Harry Lennix: 'Hollywood's hardest-working man'

HARRY LENNIX is a victim of his own success. He is immediately recognized for his elegant style, chiseled features and sophisticated countenance. And, of course, for his intense performances in movies and on TV and stage.

He's been in some of the most successful movies in recent memory, including The Matrix Reloaded and Ray. And now, he's starring in the ABC drama Commander in Chief, a series about the first female president of the United States (Geena Davis).

But for Lennix, 40, that success has come with a bizarre price. Fans see him as stern, stiff and unapproachable. He chalks it up to villainous roles in movies like Barbershop 2: Back in Business, contributing to perception and art becoming reality.

"Some people see me as unapproachable," he says. "There is work that I have done that I would be proud for them to see, because once they see some of that work, they can know that I'm not just stern."

No, personally, he's not so rigid. But Lennix quickly admits that he has been attracted to playing some not-too-likeable characters.

Jim Gardner, the character he plays on Commander in Chief, is not exactly a dark character, but he's definitely stern as the chief of staff for the president.

"Jim Gardner is a Black Republican," Lennix explains. "He's a man of integrity and character who believes in what he's doing. He's a patriotic American who takes pride in being an American--and a Black American."

When Lennix first read the script for the series, he knew it was unlikely that the White female president would have a Black husband. So, of the remaining roles, the one that piqued his curiosity most was that of Gardner. "I was doing a play in Skokie, Ill., when I found the role was available," he says. "I hopped on the first thing smoking to New York and got back to Chicago in time for that evening's performance."

Lennix has performed in and directed numerous plays in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Performing, however, was never on his radar as a child growing up in a tough South Side Chicago neighborhood. He committed himself at the ripe old age of 8 to become the first Black pope. Always a voracious reader, the more he read about the Catholic church, the more he was committed to the priesthood. "I went to a seminary for high school with the intent of becoming a priest and, ultimately, the pope. I kept that dream throughout high school."

That long-held dream evaporated almost immediately when Lennix was smitten with his first crush. "The world changed," he recalls. "Of course, I wanted to run away with her for the rest of my life. But that would preclude going to a seminary."

And it was his interest in girls that directly led him to the world of theater. Meeting girls was a difficult proposition at an all-boys school. Lennix knew that sports was the best way to get attention. But he played baseball, a sport that didn't have cheerleaders. So, to at least meet more females, he knew the only way was to do school plays because Catholic girls schools also participated. In addition to meeting more females, he discovered he actually liked the stage.

Lennix studied theater at Northwestern University and acted in plays around the country. He won a 1990 Obie Award for his performance as Malcolm X in The Meeting. He also performed in Kiss of the Spiderwoman, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Great Gatsby, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Macbeth.

In all of his endeavors, theater is his first love. He is on the artistic staff and board of advisors at Chicago's prestigious Goodman Theater, and he works with Black theater companies in the Los Angeles area.

Although the stage is his first love, Lennix's TV and film credits are extensive--The Five Heartbeats, Collateral Damage, Get on the Bus, Love & Basketball The Human Stain, and TV's The Practice, Chicago Hope, Judging Amy and Diagnosis Murder. But even with a collection of multiple roles, there have been periods of inactivity. "I didn't work at all in 2004," he says. "Nothing came my way. Nobody was interested. Even though Ray came out in 2004, we shot it a year and a half before. I thought maybe I should go back and teach school [he taught in Chicago public schools for eight years]."

During one of those inactive periods, Lennix, who has also worked as a visiting professor at Northwestern, used the time to study languages and music at Los Angeles City College. Now he spends free time playing the piano. He maintains a home in Chicago because he continues to do work there, and his mother still lives there (his father died when he was 2).

Lennix has two older brothers and an older sister. He hopes to one day incorporate his newly found love of the piano into a stage musical on the life of Duke Ellington, one of his idols. "He is someone who everyone should know about," he says. "Duke Ellington even had his own trains because he refused to ride in Jim Crow [segregated] trains."