By Kenn Gold

Larry Gilliard Jr. has appeared in many films including the blockbuster Gangs of New York, The Machinist, The Water Boy, Simply Irresistible, Cecil B. Demented, Brother to Brother, The associate, Money train, and Lotto Land, among others.  On TV, Mr. Gilliard has appeared as a series regular on HBO’s “The Wire”, “In the line of duty: Street Wars”, and “The Memoir of Sally Hemmings”.  His New York theatre credits include Zooman and The Sign at Second stage, Police Boys at Playwrights Horizons, and Life During Wartime at Nuyorican Poets café, with regional appearances in Top Dog/Underdog at the Seattle Rep and the Mark Taper Forum in LA, Abstract Expression at the Long Wharf Theatre and Hey Momma at the National Black Theatre. Larry Gilliard studied at the Baltimore school for the arts, the Julliard School, The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the Acting Studio, and the Stella Adler Conservatory.

In The Beast, Larry plays fellow FBI agent, Ray, who is investigating Charles Barker.  Ray can be sly and sneaky as he uses Ellis to try to gain information about Barker.  Larry recently spoke to MediaBlvd about his part in the series, and about how he came into his career as an actor.

MediaBlvd> It seems like The Beast is a show that people either absolutely love, or don’t care for at all.  Do you know why that is, or does that surprise you at all?

Larry> No, it doesn’t surprise me at all.  I think that’s the way with all shows, or a lot of shows.  Its entertainment and different people like different things.  It’s all relative.

MediaBlvd> How did you get involved with the project?  How did you end up in the role of Ray?

Larry> Well, there were auditions.  They held auditions for the part and I went in and got the part.  I knew one of the producers on the show.  I worked with him on a movie that I’d done years ago, and when my name came up, he thought I’d be good choice.  I went in and did my thing, and won everyone else over and got the part. 

MediaBlvd> How do you see Ray? Is he a good guy?

Larry> A good guy or bad guy?  Ray is a good guy.  He’s a guy who is in search of the truth, no matter what the outcome, or whatever he finds.  He’s a guy who is looking for the truth.  He’s not looking to take sides.  He’s not a brown noser looking to kiss anybody’s butt to move up the ladder or anything like that.   He’s just the kind of guy who is into his job.  He loves what he does, and he wants to get to the truth in all matters in all of his cases.

MediaBlvd> Are we going to get to see anymore of his background throughout the remaining episodes?

Larry> In this first season the focus is more on the two lead characters.  So in season two, hopefully, we’ll get a little more into the Ray character. 

MediaBlvd> Do you feel pretty good about a season 2?  Is that definite yet that it will go to a season 2?

Larry> Nothing is definite.  It’s all up in the air.  So I’m waiting by the phone like everybody else. 

MediaBlvd> I bet that’s kind of hard. 

Larry> A little bit, yeah. 

MediaBlvd> What’s your experience been like working with Patrick and with Travis on the show?

Larry> It’s cool.  Patrick is a consummate professional, and perfectionist.  He is a star and he’s a professional and he loves his job.  It’s great to work with people like that.  People come to work to work, to get the job done.  That’s what he’s about and he has fun doing it.  Every now and then, you run into these artists who enjoy what they do so much, when they are doing it, they are like children.  They are like kids.  It’s like they are in a candy store or a toy store.  They have such a great time doing it, when he’s on set he’s having so much fun, it’s like watching a child play.  It’s great when you meet up with people like that.  That’s the kind of person I am, I like to get out there and have fun and play.  The work isn’t easy work, but I like to do all of my homework at home and just get to set and have fun.

MediaBlvd> How about Travis, what is he like to work with?

Larry>  Travis is cool.  Travis has a lot on his plate.  He’s Australian so he is constantly working on his accent.  He has coaches for everything.  He’s learning his lines and doing all this stuff.  He’s doing his job and he’s pulling it off.  He comes to the table trying different things, and that is always good.  You never know when it’s going to start something new and creative.

MediaBlvd> Are we going to get a resolution to Ray’s investigation that he is doing on Barker this season?

Larry> I don’t know, you’ve got to watch. 

MediaBlvd> Fair enough.  I’ll try to get spoilers out of you, but it sounds like you are on your guard.  Was everything filmed in Chicago, or did they just do exterior shots there? I recognize a lot of landmarks.

Larry> The whole show was shot in Chicago.  Chicago is a great city, and this was my first time in Chicago.  I had a great time there.  It’s a great place to work in.  We were there in summer, so we missed the brutal winter.  We were there for the end of summer into the fall, so I saw a few flurries.  We were there in a great time and Chicago is a great town.  I had a lot of fun. 

