irene hurricane: Darryl Stephens from Noahs Arc

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Darryl Stephens from Noahs Arc

If you havent seen Noahs Arc yet, search for it on a Torrent site. Its really quite good.

DARRYL STEPHENS, 29 YEARS OLD, KILLER SMILE AND A BODY THAT STOPS TRAFFIC, GREW UP IN AND AROUND LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. DARRYL IS WITHOUT DOUBT ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL UPCOMING AFRO-AMERICAN ACTORS, STARRING IN THE POPULAR TV SERIES NOAH’S ARC AND FEATURING IN SEVERAL MOVIES. DARRYL IS ALSO A REALLY COOL GUY, AND WAS VERY WILLING TO TALK TO US.

Who is Darryl Stephens?

Darryl: I have no fucking clue.

The first time people were introduced to Darryl Stephens was in the sexy late night MTV series Undressed. How did this influence your life?

Darryl: Well… ‘Undressed’ was the first time I saw myself on TV. I had done only stage at that point. I have to say, even though the show wasn’t scorcese, that seeing myself on that show, seeing my performance on that show, gave me my first inkling that maybe I could actually pull off an acting career. I don’t think I was brilliant, by any means, but I did think that I was able to do something watchable with the material… so I kept going.

Even though you have been quite active in acting over the past 7 years, people mostly know you as Noah Nicholson from the popular series ‘Noah’s Arc.’ How do you explain the huge success of the show?

Darryl: I think there are a couple of reasons that ‘Noah’ has been a hit. I think, for one, that people have never seen these guys on television. The first response is usually, "OH SHIT, there are four black gay guys on the TV!!!" and then, after about ten minutes of watching it, people realize, "wait, we have seen these guys." Aside from the guys being very easy to relate to, and for the most part, likable, they are also very similar to the characters on shows like ‘Sex and The City" and ‘Girlfriends.’ The reason people love this show, and those other shows, is because it’s all about how important our friends are, in the midst of love or career or whatever. It always comes back to our best friends. And it probably doesn’t hurt that the cast is kind of good-looking.

Can you describe the character you play?

Darryl: Noah is the baby of the group. He is the one who is really learning how to express himself and be an adult in relationships. He is the soft one. The sensitive guy who you feel inclined to take care of. He is the guy who decided at a young age that he would make all the statements that he wasn’t quite sure how to put into words with his clothes. He is the kind of guy who passive aggressively pushes people’s buttons with his appearance and his demeanor… He is stronger than he lets on, because he has to be.

How much of yourself you put in your Noah’s character?

Darryl: People always ask me that. As an actor, you just attempt to bring as much honesty to the portrayal of whatever character you’re playing. Sometimes that means revealing things that are true about yourself. Sometimes that means hiding things about yourself and highlighting things that have nothing to do with you. Noah is all me. And he is nothing like me. I guess I could say I relate to his romanticism on some level, but I don’t find myself victimized by it in the way that he does. And I guess I relate to his sweetness and his sensitivity. But my own kindness is often played out with a far more sarcastic tone of voice. I think Noah needs to get his sense of humor back. -B-