Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and Omari Hardwick – ABC/Fred Lee(NEW YORK) — Omari Hardwick has played a lot of intense characters during his career, but the Sorry to Bother You star says playing the gritty “calm, cool collected” and “uber-bright” character of James “Ghost” St. Patrick on Starz’ Power has been the most challenging for him as an actor.
“[He’s] a character we don’t really get to see a lot,” Hardwick tells ABC Radio, after listing Ghost’s qualities. “I know a lot of those colors are in Omari otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten the part, but this season, out of all the seasons, definitely was the most difficult for me to play that guy every single week.”
Understandably, this season of Power has been more demanding for Hardwick than the last. In season four, Hardwick says he specifically, “asked the writers room and Courtney [Kemp]” to allow him to “method” act and let his “eyes to do the talking.” However, for this season, that just wasn’t possible.
“But this season there’s more than his eyes doing the talking because of the loss of his daughter, he’s unraveling before our very eyes,” he explains.
For Omari, this season also hit close to home.
“I think it challenged me differently in the sense that I’m not just an empathizer, I’m an actual father,” he says. “So, as a parent you get to a place where it becomes a lot more than empathy. And I’m also sort of a father after five seasons too, to Donshea’s Raina. How could I not be?”
Omari continues, “And as much as people on the streets want me to knock Tariq upside his head…those two are my definite subjugated kids outside of Brave and Nova being my real kids.”
Power airs Sunday nights at 8:00 ET on Starz.
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