Build a career? Build a life.

Actor Sean Patrick Thomas shared U.Va. memories and career — and life — advice at the first joint event for the African-American Studies and African Studies Program and the Media Studies Department.
Photo by Jack Looney

In Charlottesville for the 20th annual Virginia Film Festival, where he appeared in director John Sayles’ newest film, Honeydripper, actor Sean Patrick Thomas made a point of devoting much of his stay to students, generously sharing both his acting expertise and life experience with humility, seriousness and candor.

“If that’s the kind of people a U.Va. education produces, I’m even more proud I go here,” said second-year Samantha Lowery after an afternoon of questions and answers with the 1992 alumnus (Drama, English Language and Literature) at Garrett Hall.

At U.Va., Thomas discovered his passion for acting when, as a pre-law English major, he met drama professor Richard Warner, who encouraged him to audition for Raisin in the Sun. (He appeared in a television production of the play more than a decade later with co-stars Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Sanaa Lathan and Audra McDonald.) He encouraged Thomas to audition at the competitive New York University, where he earned an M.F.A. in drama. Thomas landed small roles in films including Courage Under Fire, Conspiracy Theory and Can’t Hardly Wait, followed by a pivotal role in Cruel Intentions. He went on to play barber Jimmy James in the blockbuster Barbershop films and gained acclaim as detective Temple Page on the CBS hit series The District, winning Movieguide’s 2003 Grace Award for Best Television Performance by an Actor. Thomas may be best known for his sensitive, layered performance opposite Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance, which earned him two MTV Movie Awards and the Male Standout Performance Award at the 2001 Movieline Magazine Young Hollywood Awards.

Thomas answered student questions at the first joint event organized by the African-American Studies and African Studies Program and the Media Studies Department.

What did U.Va. bring to your career?
I was a double major in English and drama, and I came out of here feeling capable because I’d studied the liberal arts, things like English and philosophy and astronomy. With that broad-based education, you’re going to be an educated man in the world. It informs your work. Other actors who don’t have this kind of background are very unsure of themselves when they’re asked to read parts. I know I can do it. I spent my whole four years here onstage.

What makes a great actor?
Lack of vanity. You have to let all that go and release yourself into the moment. It’s difficult to do; it’s counter to human nature.

What’s it like to be a black actor in Hollywood?
There are more jobs for black people than ever, but it’s quantity, not quality. There’s still the idea that we [black people] all walk, talk and speak the same way — and mostly by black directors and producers, and that’s what bothers me. We impose it on ourselves. We don’t give ourselves credit for being 1,000 ways. I want to look at the page and have it be just a guy; usually, it jumps off the page that he’s black. It’s a constant battle. If I wanted to be a sidekick, funny guy, I’d have a lot more jobs. There’s not much out there for a serious actor. Why can’t Jason Bourne or Peter Parker be black?

The storytelling is still influenced. Even Denzel Washington (who guarantees a No. 1 opening weekend) and Will Smith, who are successful at the box office as crossover actors and producers, still don’t get the white girls.

With Save the Last Dance, Julia Stiles and I agreed we would play the relationship as two people who had a little crush on each other, but after they hired me, the producers said I wasn’t ’hood-enough, I was too well-spoken. But I would not play into a stereotype. I told them, “People from the ’hood can be me. Black people come in all sizes and shapes, we come in 1,000 ways, and one of the ways is me.” I told them, “You can fire me, but this is what I bring to the table.” Being certain of that, of myself and who I am has helped carry me.

I don’t want to contribute to any stereotypes. For a long time, I was typecast as the “safe” black guy, but in Honeydripper I break away from that and play a criminal in the South, and there’s a lot of baggage and weight to that kind of role. I felt responsible for doing that in a way it hadn’t been done before.

What do you think has made you successful?
When I moved to Los Angeles, I was hired for a television pilot called Push — and then they fired me before the show aired because they said I wasn’t sexy. That was followed by lots of auditions where I never got the job. It was difficult and I was pretty down. But even though I wasn’t hired, I repeatedly got the feedback that they felt I was a skilled actor. Word got around among casting directors about the good auditions. I was building a reputation; I was known for doing good work consistently — and everything came from that. Save the Last Dance was the result of that dry period.

Do you have a strong support network?
Yes, I have a very supportive group of family and friends. Years ago, if I appeared in a play in Kentucky, my mother and sisters would drive out from Delaware to see me. It didn’t matter where I was, they came.

What directors have you most liked working with?
John Sayles. He’s a legendary icon. He, to me is brilliant at being clear and thorough, and he knows what he wants. He writes about simple things, no bells and whistles, and lets that be the tapestry, little things that add up. He always seemed to cast great actors, too —I wanted to be part of telling a great story and I knew I would be doing work at the highest level. Darren Aronofsky, my director on The Fountain, pushed me and challenged me and that’s just what I look for.

What are the difficult parts about being an actor?
You audition for 100 things and you hear “No” 98 times. It’s hard to hear, “We think you’re great, but …” You hear it every day for years, but then one day you hear “Yes.”

It’s nerve-wracking and financially difficult because you can’t make plans, but I love that I’m sitting with you today and may be in London on Tuesday doing the Bourne Identity VI. You have to be ready to go when they call. It’s the perfect life for me. I think it’s a crazy life and I don’t know that I’d recommend it to someone else. I don’t imagine myself ever settling down, although my wife is pregnant so that’s my next challenge.

Who would you like to work with who you haven’t worked with yet?
Billy Bob Thornton, Denzel Washington, Kate Blanchett, Anthony Hopkins, Don Cheadle, Morgan Freeman and Geoffrey Wright are some of the people I’d like to work with because they can teach me something and are light years ahead of me in skill and training.

Are there any other things you would like to do besides acting?
I aspire to become a producer. It’s about having a vision, good taste and finding ways to get things done. While I was at U.Va. I did a semester in London and I studied film there so I know how to make a film. I’m not curious about the technical aspects of the industry such as lighting, camera angles, etc., so I’m not interested in becoming a director.

Beyond acting …
• When you’re marketing yourself, appearances matter.
• You’ve got to have a little arrogance. You have to believe that whoever it is who told you “No” is wrong.
• You have to be willing to be unpopular or disliked to do the right thing.
• Stick to your guns and be you. That’s what makes you unique, that’s what you bring to the table.
• You have to be relentless about maintaining whatever the core of you is and not swaying. You have to be ruthlessly holding onto that.

For extensive coverage of the Film Festival, look in the February Arts & Sciences magazine and its Online Extras.

Read the Sean Patrick Thomas profile in The Hook: “HOTSEAT- Hollywood ’hoo: UVA’s other famous Thomas.”

Read another profile in the Charlottesville Daily Progress: “Sean Patrick Thomas comes back to where it all began.”