Man of the moment

John david Washington

AGE: 34

WASHINGTON? SOUNDS FAMILIAR: It is! He’s the son of Denzel and Pauletta Washington. WHERE YOU’VE SEEN HIM BEFORE: In all four seasons of Ballers, as Ricky Jerret, a firebrand NFL wide receiver. BREAKOUT ROLES:

As Ron Stallworth, a real-life detective who infiltrated the KKK over the phone in the

’70s, in Spike Lee’s BlackKkKlansman; as Officer Dennis Williams in Monsters and Men; as Lieutenant Kelley in

The Old Man & the Gun. THAT’S A LOT OF COPS:

‘I’m realising how thankless a job it is.’

THE HARDEST THING ABOUT PLAYING ONE TODAY: ‘The perspective of the African-American police officer, of the minority police officer – we don’t really hear from them. We don’t get to hear their side or at least get to know what they’re feeling. If they even feel what we feel.’

AND WHY IT WAS A LITTLE MORE FUN TO PLAY ONE FROM THE ’70s: ‘I had to rid myself of all hip-hop for three months. It was

’60s and ’70s music, from Led Zeppelin to Hendrix to Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, The Beatles. My playlist is crazy. It’s so dope.’ WHAT IT’S LIKE TO NAIL A SPIKE LEE JOINT: Lucky and humbling. ‘There will be years when I might not be able to work with people that feel this way about the art. But I will take these experiences and put them in the bank and recall them when I need them. Which will be quite often.’

BUT HE’S EXPECTING

MORE KILLER YEARS, RIGHT? ‘My grandma says, “If you pray for rain, you’ve got to prepare for the mud.”’

– JOSHUA RIVERA