E-mail a friendLance Reddick
airdate November 13, 2009
Lance Reddick's dream was to hit the big time as a musician, but he's known for his powerful roles in two HBO standout series, Oz and The Wire. He now co-stars in the Fox hit, Fringe. The Baltimore native first acted in high school just for fun. He went on to study composition at the prestigious Eastman School of Music; but when his budding music career was interrupted, he turned to acting. Reddick also studied at the Yale Drama School. He never lost his passion for music though, releasing a CD that he made available on his Web site.
Reddick talks about going into acting out of desperation. (1:37)
Full Interview (12:10)
Lance Reddick
Tavis: Lance Reddick is a terrific actor who many of us came to know and love for his role in the acclaimed HBO drama, The Wire. Following that came a recurring role on ABC's Lost. He now stars on another series produced by J.J. Abrams, the paranormal drama, Fringe. The show airs Thursday nights at 9. Here now a scene from Fringe.
[Clip]
Tavis: Lance, you are awfully talented, but so much of it for me is that voice (laughter). I would pay you for that voice, man. Have you always had that?
Lance Reddick: Well, it's funny because you say that now and I'm here today with a hoarse throat. I've been trying to get over a cold for the last week. Well, you know, it's funny. I mean, I never really thought that much about my speaking voice and how it sounded.
Tavis: Right.
Reddick: It's funny. I remember when I was first starting off in New York. You know, I would freelance with a voiceover agent for - you know, I'd go on a couple auditions and I wouldn't hear back (laughter). It's like I couldn't get arrested in voiceover work, and now everybody wants to talk about how good my voice is.
Tavis: Success does that to you - does that for you. To your point, though, before I move on to the show, Fringe, there are many reasons I'm not an actor, starting with the fact that it requires a little bit of talent, number one. But beyond that, I don't know that I have the constitution to handle that kind of constant rejection that one has to take over the course of one's career to get to the level of success that you've now arrived at.
You're making a joke about going to, you know, these voiceovers and not hearing back from people, but how have you personally - how has Lance Reddick navigated this journey of those nos, nos, nos, nos along the way until you arrive at this place where we know you and love your work?
Reddick: Wow. Well, you know, that's such an interesting question for me because I think of myself as emotionally so hypersensitive that -
Tavis: - you're in the wrong business, brother, if you're hypersensitive (laughter).
Reddick: I know, I know. You would think that, you would think that.
Tavis: You ain't figured that out yet?
Reddick: But, you know, as far as being a performing artist, I mean, it's good because it makes you very - how do I put it? Acting, I mean, it's like jazz musicians. I mean, it's about an exchange of energy. So, so much of it is just listening and responding to, you know, what you're being given, so you really have to be open and sensitive. It's funny how things look a particular way from the outside. You know, I often sort of bemoan the fact that I don't have a thicker skin, whereas in my work, I feel like it gives me an advantage, but in real tough, it's a bit tough.
And as far as the rejection goes, I don't know. When you're just doing something that you think you have to do, you know, I remember there was one point in my career where I really thought about quitting because, you know, as a Black character actor, so often you feel like, you know, Hollywood is not looking for you. I reached the point where I realized that I couldn't quit because this was the only way I was gonna make good - this is the only thing I was qualified to do that I could make enough money to pay off my student loans (laughter).
Tavis: (Laughter) To your point then, when did you know - if there was a point in your career where you thought about quitting, and I suspect a lot of folk have had that feeling in the business that you're in, when did you arrive at that alternate place where you said, "You know what? It's not always gonna be easy, but I belong here. I can actually do this. This is my calling, my purpose, my vocation. I'm gonna stick with it"?
Reddick: Well, once again, it's funny how life is. You know, when I was growing up, I never thought I was gonna be an actor. I grew up thinking I was gonna be a musician. I studied music all through high school. I went to a conservatory for college. I thought I was gonna be a classical composer, believe it or not.
I really started acting - I left conservatory because I realized that I was in denial and I wanted to be a rock star (laughter). I really started acting because I thought it would help my music career and then it just kind of took over. But I didn't start acting until I was 27. I went back to drama school when I was 29.
Tavis: Back to Yale.
Reddick: Yeah, I went to Yale. That's a story in itself. One of the jobs that I was working - I was living in Boston when I first left school. I got married and went to Boston. I did a lot of different jobs. You know, it's kind of a classic, you know, performing artist story. I delivered pizzas, newspapers, I was a waiter. But one of the jobs that I did, I was working as an artist model and I did that for years because Boston has so many art schools and it's such a college town.
One of the painters I used to model for his drawing classes and I started modeling for him privately. I still to this day wonder where this painting is, this huge painting he did of me in these green khaki pants and this red football jersey that I had from high school. We would just sit and talk and mostly we would talk about music and movies, and he asked me about training.
I said, "Well, you know, I don't think you need to train to be an actor" even though the more I worked, the more I realized that I couldn't just rely on instinct. I said, "I want to go to New York because I want to study at the actors' studio because that's all I knew." And I said, "The only other place I'd even consider is Yale" and I only said that because of Meryl Streep. That's all I knew.
I said, "I couldn't get into Yale anyway because I never finished my Bachelors degree." He said, "Well, you might want to consider it because I have my Masters in painting from Yale and I went to a diploma school, so I don't have a Bachelors degree either." So I thought, "Hmm." So the only other thing I knew about Yale was that it was in New Haven, so I called up information and called the drama school and asked them (laughter).
