[APPLAUSE]
How are you?
- I'm doing fantastic, man. - I like this suit.
It's a good look. - Thank you very much.
- It looks sharp. - Picked up a little something.
Thanks.
Did you dress up for Halloween?
I did not dress up for Halloween.
I dress up every day.
So I took it easy.
JIMMY KIMMEL: I like that.
My kids, my youngest was a Power Ranger.
Because, evidently, they're still around.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, they won't go away.
They won't go away.
My oldest was some kind of harbinger of death.
He's House Slytherin.
So that's kind of like his thing.
Oh, he likes the bad guys?
He loves the bad guys.
- Interesting. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Isn't that interesting when a kid
takes a liking to the bad guys?
It is interesting.
He sees Draco Malfoy.
And he's like, I understand him.
[LAUGHTER]
You know, he's like, no, but he's just misunderstood.
[LAUGHTER]
Does he do that with superheroes too?
Does he like the villains? Or, you know?
He likes--
OK, his favorite superhero is actually Peter Parker.
It's Spider-Man.
I would say between Peter Parker and Miles Morales.
Because both of those movies were freaking huge.
[APPLAUSE]
And "Infinity Wars"-- this is not a spoiler.
You guys have seen "Infinity War."
When Peter Parker goes away, I had to pick
him up and put him on my lap.
Because he was convulsing in tears.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, wow.
And then, in "Endgame," when Peter Parker came back,
he's like, yes!
I knew it!
Like, Black Panther's fine, T'Challa.
He was like, Peter Parker!
He was all right.
And Martin Scorsese says those movies don't mean anything.
[LAUGH] They mean a lot.
They mean a lot to him.
When you are out in public trick
or treating with your children or whatever,
do people recognize you more from "This Is Us,"
or from the OJ mini series, or--
You know, it's interesting.
Sometimes, I fool myself into thinking
I'm still kind of incog-negro--
[LAUGHTER]
--that I can just sort of walk through life without anybody
noticing anything.
And then, quickly, I'm reminded, oh, no,
people know who you are, right?
So if you happen to be in West Hollywood or Beverly Hills
at some sort of upscale eatery, that's
usually going to be like the "OJ" fans
and whatnot-- although they're all over.
"This Is Us" can be at the Von's, you're
at CVS getting something.
And people just want a hug, you know what I'm saying?
They look at you.
They're eyes immediately become watery.
And they're like, could you hug me?
And I'm like, I'm just trying to get these Pringles real quick.
[INAUDIBLE] the Pringles.
But we hug it out.
It's cool. - That's nice of you to do.
Yeah, man, you got to--
I feel like you were so good in the OJ mini series
as Christopher Darden, I've almost forgotten
who Christopher Darden is.
And you've replaced him, like you swallowed him up, in a way.
Have you ever met him?
Did you talk to him?
So I reached out during filming.
And I tried to Facebook friend him.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, really?
I was like, hi, my name is Sterling K. Brown.
I've been tasked with portraying you on the new mini series.
I didn't hear anything at all.
And so during the whole time shooting never heard anything.
And I met him briefly just within this past year at
an event that my wife hosted.
He was very kind, very shy, very quiet.
And we didn't say too much.
And that was the extent of our interaction.
Were you disappointed that he didn't say much?
You know, it was interesting.
I think everything happens exactly
the way that it's supposed to.
Because if we had met and we just didn't get along at all,
then I was like, oh, now I have to play you.
That's kind of awkward, et cetera.
No, I'm not disappointed.
I was cool with it.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Good.
You've been an actor for quite some time
before people started to know your name, and your face,
and all that.
Yeah, incog-negro, that's what I was trying to tell you.
That was who I was.
You did a play.
What year was a play you did with Al Pacino?
That was like 2002 or 2003.
And it was an unbelievable cast, right?
Oh, dude, it had Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti,
Chazz Palminteri, Steve Buscemi, Charles Durning, and, like, me.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Really, like--
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eight of the greatest actors in the world.
Absolutely, incredible.
We had two months of rehearsal for a four-week run.
Alan and I got to know each other
by playing chess together. JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, really?
Yeah, he brought a chessboard.
And he's like, you play?
And I was like, yeah, I play from time to time.
And he was like, let's go.
And we're playing.
And he talks crap while you're playing.
He was like, I wouldn't do that!
And I was like, all right.
But I beat him five times.
And he won three times.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, so you took--
[LAUGH]
[INAUDIBLE] Represented.
Yeah, but we had so much fun, man.
He would tell all these stories about old Hollywood,
some PG-13, some rated R. I'll let him share
with you when he comes for you.
But he's a hoot.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, you had a lot of fun with him.
Had a blast.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Yeah, he is a lot of fun.
He's a fun-- you would never know
what you might get from him.
He's incredibly eccentric but owns his eccentricity.
Like, he is who he.
He's not afraid to be that.
And he'd be in rehearsal.
And he would do things that I would classify,
as a young actor, as strange.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Like what?
No, just, like, he'd do different voices,
or things that just seemed odd.
I was like, is he going to do it like that?
Like, that's not the Pacino I know.
But he allows himself a process, right?
