Actor Clifton Powell stopped by theGrio for our newest series, “5 Questions with…”, where we go one-on-one with some of today’s biggest tastemakers. The Washington, D.C., native discussed his upcoming film, “Final Hour,” how he prepares for diverse roles, who has been his favorite person to work with, and more. For example, how does an actor prepare for diverse roles? Powell says, “In order to be a well-respected actor, you really have to train.”
With his roles as the infamous Pinky in “Next Friday” and “Friday After Next,” Cutty in “Dead Presidents” and Martin Luther King Jr. in “Selma, Lord, Selma,” you’ve seen Powell in those and various other films portraying a range of characters including detectives, FBI agents, a recovering drug addict, and now a warden in the upcoming “Final Hour.”
The film follows the final hour of a death row inmate who has an unlikely connection to the priest who gives him his last rites. Powell takes his profession seriously. “I put in the same amount of time that Robert De Niro and Al Pacino do…I’m a trained actor and voice and diction and building characters, and all of that is part of my training.”
“Final Hour” will premiere on the film festival circuit this fall. For more information, head over to the film’s website. Watch the full interview with Powell above and visit theGrio.com for more “5 Questions with…”