They said, "Yeah, you can apply and you can go through the program and complete the program and you'll get a certificate and, if you ever finish your Bachelors degree, we'll convert it to a Masters" because it's the university that confers the degree and the university won't give a degree to somebody without a Bachelors degree. I'd say 95 percent of the people I graduated with have MFAs and have a certificate. You know, I went through the same exact program and exact same training.
Tavis: What do you make of the fact, relatively speaking or comparatively speaking, at 27, to your earlier point, you discover your gift somewhat late in life? What do you make of that looking back on it now?
Reddick: Well, you know, I'm more of a believer in this now, but at the time, I was just doing what was - literally, I was desperate. I was just doing what was in front of me. I'd come off - I remember one night, I had come off of a double shift of waiting tables and I went straight to a double shift of delivering newspapers. I used to deliver these big bundles to the financial district, The Wall Street Journal to the financial district down in Boston. I was just used to running on adrenalin.
At that point, generally I was working seven days a week. Something happened with my back when I went to lift this heavy bundle and, over the course of like the next month, my back started hurting more and more and then one day I couldn't get out of bed. As I lay kind of recovering, I thought you know what? If I keep doing this, I'm gonna keep doing this.
I really started acting just - I thought you know what? I can sing and I can act because I'd acted in college just for fun, so I said, "Let me try that." So I went on a few musical theater auditions. I thought this is not it. I started going on some straight acting auditions and I just started getting cast and getting cast and getting cast in local theater in Boston.
Tavis: And the rest, as they say, is history.
Reddick: Basically, yeah.
Tavis: And now you're hanging out with J.J. Abrams (laughter).
Reddick: (Laughter) Well, I don't know about hanging out, but he does seem to hire me a lot, so that's good.
Tavis: I ran into him and his wife in New York not long ago. Every time I talk to him, he probably thinks I'm strange. But every time I get near him, I just kind of just roll up to him like this and I just hope some of it rubs off (laughter). He's got the Midas touch. Everything that cat touches these days turns to gold and Fringe is an example of it. People love this show.
Reddick: Yeah, it is a popular show. It's fun to do. I mean, for me after doing The Wire, it's fun to do something that's fun, yeah.
Tavis: How much did the exposure from The Wire get people to appreciate your talent, your gift, prior to Fringe, obviously?
Reddick: Well, the whole wave of Wire phenomenon happened to be so interesting because it was such a slow burn and it really began as such a grassroots thing that picked up steam, it picked up steam, it picked up steam, and it wasn't really until we aired our last season that it kind of exploded into this mainstream worldwide phenomenon.
So I know that part of the reason I was offered the role in Lost was because those producers were fans of The Wire. I subsequently got an opportunity to - basically, one of the few actors that get first crack at the roles on Fringe because of my relationship with J.J.
Tavis: Let me take you outside of your professional realm now. So what do you make of this paranormal activity that you portray on a TV set in the real world now, I'm asking?
Reddick: Well, I do believe - I almost want to put the word believe in quotes. But I find it more and more difficult to doubt the possibility that there are parallel realities, given how much every choice that we make is a building block of the future and how many times we could go down this road or this other road. I mean, a perfect example is my career. I mean, who knows what would have happened if I hadn't, you know, hurt my back. I never in my life dreamed that I was gonna be an actor.
Here's a funny thing about that. The first show that I did, it was community theater and it was this Christmastime musical. We did four weeks rehearsal. We had four weekends of performances. I got paid $150 for the whole thing. My father came to visit and subsequently he came to see just about everything that I did. We're still living two families to a house in the ghetto in Boston.
I'm in the show and my father's in town visiting and I'm sitting in the bar at his hotel and we're having a beer. He said, "You know, Lance, when you were a kid, I used to see people on TV and see movies and I would always see you there. It's not because I have this fanciful notion that, you know, my child should be a star, but I honestly believe that you belong there." This is, you know, when I'm doing community theater.
Tavis: Your father was a teacher?
Reddick: My father taught high school for 12 years. Then he got his degree in law and then he was a public defender for 20 years.
Tavis: But your mother is a teacher as well?
Reddick: Yes, yes.
Tavis: What was it like growing up in a house with both parents who were teachers?
Reddick: Wow. My father (laughter) - I want to preface this by saying that I adore my father. I think he's one of the most -
Tavis: - (laughter). I guess that means that we know where this tape is going (laughter).
Reddick: The funny thing about it, I know like my whole - everybody on my father's side is gonna be watching this, so it's gonna get back to him (laughter) and I know that he trolls this. He's gonna be watching this. But he could be pretty pedantic. I mean, there were times when I grew up, I mean - let me give you a perfect example.
I would say something about the news and he'd say, "The what?" I'd say, "The news." He says, "What do you sit in in a church?" I said, "A pew." He said, "What is it?" I said, "It's the news." He said, "No, it's the news" (laughter).
Tavis: (Laughter) I see why you prefaced that. I love my father. And only a kid who grows up with two parents as teachers would use the word pedantic in a TV conversation (laughter). But I digress. It's a great Scrabble word. I digress. His name is Lance Reddick. He's one of the stars of Fringe. Of course, you already know that because everybody seems to love Fringe. Lance, I'm glad to have you on, man.
Reddick: Oh, it's a pleasure.
Tavis: I'm honored to talk to you. Thanks for coming through.
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