Friday, March 29, 2024

Sterling K. Brown: ‘This is Us’ Drama is What Television Has Been Missing [EUR Exclusive]

Sterling K. Brown
Winner Sterling K. Brown attends IMDb Live After The Emmys, presented by TCL on September 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.
(Sept. 17, 2016 – Source: Rachel Murray/Getty Images North America

*Sterling K. Brown took home the 2016 Emmy Award Sunday night (09-18-16) for outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or movie, for his role in “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” EUR/Electronic Urban Report caught up with the actor during 2016 TCA Tour in Beverly Hills back in August, where we discussed his Emmy buzz, and new NBC series “This Is Us.”

“I’m flattered. I’m excited. Am I hopeful? Yes. Would I like to win? Sure. Would I be disappointed if I didn’t? Absolutely, but I’ll also be happy for anybody else who wins because I’m in company with some wonderful people. The fact that I’m in this group, I won already,” he said.

Brown co-stars in “This Is Us” alongside Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia (“Heroes”), and a unique ensemble cast whose paths cross and their life stories intertwine in curious ways in the drama. From the writer and directors of “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” comes a smart, modern dramedy that will challenge your everyday presumptions about the people you think you know.

“This is probably the best network pilot script that I’d had the chance to read since I’d been out of grad school,” Brown told us. “Off the page you’re like, ‘Wow, this is something special.”

The preview episode has reached over 100 millions views, and Sterling believes the series is already resonating with audiences because it has a “lightness and a heart about it that I think has been missing from network TV for some time.”

“I think that in this golden era of television, things tend to skew a bit darker, like murder dramas, but this show has a lightness and a heart about it that I think has been missing from network TV for some time. It’s really-really funny. It’ll also make you pull out the Kleenex box from time-to-time and there’s something very cathartic about a good cry. I feel like a lot of people, just from seeing the trailer, have that sense of like, “Oh, this is something that’s going to move me, but move me in way in which I want to be moved.”

Sterling K. Brown
Sterling K. Brown speaks onstage at the ‘This Is Us’ panel discussion during the NBCUniversal portion of the 2016 Television Critics Association Summer Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 2, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.

You play a man who goes in search for his biological father. Do you identify in any way with your character’s motives and goals?

STERLING: I personally lost my father when I was 10-years-old. So its been a significant number of years since he’s been in my life, so it sort of parallels. While it’s not exact, and I think for someone who lose their father early like myself, you alway look for father-figures in other people’s dads, or big brothers and teachers. So there’s always sort of this yearning to reconnect. I just try to use that from my own life and apply it to this character.

What sort of themes are explored on this series, and do these themes build up to an overall message?

STERLING: The theme is life. People in their mid 30’s, a lot of people that are just turning 36, and they share a very special connection with one another that becomes revealed at the end of the pilot, and then explored further throughout the course of the series. But everybody is at different crossroads. My character is looking to reconnect with his biological father. Mandy and Milo are just beginning parenthood with the triplets that they have due. Justin Hartley’s character is trying to figure out what to do with his life, in terms of artistic expression. He’s a sitcom actor and he’s not necessarily happy with the show he wants to do, and is there more for him to be doing. And Chrissy Metz’s character is struggling with her weight, and how her weight affects every other aspect of her life. So I think that they are characters in the show that everybody can relate to, and hopefully go on this journey with us in a way in which they don’t feel like they’re alone. People like that there are other people who are traversing the same sort of territory that they are. And knowing that there are other people going through it with you makes you feel a little bit more comfortable.

Sterling K. Brown
Sterling K. Brown “This Is Us.” Image via Twitter

What are you hoping audiences are thinking about at the end of each episode?

STERLING: As an artist myself, there’s three E’s that I hope to attain in every project. Sometimes you only get one or two, sometimes you get three. The three E’s are to: Entertain, to Educate and to Edify. Hopefully you get something that release people from the day-to-day of their life and gives them the chance to step back and just sort of chillax a little bit. Educate them on things that they may not know, like Chrissy’s character, and what she struggles with through her weight. The intensity that a lot of people can have too because it’s not their cross to bear. Hopefully they can recognize like, ‘Oh, I can be a little bit more kinder. I can be a bit more gentle with the way in which I see other people and recognize that everybody has their own struggles.’ And then to edify — hopefully at the end of the day it makes you want to go out into the world and be a better person. Be a better version of yourself and make this world a better place to live in. I hope our show is able to accomplish those three E’s.

As an actor, how much do you want to know about what happens next?

STERLING: I think it’s a unique conversation to television because in a movie, you have the script from beginning to end, so you already know what’s going to happen. In a play you know what’s going to happen from beginning to end. It’s only in television where this question is even apropos. So if the writers know where it’s going, and the vision is clear — share it with me. Because I have no qualms if I’m doing my job well, I’m not playing the end of the script in the current moment. I’m just allowing the moments to transpire as they occur and naturally lead to where we’re supposed to be at the end.

sterling k. brown

What is something that you know now that you wish you knew when you were first starting out as an actor?

STERLING: For the longest time, I felt as if I come from grad school at NYU and it’s very much the philosophy of the New York actor that the work speaks for itself, and the work should speak for itself. But in this day of social media, I was late to game on that. In terms of like, utilizing that in terms of connecting with fans. I’m just now getting up to snuff, and putting myself out there in a more social way. Like, I go home, be with my wife and kids and be perfectly content. But there is a need to connect and be with people and be social. That is just as important to the career as acting. Like acting is the largest part of it, and it’s my favorite part, but there’s another part in terms of just making connections with people that I think I could’ve been better at earlier in my career.

Do you find acting therapeutic in any way?

STERLING: I find it incredibly therapeutic. Variety is the spice of life and I feel like I have many characters that sort of live inside me, so it’s always incredible to let each one out and breathe and walk around for a little bit. I think actors are praised for a certain sort of multiple personality disorder that most people don’t receive the same sort of affection for. And with each character, each person’s shoes that you step into, you kinda have to release judgement of that person. You can’t play somebody and judge them at the same time. So for me, it’s almost like church because judge not lest ye be judged. It gives me an opportunity to recognize that this person has a story that is valid in the way in which they’re navigating life. It is my personal belief that everybody is doing the best that they know how to until they know how to do it better. It’s my job to tell their story, and in doing that I get to release that judgement. So that’s a blessing.

Catch Sterling K. Brown in the series premiere of “This Is Us” on NBC Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 10/9c.

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