{"id":8152,"date":"2017-08-22T09:50:14","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T13:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/empires-jussie-smollett\/"},"modified":"2017-08-23T09:07:28","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T13:07:28","slug":"empires-jussie-smollett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/empires-jussie-smollett\/","title":{"rendered":"Empire\u2019s Jussie Smollett"},"content":{"rendered":"

Empire co-star Jussie Smollett\u00a0tells <\/em>TV Drama\u00a0how he got the part of Jamal Lyon on the FOX series and what it\u2019s like working with such a talented ensemble cast.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jussie Smollett began acting when he was a child, appearing in feature films and TV movies. At age 12, he and his five siblings starred in the TV series On Our Own<\/em>. He continued acting while developing skills as a singer and songwriter. When he heard about Lee Daniels’ series Empire<\/em>, featuring a hip-hop mogul, Lucious Lyon, played by Terrence Howard; his inimitable ex-wife, Cookie, played by Taraji P. Henson; and their three sons, Smollett felt it was the perfect vehicle to showcase his talents. Little did he know Empire <\/em>would take off as one of FOX\u2019s top-rated shows, offering lots of dysfunctional family drama, polished musical numbers and A-list guest stars.<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV DRAMA:<\/strong> There is so much talent on Empire<\/em>. What\u2019s it like acting on the show?
\nSMOLLETT:<\/strong> It\u2019s like an artist\u2019s orgasm! [Laughs<\/em>] I\u2019ve never said that before but that\u2019s exactly what it is. It\u2019s like an artist\u2019s orgasm every single day. We are so into what we do, and we will fight for the characters, and if we don\u2019t believe in something, we say that we don\u2019t believe it. We\u2019ve made mistakes. We\u2019ve thrown things up against the wall that didn\u2019t stick. But that\u2019s what artists do; they mess up sometimes.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> What a wonderful atmosphere for an actor and performer.
\nSMOLLETT:<\/strong> Yes, as an actor and a performer, for me to be able to do so many things that I love to do and be mixed up in this gumbo pot of Empire<\/em>, led by Terrence and Taraji, who could so easily not be giving, [is amazing]. People could just say, Listen, they are Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-nominated actors, and have been doing this for so long and are so respected, just let them do their thing. And yet, they are so giving. They are so unselfish with what they know, and they genuinely want us to be better. They know that what makes the show great is if we\u2019re all great. Terrence is not trying to outshine Taraji. Taraji is not trying to outshine Terrence. I\u2019m not trying to outshine Trai [Byers, who plays Andre Lyon]; Trai is not trying to outshine me. We all shine because we shine collectively. I could not ask for a better situation.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Tell me about the musical numbers. If a talking scene takes X number of takes, how much more complicated are the musical numbers?
\nSMOLLETT:<\/strong> Wheeeeeeooooo!<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> A lot more complicated?
\nSMOLLETT:<\/strong> Uh-huh!<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> And you shoot the performance pieces from multiple angles, so you have to do them over and over?
\nSMOLLETT:<\/strong> Yes, the performance scenes are difficult, but they are my favorite scenes to do, and people think I’m a psycho! If it\u2019s an eight-hour shoot, I will perform full out every single time because [say there] might be Taraji\u2019s close-up or Terrence’s close-up\u2014I want them to experience the performance the same way Cookie and Lucious would experience it. I don\u2019t want to be that selfish actor who says, I\u2019m only doing it [right when the camera] is on me. It’s difficult, but it’s so much fun. And I lose a good two pounds every time I perform because it\u2019s all in!<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> As a performer, have you ever experienced the type of performance block that Jamal did after he was shot?
\nSMOLLETT:<\/strong> It definitely happens. I\u2019ve dealt with anxiety. I still deal with anxiety at times, but I\u2019ve never dealt with PTSD the way Jamal did. But with that said, writer\u2019s block? Hell yes! Creative block? Absolutely. That\u2019s the moment where you just have to step back and find something else to do that is separate [in order] to be re-inspired. [A block] just means you need to be re-inspired somehow, at least it does for me. I try to re-inspire myself, whether it’s with family or memories or just nothing at all.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Is Jamal a good guy at heart? We’re seeing other sides of him but is it due to the situation he’s in?
\nSMOLLETT:<\/strong> That\u2019s the thing; anything that\u2019s bad is circumstantial. In season two, everybody came against Jamal. But Jamal didn\u2019t have the support from Cookie and his brothers when he was running Empire the way that Hakeem had support from Jamal and Andre and Cookie when he was running Empire, and Andre had from Jamal, Hakeem and Cookie while he was trying to run Empire. Jamal didn\u2019t have their support; they were trying to take over the company while he was trying to run it. Jamal is absolutely a good guy. He is an onion; he’s very, very layered. He’s not black and white; he’s all of those beautiful shades of gray.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FOX series co-star shares\u00a0how he got the part of Jamal Lyon and what it\u2019s like working with such a talented ensemble cast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":289,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,70],"tags":[122,2069],"class_list":["post-8152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-empire","tag-jussie-smollett","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nEmpire\u2019s Jussie Smollett - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/empires-jussie-smollett\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Empire\u2019s Jussie Smollett - 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