Walker," and “God Friended Me.”
It’s a difficult story about fairly recent history that most of us remember.
Why did you want to be a part of the show?
Well, it’s interesting.
After I booked the role, that initiated my efforts to learn and educate myself about what actually happened.
While a lot of people remember Katrina, I had not heard about specific events at Memorial Hospital.
How did you understand his motivations?
You ask yourself a series of questions: “Where am I?
What’s going on?
Where did I come from?
What’s my objective?
What just happened?”
Did knowing that have any impact on your performance?
To the extent of the circumstances going on in that time, I would say yes.
Acting in a challenging setting
The depiction of the circumstances in the hospital is brutal.
What was it like to shoot those scenes?
Your character is often at odds with theirs, but you were all filming in such difficult circumstances.
Cherry Jones is lovely.
I do believe she stole a sandwich from me.
She marked her territory.
She took my sandwich and took a bite of it and left it there for me to find.
Those were the kind of shenanigans I found myself dealing with from time to time.
The roles he’s enjoyed the most
You’ve played a wide range of roles.
You’ve done comedy; you’ve done drama; you’ve done fantasy.
Do you have a role that’s your favorite?
I enjoyed my time on “Scandal.”
That was a great role.
I’m actually in a production now that I’m really enjoying.
I’m playing a young Frederick Douglass in a play [“American Prophet”].
It’s a musical, actually, here in DC.
That’s where I am at the moment, at Arena Stage.
I’m having a blast.
I’m really blessed and grateful to have had these opportunities and this current opportunity now.
This interview was edited for clarity.
