His language is rough, but his eyes reveal something more: He's feeling guilty and defensive. BROWN Andre Braugher, you just made a Black man blush. "One of the things that makes this moment so earned and so special is ... this is a guy who put in the work and learned his craft and he's an explosive actor because of it.". "Just watching him hold [everyone's attention] with his face and what he delivers and what he's feeling and believing. ". “And you’re like, “Well, first of all, you have to hydrate.”. How do you recognize when the pressure is coming from you or when it’s a reaction to what is expected of you? Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. For a full list of Emmy nominees and other coverage of TV’s top awards, visit nytimes.com/Emmys. For this 2020 contest, he is competing against reigning champ Billy Porter (“Pose”), past winners Jason Bateman (“Ozark”) and Brian Cox (“Succession”), previous nominee Steve Carell (“The Morning Show”) and rookie contender Jeremy Strong (“Succession”). And even though some fans may have just discovered Brown relatively recently — perhaps in 2016 when he played Christopher Darden on FX's People v. O.J. He and Jack travel to Philadelphia to meet William for the first time. This is a conversation that runs back to “Homicide”: I’m very proud of the character and very proud of the work that I’ve done. The 2020 Emmy Awards featured lots of sexy A-list men including Sterling K. Brown, Jason Bateman and Anthony Anderson going all-out in stylish looks — and we are so here for it. SEE 2020 Emmy nominations complete list: All the nominees for the 72nd Emmy Awards. The two have been nominated for supporting roles in a comedy — Brown for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Braugher for “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” (Brown was also nominated for his lead role in the NBC drama “This Is Us.”), But it’s only the latest time their lives have seemed to intersect. Do you think that speaks to a higher threshold for success placed on Black people — the idea that you have to be exceptional to be valued? BRAUGHER The search for the next compelling role. BRAUGHER As time moved forward and my family has become more important — bigger kids, bigger problems — I’m not as anxious for attention as I used to be. As Reggie explains his reasons in an emotional speech, tears well up in his eyes. “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” is winding down. Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. "It [debuted] the same year they launched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. BROWN The theater. BROWN: Andre, you have been such a part of my life without knowing it for such a long time. Simpson” and “This Is Us” among his seven career nominations. ... You can't really put your finger on what that thing is. Sterling K. Brown has been nominated as best lead actor in a drama series for This Is Us and best supporting actor in a comedy series for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon's Prime Video. The 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards will be given out on Sept. 20, so we’re talking to pairs of nominated actors as we look ahead to the ceremony. Thank you very much, sir. "We cannot detach the Emmys themselves from everything else that's happening in the country," Brown says. So, the idea that ’92 and Rodney King were isolated incidents is something that in this particular moment — after Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd — folks are like, “Oh, no, something’s [expletive] up.” I can bring attention to that because it is of importance to me and my community. Brown smiled. Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. See our latest prediction champs. ", "This isn't an overnight success story," Fogelman adds. I’m trying to find the right time, but I have other people who are like: “You can’t do a play right now. There’s a part of you that I think almost everyone can readily see from the outside — and maybe you don’t see it from the inside — but you were clearly fastidious in your preparation. The actor says it's also part of a long march toward recognition for Black performers, held back by oppression in Hollywood stretching back to the early 1900s, when white people wore blackface to play Black characters in films. BRAUGHER I remember that conversation that we had at N.Y.U. "Black Lives Matter ... it's nice to feel like there are considerable allies saying, 'Yes, they do.' That was the journey that was important to me because Black exceptional characters are … I won’t say a cliché, but you see a lot of them. Because we’re always asked our opinion about things that we may not necessarily have done the research about, or even understand. Now is the time. Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. There’s an opportunity to be a part of this franchise.” I try to find that balance in terms of my ambition and my sense of artistic fulfillment, and whether I can have those two things peacefully coexist. student, hanging on to … But now, looking back, I’m saying to myself: “Cop shows are in service to what? I knew that was going to land on people in a really painful and uncomfortable way. And Brown’s sole Emmy nod for a guest appearance was for his role in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”. ... Because I don't want my kid to have the same conversation with his kids. I don’t think I’m ever going to be rushing to the head of the line or exhibit the kind of ambition that Sterling does. Again, Brown's eyes reveal a lot: the reluctance to manipulate someone he loves — and the resolve to push her into doing something that might save her life. student, hanging on to every word of a talk by Andre Braugher — best known then for playing Frank Pembleton on the influential crime drama “Homicide: Life on the Street.”. Sterling K. Brown and Andre Braugher’s Lives Keep Intersecting, Sterling K. Brown received two Emmy nominations this year, for performances in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (above) and “This Is Us.”, “I’ve always been interested in the humanity behind my characters,” said Andre Braugher, here with Andy Samberg in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”, “You fall in love with illuminating the human condition. But I’m glad that the universe is recognizing you. Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP I did acting in high school and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t practical. “There have been so many parallels and moments that have been synchronicity,” Brown said, adding that he was “honored” for the chance to speak with Braugher intimately. Simpson: American Crime Story — his success was years in the making. My focus is on my family, our health and on our coexisting peacefully. In a scene with his adoptive mother that Brown says was one of his most challenging this past season, Randall uses his status as a good son – and the fact that he forgave her for hiding the identity of his biological father – to pressure her into enrolling in an Alzheimer's clinical trial she has resisted joining. In this alternative timeline, Randall is angry that they his mother had met his biological father William many years ago and didn’t tell him. A tear rolled down his face as punctuation. I don’t want to ever get to that place where I think I know it all. “Somebody was asking how you cry onscreen,” Brown, 44, reminded Braugher, 58, in a recent three-way Zoom interview. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? You’d be Sterling K. Brown and doing damn good work if you had never been recognized. I don’t know how successful it is. Sunny stuck around and we did not. I have these cards I’ve been dealt, and I’m going to make the best out of these cards.’”, Braugher remembered. Sterling K. Brown has been nominated as best lead actor in a drama series for This Is Us and best supporting actor in a comedy series for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon's Prime Video. BRAUGHER When I first took the role [of Raymond Holt in “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”], one of my sons said to me, “You’re playing a gay police captain?” I said, “No, I’m playing a police captain who’s gay.” There you go. He's pictured above in Beverly Hills, Calif., in August 2017. Gallery: All 10 stars who were nominated for multiple Emmy Awards this year (INSIDER), Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Election 2020: Mail-in ballots could face long waits in Michigan, Ohio, other swing states, What to watch today: Stocks set for steady open after Tuesday's rally moderated. I typically only work on one project at a time. For Brown, who had been following Braugher’s professional journey closely, it was a privilege to hear the wisdom of an accomplished Black actor in an industry filled with white gatekeepers.