Ernie Hudson on his worst non-acting job, auditioning and more!
September 1, 2010 by Lance Carter
Filed under Interviews
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:38 — 19.0MB)
Ernie Hudson is probably best known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in Ghostbusters, the warden in OZ or his role in his current series, The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
But, he’s been on stage and screen for years also appearing in Las Vegas, Law and Order, Desperate Housewives, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle and was on Broadway in last year’s, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
In his new film, Doonby, he plays Leroy, a blues musician who quits his life on the road to settle down with the woman of his dreams.
He’s a truly talented guy and gave a wonderfully candid interview. We talk about how he got his start, the worst non-acting job he’s ever had, if he still has to audition (and when he does, his tech savvy way around it), his new film Doonby and so much more!
For the full interview, click onto the audio link above or download from iTunes.
How did you get your start?
Ernie Hudson: I grew up in Michigan in a small town, Benton Harbor. Then through a series of life changes, ended up at Wayne State University and discovered theatre there and just fell in love with it. Started acting back in 67, somewhere around there, and worked in Detroit. I got a scholarship to Yale after I graduated from Wayne State, went there and came out to Hollywood and did a film with Gordon Parks. I went to University of Minnesota for a while because my wife at the time was working on her degree and then when that marriage ended me and my two sons came out to California. And we just got a little place and did what actors do.
Basically, I had got into college and was really trying hard to find– my grandmother raised me and wanted me to find a good job. And I really tried the good job thing and did a lot of different things and never really felt comfortable until I walked in the theatre one night and saw a play and I just felt at home. And I think it was when I did my first play, I just knew how to do that. I think all the jobs I had, I always felt like ‘they’re going to fire me at any minute and if they don’t they should fire me at any minute.’ Whereas, with this I just felt, ‘okay I can do this.’
What was the worst real job that you had?
Ernie Hudson: Well, probably the worst job I had actually while I was in high school, I was working at a foundry. My brother got me a job there when I was in my senior year of high school and so I would leave school at noon and I would meet him and we would drive up and I’d work from 3 to midnight. And my job was shoveling dirt in a room that was filled with this black dirt that they would use for the molding machine. They had a conveyor belt that just kept going continuously, so I had to shovel through the dirt for nine hours a day, filling these things up. And you never had the satisfaction of filling anything up because the conveyor belt kept going and you were just shoveling all day.
