Trevor Jackson getting an early look at Modern Warfare 4

Jake Lucky: So would you consider yourself to be a pretty good gamer?

Trevor Jackson: I consider myself to be the best non-pro gamer out there. There's very few people... Actually, I have not met somebody in person that is better than me at the video game unless they're like pro.

You know what I mean? You got family members, things like that. When it comes to multiplayer Call of Duty, Domination, Hardpoint, Demolition, I'm at the top of the leaderboards most times. And this isn't a cocky thing, this is I put the man hours in. I put over my 10,000 hours to be this guy.

Jake: And when did you first start playing Call of Duty?

Trevor: I first started loving Call of Duty and it being a part of my identity around 12 years old. I remember the first Black Ops came out, and I was obsessed. A little too obsessed, got in trouble. My mom came in the room. I was sweating. This is what she says, I was sweating, and there was like a circle of bottles of pee around me, and she wasn't happy about that.

So I got in trouble, game got taken away from me, but as soon as I got bread, I got me another one. And yeah, it's great.

Jake: Is there an elaboration on the bottles of piss?

Trevor: I did not want to waste time getting up to go to the bathroom when I could just get right back on. You know what I mean? In between lobbies. We don't have that kind of time.

Jake: And so for you, then, what would you say is the best Call of Duty of all time?

Trevor: That's an excellent fucking question, and damn it, I'm freaking out that you asked that. I will go between Black Ops I and Modern Warfare 2.

And I love Modern Warfare 4. I played it. I got to play it. I think I'm allowed to say this now. I was the first person outside of the makers of the game to play it. They invited me to the offices. And from the first time, I was like, "This is incredible." Smooth, realistic, the sounds.

I remember I was always obsessed with the game, but when I got to go to the office and see how much work was put into the game, I was like, "This is why I'm obsessed." These people don't cut corners. They wanna make sure the game is as authentic and as immersive as possible, and that's what I'm about.

Jake: What's it like for you to grow up on Call of Duty and have a story surrounded by that, and then all of a sudden now you're being introduced and invited to...

Trevor: Told you, Mom. See? You thought I was BS'ing in there. This is real business.

Jake: Serious.

Trevor: While I was pissing in those bottles, dude, I was thinking about this moment, right here, talking to this guy, right now.

Jake: For you then, if you're playing all these Call of Dutys, and of course you have fighting game experience, what makes a good Call of Duty for you?

Trevor: I think obviously the connection has gotta be smooth. Nobody wants to die from glitches or stuff going on like that. But I also think the guns, good skins, good operators. And I think the pacing of it.

For me, some people like a war zone. I'm more of, I wanna keep pressing in. I don't know, man. I think it's the variety of the guns. I think it's the game modes. I think it's the maps. Good maps are super important. Summit is probably one of my favorite maps of all time. Some people hate it. I love it. It's my favorite map.

Jake: And I feel like fighting game peeps are very particular. There's that die hard gamers. I wouldn't usually connect fighting game peeps with Call of Duty players.

Trevor: Me neither. Me neither. A lot of guys that I play fighting games with don't play Duty. A lot of Duty guys have never touched Mortal Kombat. Or Tekken. But it was just for me, growing up, I always played that. But I think it helped me a lot with my timing, fighting games.

Jake: It's kinda closer proximity and the timing of you.

Trevor: You gotta be a little, whatever. So when I'm playing other stuff, I don't know, I kinda use that.

Jake: That's super interesting. Aside from the bottle story, do you have any fun Call of Duty stories or gaming stories growing up?

Trevor: Dude, I've dropped some crazy numbers and have taken video in top shape for weeks, man. I love the game. I try to play every day.

Jake: Is there anything that crosses over from your career into this?

Trevor: I would like to do a story mode of this game. I'm an actor. I'm on Grey's Anatomy now. I've done some film and some TV. But a dream of mine is to be a Call of Duty character, is to have a skin launched. You know what I mean? That's a dream.

Jake: Is there anywhere crossover of your career when it comes to competitive, or a drive that somehow translates to this when you're trying to relax and sit back, but you're also still very competitive in Call of Duty?

Trevor: Here's the thing is, so I stream sometimes, but the problem with streaming is I'm not fully locked. And I gotta be fully locked. On stream, if I'm not in my zone and I'm dying and I'm seeing people coming up, I need to just hold on. You know what I mean? So that's probably the most difficult part, I think, is locking in while trying to be entertaining to people.

But I do wanna compete. I wanna create a celebrity something. A celebrity tournament, yeah, and play that. Mortal Kombat, Tekken, Call of Duty, ping pong if you want, you know what I'm saying? Let's fucking go. You got anything?

Jake: What's your loadout? Are you a shotgun guy?

Trevor: Oh, that's a great question. I'm definitely an assault rifle... My top three classes are always an assault rifle with a gunfighter attachment. I'm always going suppressor. I'm always going ghost. I'm always going cold-blooded. And then I'll have another class with an SMG and a shotgun.

In the last game, I'm going with the MPC-25. It's cracked in Black Ops 7. So I'll go MPC with the little shotgun.

Hunter Grooms: Who makes you rage the most when you're playing Call of Duty?

Trevor: Oh, the guy who's at the bottom of the leaderboard talking to me. You don't deserve to speak to me. You're below me. You're beneath me. You're dirt at the bottom of my shoe. Don't speak. And they get mad when I say that, but it's true. Take a drive, bro.

Jake: Hey, man, brother, what are you...

Trevor: I can't even hear you because you're negative, bud. Keep going negative. Don't speak to me.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.