Geoffrey Owens speaks on making the most of his second chance in Hollywood
A look at how Geoffrey Owens, the actor best known for playing Elvin on The Cosby Show, really feels about his second chance at stardom.
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Geoffrey Owens, the actor best known for playing Elvin on The Cosby Show, has been showered with love the last couple weeks. The question remains how does Owens really feel about his second chance at stardom now that the dust has settled?
When photos of the 57-year-old ringing up groceries at Trader Joe’s went viral with insulting headlines a few weeks ago, celebrities and fans alike stepped up in his defense. The reaction caused a surprising resurgence in his career.
Monday, Owens spoke to the New York Times reflecting on what it feels like to suddenly be famous again after landing roles on the OWN network’s highest rated show, The Haves and Have Nots and CBS procedural NCIS: New Orleans.
“It’s been a little busier than usual, let’s put it that way,” Owens sheepishly admitted during the phone interview.
When the veteran performer first learned about the unflattering photo circulating about him, he immediately quit his day job, assuming a merciless dragging from the internet was headed his way.
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“I was kind of in a panic,” Owens said. “I didn’t even give notice. I said, ‘I’m leaving.’”
Much to his amazement, the backlash was mostly directed toward media outlets, mainly The Daily Mail and Fox News, which first published the stories with the assumed intention of demeaning him for trying to make an honest living.
He also said the lady who took that fated picture of him bagging groceries in a stained shirt wasn’t the first person to recognize him at his grocery gig. She was just the first person tasteless enough to post the photo online, which then got picked up by the press.
“From the first day I worked at Trader Joe’s, every day for 15 months, at least one person, if not a number of people, recognized me. They were very cool,” Owens explained.
“When people asked for autographs, I occasionally gave one. An awkward story: I was literally on my hands and knees changing the garbage at the registers and a customer poked his head over and said, ‘Can I have your autograph?’ I just said to myself, ‘This is just too bizarre.’ I gave it to him as graciously as I could but it was just a really strange juxtaposition of the dichotomies in my life.”
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When asked what advice he’d give to other actors in his position, Owen encourages creatives to hang tough.
“Do whatever you need to do to stay in touch with the art and the craft that you love. One of the reasons I took the job at Trader Joe’s is because it would allow me flexibility to continue on some level to stay in the business, which it did.”
“Have faith. If you love it, if you have passion. If you don’t, God knows, do something else. It’s such a difficult business. I’m talking from 32, 33 years’ experience.”
Owens hopes what’s happened to him prompts the public to re-evaluate what it means to work and to keep in mind that one job isn’t necessarily better than another.
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“I hope that that perspective continues: that people are inspired by the idea that whatever they do, it really counts and it means something and it’s worthwhile.”
Owens is currently in Atlanta filming his scenes for The Haves and Have Nots.
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