Curtis Duncan, 56, says he “felt the earth call” to him the first time he came to Hawaii. Born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Duncan has called Hawaii home ever since he left the Marines in 1981. Even with a successful career as an insurance claims investigator, Duncan is considering leaving the islands to pursue acting.

Duncan first stepped on stage in 1993 when he appeared in a play called “Hope Through A Rope” at Word of Life Church. A chance encounter with the director of The Actors’ Group’s production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” brought him to the secular community theater stage in 2006.

Ten years later, Duncan has an impressive resume of local stage performances and undertook the role of a renegade ex-special forces/martial arts expert in the 2015 indie film “Popolo.” He is starring with Wendy Johnson in TAG’s production of “Yellowman” at the Brad Powell Theatre in Iwilei.

JOHN BERGER: In “Yellowman,” you play a light-skinned African-American man whose father hates him because of his lighter skin. How close to home does this issue hit you?

CURTIS DUNCAN: Extremely close. … It’s hard growing up being teased for having light skin, it’s hard growing up never feeling that you belong, always feeling you’re not black enough. The white people don’t accept you, the black people don’t accept you. You’re somewhere in the middle.

To this day it’s almost like looking at another race. You know you’re part of that race, but you also know you’re not fully accepted into that race. Why are we as black people still going through this thing? Don’t we realize what’s happening here? Why can’t we get past this? It’s like a cancer.

JB: You give a powerful performance for two full hours. How you do step away from all that emotion — all the pain, all the anger — after a show?

CD: I don’t. When I do a role, when I accept a role, there really is no sleep for me. I’m experiencing it 24/7. I only can decompress two or three weeks after the play is done with.

JB: Where would you like to be 10 years from now?

CD: I’m being pushed to go further (as an actor). I’ve been told it’s time for me to go to bigger stages, and that I’m at that level with the Denzel Washingtons and the Laurence Fishburnes and whoever else is out there that I could actually act opposite of them and not be intimidated in the least — but I just need to go. I have people doing resumes and photo shoots.

“On the Scene” appears weekly in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sunday Magazine. Reach John Berger at jberger@staradvertiser.com.