Nice guy Jason Dirden says it’s good to be bad
Jason Dirden knows what it’s like to be hated.
For much of his career, the actor and Houston native has played basically good, hardworking and often complex guys trying to find their way. But on OWN’s hit drama “Greenleaf,” Dirden plays Pastor Basie Skanks, an unscrupulous man of the cloth who is set on doing what he can to unleash a wrath of revenge.
He’s the character fans love to hate.
So when Dirden recently stopped by a Whole Foods store in Los Angeles, a fan accosted him with: “I hate you. Whenever you’re on the TV screen, I have to leave the room.”
Dirden tried to offer assurances that he was a good guy.
“I’m generally a nice guy, so to be perceived as a Christian villian is good and bad,” he said. “I tell people it’s not real, but you have to get used to people believing what they see on TV. I just don’t know if someone is going to throw a tomato at me.”
Ultimately, Dirden knows all the hate is a sign he’s doing a good job.
“Greenleaf,” which is executiveproduced by Oprah Winfrey, is set against the backdrop of a sprawling Memphis megachurch and tells the story of estranged daughter Grace Greenleaf (Merle Dandridge), who has returned home 20 years after the mysterious death of her sister, Faith. The church is run by her powerful parents, Bishop James Greenleaf (Keith David) and Lady Mae Greenleaf (Lynn Whitfield). Family secrets, misdeeds and drama quickly unravel under the guise of faith.
The series is now in its second season, with episodes airing Wednesday evenings.
“The writing of this show is so good. You get a chance to tap into the character’s essence. When you marry the personality (of Basie Skanks) with the intention, you get a skank or some sort of ‘skankification,’ ” he said.
Dirden says although the show is about a megachurch, it focuses on universal themes about relationships — father and son, husband and wife — and the everyday struggles of the human experience.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re in the church or not. People see themselves in a character or, in the case of Basie, they love to hate him,” he said.
Dirden was in Houston recently visiting family and celebrating his 37th birthday.
He’s the youngest of five to Willie and Deborah Dirden, who have been married 43 years and still live here. His mother taught first grade at MacGregor Elementary and was an adjunct professor at Texas Southern University, and his father worked in informational technology, “which he hated,” before focusing on acting full time.
Jason Dirden lives in Los Angeles and frequently travels to New York but still calls Houston home.
His brother, Brandon, is also an actor and is starring in “A Raisin in the Sun,” along with their father and Brandon’s wife, Crystal Dickinson, at Two River Theater in New Jersey. Brandon is known for playing Martin Luther King Jr. in the Broadway production of “All the Way.”
Despite the family connections to acting, Jason Dirden had no plans of becoming an actor when he was younger. While attending Booker T. Washington High School, he was deep into sports — football, baseball and basketball. Watching Will Smith’s popular ’90s TV show, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” changed all of that.
At 14, Dirden says he was in love with the show, which aired on the same night as football practice. He soon quit football, but his mother insisted he find another extracurricular outlet. He tried acting and got hooked.
“My brother Brandon was two years older than me, and I looked up to him, so I stole so much from him in high school and in college — his preparation and inflection on some lines. In the last five years, I’ve really started to carve out my own artistic life and energy.”
During those formative years, his father served as the brothers’ acting coach and schooled the boys during local performances, including in the Young Performers Program at The Ensemble Theatre.
“My dad would go to sleep on us when we’d do monologues because we were bad. He told us in the real world, if you’re going to do this professionally, you have to know people will fall asleep on you if you aren’t believable and if you aren’t good.”
Dirden went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in theater from Morehouse College in Atlanta and a master’s in fine arts in acting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He had roles in Tyler Perry’s “House of Payne,” on BET and did some voice work for the “Grand Theft Auto V” video game. But he became known for his work in the theater alongside Denzel Washington in the Broadway productions of “Fences” and “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Dirden has recently written a screenplay focused on Houston in which he plans to star with his father and brother. “I really want to make Houston the character in here. We have so much talent here,” he said.
As his celebrity rises, life hasn’t changed since Dirden’s days growing up in a “coupon-clipping household.” He has an affinity for watches but isn’t addicted to labels or material things.
“I didn’t get into this business to become a star. I love the craft of acting and getting into a character. It’s not just about a show. It’s about giving it your all,” he said.
Still, when it comes to “Greenleaf,” he often gets asked if he’s rubbed shoulders with Winfrey. She has a cameo role on the show.
“We haven’t worked together directly, but she did tweet me,” Dirden says. “I think that means she’s a fan.”