Hello everyone,
It is with great pleasure that we present this little sit down discussion with Rick Worthy...thank you Rick for taking the time to answer the questions I threw at you!
Listen everyone, Rick is a super cool guy and a lot of fun to talk to and on top of that he's a member of this very club...so go say hi!
Anyway without further ado, I present Mr. Rick Worthy...
Shawn: You grew up in Detroit and I also understand your Dad worked in the auto industry...so what turned your mind to acting?
Rick: Yes, I grew up in Detroit, a child of Motown and automobiles.
Almost everyone in my family worked for GM, Ford or Chrysler or in a business that was somehow connected to the Big 3 auto manufactuars.
My Mom and Dad saw the birth of Motown music...The Supremes, The Four Tops, etc...and my Mom once told me, "Honey, there were many,many singing groups from that time that didn't 'make it'."
My Dad knew a couple of the Four Tops.
I knew I didn't want to go into the automobile industry and I knew I couldn't sing either, but I had an itch to be on stage.
My Mom taught me and my brother how to dance and she made brilliant costumes for us and started entering us in school talent shows.
Hey man, we were moonwalking long before Michael Jackson!
It's true!
Ask my Mom!
Anyway, I suppose that's how my career started, as a dancer.
I eventually found my way into the theatre in high school and in college and that's when I really knew that I was an actor.
Shawn: So you actually started acting in high school then?
Rick: Yes, first in high school, I did a production of "The Wiz" and then I got very involved in theatre and film at the University of Michigan.
During that time I was in a brilliant production of "The Meeting" by Jeff Stetson.
"The Meeting" is a play about the fictional meeting of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King a week before Malcom X's assassination.
I played Rashad, Malcolm X's bodyguard and my acting professor played Malcolm X.
I learned a grat deal during that time.
It was as great, great experience.
Shawn: So your first experience was acting on the stage...how did that impact your outlook on the craft?...did it change any pre-conceived notions you might have had about acting in general?
Rick: After "The Meeting" I was asked to be the lead in the play "The Mighty Gents" by Richard Wesley.
"The Mighty Gents" is a great play about gangbangers from New Jersey who are approaching the 30 year old mark...they're not young kids anymore with dreams of a better tomorrow...that tomorrow has arrived and they find that they haven't really grown or gone anywhere better.
I played the leader of the Mighty Gents, "Frankie" and it was one of the best experiences I could have ever had.
A great deal of work was set before me and I happily dove in and soaked up as much as I could of Frankie and his world.
I learned a lot about stage acting, what it takes to carry a play and how to work effectively with a rather large ensemble of actors and crew.
But at this time, I still had a lot to learn about on-camera acting.
I had worked on-camera a couple of years prior to "The Mighy Gents" and I had no idea what I was doing...I was completely new and had no solid idea of the craft or skills of film acting.
But I was grateful for the opportunity and it defintely got my career started.
Film/TV acting and stage acting are different.
They say that if you can act on stage, you can act on film...I think that's true.
But what is also true is that if you can act on film, that doesn't necessarily mean you can act on stage.
Julia Roberts was in a Broadway play a few years ago and although I didn't see it, I heard her reviews weren't very strong.
Shawn: You left Detroit to pursue your career...where did you go first & what landed you in Los Angeles?
Rick: I went to Chicago...so many actors think that they have to go to New York or L.A., but thank God my brother was living in Chicago at this time of my life and I visited him after spending a couple of weeks in New York and I went to see a couple of plays when I was there.
I quickly realized that there were a lot of actors living and working in Chicago, NOT L.A. or New York.
Chicago seemed more affordable than New York and it seemed less hectic, so I gave it a shot.
It was was one of the best decisions I ever made.
I started working almost immediately after getting to Chicago and I developed a solid working life as an actor and made some great friends.
But at some point the idea of moving to L.A. started bugging me, because I knew that if I wanted a shot at bigger roles on TV and in film, I had to go to L.A.
So after developing a solid theatre resume and a solid on-camera reel, I moved to L.A.
I've been in L.A. for 17 years now.
Shawn: Talk about your first big break on Television..."Star Trek" has played a very big role in your career thus far...
Rick: My first break was a video game called "Kingon Warrior"...I had auditioned for a few different TV shows when I first arrived in L.A., but I didn't book any of them.
My agent told me that there was a video game being produced by the folks at "Star Trek", and that I hsould go audition for it.
