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July 2007
MOVIN' FORWARD AFTER SOUL FOOD:
An Interview with Darrin Dewitt Henson

MOVIN’ FORWARD AFTER SOUL FOOD:
An Interview with Darrin Dewitt Henson

By Wilson Morales

July 9, 2007

Since “Soul Food” was cancelled a few years back, no one has more gigs than Darrin Dewitt Henson. While Nicole Ari Parker is just getting back into the film game, after giving birth to husband and former co-star Boris Kodjoe’s second child, and Melinda Williams having appeared in Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls”, Henson has completed a number of films which are just started to get attention. He also has Darrin’s Dance Grooves, which has sold very well in the market. Earlier this year, we saw in the hit film, “Stomp The Yard” with Chris Brown, Brian White, Meagan Good, and Columbus Short. He then followed up with the finally-released, though it was shot in 2005 film, “The Salon” with Vivica Fox. On the small screen, he played a in-the-closet gay music promoter in “Life Support” opposite Queen Latifah, and more recently, he has major role in the DVD release, The Last Stand” with Anthony Anderson and Guy Torry. The DVD comes out on July 10th.

“The Last Stand” is a drama that chronicles the life of four very different people attempting success as performers in Los Angeles until life becomes too much to handle. They meet at a notable Hollywood comedy club, The Last Stand. While waiting for their sets their regular hangout spot is on the roof adjacent to the comedy club. There they form a bond and become fast friends. In dealing with the pressures of life and the industry they become a support unit for each other. Living life in the fast lane their lives start to crumble. As they get closer and closer to the edge, one tragic step ends the pain. Through the lives of Reggie, TD, Bo and Dede we see the drama of comedy.

Henson plays “TD” Tru Dogg Kincaid, a career criminal and wanna-be comic. TD struggles to find work while pursuing stand-up circuit and shake the prison life out of his system. In speaking with blackfilm.com, Henson briefly talks some of his future projects.


Which form of acting do you prefer? On screen or in plays?

Darrin Henson: I enjoy both. I just completed a movie called “The Express”, a Universal film, where I play a young Jim Brown. He played for Syracuse and then the Cleveland Browns in the pros. The film is about Ernie Davis, a the first black man to win the Heisman trophy. It stars myself, Rob Brown, Dennis Quaid, and Charles Dutton. I just completed three months on that film. I gained 25 pounds of muscle and it was really dynamic for me to take on such a role. Then you think about the character I played on “Soul Food” or the character I played on “Stomp the Yard” and “The Last Stand” with Anthony Anderson. Whether it’s on stage, film, or television, it’s about telling the truth about these characters. That’s what makes me happy.


Did you get to meet Jim Brown?

DH: Yes. Absolutely. Jim Brown is actually a good friend of mine and definitely a mentor.


Did you watch any of his plays and do some of his moves on-screen?

DH: I did a lot of studying of his past and documentaries and different interviews actually learned a lot about him. I think playing Jim Brown thus far has already changed my life in terms of the responsibility that I have to myself, my family, people who look like me in this country.


What other projects are you working on?

DH: I have another feature coming out in November on Fox Faith films called “The Good Man is Hard to Find” with myself, Golden Brooks, Hill Harper, Darius McCray, and Mel Jackson. It’s a great story about family. I’m really excited about that. I have another movie coming out. “The Last Stand” is directed by Russ Parr, and it has Anthony Anderson and Guy Torry in it. “Stomp The Yard” is doing very well on DVD. At the end of July, I will be shooting my movie, Groove, which is a dance film, but also has drama in it as well.


Would you another TV show?

DH: Not at all, I would embrace the right television show. It’s really about what someone is projecting. If it’s something that I believe in and I think it will help our society, then I would definitely be involved in it.


Have you kept up with the castmates from “Soul Food”?

DH: We all still talk. We’re all still family.


When do you find time to rest?

DH: On the weekends. I love what I do and someone may look at that and say that’s unfair. When you love what you do, you don’t need too much of a vacation because you are not running from anything.


 

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