Ernie Hudson

Well, I mean, just the numbers.

Now you turn on TV and it's...

Not at all unusual to see multiple, a lot of shows having black, even black leads.

That was unheard of.

I mean, it might be Sidney Poitier, but there will only be one Sidney Poitier until Denzel comes along.

And then they have to reject the roles.

So, yeah, that was and it was very clear.

And then Roots came out.

I remember Roots came out and we thought it would open up and it went the other way.

It shut things down.

I mean, it's so it was a deliberate attempt to not include us.

But I got into theater in probably the first 10 years from 66 until maybe 73, I think.

I was on stage.

I did plays.

I think that's where the confidence, where you just, you know, where you love the craft.

I tell people as a kind of a joke that, you know, the theater is where I found love and movies and TV is like sex.

You know, it's great if you can get it, but, you know, don't think this is love because, you know, they'll move on very quickly.

But in the theater, you know, you rehearse for four weeks and you get to know the people and they're like your family and you support each other.

And it was very, very supportive.

When I came out to Hollywood was kind of my marriage ended and I really wanted to go to New York.