00:00The little boy who plays Hamnet, this little cherubic British kid.
00:07I was like, where the did they get this kid from?
00:10Hi, I'm Julianne Nicholson.
00:12I'm Sterling K. Brown.
00:13And this is Inquiring Minds.
00:15With Esquire.
00:16Let's do it.
00:17Who was the last person you were nervous to meet?
00:19Oh, wow.
00:20I did get a chance to meet former President Barack Obama.
00:24I'm nervous to meet you, having met him.
00:26I did his wife's podcast, Madam First Lady.
00:30And her brother, Craig.
00:32And then they had a holiday party.
00:34And I saw everybody going up and talking to him, what have you.
00:37And I could see the Secret Service, because I play one on TV.
00:40Yeah, game-recognized game.
00:41Game-recognized game.
00:42I was like, gentlemen, is it okay if I pass?
00:44And they said, of course you can, Mr. Brown.
00:47I was like, they know my name.
00:48So then I walk up to him.
00:50I say, Mr. President, I don't want to bother you.
00:51And he goes, oh, my man.
00:53And he comes down like this and hugs me.
00:56And he goes, not only are you a good actor,
01:01but you have something to say.
01:03And I was like, you don't be listening to my interviews, Mr. President.
01:06You better stop.
01:07But he actually quoted some things that I said to him.
01:10And I was like, which reality competition show do you think you'd win?
01:16All of them.
01:16No, I was going to say none of them.
01:19I'm obsessed with RuPaul's Drag Race.
01:21My daughter and I watch it.
01:21Okay.
01:22And in fact, I'm going to be a judge on it this Friday.
01:24Are you really?
01:24Like, yeah, it's a big deal for me.
01:27Okay.
01:28Where's the strangest place a fan has recognized you?
01:30So I was in St. Louis, which is where I'm from.
01:33And I was at this pancake house.
01:35And this waitress was like, has anybody ever told you you look just like Sterling K. Brown?
01:40And I said, I get that all the time.
01:42Right?
01:43And she goes, no, no, for real, you even sound like me.
01:46I was like, you got to be kidding me, sister.
01:48And then she brings her phone over and she goes, look, look, you look just like him in this picture
01:51right there.
01:52Ain't nobody ever told you that.
01:53I said, I told you people you'd be telling me.
01:55And then after like a half hour of like finishing the meal, about to walk out, she goes, you're not
02:00Sterling K. Brown, are you?
02:03I said, yeah.
02:04Why didn't you tell me?
02:05I said, I answered the question that you asked me.
02:10And I kept it moving.
02:12I said, who's most likely to break during a scene in Paradise?
02:16Neither one of us.
02:17No.
02:17Really boring.
02:19That's not really what we do.
02:20No.
02:22It's not a breaking kind of show.
02:24You know what I'm saying?
02:24We're not coming up with like skits.
02:25Not a lot of laughs.
02:26That people are like, oh, it's the Beavis and Butt-A-D-D-Race.
02:28It was so funny when Jane shot that guy.
02:30Yeah, I'm so hysterical.
02:31Name one habit you've picked up from another actor.
02:34There's a moment on People vs. OJ.
02:36It was episode 106.
02:38It's entitled Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.
02:40Sarah Paulson and I are working this scene together.
02:43And Marsha Clark is going through this breakdown.
02:45And she's sitting on the floor and she's crying.
02:47She's got this terrible perm in her hair or whatnot.
02:50And she's just losing it, right?
02:52They did her coverage first.
02:54And I said, hey, Sarah, you kind of killed that shit, right?
02:58So we turned around on my coverage.
02:59And this broad is bawling her eyes out.
03:03You'll do fine.
03:04No, I won't.
03:05Yeah, I know it.
03:08And it was this act of generosity that I think that's the way that I had been.
03:14But I was like, oh, if I haven't been, if I've ever been phoning it in when it's not my
03:18coverage, never again.
03:20Yeah.
03:21Never, ever again.
03:22I'm going to give you 178% the whole time until I die.
03:28That's the only way I know how to do it.
03:30And Sarah Paulson locked that in my head.
03:33Nice.
03:33Concrete.
03:34Meryl Streep locked that in my head for me on August Osage County.
03:36She just brings it every time.
03:38And she also clocks if people aren't.
03:40She'll call you out?
03:43And not me.
03:45I don't know, maybe.
03:50What's a movie you've seen an embarrassing number of times?
03:54Anytime any Godfather 1 or 2 are on, I'm sticking with it.
03:59Okay.
03:59I used to also do Braveheart.
04:01Whenever that came on, I was like, take me out.
04:03I'm done.
04:03William Wallace says freedom.
04:05But they'll never take all freedom!
04:08Like, every fluid in my body just goes.
04:11I know.
04:11Yeah.
04:12I can't believe he, what happens in the end.
04:14Every time I think he's going to be okay, and then he's not.
04:17Have you ever pretended to have seen a fellow actor's work?
04:19No.
04:20You'll get caught.
04:21No.
04:21You'll get caught.
04:22Like, it's best to be up front and honest about it because it's like, if you haven't seen it, then
04:27I will go see it.