Sometimes, when you're a young actor,
you want to look good all the time.
He's not afraid to look bad knowing
that he's ultimately going to end up in another place.
It was a big learning lesson for me.
So in front of the other actors, he will experiment,
he'll try things. - Totally.
And then, when he gets out on stage, he saves the good stuff.
And now, do you do that same thing?
I to.
I try to do something where I never look for an end result.
You're always in a state of rehearsal, right?
So I'm not trying to get to the end of anything,
but just play what's authentic to the moment.
JIMMY KIMMEL: I see.
Oh, that's good advice for actors, right?
Thanks.
I mean, for everyone else, it's completely worthless.
But we're actors. [LAUGHTER]
We're actors!
Just try to be in the moment!
And I'm impressed you won five out of the eight games.
Was he mad that the young guy comes in and beats him?
He was a little upset.
And I got a chance to talk crap back to him.
And it was fun.
JIMMY KIMMEL: That sounds like fun.
We're going to take a break.
When we come back, you'll see a clip from the new movie.
It's called "Waves."
Sterling K. Brown, we'll be right.
[LAUGHTER]
RONALD WILLIAMS: We can go right now.
We can go?
RONALD WILLIAMS: We can go right now.
That's what's up.
RONALD WILLIAMS: You think you can take your old man?
You think you can--
You guys--
What's up?
--can we not--
[INAUDIBLE]
RONALD WILLIAMS: It's that shoulder, right?
Come on.
What's up?
RONALD WILLIAMS: Did you start?
Did I start?
RONALD WILLIAMS: I'm just making sure you started.
Nah, did you?
Get out of my ear.
Let me know when you're ready.
WOMAN: Can you not hit your sister?
RONALD WILLIAMS: You all right?
I'm fine, man.
You let me know when you're ready.
You doing OK?
You let me know.
WOMAN: Can we not scare the people, please?
[APPLAUSE]
That is Sterling K. Brown in "Waves,"
which opens November 15th.
This is not a movie about arm wrestling.
That is just a moment in the film.
Just a moment.
It's a family drama, tragedy, takes place
to this African-American family.
You see the steps that build to that tragedy.
And you see the steps that they take to try to put
their family back together.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Your wife in the movie is Renée Elise--
Goldsberry.
--Goldsberry, who most people would know from "Hamilton."
She was--
You guys know "Hamilton."
She was one of the original cast members.
She played Angelica Scarlett in the original "Hamilton."
And I'm a huge "Hamilton" head.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, you are? Oh, wow.
Oh, dude, when I first met her,
I started playing a song from the play to her
and lip syncing her singing the song.
And how did she react to that?
She loved it.
She loved it, OK, good.
It was-- I-- it was endearing.
It could have gone too far and been strange.
But I kept it right on the edge of, like, oh, you're a fan.
You walked the line down--
I walked the line.
I'm like Joaquin Phoenix.
I walked the line.
And you're, also--
speaking of singing-- in "Frozen 2."
I am in "Frozen 2."
[APPLAUSE]
--cast members of the voice cast of "Frozen 2."
They threw a little color up into Arendelle.
Your boy had to come represent.
Because black folks are in fairy tales, too.
Right?
[APPLAUSE]
You know what I mean?
And it's frigging awesome, man.
I'm really excited.
I actually haven't seen the whole thing yet.
JIMMY KIMMEL: Oh, you haven't?
But every time you go into the booth, they show you something.
They show you how they animate you.
And they use parts of your face for the character.
Because they say, like, you have a big smile.
So I'm like, do I? I don't think so.
And so then I see how they animate my character.
And they make him smile like me. And I was like, oh, snap.
That's how I smile. JIMMY KIMMEL: Really?
Yeah!
JIMMY KIMMEL: I didn't know they did that.
They do a lot of stuff.
So they have a camera on your mouth?
They have a camera on your face
the whole time that you're recording,
just doing the dialogue.
And they use that recording to help make the facial features
for the character.
Wow, that's crazy.
It's really cool.
Do you have to get makeup before you
go and do a voiceover? - No.
- You do not. - No, no, no, no, no.
JIMMY KIMMEL: It's just au natural.
All this prettiness just goes away.
And I assume this is a new character added to--
not a character we--
New character added to number two.
But he's supposed to have been a part
of this world for a long time.
Because he was a lieutenant in the army of their grandfather.
So he's somebody from their past and helps
them connect to things that happened in the past.
Can you say if you sing in the movie?
I cannot. JIMMY KIMMEL: You cannot.
They'll take my pinkie toe. JIMMY KIMMEL: I see.
They're that strict, huh? You can't even say--
because, like, Kristen Bell can say, yeah, of course, I sang.
Well, because she sang in the last one.
- Right. - Right?
But now, hopefully, people will go November 22nd
and see if I sing in the movie!
[APPLAUSE]
JIMMY KIMMEL: I don't think you're going to have trouble
getting people to the movie.
Hopefully, this one has some legs.
Wow, you got two big movies.
One of them is, of course, "Frozen 2."
It opens November 22.
And the week before that, go see Sterling
in "Waves," November 15.
Sterling K. Brown, everybody.
[APPLAUSE]
We'll be right back.