We created this video in partnership with Unlikely Collaborators. Ice-T lost everything early in life. Decades later, he says that not knowing what came next became his reason to keep going.

From writing ‘Cop Killer’ to playing a cop on SVU, ICE-T is no stranger to personal evolution. After losing both parents by seventh grade, he was sent to Los Angeles, where he learned to survive without a family. Here, he hustled for money and respect until rap gave him another route.

Eventually, acting opened another path, forcing him to step outside the persona he built to protect himself. Now, in his late 60s, he understands that the chaos of his early life existed to propel him forward, and that there is more to life than just survival.