When Joey Traywick of Quitman isn’t hosting the WBBN B95 radio show, he’s following his passion by writing, directing, producing, and acting in his own films.

“I’ve been an actor for a few years,” Traywick said. “I’ve been in 67 movies and seven major TV shows, but never in my life did I think I would be a director.”

Traywick got the acting bug at the age of 12 while living in Florida, and there he had the opportunity to experience a movie set, sparking his interest in film.

“They were filming a movie, and I got to watch and learn how everything works,” Traywick said. “So in 2009, I auditioned for a part in a movie, and it was a speaking role, and after that, I just got the bug and wanted to do more.”

Before creating his own films, Traywick shared the big screen with some well known actors such as Keanu Reeves and Ben Affleck and made appearances on Tyler Perry’s TV shows The Oval and Sistas.

The latest project written and directed by Traywick is a western film streaming on Tubi TV called “VERNON,” which was shot in Laurel.

“God gave me this idea in a dream,” he said. “I woke up the next day and wrote the script. Within a week, I got with some companies that make films, and they were interested in it.”

When asked about what drives him to create, Traywick said television host and actor Steve Harvey has continued to inspire him. 

“Steve Harvey shares some motivational stuff, and I like to watch it because it really keeps me going,” Traywick said. “One thing he said was the only way not to succeed is to quit, so don’t quit.”

“This business gets kind of weird sometimes, and I often wonder why am I doing this? Then I realized I love doing this,” Traywick added.

Traywick encourages anyone looking to get into acting or directing to gain as much experience in theater, and if they get an opportunity to be on a movie set, try to learn as much as possible.

“My advice is if you have a dream, then do it,” he said. “Don’t ever give up and just find a way to get into whatever you may want to do.”

Since the release of his second film, Traywick has begun production on five different movies set to be released in the near future.