‘Uncle Vanya’s William Jackson Harper Reflects On Tonys, Pulitzers, The Marvel Universe And A Very, Very Good Year – Deadline Q&A
05.06.2024 - 18:19
/ deadline.com
William Jackson Harper has had plenty of good years in his acting career. He was Emmy-nominated in 2020 for his acclaimed performance as Chidi Anagonye in NBC’s comedy series The Good Place. In 2009 he became a main cast member on The Electric Company, and that same year was cast in an Off Broadway production of Lynn Nottage’s Ruined, a play that would soon win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
In 2013 he made his Broadway acting debut in a scene-stealing performance as Stokely Carmichael in the play All the Way. Ten years later he broke into the Marvel Universe with his role of Quaz in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
But the 2023-24 theater season has been one of those years that actors, particularly stage actors, dream of. For starters, he got raves for his leading role as Kenneth in Eboni Booth’s Off Broadway play Primary Trust. Like Ruined, the play would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Then came Uncle Vanya, a star-packed Lincoln Center Theater revival featuring, among others, Steve Carrel, Alfred Molina, Alison Pill, Jayne Houdyshell and, of course, Harper, who plays Astrov, the cynical village doctor who falls hopelessly in love with Elena (Anika Noni Rose), a married visitor to Vanya’s country estate.
Though Uncle Vanya, directed by Lila Neugebauer with a new adaptation by Heidi Schreck, opened to mixed reviews, critics took note of Harper’s outstanding performance, as did Tony Award nominators: Harper is in the running for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, Vanya‘s sole nomination.
In this interview, Harper reflects on his lauded and laudable season, the age-old question of Hollywood versus Broadway, and what it would take to get him back on stage – or back in the Marvel Universe.
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