In February, he was nominated as best actor for the NAACP Theatre Awards for his performance in “The Piano Lesson," competing against Lawrence Fishburne and Ted Lange. Although he did not win in the category, McKellar says it was gratifying to be in such illustrious company. Dateline visited him in front of probably one of his toughest audiences, an English class at HCMS, where he shares his mission to encourage inner city students to look forward to college, the similarities between teaching and acting, and how to give confidence to teach eighth-graders to laugh at themselves.