MediaBlvd> How does that compare to filming in Los Angeles?  Is there the infrastructure there?

Larry> Yeah, we had a great crew.  Like I said, it’s a great city to shoot in.  We had a great crew and everything moved pretty much like clockwork there.  I’m a city boy.  I’ve been in LA for about 4 and a half years, so it hasn’t quite grown on me yet.  I’m from New York.  Chicago was more my speed.

MediaBlvd> Do you have a favorite scene that you’ve done on the series so far?

Larry> Yeah, I do.  My favorite scene on the show.  It comes on in one of the later episodes so I can’t talk about it.   I can just say it was very cold that morning when Travis and I shot the scene.  Sometimes the elements can play a part into the day and make it more fun.  Sometimes you do those scenes where it is so cold or so hot and you look back on it and think you just conquered Mt. Everest, or did something really big.  It was so cold that morning, and we got through the scene and it made it actually really fun.   It was a good scene.  I can’t tell you what happens in it there.

MediaBlvd> How does it compare playing an FBI agent? Some of the characters you’ve played in other things, like D’Angelo in The Wire were not some of the nicest guys.  How does it compare playing an FBI agent?

Larry> It’s great.  It’s a great change and I love playing an FBI agent.  It’s great being on the other side of the law.  I just enjoy acting.  I enjoy playing different characters.  This was a good change for me and I’m enjoying it.  It’s a different kind of research figuring out the background of the guys who uphold the law, as opposed to being on the other side with the guys who break it.  It’s interesting.

MediaBlvd> How do you prepare yourself to play a character like this?

Larry> You sit down and try to gather as much information as you can about the guys who do the job.  It’s all homework that actors do to try to develop the character.  When I get in front of the camera, I can just be real and be true and I don’t have to worry about or think about what this guy’s background is.  I can take from the things that I read or that I hear and from the questions that I ask other people who do the job.  And then I take from those to build the character, so I can believe I am the character, so I can make you believe I am that character. 

MediaBlvd>  In general, do you think there are getting to be more roles out there for African American’s who aren’t the hoodlum or the drug dealer, or is there still a shortage of the good roles?

Larry> Yeah, there is a shortage.  I’m not going to say that the drug dealers are bad roles.  I think D’Angelo was a great role.  I think there is shortage of African American roles when you talk about all films or all TV.   If you are comparing it to more roles in the 70’s or 80’s there are more roles for us now.  When you compare it to the shows today, you see the same people in everything.  So yeah, I think they could color it up a little bit more.  Add some more spice to the stew, you know?

MediaBlvd> In the last year or so, maybe the last two years, with cable we’ve seen a lot of new break out shows. Does having the cable channels investing in the dramas like that give you more options?

Larry> Yeah, it’s great, I love it. I love the cable shows more than the network shows because they take more risks.  And it’s great for the business; it’s great for us, because there are more shows it’s great for the opportunity.  It’s great in that way, so I’m not mad about that.

MediaBlvd> It’s really amazing that some of the best shows on TV aren’t on the networks anymore.

Larry> Yeah, it’s great.  It’s a good thing.

MediaBlvd> Let’s talk about how you got involved in acting.  I know you had a musical education starting, but at some point decided to go into acting.  How did that come about?

Larry> I was at Juliard studying clarinet.  Everything was going fine, and one day I woke up and wasn’t in love with it anymore.  Looking back on it, what happened is I just got bored.  Classical music is very structured.  It’s a formula.  It becomes predictable after a moment and it was hard for me to be as creative as I could be.  It was hard for me to express myself as much as I felt like I could and to who I wanted to express myself to. I found that I couldn’t do it through classical music or clarinet anymore.  Of course, in the middle of it, I didn’t have that kind of insight.  I was just kind of going crazy saying, “What is the matter, what’s going on in my life?”  All I’d wanted to do before was to play clarinet in the New York Phil.  Anyway, when things started to sort of fall apart, I started to think about what else I wanted to do.  Like I said, I was at Juliard, and I started to think about other things that interested me.  I went to the Baltimore School for the Arts, before Juliard, and I went to all of my high school theatre productions.  I went to all the Juliard drama theatre productions.  It just occurred to me that I did that.  I’d go see these plays and so I must have an interest in it, so I thought I’d try it with acting and see.  I was a good clarinetist and I remember talking to some of the people at Juliard, some of the other students.  They were like, “Larry, just keep playing music.  You’re a good musician.”  They weren’t very encouraging.  But I couldn’t do the music thing anymore, so I started taking classes in the acting studio.  I studied with a guy named James Price, and found that I had a passion for it, stuck with it, and the rest is history.  But there’s still more to be made.

