This interview was originally published in Radio Times magazine.
What’s the view from your sofa?
Our living room looks out over the San Fernando valleys in LA. We have an 80-inch screen and an L-shaped purple sofa that takes up the entire room where my wife and I, our four kids and four dogs curl up to watch movies.
Who controls the remote?
It varies! If we’re going to agree on what to watch, it’s me. If we’re going to fight, end up scrolling and dissipate – it’s one of my children.
Is there a programme your wife (actress Jessica Oyelowo) loves and you loathe?
My wife and ten-year-old daughter watch The Great British Bake Off religiously – but it’s just not my jam. Thankfully, I benefit from the baking that ensues after it.
What TV did you watch when you were at school in London?
I was obsessed with Happy Days. Henry Winkler played Fonzie and he famously used to run a comb through his hair. Having an afro, I was completely scarred by the fact a comb didn’t go through my hair in the same way – that was fairly formative for me. Now we have lots of people who look like me on screen, so I don’t carry those burdens any more!
You’re in See How They Run, the star-studded new murder mystery film with the likes of Ruth Wilson, Sian Clifford and Adrien Brody. Who were you most excited to work alongside?
Saoirse Ronan – a generational talent who will be up there with Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet. And she’s a wonderful human being – my fanboying over her only increased getting to work with her.
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What sets this apart from other whodunnits?
It’s a film about a play being turned into a film. My earliest years as an actor were spent in British theatre, so I was keen to do a film celebrating and slightly poking fun at that.
You received a scholarship to study at Lamda, the prestigious acting school. When did acting feel like a viable career?
You almost never lose that feeling that, at some point, someone is going to turn the tap off. I’m incredibly blessed to say I have spent my 24-year career purely making a living as an actor. I knew it was going to work in 2001, when I played Henry VI at the Royal Shakespeare Company and my dad – who was very sceptical about me pursuing acting – came to watch. He very proudly said, “I never thought I would see a Black man play the King of England, let alone that that Black man is my son.” That was a huge moment for me – my dad had suffered a lot of racism when he first came to the UK in the ’60s but could see that things were opening up.
You portrayed Martin Luther King Jr in the film Selma and in A United Kingdom you played the role of Seretse, the prince of a Botswanan tribe who marries a white woman. What can we learn from Hollywood’s take on modern history?
Storytelling is probably one of the defining elements of us as human beings – we use it as a mirror to see who and what we are. Selma and A United Kingdom are films that have a very real cultural impact; they expose people to cultures and stories they have no idea about.
I think they help with breaking down prejudice and recognising that we are more alike than we are different.
See How They Run is out in UK cinemas now. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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