Small Talk
Four Questions for Jeffrey Wright
The veteran actor opens up about about his roles in ‘All Day and a Night’ and ‘Westworld’
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Of all Black actors of his generation, Jeffrey Wright is far and away the most likely to receive one of those honorary Oscars for a career of overlooked excellence. Run back his 30 years of television (Boardwalk Empire), Broadway (Angels in America), and Hollywood (Basquiat, Ali) roles and it’s clear that he never phones in a performance.
Earlier this month, the season three finale of HBO’s sci-fi series Westworld — in which Wright plays liberated android Bernard Lowe — overlapped with the release of Netflix’s All Day and a Night, in which he portrays misguided dad to the homicidal, equally misguided Jahkor Lincoln (Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders).
This is a story of a father trapped by limited resources, limited opportunities — he’s frustrated, embittered, angry. Capable of more, but incapable of realizing the more that exists within him.
