Why ‘American Fiction’s’ Sterling K. Brown Stopped Using His Middle Name | WATCH

*This Friday, you won’t want to miss Sterling K. Brown in “American Fiction.” Brown plays Cliff Ellison, the outcast of the family and younger brother to Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Monk (Jeffrey Wright).

Cliff dramatically comes out of the closet by having an affair with a man and blowing up his marriage.

We talked to Brown and Ellis Ross about family traits, characters, and names.

Q: Cliff is constantly pointing out how his brother Monk has some of his dad’s characteristics…What’s a trait or behavior you’ve realized you share in common with your parents?

Tracee Ellis Brown: I’m both of my parents’ child! I laugh exactly like my father. We have the same sense of humor, the same personality

People are always like, ‘Oh, you look so much like your mom!’ And then they see me with my dad, and they’re like, ‘OH!’ And with my mom, I have a lot of her mannerisms…like how we sit and sleep.

Sterling K. Brown: My dad passed away when I was 10, and nothing would give me greater joy than when people would see me at 15, 16, 18, 20, and be like, ‘Oh, boy, you’re looking just like your dad!’ I would wear these hats [just like] he wore and it felt good. I went by my middle name, Kelby, until I was 16. Then there was a point in time in my life, where I was like, ‘I haven’t heard my dad’s name for six years.’ So I said, ‘Can you all start calling me Sterling now?’

Tracee Ellis Ross: That’s why Ellis is in my name. On-screen, I wanted people to see that I’m my dad’s child.

Q: What about the role of Cliff made you want to play him?

Sterling K. Brown: He’s different than Randall, first and foremost. Trying to stretch people’s imagination in terms of what I’m capable of as an actor was really important. I have a lot of LGBTQ people in my family who were not able to express their full truth until later in life…authentic happiness can’t come about until you are actually willing to be your full self. It’s also a lesson he’s able to share with other people in his family.

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