He grew up in rural Surry County as the youngest of 12 children to a father who paid the bills with a 34-year career processing hog meat at the Smithfield plant.

Unlike his father, Antonio Charity chose a career that many considered unpragmatic: He became an actor.

As a young man, he left Virginia in search of big city stages. And like his father, he never gave up.

Thirty years later, Charity, 53, left Los Angeles in March and returned home with over 100 combined film and TV credits . Surry County is now the place he’s teaching a new generation of actors — and the setting for his forthcoming documentary.

Charity used his extensive industry experience and Hollywood connections to make “Where Charity Began” to explore his family’s 400-year history in Virginia.

He can’t remember a

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