion Pictures would be shooting a documentary about the Navy Seals to be aired on TLC.  He jumped at the opportunity  to attend the filming; only as a spectator. However, being intrigued by all of the cameras, props and special effects equipment, Karlton  constantly asked the producers questions on how things worked. After about an hour of inquiring, the producers noticed his extreme interest and excitement about the project and offered him a role in the film. Just moments later, Karlton was in full costume as a Somalian soldier and shooting an assault-rifle at the U.S. vehicles! The opportunity to act in his first movie was exciting. His career in radio could not compare to the rush that Karlton felt that night! At that point, Karlton knew that in the future,  filming would be a major part of his career.

    Karlton had worked in radio, television and was a screenwriter; but there was still more to add to his resume.  His first novel, "Tears Of A Clown" was published. This was a story of a radio announcer who seemed to be happy, worry free and comedic when on the air, but in his private life he was depressed to the point of suicide. No one knew what he was experiencing until he took action. This story was inspired by very real and poignant realities of Karlton's life. A 12yr romantic relationship ended and  Karlton went into a deep depression. Writing was the mechanism that helped him to cope with the pain of his loss. The book was a great success and it left people wanting to hear more from the main character. Just eight months later, the sequel, "Ten Days With Lisa" was complete, published and ready for sale! 

    By 2005, Karlton had completed ten screenplays and was still trying to get his scripts into the right hands. In hopes of speeding up the process, he began to contact various production companies such as Will Smith's Overbrook, Universal, Paramount and Maverick, and others. The green light was lit as the companies requested Karlton's agent to contact them to complete any potential sale.  Although he acquired numerous agencies to represent him, none seem to uphold their end by not following up on leads that were presented to them. This only motivated Karlton to stop waiting on agents and producers and complete the projects himself. He ventured out and established K-Ruff's Audio Majik. With his experience, skill, talent and notable reputation, he was able to produce radio-spots for various local stations.  Karlton then began shooting small comedic video clips just for laughs on Facebook and YouTube, and viewers were amazed and entertained by his work. Today, Karlton often receives request to complete video clip projects for various occasions and events. To further his knowledge in the field that he loves, Karlton enrolled in Communications and Media classes. Now with experience in both audio and video areas, Karlton L. Ruffin has converted his company's name to  K-Ruff's Media Majik.




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