04:27Yes.
04:28But I'm not going to say that I've seen it in the lives.
04:30Yes. Yeah, yeah, smart.
04:30Because I think I may have tried that one time and be like, oh, what'd you think of that?
04:33And I was like, oh, sorry.
04:35I lied.
04:35I'm out.
04:36I lied.
04:37I didn't tell the truth.
04:38Not going to do it again.
04:39What's your go-to trick for crying on cue?
04:41Don't have one.
04:41Yes.
04:42Yeah.
04:42Because you can't, you can't, well, you can't go for, I mean, I try to not go for a result.
04:48Right.
04:48Sometimes there are things, and you know, sometimes it's, she sheds a tear.
04:52That's hard.
04:53And sometimes you have to do that.
04:54I try to feel whatever I think is happening, like, emotionally and see what that looks like.
04:59Yeah.
05:00I think you're great at it.
05:01And half a white onion.
05:03Do you have any onion?
05:05No, no, come on.
05:05What was your favorite storyline in This Is Us?
05:07The whole storyline with, with William Hill in season one, who is my biological father,
05:13is very, very special.
05:14Also because Ron Cephas Jones is no longer with us.
05:18Oh boy.
05:20And he was just a beautiful, beautiful soul.
05:24And to know that I got a chance to play with him in such a meaningful way.
05:30Like, I had a lot of adoptees who came up to me and said that they had reconnected with their
05:37birth parents after watching that whole storyline.
05:40And for me personally, who, when my biological father passed away, I wasn't allowed to be at the hospital, because
05:47I was only 10 years old.
05:48So there was this really interesting thing happening where I was like, oh, I get to be here and I
05:54get to say goodbye.
05:55And I get a chance to help him transition from the land of the living to the land beyond the
06:01living.
06:01And in doing it, it's almost like I got a chance to be there for my dad 30 some odd
06:07years ago.
06:08And so it was like this strange, therapeutic, beautiful thing where the art was helping me heal from something that
06:15I had missed for my own life.
06:17So, Randall and William Hill, that was...
06:20Beautiful.
06:21That was a good one.
06:21Name one character you had the hardest time letting go of.
06:26I did a recurring part on Masters of Sex.
06:31And I played a doctor named Dr. Lillian DePaul.
06:34You were fantastic.
06:36Has he seen it?
06:37Yes, I have.
06:37Shall we see if he's seen it?
06:39No, you were fantastic.
06:39Thank you, thank you.
06:40And she got deep, deep, deep under my skin.
06:43And that relationship that she had with Lizzie Kaplan's character, it really, really affected me.
06:47I can still feel her in me and she dies.
06:51And it's like, it's a heartbreak to me today that Lillian DePaul died.
06:54What's the last thing you watched that you couldn't stop thinking about?
06:58I'll say Hamlet.
06:59I thought Buckley...
07:01She's incredible.
07:02I think she's like this ethereal thing that's not of the planet.
07:07You know what I'm saying?
07:08As Hamlet is dying, like that gesture fucked my whole world.
07:15Have you seen it?
07:16Oh my God, Julian!
07:18Honestly...
07:19Oh, Jesus!
07:20I can't handle it.
07:21I keep hearing, like the storyline...
07:23Y'all know what I'm talking about.
07:24I read the book.
07:25I think she's incredible.
07:26I'm not ready for that heartbreak.
07:27You may not.
07:28I just feel like, honestly, I'm not ready for that heartbreak.
07:31Fair enough.
07:31When you do, you've been warned.
07:34But not even just her.
07:36The little boy who plays Hamlet.
07:40This little cherubic British kid.
07:43I was like, where the did they get this kid from?
07:46And now it's time for the rabbit round.
07:48A movie that always makes you cry.
07:50Braveheart.
07:50The last thing that made you laugh.
07:52Drag Race.
07:52Character you'd swap lives with for a day.
07:54You're a dancing mom from a hat.
07:57This is a lot of fun.
07:58Song you know every word to.
07:59We'll say Purple Rain Prince.
08:00I know it's gonna be Prince.
08:01Something you're currently hooked on.
08:02Age of Attraction.
08:03Yeah.
08:04Something you always lose.
08:06My mind.
08:08One fashion trend that needs to retire.
08:10Skinny jeans.
08:11Dream dinner guest.
08:13My family.
08:13Is that too boring?
08:14That's totally fine.
08:15Okay, snack you can't quit.
08:16Pop-Tarts, brown sugar and cinnamon.
08:18Favorite swear word.
08:19Fuck.
08:20Fuck.
08:20Fuck.
08:21We got all of them.
08:23We got them.
08:23We made it.
08:24Thank you so much for watching.
08:25Please check out Paradise on Hulu.
08:28We appreciate your support.
08:30Later.
08:30We'll see you later.
08:32Bye-bye.
08:33Bye-bye.
08:33Bye-bye.
08:33Bye-bye.
08:33Bye-bye.
08:34Bye-bye.
08:35Bye-bye.
08:35Bye-bye.
08:42Bye-bye.
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