E-mail a friendMekhi Phifer
airdate September 1, 2009
For his first audition, Mekhi Phifer walked 40 blocks to get headshots from Woolworth. It was worth the effort and he beat out more than 1,000 candidates for the lead in Spike Lee's Clockers. Since then, he's played diverse characters in films and on TV and was a regular on NBC's ER for six seasons. The New York native owns six Athletes Foot store franchises in California and is chairman of the board of trustees of The Vine Group USA, a nonprofit organization that provides educational resources to universities in Africa.
Actor talks about his character in Lie to Me. (1:48)
Full interview. (10:58)
Mekhi Phifer
Tavis: Pleased to welcome Mekhi Phifer back to this program. For six seasons, he starred on one of TV's longest-running and most popular dramas, "ER." This fall he's joining the cast of another hit series, "Lie to Me." The season premiere airs September 28th on Fox. Here now, a sneak preview of the new season of "Lie to Me."
[Clip]
Tavis: I'm going to start calling you the pick-up king. (Laughter) Every series that needs to do something hires you. What's up with that? "ER," "Lie to Me." I mean, don't lie to me, tell me the truth, but why do you keep getting picked up?
Mekhi Phifer: Hey, man, I really hone in on the skills, man, and I have a good time with it. I like to bring a fresh presence to whatever I attend, and we're having a good time, man, having a real good time.
Tavis: What is the challenge, uniquely, I suspect, when you come into a cast like "ER," like "Lie to Me," when it's already off and running?
Phifer: Right. Well, it's really about getting in where you fit in and bringing your presence and your fortitude to it. It's always nice to be welcomed with open arms, and in both situations, that's been the case. So they've really allowed me to put my best foot forward and really put in some good work, and they're writing really great for me, so.
Tavis: For those who've not seen "Lie to Me," give me the storyline, what the show about and let's talk about your new character.
Phifer: Yeah, the show's about - well, it's focused on Tim Roth's character who was a - he's a micro expression reader. And what he can do is he can tell if you're lying, because they say that all human beings, no matter what race, creed, color or whatever you are, have the same basic emotions when it comes to telling the truth and lying, or whether you're showing genuine happiness or sadness.
And that's basically what he does, so he's been hired by the FBI to handle all of their top priority cases, and I'm an FBI agent that joined Lightman Group because they needed my presence there to make arrests and solve cases.
Tavis: When you - this only happened a couple of times; I don't want to make more of what it is - but what's your process for deciding whether or not the character is right for you to join an ensemble cast?
We know you played a doctor on "ER." What brother does not want to play a doctor?
Phifer: (Laughs) Right, right.
Tavis: So I ain't mad at you for that. But what's your process for figuring out whether or not the character works for you?
Phifer: Well, I tend to gravitate towards strong characters, characters that are going to be pivotal, not sort of just a procedural type of person, not just handing out or just spitting out information. Someone who is sort of interwoven into the way the characters move.
I like to have a personal story as well so that the audience can sort of delve into who this character is and sort of sympathize or empathize with him and grow with that character. Because that's the thing that you have to focus on, especially if you're going to do television and it's going to be episodic and it's going to go on for seasons, hopefully.
You want the audience to grow with you, and that's exactly what I look for when I look at scripts.
Tavis: For those who are "ER" fans, we saw that trajectory you just mentioned of growth and getting to know you and your back story. Beyond being an FBI agent in "Lie to Me," tell me about the character, about the person. What are we going to learn about you, the person?
Phifer: Well, the beautiful thing is I did the last two episodes of the first season, and then I just joined the cast. And what we're going to do is delve into who he was as an FBI agent.
Tavis: So you're going back.
Phifer: We're going to go back, we're going to figure out what makes him tick. He's been undercover for years and having to deal with certain aspects and things that could have been life-changing for him. We'll get more into his personal aspect; is he dating, does he have a girlfriend and all that kind of stuff, and his home life.
Tavis: When you come on to a show, again, like the two we've been talking about tonight, what role does Mekhi, the person, play in helping craft the character? Is that just handed to you, or as a brother do you get involved and say, "Okay, now here's some stuff I think - "
Phifer: Yeah, definitely. Just like with "ER," I would consult with the writers all the time about various aspects of the character, what I think rings true or doesn't ring true. Even when I joined this cast I sat with all of the writers and the creator and the show runners and talked about where we wanted the character to go. And really, what they did was they asked me about my life as Mekhi and how I grew up and certain aspects of my life, which also helps give them ideas that are more personal to myself and which would be in turn more personal to the audience that would help them delve into who I am.
Tavis: You know I'm laughing on the inside, because I'm like what does a brother tell some White folk about being an FBI agent? (Laughter) What did you say? What was that meeting like?
Phifer: There's an array of things. But the thing is that that's the point. It's not the process of just being an FBI agent - anybody can be an FBI agent. But what makes this particular FBI agent tick from where he comes from, from his life experience. If he's from sort of an inner city situation, he may have more street smarts in certain respects, even though he's still intelligent, still very upright and FBI.
