GlossMagazineOnline (GMO): “Jumping the Broom” kind of surpassed what critics thought it would do in the box office, I would say mostly because of its a ll-star cast. What drew you to the role of Jason Taylor?
Laz Alonso: I was at a time in my career where I had decided that I wasn’t going to continue to play—at least for the present moment in time—bad guys and characters that I felt did not have redeeming qualities because I’ve been there done that. I’ve played a significant amount of those roles, and I felt like I wanted to do something fresh—something that showed people a little bit of range, and that I can play other roles besides what they’re used to seeing me in. I decided to just wait for that role to come and it took roughly about eight months of waiting. I was still auditioning; other projects came and went. But when this character came about, I was shocked at how much I had in common with him. The whole first part of my life mirrors the character’s life. I was raised by a single mom, we came from a family of not many means, my father passed away when I was 12; he went to Howard University and worked on Wall Street and so did I.
GMO: To elaborate on your point that you wanted to stay away from the “bad guy” characters, do you think that black actors tend to get typecast when it comes to roles like that?
Laz: Nobody is twisting your arm and making you play that character. At the end of the day, we as actors have a choice to either play certain characters or not, as well as how we play those characters. So I think people sometimes act a little helpless when it comes to the “typecasting” issue, but they can control it. They can control a fair amount. If you are tired of playing that type of character, then stop—don’t do it. But it takes a lot of courage to say no to something, especially when you might have a family you have to support. I’m not criticizing anybody, but typecasting doesn’t just happen—you’re participating in that as well. On the other hand, typecasting isn’t all that bad either. It means that you’re working; you have a job. It’s basically what you choose to accept.
GMO: What is your process when selecting roles that you want to take on?
Laz: Honestly, I just look to see what I can bring to it. I’ve built my career playing a lot of supporting roles, but my whole thing is: where can I really make this character stand out in the story? How can I make this character memorable enough that it helps push the story forward? Can I give this character a strong beginning, middle and end so that people are impacted by it and he impacts the story? I do have my own kind of internal questions that I ask myself when I’m reading a script. It’s really also just the feeling.
GMO: Being of Cuban descent, how does that play a part in the roles you choose?
Laz: Well it depends. If I ’m playing a character that is of some type of Latin descent, like my character [Hector Negron] in “Miracle at St. Anna”—he was a black Puerto Rican—I feel like that knowledge base of the culture can really help me show how we can all be black but still have our own little intricacies that affect who we are. In that story, he was a Buffalo Soldier. He was a brother just like everybody else, but he came from a Puerto Rican background. Other than that, I don’t necessarily think that it comes into play that much. At the end of the day, we’re all black, we all descended from Africa. We all have more similarities than differences. That’s what I try to portray in my roles.
GMO: A couple months ago there was some turmoil between Tyler Perry and Spike Lee, two of the biggest African American film directors of our time. A lot of people had their opinions on both sides––opinions about what type of black films should be made, etcetera. What’s your opinion on the state of black film today?
Laz: I feel like everybody has a story to tell and everybody has the right to tell their story. Tyler Perry has the right to tell his story the way he sees fit and Spike has the right to tell his story the way he sees fit, and it’s our choice whether or not we’re going to support it. I really feel like there is room for both of them to co-exist in Hollywood because right now, we’re lucky if we get two black films per year. And that needs to change. We need more films that tell our stories and that are told by us and for us. We need more black directors. We need them telling stories because that is something that is lacking right now. We see that black people will support films, but that message has to constantly be reiterated.
GMO: So kind of switching gears a little, you have a really interesting background. You graduated from Howard with a degree in marketing, had a career in investment banking and worked on Wall Street. That’s an unconventional route to take to becoming an actor.
Laz: My goal was always to become an actor. I wish I would have taken advantage of Howard’s [theater program]—I wish I would have taken acting classes at Howard because I would have learned the craft a lot earlier in life. When I was in school, I was really focused on getting my degree—I’m an only child. I helped out at home, paying the bills. I worked my way through college. So for me, it was like, I can’t just graduate and starve and live out of a car and try to become an actor because that means my mom might have to be living out of a car too. That was never an option. For me, it was get a degree and get a real job, continue to send money home and pursue acting on nights and weekends, while building up my resume and experience and skills. That’s the route that I took. But from a very young age, acting was always something I saw myself doing.
