Donald Glover is a man of many talents. He can act, write, sing, dance, and even moonlight as a Sesame Street DJ. Not everyone can be so confident in their ability to recite the alphabet, but Glover sure is. So it’s hard to think of him being rejected from something, (this man has been through it all) though of course, that happens a lot in the television industry.
Glover has a fair share of credits under his belt–he’s been in both Marvel and Star Wars titles, but only a few have achieved such status. But there was a time when his career could have taken a different path.
The actor recently told GQ that he is grateful for all of the missteps that led to his career now. “I dodged so many bullets,” he told the mag, recalling when he tried out to be on Saturday Night Live in both 2007 and 2008. “Me being on SNL would’ve killed me. I got friends who made it on SNL and, at the time, I was like, damn. But if I got on SNL, my career wouldn’t have happened.” At the time, Glover had auditioned to play President Barack Obama on the NBC series during its election coverage. It went to Fred Armisen instead. Hey! At least he got to be in the NBC family for 30 Rock and Community.
But looking back, Glover says he is grateful he didn’t wind up a part of every show he tried out for. “And thank God…Thank God I didn’t get some of those pilots,” he explained. “I wanted so desperately to be on Parks and Rec because it was the cool, hipster show. I am the bullet dodger. I feel like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. That wasn’t a mistake, you know? God did that.” It’s hard to remember a time when Parks and Rec was the cool hipster show, but then again, it’s hard to remember who Chris Pratt was all those years ago, pre-Mario.
For now, Glover has been working on his own successful projects, like the new culty hit Swarm and the upcoming Mr. & Mrs. Smith show adaptation. Will he even have time to show up in the Community movie?! Only time will tell.