I did and I remember walking in to meet Ron Surma, the Casting Director of all the "Star Trek" series and Jonathan Frakes, "Number One", as I'm sure you guys all know :)
Jonathan liked what I was doing and he offered me a job.
I happily took it, even though I had no car at the time.
It was a 2 week shoot and I played a Klingon and I had so much fun and felt like this was a brilliant first job for me to have in L.A.
This job led to a nice role in "Star Trek: Voyager", where I played Automated Personanel Unit 3947, a robot that B'Lanna Torrez finds adrift in space.
She resurrects him and he eventually kidnaps her and forces her to make more copies of his kind.
That experience put me solidly in the Star Trek world, so to speak and I subsequently worked on Star Trek a few more times after that.
Shawn: Speaking of Star Trek...you appeared in "Star Trek: Insurrection"...what was that like?
Rick: Yes, I appeared in "Insurrection"...it was fun, they made me up to look like a half-man/half-salamander...My Grandma called me from Detroit to tell me she had seen "Insurrection" and she saw me in it...I said "Grandma, how'd you know it was me??"
She laughed and said, "I know your eyes"...Awww, Gotta love Grandma's.
Shawn: I have to throw in on this one...you played a Klingon on "Deep Space Nine"...yes, still "Star Trek" related...was that a process to get into character?
Rick: Playing a Klingon was so much freakin' fun...the hair, the face, the Klingon teeth, the way they speak and walk and their wardrobe..I always saw the Klingon's as a combination of Japanese Samurai who haven't had their morning coffee (or tea!) and African Zulu warriors.
Simply put: Bad-Ass Motherfuckers.
Shawn: Ok, I'm going to move into BSG territory here...your character of Simon...how did you construct him?
Rick: Well, for Simon, I wanted to play him with a simpole and direct objective.
Cylon self-determination.
Whether or not you view the Cylon character as evil or good depends on which side your are on.
From Adama's point of view, the Cylon's represent the unltimate evil (ironically created by Man)...From Cavil's and the other 11 models, the humans represent the greatest obstacle to Cylon existance and freedom.
Yes, Simon has a function, being that of a scientist and doctor, but "The Plan" is his super-objective.
But ahhhh...as we discover in "The Plan", the Cylon plan didn't frakking work!
Why?
They fell in love.
Shawn: In "The Plan" you had to create a dichotomy between the Simon on the Galactica & the Simon on Caprica..did
this create a conflict in your acting method?
Rick: Fun and challenging to play two different versions of "the same guy".
I don't think I've had to do that until "The Plan".
I loved the "softer" Simon, having a wife and daughter...maybe it resonated with something deep inside myself, a longing to have that kind of love in my life..I was very touched when I read the script for "The Plan", brilliantly written by my friend, Jane Espensen.
I love you Jane!
Shawn: Talk to me about what you have got going now...what projects are you working on post-Galactica?
Rick: Right now I'm playing the Alpha Vampire on the show "Supernatural", a wonderful character to play and I must say I love the cast and crew of this show.
They are all great and I think they appreciate being on a super-succesful show.
There are no ego-maniacs on "Supernatural", I can't say that that about 95% of the other shows I've worked on.
Shawn: Hey, if the offered you a part in "Blood & Chrome"...silly question, would you go for it?
Rick: Hell Yes I would take it!!!!!!!
Hahahaha!!!!
You're funny Shawn!!!! ;)
Shawn: I always ask this of actors...but really, what advice do you have for those aspiring to be one?
Rick: Get on stage.
Learn your craft.
Go see theatre, go see films, go see international films, especially with sub-titles, see actors acting.
A long time ago when I was studying theatre in college, I was an extra on a commerical in Michigan.
Someone handed me a book: "How To Be A Working Actor" by Marly Lyn Henry and Lynne Rogers.
That book pointed the way for me and a lot of others.
Buy it.
Read it.
It will help you tremendously.
God Bless Everyone and of course, So Say We ALL!!!!
-Rick
My original composition, “Fanfare for STS-135,” will premiere this Friday morning (July 8th) at the NASA launch Tweet Up event, and will also be heard by the crowds throughout the other locations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If you aren’t among the lucky spectators, the fanfare may turn up on NASA TV and the official website as well. A downloadable recording of “Fanfare for STS-135″ is planned for the fall.
