There was standing room only at the talk given by screenwriter Antwone Fisher on Monday night.

Mr. Fisher spoke candidly about a life that was never depicted in his autobiographical movie, ?Antwone Fisher?.

The movie was directed by Denzel Washington, newcomer Derek Luke played in the starring role, and the script was written by Mr. Fisher himself.

Mr. Fisher spoke at the Bermuda College as part of their 30th anniversary celebrations, which have been entitled ?Leaving our Mark?.

Mr. Fisher said, unlike the movie, he found his father?s family after he had left the Navy and working as a prison officer in Terminal Island in California.

?I had just begun working as a security guard at Sony studios when I found my father?s family,? said Mr. Fisher.

?I knew that I hadn?t been working long enough to take a vacation, so I told my bosses my story and they said I could go, but they wanted me to tell them my story when I got back.

?When I got back to work I told my bosses what had happened in my life and that I wanted to write it myself, but they said, ?you can?t do it you don?t have a college education?.

?They shouldn?t have told me that I couldn?t do it ? because all of my life I had heard people telling me that I couldn?t do this or that I would amount to nothing.

?I went out and bought myself some legal pads and began writing.?

Mr. Fisher was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was in the Navy and was about 23 years old. Once he found out why the words kept moving about on the page, he could now move onto greater things.

He said: ?In the Navy I learned that I could do things and that I could do whatever I?d set my mind to.?

Being dyslexic was the least of the young Mr. Fisher?s life, he had to contend with a violent foster mother and her family who dished out the same abuse. He also had to deal with homelessness on the cold streets of Cleveland, Ohio.

He said: ?I had never really seen homeless people in Cleveland, it?s so cold ? I figure they had all flown south.

?I lived in shelters, in store fronts, in parks and one day after living with my foster sister, I saw a sign, a sign which I had probably seen before, but it was a sign to join the Navy.

?I went to the office and told them that I wanted to join, but it was near Christmas and they were all leaving for the holidays. I explained that I was homeless and they got me to fill out the forms, and they put me up in a Holiday Inn for the night.

?I took the longest bath that I had ever taken, but they were back for me at 5 a.m. and I was in Boot Camp the following day.?

To young men who think being tough is the answer, he said: ?There are a lot of tough people in prison. There was a guy who had killed his wife and children ? he was intelligent and he was in prison for the rest of his life.

?There was another guy who was in prison for not assisting the Police, he got 20 years for that. He won?t be out until he is 45 years old.?

When Mr. Fisher was homeless and he went to stay with his foster sister for a little while, he ran into his foster brother, who told him tales of crimes that he had committed. He said he wasn?t very good at it at first, he robbed a pancake place, but what he didn?t realise was that the Police liked eating there.

?His stories were always a grand adventure and he read a lot, and he spoke like he was speaking from a book,? said the writer. ?He had many adventures through reading.?

Someone in the audience asked did he feel like a champion because of the movie.

He said: ?I am not a champ because of the movie. I am a champ because I could take care of myself. I was able to work after being on the ship, go and get a job and have a apartment.

?That?s what made me a champ the other stuff is just gravy.?

To learn more about his life read Mr. Fisher?s autobiography, ?Finding Fish?.