Bow Wow says he hasn’t learnt anything from Oscar winning CSI co-star Patricia Arquette

Bow Wow says he hasn’t learnt anything from Oscar winning CSI co-star Patricia Arquette. Source: Getty Images

A LOT of young actors in Hollywood might find working alongside an Oscar winner to be slightly daunting. They also might try seek some advice.

But for CSI: Cyber’s Shad Moss (aka rapper Bow Wow), acting opposite acclaimed actress Patricia Arquette — who picked up an Academy Award earlier this year forBoyhood — in the series doesn’t make him nervous at all.

“I wouldn’t say I’ve learned anything because we’re all veterans in our own right,” he told news.com.au.

“We all work hard and we’re all actors and we’ve all got to this point for a reason. It’s more of a collective effort with us. You get to a show like CSI, there’s no time to teach acting. Shit, you get here and to this point because you’re ready.”

Shad Moss co-stars with Patricia Arquette in CSI: Cyber. Source: Getty Images

The transition to acting has been a gradual shift for the 28-year-old — who first came to fame as a 13-year-old rapper under the name Lil’ Bow Wow.

He scored his first lead role in the 2002 basketball flick Like Mike, landed a supporting role in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and also made some cameos in the television series Entourage.

Dropping the “Lil’” to make it clear he’s grown up, he now goes by “Bow Wow” for his music career and “Shad Moss” for his acting career.

And there’s definitely a difference between the two personalities.

“The actor has way more discipline. The actor’s way more mature. And he really takes his responsibility very seriously,” he says.

“Bow Wow does too but Bow Wow’s more into partying, he’s more of a ‘wow’ guy but he’s also the ‘wow’ guy that you won’t hear in the news — you won’t see him in trouble for stupid stuff.

All grown up ... Shad Moss. Source: Getty Images

Moss hit the scene as Lil Bow Wow. Source: News Corp Australia

“He knows how to do it right, do it big, do it the right way and have fun. That’s really the difference — Bow Wow is the rapper, he’s the swagged out guy. Shad is the more preserved, chilled, well mannered (guy) and he’s a very ‘think before you do person’.”

In CSI: Cyber, the latest spin-off of the TV crime franchise, Moss plays Brody “Baby Face” Nelson — a young hacker who was caught and recruited by the team for their “hack for good” program.

For Moss, the role meant he could challenge himself with something that was different to the usual roles that are tossed his way.

“I had a chance to play not a rapper, I had a chance to play not a basketball player,” he says.

“A chance to play a smart, talented, young black man who stands behind a computer and knows what he’s talking about and I’ve seen nothing displayed like that on television.”

But despite his own confidence, he’s aware some people might be sceptical of his crossover to acting.

“That’s what helps me work harder and outwork anybody that I’m working with,” he says.

“So I have to kick ass every day, every minute, every word that comes out of my mouth to show I’m here to be taken seriously, and this is also something I can do and I can do it with the best of them and I am an actor.”