MediaBlvd> In terms of acting, I know you’ve also done a lot of stage work as well as movies and TV.  How does it all compare?  Is there one aspect that you like better?
Larry> I love being on a movie set.  The magic of movies is just incredible.  I love being on movies.  I don’t like the producing part, sitting in the office with the paper work and contracts and all that about making movies.  But I love shooting a film.  I love the set.  I love movie music.  There’s no place I like more than being on a movie.  I like the theatre too.  I like the instant energy of the audience.  I like feeling the energy of the audience and getting that instant response from the house when you’re doing theatre.  I just don’t like the process of doing theatre, because you are doing all of your homework at the theatre with everyone else watching.  You’re creating the character and developing at the theatre with everyone else, so everyone gets to see you do all your bad stuff before you get to any good stuff.  That’s a little scary.  Whereas when you are doing film and TV you get to do all of your bad stuff in the mirror at home, then when you get to the set, you’re all good.  But I love all three mediums, but the movies are my number one.

MediaBlvd> Now how about comedy?  I know you have a little of that in your background.  Is that something you’d like to get into more?

Larry> Yeah, I have no problems with any form; drama, comedy, any of that.  I just enjoy the work.  I enjoy being creative and just trying to find new ways of telling stories, whether it’s a comedy or a drama.  I like both mediums. 

MediaBlvd> What would be your dream role?  What one role would really stand out for you if you got offered the role?

Larry> I don’t know, I can’t say that.  I’m one of those actors who just want to do many different things.  People consider me a character actor guy because I do different things.  I enjoy that, just trying to be different.  So there’s no one major role that I’ve read or looked at or seen and said, “Wow, I have to do that.”  Outside of D’Angelo that is, when I read D’Angelo, I said, “I have to have this role.”  A big part of it is that I grew up in Baltimore and the show is taking place there.  We were shooting there, and when I read it, I knew all the locations.  I just knew that experience.  So I really wanted that part a lot.

MediaBlvd> In your entry in wikipedia, it says you very rarely give interviews and almost nothing is known about your personal life.  Is that something that you just don’t normally do, or you just haven’t done a lot?

Larry> Well, it’s a mix of things.  I don’t really particularly enjoy doing interviews.  Its two things; one, I don’t really seek out that part of the business.  And two, I haven’t really been asked to do a lot of interviews.  But I try to steer clear of the media and all that stuff, that’s not really what I do.

MediaBlvd> Well, you’re doing a great job with it!

Larry> Cool, thanks.  I’m one of those people who reads something I’ve said, and I’ll say, “That’s awful, why didn’t I say this?”  “That’s not what I meant, I meant this!”

MediaBlvd> Now how about your personal life?  Is there anything you can say to your fans so we can nuke that entry and put something in there?

Larry> Let me see, what do I like to do?  Believe it or not, I still love music.  I love listening to music.  I still love classical a lot, and I love to listen to symphonies.  I still love listening to movie music.  Believe it or not, I don’t really watch a lot of TV and I don’t really watch a lot of movies.  My wife, Michelle, who is also an actor, she’s the type of person who will watch a movie and remember everything about it.  Me, I’ll remember nothing about it but the music.  I’m just a music guy.  I’ll sit around the house and listen to Jazz; just all types of music.  I’ll listen to music all day long.  That’s what I do in my spare time, pretty much listening to music and running lines.

MediaBlvd> Now you mention your wife, did you actually meet her on The Wire? Or were you already together when you both came into that show?

Larry> Yeah, we were together.  We’d been together for a lot of years before The Wire.  We met years ago in New York at a house party of a mutual friend.

MediaBlvd> How was that working with your spouse on the same show? Was it challenging at all, or fun?

Larry> Yeah, it was a bit challenging.  When you do a job, it’s like you sort of build a new family.  When she got the job, it was like she was infiltrating my outside family.  I was like, “You don’t understand!  I work and do this so I can get away from the house, and now you’re a part of it!  That just ruins it all.”  (Laughs)  I’m kidding, I’m kidding.  It was great, it was good.  We didn’t actually work together, but it was great having her on the show.  I’d always come home with these stories about the cast and the crew and the people working on the show, and she had to listen to it.  Then she finally got a chance to be on the show and do it and she could come home with stories to tell me.  She got to see what I was saying about what a magical show it was, and how incredible the writing was and how great the crew was.  She got to experience it, so it was good.

MediaBlvd> What else do you have in the works?  What else can we look forward to seeing you in?

Larry> You’ve just got to keep your TV on and go to the movies, and I’ll pop here and there.  I’ll show up in some stuff.

MediaBlvd> I know you can’t give any spoilers, but is there anything you can say just in general terms about what we can expect from Ray?

Larry> It’s all hush, hush.  Look for Ray to get to the bottom of it all.