GMO: So had you been involved in shows or plays prior to college?
Laz: No, I’m embarrassed to say that I never did it. I didn’t do any acting until after I was out of college. And I don’t take studying for granted. I feel that people who have studied it and are classically trained, you can definitely see their skills shine through when you’re working on set with them. They really know how to own and command their moments. I don’t take anything away from actors who have trained their entire lives. I think that it gives them a tremendous advantage. I’ve been blessed to work with so many of them, that I just became a sponge and I learned from them and I asked a lot of questions. I started off in the theater in New York, so I got to learn from the Yale graduates and all these amazing acting school graduates.
GMO: At what point when you were on Wall Street did you decide that you wanted to leave and pursue your passion of acting?
Laz: It kind of happened in spurts; it didn’t necessarily happen at one time. There were times when I would get a job here and there, and it just occurred to me that it was something that I wanted to do. It was something that I loved doing, and I ended up at times loving it more than my daytime profession. I was making a decent amount of money [as an investment banker], but I didn’t feel fulfilled. I felt fulfilled when I was acting. And that’s when I was like, okay, if I feel better about what I’m doing for free than what I’m doing for money, this is definitely where I need to be putting my energy.
GMO: How would you say that experience prepared you for your career now? 
Laz: It definitely helped me in the area of not taking rejection too personally because I understood that it’s a business and I understood why I wasn’t getting certain roles. I got it. And there’s a significant amount of freedom that happens when you learn that because you no longer take rejection personally, and when you do that, you can move forward. You can leave that other one behind you and push for another.
GMO: Let’s talk about your show, Breakout Kings. How did this project come about?
Laz: Breakout Kings was part of that eight-month hiatus I took of playing bad guy roles (laughs). I was just like, ‘enough is enough, no more bad guys, I’m just going to say no,’ because people will get to the point where you can play a bad guy so well, they don’t even want you to audition. They just start throwing money at you, like, ‘hey, we’ve got a bad guy role, you’ll be great.’ And it’s like no, that’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life. So it was part of that. Breakout Kings was an opportunity that came about, and I like the character because he’s morally rooted. He’s the one guy on the team who hasn’t messed up, who hasn’t had a criminal past, who hasn’t broken the law. He’s the moral compass of that group. He’s the guy who keeps everybody from killing each other, as well as keeps everybody on point, and I want to play that.
GMO: Besides the show, what else are you working on ?
Laz: I’m actually writing and producing a film. I’ve raised some funds independently, and we’re shooting it in the Dominican Republic and Haiti at the end of this year, the beginning of next year (2012). It deals with what happened in that country post-earthquake. We want to make a really socially conscious film that makes people think and makes people talk after they see the film. I love films that make you talk after, like once you leave, i t stays with you, and you think, ‘what would I have done in that situation?’
GMO: So the million dollar question: Are you single?
Laz: Yes, I’m single, despite what some of the blogs try to say. They just come out of left field with stuff and I’m like, c’mon man. But I’m single and I’m open. I never look for love, but I never stand in the way of it either. I feel like when you look, you might not necessarily find it, and when you find something, it might not be the best thing for you. But when you’re just open and living life and being a happy person—just a good person in life—that’s when God blesses you and sends you what you need and what will complete you. I really believe that, I have faith in that. Just the same way, when I took those eight months off, I said, you know what—I’m going to let go and let God and just trust that the right roles that are for me are going to come. And sure enough, they did more for my career than a lot of the other roles that I pursued and I fought so hard to get and I finally got them and it was like, alright, that was cool but…you know.
A lot of what I’ve learned in the last two years is to let go…because I’m a hard worker and I just try to work, work, work. A lot of it is trust and faith and belief, and it doesn’t mean be lazy or sit back and wait for things to happen—not at all. But what it does mean is that, you have to also know and believe that you’re going to be alright. God has got me co vered. So I’m going to do what I can in the realm of my power, but I’m going to stand on principle and I’m going to stand on my beliefs and I’m not going to break it.
Some of Laz’s acting credits include, “Jarhead,” “Stomp the Yard,” “Miracle at St. Anna,” “Fast & Furious” and “Avatar.” You can check out his series, Breakout Kings, which has recently been picked up for a second season, on A&E Sunday nights at 8 p.m. EST. Follow Laz on Twitter @LazOfficial.
