August 28, 2007 @ 3:15 pm

Daniel Sunjata: The Role Player

NAME: Daniel Sunjata
AGE: 35
BORN: Evanstan, Illinois
RESIDES: Spanish Harlem, NYC

To be good-looking and talented is one thing. But to be alarmingly beautiful and criminally charismatic enough to stand out among the cast of FX's gripping Rescue Me is Daniel Sunjata's special gift. When not stealing scenes in 2006's The Devil Wears Prada (20th Century Fox), or starring in ESPN's new miniseries The Bronx is Burning, the Florida A&M and NYU grad is trying to live up to the professional and political legacies of Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier. "If I could be half the men they are," he says, "I'll be happy."

PERSONAL MOTTO:
"In the image of my creator, I create."

SOMETHING I DO EVERY DAY FOR SANITY:
"I'd like to meditate more. I do it for like a week, in a groove. It's the first thing to go. Mediation keeps me centered. [I'm a] spiritual person. [I] try to pray, the source of my life and all my creative gifts. Hopefully gives me some peace of mind."

PLACE WHERE I'M MOST PRODUCTIVE:
"Whatever space happen to calling home at the moment."

MOST FRUSTRATING MOMENT:
"I get angry a lot. [The] hustle and bustle of NYC. It can be aggravating. There have been times, very close to a film I really wanted to do, [I am] told by producer/director that it was going to happen, didn't end up happening. Dream job. Realized in hindsight: sometimes the things that you want aren't necessarily the things you would want or things that you need. Might not be right for me. Who's to say it always has to go the way I want. Kick at or punch a door."

PERSON I ADMIRE MOST/PERSON WHO TAUGHT ME HOW TO HAVE JUICE:
"My mother and father. I'm adopted. Most people have horrible experience, abuse, bounced around. I was adopted at the age of two months. Love unconditionally by those [around] me to people my whole life. Showing me I was worthy of being loved. Such genuinely good people. The example they set for me helped me find the goodness in myself."

5 YEARS AGO, MY GOAL WAS. . .:
"Few years out of grad school. MFA in acting from NYU goal was to be a working actor. Personal goal trying to be a better person, trying to evolve, spiritually, the quality of person I am. Not Ghandi, but aspire to the ideas they espouse. Professional plays a role in that, started acting at Fam U as a sophomore. At a time in my life when I was doing a lot of personal searching. Acting is a part of me. It could change. Overall positive impact on the pole closest to me an as much of the rest of the world as I possible can as one human being."

5 YEARS FROM NOW, MY GOAL IS . . .:
"I'd like to still be working as an actor. Balanced between spectacle and substance. Belafonte, Poiter. Lives of integrity. Work reflected that. Not comparing myself to either of them. If I could be half the man they are…five years from now if I'm closer to that, no matter the [other] circumstances of my life, I'll be fine with that. I'll feel great."

BIGGEST PROBLEM FACING OUR GENERATION:
"General apathy and hopelessness. [We] need something, someone, some group, to restore the desire to be truly engaged in life, like you're expecting tomorrow to come. Relevant to white people, relevant to black people, to all people. Throughout stay
positive. But I'm an eternal optimist, I don't know if we're living in the last days, but if we are, let's go out swinging for truth and justice."

FAVORITE BOOK, AND WHY:
"[I have a] huge Library. I love to read. [No] favorite book. I love reading too much. A series of books [that are]influential: was the Chronicles of Narnia CS  Lewis. I loved his writing. As a child It did a to for my inner life. I [like] Confessions of an Econminc Hit Man by John Perkins."

FAVORITE MOVIE, AND WHY:
Probably Loose Change 9/11; about to have nationwide release.  Charlie Sheen going to be doing voice over. Mark Cuban distribution. Like Farenheit 9/11. American Blackout directed by Ian Inaba. Cynthia McKinney's struggles as a black congresswoman asking difficult questions."

Article tags: Daniel, Sunjata, Role, Player 

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