VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Curtiss Cook Reveals How He Relates To His ‘The Chi’ Character

The Chi, a production from Emmy Award-winning Lena Waithe, follows the lives of residents in a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side.

Curtiss Cook, who plays former Chicago mayor Otis ‘Douda’ Perry, recently sat down with uInterview founder Erik Meers to discuss how he relates to his character.

“From the acting standpoint, I have to relate to him. I have to find something that connects with him and me so I can try my best to continue to make him a three-dimensional person,” Cook explained. “One thing that I really connect with is that he’s one of the most honest characters on the show. I say that because you rarely hear him lie. When he says he’s going to do something for you, nine times out of 10, he’s going to do that, but you might not like the way he does it.

“Just to have somebody who’s strong in their commitment… if he’s not going to do something for you, he also says that,” he added. “He’ll say ‘You know what? This is not for me. Back up. We’re not going to do this.’ In that aspect, I relate to him. I feel like he’s a strong man. He’s a strong individual and I would like to think that I am also a strong man and a strong individual. Those are two major ways I think I relate to him. Now the crime and the drug dealer stuff? No, no, no, no. Not that. His tenacity and his stick-to-itiveness, in the way that he feels that if he needs to be involved in this and if you’re not going to let him in, he’s going to make a way in – I applaud that and I would like to have those attributes added to me.”

The actor also revealed if he had a favorite scene from the currently airing season.

“We’re on episode five right now, and it hasn’t aired yet. Something earlier … well, there’s a few of them. I like the way they keep challenging this guy,” he revealed. “As I said, he is a three-dimensional character and with the challenges that they give him, he’s not just one note. This year, we’re dealing with love, so there’s this whole sympathetic and passionate side of him that we get to see and hopefully, it’s coming across. I’m sure people are dubious of his motives, because of who and what he is, but I would like to believe that he is genuinely feeling this love and this connection with this woman. To be able to play that coming from the angle of he’s a gangster, he’s a mayor, he’s worldly and seedy, but to have that be real and honest, it’s a gift to an actor. Especially in television. This is a dream role for me because it has all of those elements.”

Watch Season 5 of The Chi on Showtime now.