Daniel Sunjata talks ‘Graceland’ character’s heroin addiction and death of Cory Monteith

theGRIO VIDEO - Daniel Sunjata talks about his starring role on USA's 'Graceland,' and also weighs in on the tragic death of 'Glee' star Cory Monteith...

Hollywood heartthrob Daniel Sunjata stars as FBI Agent Paul Briggs on USA’s new hit drama series, Graceland.

The actor, best known for his roles in The Dark Knight Rises, The Devil Wears Prada, and Rescue Me, is quickly gaining notoriety as the leading man on Graceland.

During an interview with theGrio, Sunjata talked about his new TV show and discussed the recent revelation that his character is battling an addiction to heroin.

Sunjata says the episode revealing his character’s addiction was “tragic” because it aired in the same week that Glee star Cory Monteith died from a fatal mixture of heroin and alcohol.

“It’s actually…sadly… when Cory Monteith had been found dead of a drug overdose,” Sunjata said. “Right around that time the episode aired that revealed my character was also struggling with heroin addiction. I thought that was definitely tragic.”

“It’s important for us to make sure that we put heroin addiction and the fact that it’s included in our show in the proper context. There’s nothing glamorous about it, there’s nothing sexy about it…”

In 2002, Sunjata appeared alongside Scandal star Kerry Washington, Chris Rock, and Anthony Hopkins in the action-comedy Bad Company.

Sunjata confessed that he hopes to collaborate again with with Washington, who recently received a best actress Emmy nomination.

“I’d like to work with her [Washington] in a greater capacity,” said Sunjata. “She might not remember but she and I did a movie called Bad Company years ago. This was just after I had gotten out of school and I was just starting to cut my teeth in front of the camera.  I had like one word in the whole film. It wasn’t even a line, it was like a word. So I’d love to work with her and hopefully have more than one word to say.”

Tune in at 10/9C on USA Network for new episodes of Graceland.

Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter for more Entertainment news at @WitherspoonC

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