Written By: Jayme Face
Acting veteran Brent Jennings can be seen on shows like “All American” and the very popular “Lodge 49” and he told us all about it!
Photo Credit: Bobby Quillard
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about “All American” and your character Willy Baker?
Brent Jennings: Willy Baker is the father of Taye Diggs character, Billy Baker. It sort of examines the father son relationship where the father pushed his son to excel as a high school football player because he thought his son had the potential to go to the pros, which happens. He did go to the NFL. The father had extreme demands of his son and his approach to training and achieving excellence drove a wedge in their relationship. So now they’re sort of estranged and the father feels that the estrangement is really not his fault so to speak. He feels as though his son doesn’t really give him the respect and gratitude for his success that he deserves. The son has ended his NFL career and is coaching the Beverly Hills High School football team and recruits a star player from the inner city. In addition to the football team and their quest for a championship it examines the different father and son couplings and that subplot. That’s where my character fits in; it’s not a regular role. It’s a recurring role, I did six episodes in the first season. It wasn’t meant to be that much, but they kind of liked what they saw, the writers, and started to develop that relationship. I may be back to the second season if they get picked up. I sort of pushed myself back into the family and become close to my grandson who is a football player. He is the quarterback of Billy a.k.a. Taye Diggs’ team. I feel he needs better coaching and take him under my wing. I tutor him in the mechanics of playing his position using the same methods that drove my son away from me. We go through that process of coming to an understanding and the relationship with the grandson sort of pulls me back into a relationship with Billy even though it’s still full of a lot of tension and a lot of bad blood that has to be thinned out and worked through.
upfrontNY: The show is inspired by the story of Spencer Paysinger . Have you been able to get feedback from him or those in his life?
Brent Jennings: No, I haven’t. I’ve sort of been playing catch up because they were up and running and shooting when they added this character. I know that it’s based on real life, but I don’t know much about that. I have to take it off the written page that they give me and play it as it’s written. It’s pretty easy as a father myself to understand the dynamics of this relationship. Every father has made his own mistakes and you just take it from your own experience and observations. I used to coach my son’s basketball team so I saw a lot of fathers who were pushing their kids too hard and living through their kids, but as far as Spencer’s specific story I don’t know the ins and outs of things.
upfrontNY: Were there any challenges to joining the cast later in the season?
Brent Jennings: Well I guess since I’m the old head, it’s a very youthful show, I got a lot of respect for just being the old guy. So, there weren’t any real challenges. It was really warm on set, a very open set, a welcoming set, and everyone sort of embraced me. There weren’t any problems fitting into the flow of things, not at all. The longer you’re coming back and forth the more at home you feel. It was a great crew to work with and it’s just a very pleasant experiences.
upfrontNY: Can you also tell us a little bit about “Lodge 49” and what we can expect from the upcoming season?
Brent Jennings: Well, I can’t do any spoiler alerts except to say we are in the midst of shooting now. We shot our first two episodes. Of course we will go back to California, Long Beach, and do stuff from each episode that we shoot that we can’t do in Atlanta. The second season is going to be different in a lot of ways. It spreads out and we learn a lot more about a lot of the other characters in the show that we didn’t get a lot of information on in the first season. I think it’s just as hilarious and edgy as the first season. A lot of really creative stuff is happening that we are all happy about and we are all happy about it as we shoot it. I expect it to be something that this audience will enjoy and continue to watch with some sort of “What the heck is happening?!” and come back next week and see what this is all about. It’s just a very creative show. I don’t think there is anything like it on television and that’s a great deal of the fun about it. You feel you are apart of something novel, unique, and very artistic. It’s not your cookie cutter type of show.
upfrontNY: How did you get into acting in the first place?
Brent Jennings: I discovered it in the sixth grade while doing a school play. The lady that directed the play pulled me aside and told me “I think you should really think about acting; you have such good timing and a good speaking voice.” The little kids used to follow me around based on seeing me in the play, so it gave me the sense that I was good at it and people responded to it. When you’re young and you do something that you get that type of positive response it kind of sticks with you. I just began to research it and do it anytime the opportunity came up. I decided that’s what I was meant to be doing and one thing just continued to lead to the next and here I am. Now it’s been many many years later, still doing it, still loving it.
upfrontNY: You have been in so many amazing movies and T.V. shows and played so many characters over the years, what character do you identify with the most?
Brent Jennings: You identify with different characters for different reasons. I ended up going to Edmonton College and studying acting and part of your training is about approaching a character to find some sort of empathy for the character, whoever the character is. I played, on a television movie, a guy who was running around sticking up jewelry stores. He was a sociopathic criminal who ended up killing a cop, but could not even see the right and wrong in what he was doing. You have to sort of figure out how to portray a character that doesn’t possess the moral base that you do. You have to figure it out and accept him for who he is and love him for who he is in order to play him honestly and truly. When you do that they all have a special place in your memory and your heart because you try to understand them.
