Filed under: Television, Celeb Updates
This week, TNT premiered the second season of their drama 'Men of A Certain Age' earlier this week. And for the show's leading black actress, Lisa Gay Hamilton, she's grateful to be working on a series that doesn't force her to exaggerate who she is.The Julliard-trained thespian tells BlackVoices.com that she's happy the basic cable network hired her for the gig.e
"I was thrilled that I got the role because TNT initially did not want me and I say that with pride," Hamilton revealed. "The executive producer Mike Royce fought for me. They now understand what it was to have Andre and I together because I think we are a very unique couple on television and a unique presence in our community."On 'Men of A Certain Age,' the Los Angeles native stars as Melissa Thoreau, the wife of Owen Thoreau, Jr, a role played by Andre Braugher. Her character remains simple and understated, something she fought for in the smallest of details.
"When we started the show and had our first meeting with the hair people, she had her hair book and I said 'Before you open your book, I'm wearing my hair like this - natural,' and no one ever said anything different. They were like, 'Ok,'" she laughed.
"I'm able to be me and I'm a black woman and they bought into that and I love that for TNT. I've been allowed to see me figuratively and literally on television."
"I'm not Hollywood," she added. "I'm not glitzy. I always say when you hire me 'it's not because you're going to make a lot of money. You're hiring me because you know I'm damn good and know what I'm bringing to the table.'"Though she concedes 'Men of a Certain Age' will "never be a political show or talk about black issues," it is easy to understand her belief that her mere presence on the series is huge.
"Are scripts falling out of the sky? Absolutely not. Am I making a lot of money? Absolutely not. But, I am here," Hamilton said.
Her best known role to date was as attorney Rebecca Washington on the ABC legal drama 'The Practice.' Hamilton also gave a critically acclaimed performance as young Sethe in Jonathan Demme's film adaptation of Toni Morrison's 'Beloved'.and appeared as rapper Ludacris's character's mother on a series of episodes of 'Law and Order: SVU.'
A few years ago, Hamilton won her second Obie Award for her role as Suzanne Alexander in the play, 'The Ohio State Murders.' She also starred in the August Wilson plays 'Gem of the Ocean' and 'The Piano Lesson.' Hamilton is open to returning to The Great White Way in the near future, but has recently begun dedicating her time to teaching drama at The California Institute for the Arts.
"It is my responsibility that if I don't teach, I can't blame anybody. Of course this is what I should be doing because half the people don't know what acting is," she proclaimed.
"Everybody is just coming off the street and everybody is a rapper, everybody is a hip-hop singer [and] it becomes a profession where anybody can do it. Anybody can do crap and that's the sad part."
"I think black people have become irrelevant in this country - even though we have a black president. We're not particularly relevant right now. We economically are worst off now than we were twenty years ago - that's a fact. How are we going to make it? When you ask what about black people on television, that's not relevant. We can't even survive?," she vented.The actress continued, "You don't hear anybody talking about how there are no black women on television. We do not exist. Does anybody really care? No."
Still, at age 46, Hamilton is extremely optimistic about her career path.
"I've been fortunate in my life to do the kind of work that I like to do," she acknowledged. "My career is really up to me."
'Men of A Certain Age' airs on Mondays at 10 pm EST on TNT.
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