But he may be able to read into a situation in a different way than someone who may be his counterpart may not because of where he's come from and his environment.
Tavis: There are some folk, and thankfully, I suspect, from our perspective as fans of yours and viewers, and I suspect also from your perspective, thankfully, you have not been typecast in a particular role, because there's some folk who get a chance to do a show, and especially if that show runs, and you were on it for six seasons; it ran a lot longer than that.
You're on something for six seasons; you're blessed to get that paycheck for that long, first of all.
Phifer: Yes, definitely.
Tavis: But the flip side of that paycheck is a lot of folk get typecast and they can't come back into episodic television. Why are you being able to bounce around like this successfully?
Phifer: Well, one, I come from the film world going into television, so I've had an array of roles that people have recognized me for. Two, that goes back to what we talked about earlier, as far as choosing roles. I don't want to choose a role that's going to typecast me or have me looked at in one particular light. Like even with ER, it was a growth process.
I came on the show a little bit, some would describe, as arrogant; I would describe it as self-confident and sort of defensive. And then you saw that character grow to be an R1 and running the hospital and becoming an attending and dealing with his personal life - finding out about his father and his family and what makes him tick.
So with that I think helps people see you in a three-dimensional light rather than a one-dimensional light and so it really helps me to choose the roles that not only keep me interested but keep the audience interested and their toes.
Tavis: Being multidimensional, being complex as a character, I suspect are qualities that any actor in this town would want and crave in a particular role. You don't want to be one-dimensional; you want to show the complexity of the character. Does that take on an added dimension, given that you happen to be an African American male?
Phifer: I don't know, I think people in general are complex.
Tavis: I ask that because we're so - they show us so often in this town as one-dimensional.
Phifer: Right, right. Well, it can be challenging at times when I've read an array of scripts and I'm going, "Come on, guys, come on, guys, come on, guys." But when you find a place or something like "Lie to Me" or "ER" or many other different shows that show us in a multifaceted light, it is a breath of fresh air.
But I think people in general are multifaceted, so what it is is now we're just about letting everyone know that everybody is multifaceted, not just these people over here or this particular race over here. So I think that as time goes on we start to realize that and people start to be more open to understanding that we are all complex and it's more interesting to see us in complex lights.
Tavis: I'll sure go back to "Lie to Me" before we wrap up here, but let me go to "ER" just for a minute and a half here. What do you, looking back on it now, make of the fact that you had a chance to be on this show for six seasons already?
Phifer: I attribute it to the films that I've done, because I didn't have to audition or anything; they just wanted me to join the cast, which was very flattering because it was such a great show. And I remember my first day wondering if I could even pull this thing off. I was really nervous.
Tavis: I assume the dialogue on "Lie to Me" is easier to learn?
Phifer: It is. (Laughter) It's a lot easier.
Tavis: Doing the hospital dialogue.
Phifer: It's a lot easier, and people don't realize that we're actually speaking Spanish in a sense, because we're not really doctors. But we did have technical advisers and things like that.
But I do attribute it to my roles in the past. I've always sort of portrayed strong characters. I know that you and I were just talking about "Uninvited Guest," a small independent film that I did years ago, and it's like those kind of characters that are complex and strong and unpredictable that I think helped me have my longevity on that show.
Tavis: Chris, my producer, and I were laughing about why with "ER" they let you get in the ambulance accident at the end of the season, we wait all summer long for Negro to die when the show came back. (Laughter) That wasn't cute.
Phifer: No, but they - actually, it was funny because I knew it was the last season, it was going to be a short season, and I felt like it was time to go. And I spoke to John Wells and we sat down and they didn't really want me to leave, but if we were going to go, let's go with it in a bang rather than just saying, "Okay, bye, guys, maybe I'll see you at another hospital."
It was a cliffhanger and it was a very emotional episode. I remember my mom calling, crying. I thought somebody in the family died. (Laughter) I was like, "Mom, what's happened?" She couldn't even - it was like (makes noises) and all of that kind of stuff.
And so it was also flattering too to see how many people came up and really expressed their love for the character.
Tavis: Finally, back to "Lie to Me," can you look at somebody and tell when they're lying to you? (Laughter) Do you have that gift?
Phifer: I just started the show. (Laughter) No, it would take a little bit more studying, and that's not my level of expertise on the show yet. I'm starting to learn about what the Lightman Group, which is the place that I'm working for now, and how they work and how all of the micro expression stuff works. So we're still in the beginning stages of that.
Tavis: We should all be so gifted. Just look at you - you're lying.
Phifer: Right. (Laughs) I'd play a lot more poker, trust me.
Tavis: Yeah. (Laughter) You are a poker player, yeah.
Phifer: I am.
Tavis: And pretty good, I hear.
Phifer: I am pretty good.
Tavis: So you got that look, then. (Laughter) You got that look that you play poker. Good to see you, man.
Phifer: Always a pleasure.
Tavis: "Lie to Me," second season, starring now Mekhi Phifer along with Tim Roth and a great cast.
Back to September 1, 2009