From the Department of You’ve Got to Be Kidding: Have you ever bought into a TV or movie character so utterly and completely that you kind of forget that the actor is actually, like, playing a character? And then you find out that the character they are playing might not totally square with the person they are in real life?
Take Lance Reddick, smooth jazz composer and vocalist, with a recent self-released album, Contemplations and Remembrances. Who’s that, you say? You might know him better as The Wire’s Lt. Cedric Daniels (pictured), or perhaps the intense Phillip Broyles, a Homeland Security agent on Fringe. In both cases, a stern man. Fierce, tempered, and always in control. But not emotive. Or hopelessly romantic. Or, jazzy. Oh my no.
To that end: My favorite line is from Reddick’s song "Remembering": "Making looooove / on a rooftop / and it pours in the afternoon / And the touch of the raindrops and thunder and lightening and height / make me swoooooon…."
Needless to say, I’ve just gained all kinds of new respect for the man. But let me ask you, PopWatchers: You ever experience this character-doesn’t-jibe-with-real-life-actor type of cognitive dissonance? Share below!
More on Lance Reddick and The Wire:
15 Brilliant Wire Moments gallery
Ken Tucker on The Wire’s third season
The End of a Masterpiece
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He’s Matthew Abaddon from LOST!!!! That’s how most of us know him (sorry Fringe and Wire… but call me when you get some ratings)
This totally happened to me watching my Freaks & Geeks dvds again! Bill, one of my favorites, is NOTHING like Martin Starr, who swears a lot and is not very sweet. I’m not sure if that’s completely accurate, but that’s how he sounded in the commentary. AND! To top it off, Daley, Starr and Levine used to get in fights all the time. They weren’t actually geeky friends in real life?! And they didn’t live in 1980’s Michigan?!
I had this issue with Matt Damon several years ago. The first movie I saw him in was “School Ties” where he played a massive jerk whom I did not like at all. Years later, a friend of mine wanted to go see “Good Will Hunting”…and didn’t like it…at least not the main character…because he was played by the guy who was a massive jerk in “School Ties.” It took a few years for me to get over this. I think it was around the time of “The Bourne Identity” and “Ocean’s 11″ that I realized Matt Damon actually comes across as a really nice cool person in addition to being an incredible actor.
I hate Jon Voight in the movies, but in interviews…well, I pretty much still hate him. So, no, I haven’t had that experience.
Doesn’t this list begin and end with George C. Scott, Carroll O’Conner and Rod Steiger?
Rock Hudson?
I’ve never had a cognitive dissonance moment, but my best friend in high school met Christopher Walken in the grocery store when he was doing a play in Mass. Apparently he was the nicest, most charming guy you can imagine. Hard to square with all the psychotic nutjobs he plays on screen!
The first time I saw Hugh Laurie on a talk show, I could not believe that this quiet British man could be the man behind the gruff bitter American Gregory House.
Gillian Anderson. Really goofy in real life. Sweet but about as far from Scully as one could get.
sara ramirez…i didnt like her character on greys anatomy…and her lil part on Youve got mail…she always played an unnice person
then i saw her on you tube when she performed on Spamalot…and WOW. never knew how amazing she was, and callie is my fav on the show…now anyways…
I get this every time I see Michael Emerson in an interview. He seems like a totally funny, really smart guy but in Lost and his guest spots on TV, he’s always the creepy evil doer.
I get scared anytime I see Javier Bardem in anything. To me, he IS Anton Chigurh.
I’ve always enjoyed Weird Al Yankovic and in videos and public appearances, he tends to come across as manic, wacky and spacey. I got to meet him in person after a “Sick and Twisted” animation festival and he was quite shy, polite and reserved. He’s also been featured on Biography and I was somewhat surprised at how seriously he takes his work and how smart he seems. Guess I should have figured the intelligence would be there – he can be pretty clever lyrically.
Seeing Elijah Wood on YO GABBA GABBA! traumatized me (next to voicing a talking, dancing penguin in Happy Feet)
He’s SO MUCH BETTER as the Shire’s resident studmuffin in LOTR. I’d even see the lousy “Day Zero” movie because he’s in it. Shirtless,of course.
Why is he depriving the fangirls of his hotness? What happened to the shirtless Iggy Pop biopic? Or is this like the seven years of drought with which the prophet Elijah caused on Israel?
For the longest time I thought Gwyneth Paltrow was British because in everything I had ever seen her in (Emma, Shakespeare in Love, Sliding Doors, etc.) she has an English accent. Then I saw her on a talk show and I was actually kind of disappointed that she’s American.
Damian Lewis. My screenname should explain why.
Lance Reddick is all types of awesome. I can imagine him being into jazz and maybe even composing music, but the singing part is really hard to imagine. I’ve seen every episode of the big 3 shows he’s been in (The Wire, Lost, and Fringe). His best work is “The Wire” by far, but if he becomes a bigger part of the “Lost” mythology, that might surpass it. I don’t think he’s all that entertaining on “Fringe,” but I also have mixed feelings about the show in general so far.
Uh, no. I’m well aware of the difference between a fictitious character and a real-life person (or as “real” as one could give credit to anyone in Hollywood).
well i’d have to say Sarah Michelle Gellar could never be as ditzy (?) or badass as Buffy in real life and I always found Gwyneth Paltrow’s roles boring, but her cooking show proves she’s a pretty interesting person. Also, I didn’t find Penelope Cruz sexy until she made me laugh on Regis.
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