Blair Underwood is shedding a surprising new light on his time on “Sex and The City.” The actor joined the beloved series in its sixth and final season as Dr. Robert Leeds, a romantic interest for Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), one of the show’s four main leads.
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Before landing that role, however, Underwood turned down another spot before coming on as Leeds, he recently revealed.
“I actually did say ‘no’ the first time,” Underwood revealed in a recent interview with the AV Club. “The first time they had offered the role, to be honest with you, it was about how Samantha was fascinated by dating a Black man and wanted to know if, uh, all of the rumors were true about our anatomy!”
“And I said, ‘Listen, I’m honored, thank you, but I just don’t want to play a character based on race, on curiosity about a Black man.’”
When they called back a year later with another role, Underwood’s first question was whether or not the role would once again be about race.
“And they said, ‘No, no, no, we’re not even gonna mention race,’” he continued. “And I think it really did only come up maybe once. It did five episodes, and I think Samantha mentioned it once, saying something about ‘a Black doctor’ that Miranda was dating. And that’s really been a consistent thing in my career: not wanting to be boxed as ‘the Black guy.’”
Underwood, who currently stars in one of the biggest breakout horror hits of the year, “Longlegs,” looked back at various roles throughout his career when sitting down with the AV Club, covering his work in projects like “Set it Off,” “Soul of the Game” and his upcoming series on Starz, “Three Women,” which he says makes “Sex and the City” look “like child’s play.” He explained, “It’s some pretty racy stuff!”
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