Blair Underwood
Blair Underwood
Blair Erwin Underwoodis an American television, film, and stage actor and director. He played headstrong attorney Jonathan Rollins on the NBC legal drama L.A. Law for seven years. He has received two Golden Globe Award nominations, three NAACP Image Awards and one Grammy Award. In recent years, he has appeared as Andrew Garner on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The New Adventures of Old Christine, Dirty Sexy Money and In Treatment and was in NBC's The Event...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actor
Date of Birth25 August 1964
CityTacoma, WA
CountryUnited States of America
I haven't done a lot of things in my career that my kids can watch, because they are 8, 6 and 3, and they are pretty young; so given the concepts that the film was about a superhero, it was a black superhero, and it was a father and son type partnership.
It's really hard, when you have a heavy workload, because it just really pulls you out of your life. It's nice to have some balance. I get to work and enjoy that part of me, but then I have time to have a life and be with my kids.
I love my kids so much. They teach me something every day. It always brings richness to my work, and even more in life. I feel lucky to be able to do both.
To be still standing 20 years in this business is a great feeling, I can't even tell you.
Sex in the City was a different kind of phenomenon because of the show itself is a phenomenon and to me that's successful because to resonate with women across the board for six years and have only one African-American actor pass through for one episode.
When I doing dinner theater in high school, I was talking to a woman who had been in the business for a while and I said I want to act, that's all I want to do with my life and she said if you're serious then you need to hone every discipline you can.
Two packed houses. I guess the theater sat 2,700 people every night so it was an amazing experience.
That is the thing I'm most grateful for in this industry to be able to spin in those different mediums, with television, film and the stage - at this stage of the game.
All you can do is do the best you can and I did that. I had a great time. I made a product and I was not embarrassed by it at all so you do it and you move on.
I think one of the most difficult challenges in show business is the challenge of longevity and to constantly realize and reveal what's already been there - like doing stage and singing and dancing in New York. I haven't been that far out of my comfort zone in a while.
I haven't done a great deal of it but this was a chance to do more and bring it to that part of the business and even more so, but the fact that it was a black superhero was really the catalyst to me.
It's a music video but she was real specific on the character that Mary J. Blige was playing, and that I was playing in this video and I told her whenever you get to jump to the big screen I'd love to come with you and she honored that.
The voice over is a hat you put on right now as opposed to worrying about going through wardrobe, and having to look a certain way. You just got to let your voice do the talking for you.