00:00 Sterling K. Brown is honoring his late This Is Us co-star.
00:04 Following the heartbreaking news that Ron Cephas Jones
00:07 has passed away from a longstanding pulmonary issue
00:09 at the age of 66, Sterling took to Instagram
00:12 to pay tribute to the late actor.
00:15 Quote, "Life imitated art today,
00:17 "and one of the most wonderful people the world has ever seen
00:19 "is no longer with us."
00:21 @RonCephasJones has passed away
00:23 and the world is a little less bright.
00:25 Sterling wrote alongside a photo of the pair
00:27 from the NBC show, adding, quote,
00:29 "Brother, you are loved and you will be missed.
00:31 "Keep them laughing in the next phase of existence
00:33 "and I'll see you when I get there."
00:35 Ron was best known for playing the biological father
00:38 of Randall Pearson, who was played by Sterling
00:40 on NBC's This Is Us.
00:43 Ron won two guest acting Emmys in 2018 and 2020
00:47 for his role.
00:48 Back in 2018, Ron made an appearance on Access Daily
00:51 and shared how he snagged the role.
00:54 Love him so much.
00:55 Back on Access Live with Ron Cephas Jones,
00:57 who just won an Emmy for his role as William on NBC's
01:01 This Is Us.
01:02 - Thank you.
01:03 - It's right here.
01:03 - Yeah.
01:04 - Hard to believe your first Emmy ever.
01:07 - It is incredible.
01:08 It's pretty incredible.
01:09 - What's it like to get this chance?
01:11 It's sort of a second chance,
01:12 even though you've been acting all along.
01:14 - It's a bit surreal.
01:15 You know, everything happens so fast,
01:17 even the seasons, but from realizing now
01:20 that we're in season three already, you know,
01:22 it just seems like yesterday we were just at the table
01:25 reading the pilot, you know?
01:26 So, and then everything just took off
01:28 and I met you, Kat, that first year.
01:30 - Yes.
01:31 - And you've been with us.
01:32 - There's been love ever since.
01:33 - Yes, that's right.
01:34 - And you're such a class act
01:35 'cause I'd be wearing that around my neck.
01:37 (laughing)
01:38 You know what I'm saying?
01:39 - On a chain.
01:39 - On a chain, yeah, you know what I mean?
01:40 Yeah, for sure.
01:41 - That thing weighs a ton.
01:42 - I'd be wearing it.
01:43 (laughing)
01:44 But I was with you after you won,
01:46 and that night African-Americans swept
01:50 the guest actor category.
01:52 - Yes, yes, yes.
01:53 I didn't know that.
01:54 I didn't have any knowledge of the history,
01:56 you know, and then I found out that we had swept.
01:58 I knew Samira and knew of her from New York,
02:03 you know, and from the theater scene.
02:04 So it was just a--
02:06 - Samira Wiley from "Oranges in the New Black."
02:08 - Yes, that's right.
02:09 And it was just an amazing evening, you know?
02:12 It's just even talking about it now,
02:15 it just gives me chills, you know?
02:17 It was a wonderful, wonderful moment.
02:20 I'm thinking about my mother and growing up
02:23 and going back to when I first started out
02:27 taking theater classes in college, you know,
02:29 and beating the pavements for so many years
02:32 and doing so many plays and meeting so many actors
02:34 that now I'm seeing again, now that I'm out here,
02:38 who have been out here working for some time.
02:40 So I'm just feeling very blessed and grateful at the moment.
02:45 Just even being here today, you know?
02:48 - And you talk about work.
02:49 Brother, you are busy.
02:52 - Yes, yes, it's starting to get busy.
02:54 - What's the show you're getting ready to watch?
02:56 - I'm so geeking out over "Dolemite."
02:58 I can't believe they're making a remake of "Dolemite"
03:00 with Eddie Murphy.
03:01 - You remember "Dolemite?"
03:02 - I'm such a fan of like the exploitation films
03:04 of the '70s and stuff.
03:05 I'm just a geek over it
03:06 and I'm like just brimming with excitement.
03:08 - So wait, Eddie Murphy's in this with you, right?
03:11 - Eddie Murphy is playing "Dolemite."
03:13 He's playing this character who was like a comedian
03:16 who was kind of a racy,
03:19 he'd be in "Red Fox," you know, "Slappy White,"
03:21 some of these old comedians
03:22 and you used to have to sneak down in the basement
03:25 when your parents weren't around to listen to these albums
03:27 because of the language and the sexual innuendos
03:31 that were involved in these albums.
03:32 So he's doing the life story of him.
03:37 And so I got a wonderful role in that film.
03:39 So I got a chance to meet Eddie and hang out with him.
03:42 And that was wonderful.
03:43 - Is he as funny in person?
03:45 - He is, I mean, for me, you know,
03:46 as soon as you see him, you'd start laughing, you smile,
03:49 you know, because of all the characters that I,
03:52 watching him, you know, on "Saturday Night Live,"
03:54 and all the great iconic characters.
03:56 That's right, that's one of my favorites.
03:58 (all laughing)
04:00 But we were work-based mostly,
04:03 but I got a chance to chat with him a little bit
04:04 and have a few laughs, yeah.
04:07 - You also got another show, "Venom."
04:08 - A movie. - A movie.
04:09 - "Venom," yeah. - "Tom Hardy."
04:11 - Interesting story.
04:11 I knew Tom Hardy almost 20 years ago.
04:14 - Really? - Wow.
04:15 - I knew Tom before he actually blew up.
04:16 I was in London doing a play called
04:19 "Jesus Off the Atrium" by Stephen Adly Giergis.
04:22 Philip Seymour Hoffman was the director.
04:25 - Wow. - Crazy.
04:26 - And there were a lot of English actors at the time
04:28 that were still studying that came to see that play
04:31 because of the way Phil directed it.
04:33 And we broke some ground with this sort of new way.
04:36 He had this fast-paced, frenetic way of directing actors,
04:40 and it caught on.
04:41 And Tom was one of the actors that came through,
04:44 and he ended up doing a reading for us
04:47 of a Brett Leonard play, another playwright
04:49 that was in our company called the Labyrinth Theatre Company.
04:52 - Yeah.
04:53 - And he flew from London, got himself to the East Coast,
04:57 and was at the intensive with us for a couple of weeks
04:59 and reading plays, so it was good to see him.
05:01 - And now y'all are in the--
05:02 - You're busier than ever. - Marvel Universe.
05:04 - More in demand now than ever.
05:06 - With a voice like mine.
05:07 - You deserve it, man. - Congratulations.
05:09 (upbeat music)
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