The character I play in “Lodge 49” I have an empathy for right now because he’s a guy who’s in his early sixties and doesn’t feel he has the ability to accomplish in life what he wanted. He feels his life is without any real accomplishment and meaning and he’s trying to accomplish things that will erase those feelings of inadequacy in terms of relationships, in terms of career. As a person in my sixties myself I can understand the idea of the window closing and what have I done or not done to warrant the time I’ve spent on earth. To say I’ve been here and I’ve contributed something and my life has meant something. I think that’s the basis of the character. So, you can empathize with that and you can understand the ups and downs. I say he has an older guy’s body with a young guy’s attitude because he’s still trying to accomplish what someone 20 or 30 years younger than he is trying. As opposed to resting on his laurels. I really am identifying with him. I think that with everything I’ve played, that’s my approach. My approach is to find my connection and find a piece of myself that I could put into it.
upfrontNY: What made you want to teach and direct young actors?
Brent Jennings: It was something that just started gnawing at me in a way that it was just a desire that I had. A lot of times your career isn’t going like you want it to and you want to stay busy. I ended up at the Academy of Dramatic Arts as an adjunct and directing plays for young actors. I found that I enjoyed teaching through that process of directing. I have a great love for acting and I always loved the rehearsal process. I’m from the theatre, that’s where I started. I was acting in New York, a stage actor. The whole process of putting a character together, discovering who the character is and being true to that. Getting over your own inhibitions that prevent you from committing to the character, all those things that you go through as a young actor that you have to kind of work through and learn.
I found it enjoyable watching the growth and watching people make those kinds of discoveries. And you’re dealing with people who really want to learn and they really value what it is you’re giving them. It’s not like a professional atmosphere where you have that competition between actors and you have actors develop little idiosyncrasies. It’s the craft in its purest form. When you’re in a classroom and people are just trying to get it right, I found that I enjoyed that. It was a way of re-immersing myself in the learning process. Sometimes you run across a student and you say “Okay, how can I help this person? How can I unlock what I see is holding them back?” You have to find ways of communicating with each person in an individual way. That was also a challenge, but like I said it was dealing with what I do in its purest form. That’s what you find in a classroom full of young people who have a real desire to develop their skills. They see you as a professional; they’ve seen your work and they respect what you’re brining to the table. They’re open and it’s nice to be in that atmosphere. I come from a family of teachers. My mother taught, my brother taught, my aunts and uncles taught, so I come from preachers and teachers. It really is a giving thing.
It feels good to give and you see the rewards. I’ve also begun to understand that acting is giving because it’s giving yourself to a character and telling the story for that character. It’s a giving thing for the audience that’s watching you. It’s a nice thing. It’s a way of always learning and staying in touch with acting. I think it makes actors better actors when they teach.
upfrontNY: What is the number one piece of advice you give your students?
Brent Jennings: To get out of the way of yourself. We are our own biggest enemy so just learn to get out of your own way. When you can begin to forget yourself and create the character, the more open and honest you can be, the more risk you can take and the more interesting you’ll be. So, get out of any preconceived notions of what a character is about or even what you’re about because you learn something about yourself from any challenging character that you take on. You have to learn to take chances and do your homework. The more you put in, the more you’ll get out.
upfrontNY: You’ve been in the industry a long time what are some of the biggest changes you’ve seen as an actor?
Brent Jennings: Well there’s just so many platforms now- YouTube, Amazon, Hulu it goes on and on. There are a lot more opportunities and there are a lot more people in it for the wrong reasons. We’re in a celebrity driven culture now. There are more people looking for fame and fortune than there are who just know that they enjoy the craft. I tell young people if you can do something else and be happy then go do that because at the time that I started it was really about a love of what you were doing. Now with Instagram and Twitter there’s so much more narcissism than there used to be and celebrity driven and corporate. It’s very different, but that’s to be expected; nothing stays the same. It’s just full of people now, it really takes a committed person. I believe the cream always rises to the top. It might take longer, but you’ll find your talent will take care of you if you are dedicated to it and if you treat it right.
upfrontNY: Do you think you would go back to the stage?
Brent Jennings: The last time I had that urge to go back to New York and to be on a New York stage, I did a play at the Signature Theatre back in 2014. It was great. It was great to be back in New York and to be back in what I consider to be the epitome of the theatre world in this country. It’s done the way it should be done, where some of the best theatre artists in the country are all there. I had a great time. It was challenging because it was like getting out of the way of the freight train because things were moving so fast. I don’t know. I think I would go back more as a director than an actor right now, but if an opportunity came for something that really fit and working with good people I’d probably give it a shot. Once it’s in your blood it’s hard to say no to an opportunity that stirs your creative juices.
Don’t forget to watch “Lodge 49” on AMC the first season can also be found on Hulu.
Follow Brent Jennings on Instagram : @brentmjennings
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