Morris Chestnut talks new TV role in 'Rosewood,' says there's no pressure being a 'sex symbol'

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Earlier this month Morris Chestnut had the #1 movie in America, appearing alongside Sanaa Lathan and Michael Ealy in The Perfect Guy. Now the 46-year-old actor is prepping for his primetime debut in Fox’s Rosewood.

Chestnut stars as the title character, Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, a Miami pathologist who finds secrets in people’s bodies using his state-of-the-art laboratory equipment.

“It’s a fun, hip, hot, humorous show,” Chestnut said during a recent interview with theGrio.com.

Throughout Chestnut’s career he’s been considered by many of his fans to be a sex symbol. He opened up about what it’s like carrying such an esteemed title.

“I love staying in shape. I workout all of the time. I don’t look at the title of being a sex symbol as being pressure. It is what it is. Today I might be, tomorrow I might not be. So I don’t really get caught up in it. I just really get caught up in the work.”

Rosewood premieres tonight at 8/7c on Fox, prior to the highly anticipated Empire season 2 premiere. Chestnut talked about how the success of Empire has made way for several shows featuring black actors in the 2015-2016 TV season.

“The success of Empire has done a lot just even for television. Prior to Empire a lot of viewers were going to different platforms,” Chestnut said. “They were going to cable, Hulu, Netfix… all of that. The success of Empire proved that once you have a good product, people still watch network television. It’s done well for African Americans, it’s opened up those doors, but I think it’s also inspired a lot of networks to say ‘hey, there are people still watching network television, we’ll just give them something that they want to watch.'”

Lastly, the Boyz n the Hood actor revealed the biggest film role he missed out on, and you won’t believe it.

Tune in for the premiere of Rosewood tonight on Fox, and checkout Chestnut on the cover of the fall edition of Monarch magazine.

Follow theGrio.com’s Entertainment Editor Chris Witherspoon on Twitter and Instagram @WitherspoonC.