Best known for his Emmy-winning role as Randall Pearson on “This Is Us,” Sterling K. Brown signed on for Hulu’s provocative new series “Paradise” for the simplest of reasons.
“I am always looking for something different,” Brown, 48, said last week in a virtual press conference. “It’s very cool when people scream out ‘Randall!’ but a little cooler when they say, ‘It’s Sterling Brown.’
“When you hear Randall, you’re like ‘Oh, it’s sweet’ — it’s coming from a really wonderful place. But to be known for a diverse body of work is more fulfilling.”
“Paradise” casts Brown as Xavier Collins, who leads the president’s Secret Service detail. As is customary, the agent who guards the president during his term of office continues that job until the president dies.
James Marsden is the unhappy, hard-drinking president Cal Bradford while the series’ title refers to the planned community where Bradford lives in retirement, alongside other world leaders.
“You bring yourself to every character you play” Brown said. “But there were aspects of me that I actually felt weren’t appropriate for Xavier.
“Like, I probably am a bit more jokey naturally than what Xavier is. So I was, “That’s not something for this character. I have to take that out, put it somewhere else.
“Then, I’m an intense person but intensity is not necessarily what I share with everybody because I’m a Black man and I know how scary that can be for a lot of people.
“But Xavier was like, ‘(expletive), no!’ He’s pretty intense. So I put that in and allowed that to be in the forefront.”
“Paradise” exhibits a conscientious awareness of how important a positive portrayal of Xavier’s father-daughter relationship can be.
“I’m a single dad in the show. He’s grieving the loss of his wife and has two kids: his older daughter and younger son. She’s thrust into this position of authority and responsibility to be a caretaker for her little brother.
“It’s almost like we have to be father and daughter but we’re also partners in terms of organizing the household. It’s a really beautiful relationship — and representation is important.
“In ‘This Is Us’ and again in this show, absenteeism within the Black community is something I desperately would love to fight against, with what we have at our disposal.
“What we have is media and to see a father who cares very much about his child, who’s very present and wants to see them live their most fully realized life is a gorgeous thing to put out into the world.”
“Paradise” streams on Hulu