“I’m always looking for a human condition.
“So while I was in the chorus ofDreamgirlsas a dancer, I was still auditioning for acting roles.
And this thing came up forFame.
Harold Perrineau was a background actor on the show ‘Fame.'.courtesy everett collection
That wasn’t the end of the road though.
“Sometimes my classic American speech wasn’t on point and as articulate as I wanted to.
I could do the words the way they came out of my mouth.”
Harold Perrineau as Mercutio in ‘Romeo + Juliet.'.Merrick Morton/20th Century studios
“I had to do a scene and I was trying to get into the scene.
So I was starting, I was doing thisBiggierap in my head.
I did it out loud and then I started the language, but Baz was filming the whole time.
Rita Moreno and Harold Perrineau in HBO’s ‘Oz.'.Eric Liebowitz/hbo
And so in there, there’s Biggie and Shakespeare, and it’s me saying it.
I love every bit of it.”
Don’t fool around.
Harold Perrineau and Nona Gaye as Link and Zee in ‘The Matrix Revolutions.'.Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection
Don’t fake it.
And when they say you have to dance?
They’re going to put you in heels?
Harold Perrineau played Michael on ‘Lost.'.Mario Perez/Walt Disney Television
I took pointe class, let’s go.'”
I don’t think there was another one.
“And then we came on and the rules were just all broken.
Harold Perrineau voiced Blade in the ‘Blade’ anime.marvel.com
They just broke all the rules.
We’ve seen his face before Oh, they just killed him.
Set him on fire?’
Regina Hall and Harold Perrineau in ‘The Best Man Holiday.'.Michael Gibson /Universal Pictures
And when do we realize that the prison population inside actually affects the population of the country outside?”
are all questions Americans are asking to this day.
“When I first got the job, they weren’t letting anybody read the script.
Harold Perrineau as Dean in TNT’s ‘Claws.'.TNT
And so I was like, ‘OK, cool.’
I was taking yoga classes and martial arts classes.
I was in the gym, I was doing it all,” Perrineau recalls.
Harold Perrineau stars on the new EPIX show ‘From.'.Chris Reardon/Epix
“And I got the script.
I was like, ‘Wait a minute.
He sits here the whole time?!'”
And so that was pretty sad.
I mean, her dad’sMarvin Gaye.
What else do I have [to say]?
He didn’t set fire to his mom’s house.
He wasn’t a conman.
He was a dude who had a son that got taken away from him.
He went to get him back, and the world went nuts.”
“I said, ‘But I shot myself too.
I didn’t just shoot them.
I got shot.’
They’re like ‘You should’ve got shot!
You should’ve shot yourself in the face!’
They were so mad about it.”
They were just like moments that I thought were lost."
“Those first couple years I was pretty salty about it.
And yes, we had lots of conversations and I understood his point of view.
He understood my point of view, but we stood where we stood.
He now commends theWatchmencreator for the roles he’s written for Black actors since.
“If you say something to somebody, then you have to back up and let them hear that.
And if they choose to do something about it, let ‘em do it.
And he chose to do something in a big way.
And I’m like, ‘Yeah, Bravo!'”
Blade (2011)
“Voice work I’m oddly terrible at,” admits Perrineau.
“It takes a lot of work for some reason.
I’m such a physical person, I’m just always moving around.”
Having also starred onNBC’sConstantineabout theDC Comicscharacter, Perrineau says “I really like the superhero stuff.
And now that’s what makes them interesting and fallible and great.”
They’ve gotten lots of great actors to do a lot of amazing things.”
And it’s gonna be so much fun to get back to them.
Though my [movie] wifeRegina [Hall]is gonna be hosting the Oscars.
It looked like a niche show.
And it was helmed by five women of all different shapes and sizes.
Man, that’s a dope show."
And that’s just the two of us.
From (2022)
While Perrineau says “I’m not a horror person.
I don’t wanna sleep and think about that stuff.
I don’t want screams and blood,” his new show on Epix offers just that.
So why then did he take the job?
“It was a chance to lead a show, that was a good thing.
Haven’t done that in quite some time.
And lead a show with a character that I think is really compelling.”
The project reunites him with twoLostalums, executive producer and directorJack Benderand showrunner Jeff Pinkner.
I love the stories inMatrix, I love the story inLost.
I like stories and I like human beings in stories.
And, and I know that they know how to do that."
