Musician/actor Feli has embraced his success in the entertainment industry with all the feels.
Musician/actor Cliff Powell, aka Feli, feels blessed for what he has accomplished in the entertainment industry, but he’s nowhere near done with his work — and he wants to give back and guide others to do the same.
“I want to start a company that works as an agency,” he says. “I want to give others the opportunity as well, because right now, with the things that I’ve done in film, I have helped at least 20 people alone get acting jobs just by myself using my own hard work and I want to give people a chance and show them that it’s possible. Because if somebody wouldn’t have given me a chance, it would be different. I don’t want people in North Carolina to feel they don’t have any way out or they don’t have any way to utilize their talent.”
Feli splits his time between the Wilmington area of North Carolina and New Jersey, where he was born — wherever the gigs take him. He moved to North Carolina with his grandmother when he was 4 and, today, he has family in both states. When we spoke, he was in New Jersey working on a filming project with Canada-based Dallada Films.
As a teenager, Feli was introduced to making music by his uncle, Andre, in New Jersey, and he started off with a bang, working alongside established names in the business, like Cam’ron of Dipset.
“He was actually one of the first people to ever give me any type of opportunity, and I ended up putting an album out with him early on,” Feli says. “That was one of the biggest things happening for me as a newcomer. It was before I officially knew the business or knew anything.”
Feli got his acting chops in short films he wrote and produced with his own crew, and then went on to appear in a cameo scene in a 50 Cent movie.
“I was bagging groceries, so that was something big for me,” he says. “That’s when I started to believe I could do this, too.”
The opportunity to lead in his first feature film came from film director Marquan Ragland of BR Films in Crossover, followed by Crossover: The Revenge, which he also narrated. Feli also became an award-winning actor for the feature film Dope By Magic, which broke Tubi streaming records.
Enter his breakthrough on reality competition TV: Season 8 of A&E’s 60 Days In, where civilians are recruited to go undercover in a jail for 60 days to expose crime and corruption from within.
“That was definitely eye-opening, to go to jail,” Feli says, “… But when you go in there and you hear these stories and what they’re actually going through, it’s easy to have a change of perspective on people — that definitely happened to me, to realize that these are actually people with lives and stories.
“I feel like a lot of people didn’t understand that, that these people have lives and have things going on that are beyond anything that I feel I could do,” he continues. “I could help a little bit, but I didn’t feel like I could really do as much as they would need. And it’s sad to be in that position.”
Feli says, for example, fueled by his passion for music, he hosted a talent show inside to reveal the inmates’ talent in the arts to the world.
“I wanted to give them a chance to have something to show people, to have some kind of tool when they get out,” he says, “like you can use this and say, ‘I performed here on an A&E set,’ so people will be more likely to listen to it.”
Feli was the only male to make it through all 12 episodes of that season of “60 Days In,” something he was recognized for by production for one of the best to appear on the show since its existence.
“I’ll tell you, 60 days feels like a year, especially when you’ve never been to jail before,” he says. “But now it’s about showing that these guys have issues and problems, and that this might not be the place for them, that they might need somewhere that can help them mentally.”
For instance, Feli had befriended someone from his season who he originally didn’t get along with inside at all — almost leading to fights a few times. But after the show, the two ended up getting on good terms, reconnecting on FaceTime. But unfortunately, the former inmate took his own life in June 2025.
“I’ve lost so many friends between 2021 until now … I’ve probably been to 20 funerals in this area alone,” he says. “Losing so many people, it’s hard to get back on your feet and get motivated again about the things that you do, so I want people to see my story of redemption and know that it may seem hard at the moment, but just keep pushing for the things you have to live for. You have reasons to live for, and you have people who want to see you, that want you to succeed as well.
“I just want people to know that there are ways out,” he continues. “I know it’s hard to most people, but there is a way out — there is a silver lining in certain things that you go through.”
Today, Feli is still hard at work in the acting and music industry as well as working on himself. He says he is also in the midst of putting together a label, called MNDS, which is already growing, with more talent from North Carolina and New Jersey being added.
For more info and updates on Feli, visit him online on IMDB or social media platforms.
