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00:00Hi, I'm Sterling K. Brown, and we are behind the scenes at my 2025 April Ebony cover shoot.
00:07I think you have to be authentic to yourself, right?
00:11I think early on in my career, I would go on auditions and try to imitate Denzel Washington.
00:18Sometimes I would go in and all of a sudden just start talking with a British accent mate
00:22because it felt like everybody really cared about the Brits,
00:25and a brother from St. Louis got no love at all whatsoever.
00:28And they would always be like, oh, you're really good, but I never got the job, right?
00:33And I think at a certain point I said, you know what, there's only one me, right?
00:38And however I come across, whatever it is that is unique about me,
00:42that's the thing that I have to share with the rest of the world.
00:46So don't worry about how anybody else does it.
00:48And sort of to extrapolate, don't worry about how everybody or anybody else does man.
00:53You are a man. You know who you are, right?
00:57And you are in touch with both the masculine and feminine sensibilities that exist within yourself.
01:03And sharing all of that with people is sharing yourself in the most authentic way possible, right?
01:09I think I was really privileged.
01:11I had a dad, Sterling Brown Jr., may you rest in peace, passed away when I was 10.
01:16And my dad cried, right?
01:22Like, not overly weepy or anything like that, but if he saw a movie, you know what I'm saying,
01:27we were watching it together, I look over at the old man and he had a tear trickling down his eye
01:32and I'm watching Bambi 2 and I'm like, hey, dad, you crying?
01:35He's like, yeah, man, you crying?
01:36I'm like, yeah, man.
01:37And then we just hug it out.
01:38And it was just a cool little moment.
01:41And so I didn't grow up with the idea that you had to be sort of stoic or that you had to hide your emotions or whatnot.
01:49I thank Sterling Brown Jr. for setting the example.
01:53Do we affirm black women enough?
01:56No.
01:57No, we don't.
02:00There is such strength that exists within our community that I think, and because of the systemic sort of deconstruction of our family that stems from slavery,
02:12we are still actively learning how to walk side by side.
02:16Let everybody cook.
02:18Like, it's not a competition.
02:21It's a coalition.
02:22And I would love to see us be able to work side by side more and more as time goes on.
02:29I think when you find a partner who's worth sharing life with, even when things get rocky or whatnot, you remember that you care about them deeply.
02:40And you're here to make it work.
02:41A wonderful gift that Ryan Michelle Bethe and Sterling K. Brown have with each other is that we crack each other up all the time.
02:49We laugh real, real hard in the Brown household.
02:54If she was not funny, we would not be married.
03:00And I would like to think that the opposite holds true as well.
03:04To be able to laugh at yourself and to laugh at each other, I think, is paramount in order to maintaining a healthy relationship.
03:12Dan Fogelman, the creator of This Is Us, is also the creator of Paradise.
03:17He sent me the script and he said, listen, I've been writing this thing.
03:21And as I was writing it, I think I have you in mind for the lead character.
03:25Take a look at it.
03:25Tell me what you think.
03:26I read it and I was like, I'm in, right?
03:31And he said, like, I want you to be a producer on it as well.
03:34Like that we sort of develop this thing out and sort of package it together.
03:39What drew me to Xavier is very different than Randall.
03:45So it was my first foray back into television after This Is Us.
03:49And I didn't want to repeat myself.
03:51So that was very important to me.
03:55Variety is the spice of life, if you will.
03:58Then, listen, now, I'll be 49 years old tomorrow.
04:04I don't know how much time I got to kick butt and take names, man.
04:08Like, you know, unless I'm turned into Liam Neeson or something and I got a particular set of skills.
04:13So I'm like, let me go ahead, do this pew pew stuff while I still can move my body.
04:18So that was also something that was greatly appealing.
04:22My leadership style is not one where I have to be out in front.
04:27My leadership style is more sort of like we're walking into this thing together, right?
04:34The vibe on set is very important to me that people are happy to be there.
04:39That they don't just have to be there, but they want to be there.
04:42I had a great deal of success being a supporting actor or sort of just, you know, slightly behind
04:47where folks are.
04:48And now I recognize that, you know, God brings you exactly what you need when you need it.
04:56Right?
04:57Like, the divine timing is perfect.
05:01And it was a perfect time for me.
05:02Like, I had done six years on This Is Us.
05:05I've done six years on Army Wives.
05:06Like, I've done a lot of television.
05:09I've done, you know, OJ.
05:11I have another show called Washington Black and the guest stars on Miss Maison and all
05:15that stuff.
05:15Like, I've done a lot to where I was like, you know, Ron, I actually, I think, I think
05:20I know kind of what I'm doing to a certain extent, you know?
05:25More essential tips for the gentleman's playbook.
05:32I'll start with, like, an overarching sort of theme.
05:36If you have to choose between kindness and being right, choose kindness.
05:42Being right, you can know you're right about something and you can keep it to yourself.
05:49Like, I don't know, man, the ego and the male ego can be very fragile sometimes, but learning
05:58to get to a place where you're not easily offended, like being slow to offense, honestly,
06:05helps people arrive to things with a certain level of grace and appreciation and ability
06:11to hear what other people have to say, right?
06:15And I think being a gentleman means more listening than talking.
06:19Right?
06:20It means kindness over being right.
06:24It means allowing space for everyone.
06:29Happy birthday to you.
06:36Happy birthday to you.
06:41Happy birthday to you.
06:45Happy birthday to you.
06:46Happy birthday to you.
06:48Okay, that's good.
06:49Thank you very much.
06:55I have red velvet for you.
06:56I know.
06:57Yes.
06:57Get the.