Despite consistent work since the early 2000s, Sterling K. Brown’s breakout role didn’t come until (with all apologies to Army Wives) 2016’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, where he won an Emmy for portraying prosecutor Christopher Darden. Since then, he’s been on a roll: This Is Us, Black Panther, hosting SNL, the upcoming Frozen 2, playing Sia in the Lonely Island’s The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience. If Brown isn’t in fabled “household name” territory already, he should be — but at least he’s on the cover of magazines, including next month’s Men’s Journal, where he revealed that he was on the short-list to play Stringer Bell on The Wire.
“I remember auditioning for The Wire and being very close to Stringer Bell. What’s been really cool for me in terms of the usual suspects is that it has been a situation of all love. We were like, ‘Somebody’s gonna get the gig. I hope it’s you.’ … At any point 90 percent of all the acting-union members are unemployed, and you’re fighting to be part of the rotating 2 percent. There’s so much rejection that you have to be willing to deal with and let it sort of roll off your back. There are people I know who are absolutely brilliant who had to segue into something else in life.” (Via)
If a British man (Idris Elba) can play a business-savvy American (Stringer Bell), then an American (Sterling K. Brown) should be able to play a British spy (James Bond). It’s only fair after Heimdall got the role of Stringer over N’Jobu all those years ago.
(Via Men’s Journal)
