When I began reporting for the Philadelphia Tribune 10 years ago, I was covering a movie screening for the Philadelphia Film Festival, when a young boy who appeared to be between 12 and 14 years old, walked up to me, handed me his little business card and said, “My name is Robert Golphin, and I am a filmmaker.” Well, I would have been mildly amused by his moxie, but I’d been hearing about this cinematic wunderkind in the local film community, and I made a mental note to speak with him at some point. 

In the ensuing years however, the young man and I never could seem to connect — until recently. Golphin, now 25, graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Theatre and Film from St. Augustine’s College in 2006, and just completed filming “The Great Debaters” starring Denzel Washington.

Scheduled for release in 2008, “The Great Debaters” produced by Oprah Winfrey, is Washington’s second directorial effort, following the critically acclaimed, but poorly promoted “Antwone Fisher.” The film is based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at historically Black Wiley College in Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school’s first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship. The film also features Kimberly Elise, Jurnee Smollett, Nate Parker, Jermaine Williams and Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker.  

“I play a character named Dunbar Reed,” said Golphin, who grew up in the Oak Lane section of the city and attended Philadelphia’s prestigious High School for The Creative & Performing Arts.

“I’m basically a ‘suck up’ to Mr. Tolson — that’s Denzel’s character, my teacher. I’m a bit arrogant, and I was on the debate team last year, and I want to be on the debate team this year, but I have major competition from some other students and from a girl — because back in the 1930s, girls had never been on the debate team.”

Golphin, a member of the Screen Actors Guild, has appeared in an episode of the hit HBO series “The Wire,” and in the feature film “The Beautiful Ordinary.” Behind the camera, he has also served as a crew member for the crime series “Hack,” and the feature film “White Men Can’t Rap.” While his main focus is on screenwriting, directing, and developing his own film projects, Golphin welcomed the opportunity to appear in a film with Washington, a two-time Academy Award winner.

“My agent called and said I had an audition for the film,” Golphin explained. “So I had to hustle and hop a train from Philly to the Carolinas, hop a bus to the audition, and eventually I got a callback in Atlanta to read for Denzel himself. Basically, this is a span of about three or four weeks. I did it all on my own dime, but when you’re hungry, you do what you have to do.”

While Golphin had a significant role in “The Great Debaters,” like any other actor, he has no idea how much of his performance will be included in the final edited version of the film. “You never know in this business what’s going to stay or go, but I have one really great scene with Denzel where he’s kind of cutting my character down to size. So I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays.”

Regardless of what does or does not end up on the cutting room floor, Golphin’s experience working with Washington can only be viewed as positive. “ He just made everyone, from the [production assistant] to the background actors, feel like they were the most important people involved in the production,” Golphin said. “He’s serious, of course, about his craft, both as director and actor, but he’s also a big goof ball, and the morale on his set was great. I was there for a little less than a month, but from what I could experience and witness, the team was a great family. I miss those guys.”

Filming “The Great Debaters” was also a learning experience for Golphin, who spoke of Washington’s impact on his own outlook as a filmmaker. “It reinforces for me that no matter what position you’re in, in terms of power, that it still takes a village to raise a child, and that applies to the movie industry as well,” he said. “He was very concerned with everyone’s role — whether they were cast or crew, because he just wanted everything to run smoothly, and while I was there, it didn’t. I mean, we had some long days, but no one was complaining.”

I can’t say that I’m surprised that the little boy that I encountered all those years ago has arrived at this particular place in time, since even then, his determination and sense of purpose were nearly palpable. 

“My mom got me involved in the modeling and acting thing when I was very young — I guess about five or six,” he recalled. “[Film] didn’t really become something that I felt destined to do until about 14. There was a place in Willow Grove that doesn’t exist anymore, but it was called Cine Kid, and it basically was a facility that helped young people make movies and television shows. We actually were able to put our hands on state-of-the-art equipment, and that changed everything for me, because before [age] 14, I never really was able to touch the cameras and the microphones, and it was an incredible experience for me as a kid. That’s when I got bitten by the bug of both filmmaking and acting.”

Now maintaining that, “Hollywood’s putting about a bunch of crap,” Golphin, whose cinematic style is “constantly evolving,” is working on making his own mark in the industry. “I am starring in a short film that I’m also producing right now. That’s the ‘Beautiful Man in the Buff’ project,” he said.

“‘The Beautiful Man in the Buff’ is a story about a young actor who is struggling to make it in the business, and he has a lot of people to please. But you can only really please some of the people some of the time. There’s always going to be someone who likes you and someone that doesn’t, and I think a lot of people will relate to this film once it’s done because all of us have certain insecurities.”

Gophin confidently referred to “The Great Debaters” as “Oscar Gold,” and recently his own screenplay, “Between Midnight and Mourning,” which focused on the violence in Philadelphia, placed second in “25 years and younger” division of the “Set in Philadelphia” screenwriting competition sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. He states that while awards are not his primary motivation, he finds such recognition quite fulfilling.

“I would love to put an Oscar on my shelf or just a nomination in the very, very near future,” he said. “But of course when I set out to make a film, I’m not sitting there saying, ‘OK. I’m going to do an Oscar-winning performance,’ or ‘I’m going to write an Oscar-winning screenplay.’ No. It’s really about getting that message across, and then afterwards, if you’ve done your job successfully, then maybe that award will come. That’s the way I look at it.”