Lance Reddick is on the fringe

Lance Reddick is one of those actors who has been around for years but is now just getting his due. He was on the brilliant HBO show, The Wire, and is now part of the cast of Lost and Fringe.

He sat down for an interview recently and talked about his career.

And if you go to his website, LanceReddick.com, you can watch his demo reel.

On his Yale Drama school experience:

He approaches his work with a dedication honed at Yale University’s drama school: “I’m an artist at heart. I feel that I’m very good at what I do. When I went to drama school, I knew I was at least as talented as other students, but because I was a black man and I wasn’t pretty, I knew I would have to work my butt off to be the best that I could be, and to be noticed.”

On the fickleness of the business:

“As I watch the industry and see what it took me to get where I am,” Reddick said, “I am more aware how precarious my position is. There’s no such thing as a holding pattern.”

“I really don’t take any of this for granted,” he said. “It makes me evaluate more what’s really important in life, and it makes me work harder. You either get better, or you don’t progress.”

On The Wire and his character Lt. Cedric Daniels:

He added that playing Daniels was no easy gig.

“He was a real challenge,” he said. “I kept him tight — he was very self-contained and analytical, but he also had a lot of rage.”

And the role was no less demanding physically. To prepare, Reddick would work out by punching a body bag — “I wanted to show a guy who looked like he could go off at any moment.”

What do the creators of Lost have to say about him?

“Lost” executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof said they felt very fortunate to have brought the fearsome-looking actor into their spooky serialized hit.

“One of the things we really gravitated toward was that Lance is very scary looking, and he’s a very intensive actor who also has this incredible charisma,” said Lindelof.

Added Cuse: “What he does incredibly well is deliver exposition, and the audience isn’t aware of it. That’s an incredibly rare skill to find in an actor.”