I have been doing this since I was nine years old. So whatever the role is, I am going to do the best I can do. The only thing I am concerned with is stepping on the stage in front of that camera and giving the best performance I know I can give, day in and day out as an actor.
People still want to escape, but today's escape is different. People now want to know that there are people out there who have more problems and are a train-wreck! This is why I think it's difficult for sitcoms these days, because people are not going to believe, joke, beat, beat, joke, because there ain't nothing to laugh about.
I am all about breaking barriers and challenging myself, that is why everything I have done on my resume is different. I have never played a cop again, and I have never played a boxer again since I played Muhammad Ali. That was a challenge, being darker than him, and the film won Best Television Movie and I was a part of that. I was in Mississippi Burning, which won an Oscar.
I have always wanted to do daytime television, but past handlers and agents had steered me away from it because they would say to me, "Darius, you have already passed that mark in your career. You have done prime time and feature films and continue to go upward," and I go, "Are you kidding me?".
My thing in this day and age, with reality television and so much other stuff that is going on, is people want to feel the reality. They want to relate.
I am not too technical in my acting, and I feel when I get too technical it becomes unbelievable.
The thing I love about soaps, and from what I know about this is its run in a very old school way, which I like, since I have been doing this entertainment thing for a long time. But I see that there are some new barriers that they can break.
I don't believe there are any more blockbusters films. Back in the day with music, people would wait up all night for the music store to open to get their favorite CD, and if it were sold out they would come back again.
I think it's a wonderful thing to have African-American characters. Look at life. It's not a white world or a black world; there are all kind of people in it. It's showing growth, and in today's world there are so many outlets.
That is another reason this transition for me into soaps makes sense for me, because I would get to work at my craft every day. I would be able to play this very real character.
