Many faces of Britto...Footballer turns actor and performer
By Ian Prescott (T&T Express)JERREL BRITTO has at times made many sit up and clap his performances on the football field.
The 27-year-old striker will forever be remembered for a stunning goal he scored for Trinidad and Tobago when a member of the national Under-15 team coached by Ken Elie. Britto also captained the national Under-17s and played for the Under-20s before Dennis Lawrence called him up for the senior national team, where he played 64 minutes in a 2–2 draw against Grenada on April 29, 2017.
A professional footballer for the last decade, Britto has played for local pro clubs San Juan Jabloteh (2010-2011), W Connection (2012-2015), Ma Pau Stars (2016-2017), and also had stints in Mexico at Murciélagos (2015-2016), Guatemalan club Malacateco on loan (2015-2016), and with three Honduran clubs - Honduras Progreso (2017–2018), Real Sociedad (2018), Platense (2019) before heading back to Progresso in 2019.
However, with no football being played these days due to the Covid-19 lockdown, Britto has taken his talent to Instagram, where under the tag britto_j9, he has entertained and had followers laughing with a series of short plays.
Britto portrays characters such as both Fred Sanford and Elizabeth from the very popular 1970s American sitcom “Sanford and Son.”
His latest funny depiction is that of Shenenne, the character from the sitcom Martin, originally played by comedian Martin Lawrence, of the movie Bad Boys’ fame. Britto’s equally funny version can be found at
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_n8WKwFaAF/?igshid=1t4gd7zlefywn.
The Covid-19 lockdown which has seen sport come to a halt in almost every country, has allowed former Queen’s Royal College standout Britto to explore his love for acting.
“With the quarantine, you’re just home doing nothing. I saw people on app (making videos) and ended up making ‘lil small videos,” Britto said.
Surely this could not have come out of the blue.
“From since primary school, I was into acting and going ‘lil competition and so on,” Britto explained.
“Then I saw this app (Tik Tok) where I could do something that I always liked,” he said.
“I started seeing videos that I could make over. I ended up getting into it, I started to post it and people started laughing and stuff.”
Britto said he carefully chooses what videos to make, ensuring there is nothing obscene, because young ones might be among his audiences. He has focussed strictly on comedy. Britto has also invented his own characters, posing as a school teacher giving on-line classes during the lockdown and even Prime Minister Keith Rowley at Covid-19 press conferences.
“I use scenes that everybody knows, like movies and shows,” he said. “I end up finding props. Sometimes I will dress as a woman, dress like a man, dress like the prime minister and these things.”
Between the funny stuff, Britto is also keeping his fitness up with regular exercise.
“I decided not to go back to Honduras in January. I was home just waiting for the next transfer window and this virus (Covid-19) came, so it ended putting everything at a standstill.
“I had things lined up, but the virus came and put everything to a stop. But I still doing my ‘lil training, exercising and keeping fit, so, after all this is done I will be ready to leave again.”
Central American football has provided mixed experiences for Britto.
“At the beginning it was difficult because of the language barrier. I ended up learning by force through music, movies and everyday conversations with players.”
He continued: “Adapting to the style of play, each country was also different. Mexico was more technical and tactical. Guatemala is technical but also brute force and in Honduras, they try to compose the football a ‘lil more. It is a bit slower than the other countries.”
Central American living has also been “all right”. Britto has found people friendly and had no difficulties walking the street and so on.
However, apart from entertaining and playing club football abroad, Britto still has ambitions to make an impact with the senior national team.
“Breaking into the (senior) national team is what I really want to do, and I hope I get that opportunity under this new technical staff,” he said.
“I am still of the age to make an impact on the national team,” Britto declared. “I am yet to break into the senior team as I would have loved to, seeing that I played with all the youth teams coming up and I already made my debut with the senior team.”
