My mom's dad passed away when I was two years old in 2009. I had to call Susan the B word and I was 13 [laughs]. They existed for like five minutes before everybody got cell phones. Kelechi Watson: I love that scene with Ron [when Beth and William get high]. I'm very invested in them. But it's that perfectionism that at times is his downfall — from panic attacks to a bit of a saviour complex to constantly pushing to perfect his identity, Randall is one of the most complicated, yet steady, Black fathers we've ever seen on TV.
It really felt like we were just somewhere in Brooklyn at Marcus Garvey park and Harlem or something, just kicking it, smoking a joint together or whatever, and laughing and really bonding. Faithe was my sister from day one. Fitch: Maybe because I was prideful at the time, but I kind of wanted to do it all myself and take on playing Randall on my own. This show has a lot of love in it. He's doting to the point of annoyance, armed with a dad joke at all times, and fiercely protective of his girls. And I don't even remember what it was because we were just caught up in the moment. I even went to Sterling and I was like, "Since you cry every episode and you had to get vulnerable every episode, what's your advice for me? " Randall is a family-first person that puts everybody before him, especially at his younger age. Kelechi Watson: Normal can be really special.
And to be able to see a family like this, I know it means a lot to people. She's a grown woman with a job and a house and a family and a rich community. It was a sad day, but there was so much love in it. It's a look so awesome that if she were to appear on the cover of a magazine, she might set off a fierce new trend in feminist glamour. And so it's just a beautiful, beautiful thing that we got to do this together and through it, we got to really be great friends. I made up some song about it. If you get it right. There were no cattle calls. That day, when the scene wrapped, we hugged, and we embraced and everybody clapped. "What struck me about her and informed my character even more was the compassion and care she brought to the reading. It's no wonder Cephas Jones took home two Primetime Emmys for his work in the series. It's like what are you discussing over making this kid's lunch? "When I was first learning acting, I was told that the most important person on stage is not you, it's your partner, " Maxson says. It's the kind of interior depth Black women characters rarely get on TV at all, let alone over six years.
Oh God, my voice is getting shaky. Ross: Beth and Randall stuck with each other throughout everything. The series was a balm during the Bad Times, and its brightest light was its Blackest characters (thanks in large part to two Black women, writer Eboni Freeman and executive producer and director Kay Oyegun). Fitch: [The Black Pearson family] is not a rarity, it's a reality.
We're still going to keep in touch, well they better keep in touch with me! Cephas Jones: When I got to LA, [Sterling and I] sat across the table from one another, we were already very familiar with one another because in New York we were brought together by Tarell McCraney, the MacArthur writer who wrote Moonlight. Even with the Pearson sisters, it was the same with them. It took me aback — I didn't realise how it put my name and my image on the map as an actor in Los Angeles and Hollywood. Far from the power-plays or squabbling of my preconceived notions, the casting director describes the day-to-day of her work in terms of empathy, cooperation, observation -- and email. Randall Pearson is the walking opposite of the pervasive and insidious " absent Black dad myth " — in reality, Black fathers are actually more likely than their white counterparts to be involved in the daily life of their kids. And I was just like, "Yeah, yeah. It All Starts With Randall. Deja, Annie, and Tess are The Other Big Three. We'll talk, he'll tell stories about theatre in New York, his life in the industry. Over the course of six seasons, the Black Pearsons will evolve, tackle heavy-ass shit, and make us sob so hard we want to throw up, but one thing has always been consistent: It's in the mundane moments like this when they are at their most radical. I was still trying to prepare myself for having to cut my hair later on, and that was my real hair. There were a lot of other people in the room too. Which had never happened before then.
And it was just a really great scene. I couldn't even get my speech out. Baker: I told myself I wasn't going to cry, I just started crying uncontrollably. Cephas Jones: A lot of tears, melancholy, sadness, happiness. Cephas Jones: Susan is a Brooklyn cat. Sometimes you can just trust an actor and you know that you're in good hands. I think we were playing it as a joke, but he was like, "No, let me actually teach you. " And we're always going to be connected even when the show's over. I was 15 — our relationship has grown a lot. Enter: Deja (Lyric Ross). I really do hope that they see themselves represented in a really honest and truthful way. We're not real brothers in real life, we were put in situations where those conversations have made us [closer] so it was real cool.
I was so, so excited I messed up on my lines and I was like, "Dang, well, I didn't get that one. " But how did he get there? And I think that's what we really see with Randall and Beth. So for me, what sums it up is love. And I never had doubts when it came to them. And he really gives off that incredible welcoming energy and he makes everyone just feel so comfortable on set. It was the small things. Rains, the spectacular star of Burn Country, tells me Maxson delivers. We never sat and said, "What do you think about our chemistry? Baker: Susan's hilarious. It's also that This Is Us gave us a family during years when many people would become estranged from their own — whether over politics, vaccine status, distance, take your pick. The love between us is deep, it's really deep. And I really appreciated that advice and it definitely changed my mindset and outlook. And that's what makes him so great.
She is a magnificent soul with kindness and empathy vibrating at her very fingertips. " Fitch (Teen Randall): When I got to the final casting call it was a bunch of really younger kids and I was the only 15-year-old there. I hope that type of love resonates. Beth has found her own path, her own way to fulfill her dreams while being a wife, while being a mother. So many people were reaching out and just saying that not only did Tess help them, but the reaction that Randall and Beth had to their child coming out taught them something as well.