Spotlight on Golden Globe winner Sterling K Brown
This Golden Globe winner is on the up and up in Tinseltown
When The Bug Bit Brown became hooked on acting in high school when he landed one of the lead roles in a musical and received standing ovations three nights in a row.
“The whole place stood up and started applauding. My friend and I went up on stage and as we took our bow we said, ‘We gotta keep doing this sh*t.’ It was the biggest high. I was an athlete. I played football and basketball in high school so I always loved the thrill of the crowd and performing. But that was the first time I experienced it outside of athletics. It was magical. That’s when I knew it was something I could fall in love with.”
He initially studied economics at university as he’d decided acting wasn’t a practical choice, but deep down he knew it was what he wanted and he switched to studying drama two years later.
Raking them in He says acting is his calling as it nourishes his soul, and awards are just a fortunate by-product. But Brown doesn’t deny that the winning streak he’s been on for the past few years feels good.
The actor is now a two-time Emmy Award winner – in 2016 for best supporting actor for his role in the series The People v. OJ Simpson and in September last year for best actor in a drama for his role in This Is Us. Then in January he became the first black actor to win a Golden Globe for best actor in a TV drama.
“I feel a tremendous sense of pride,” the 41-yearold said. “To be the first of something is really interesting because I never considered myself to be a trailblazer.”
This Is Us is on M-Net (DStv channel 101) on Mondays at 20:00.