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• Profile of Mr. Phifer

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Tavis: Mekhi Phifer has a pretty good job. Each week, he stars in one of the most watched shows on TV as the often hotheaded Dr. Pratt on the NBC drama 'ER.'

Next month you can also catch Mekhi in the film 'Dawn of the Dead,' which is most assuredly not set in a hospital emergency room. But back to his day job. Here he is in a scene from 'ER.'

Dr. Pratt: What happened?

Neela Rasgotra: I have a huge anterior M.I.

Dr. Pratt: You, grab a gurney.

Rasgotra: Spontaneous respiration on the rebreather. Last B.P. 102 over 60.

Dr. Pratt: He needs metoprolol.

Rasgotra: As soon as the retcula wears off.

Dr. Pratt: All right, push 5,000 of heparine.

Rasgotra: Done.

Dr. Carter: Oh, no. M.I.?

Dr. Pratt: How'd you guess? Come on. Up.

Rasgotra: I gave him 325 of aspirin. He's on O2.

Dr. Carter: Call down, tell 'em we got one for the cath lab. All right, everybody grab hold. Ready?

Dr. Pratt: He sucks down fried chicken for 30 years. Now we gotta pay.

Mekhi Phifer: Ha ha ha!

Tavis: How you doin', Mekhi?

Mekhi: What's up, brother?

Tavis: Nice to see you.

Mekhi: Always a pleasure.

Tavis: That's a long way from the streets of Harlem to the emergency room. Long way.

Mekhi: Long way, brother.

Tavis: You like the role?

Mekhi: I love it, man. I love it, man. You know, things like that and the roles like that just let you know you're alive. You know, it's very challenging. You know, it is hard to get the terminology correct and things like that. But, you know, from a kid who's never, you know, studied medicine, I think that's pretty good.

Tavis: You doin' all right. You doin' all right. I was talking to some friends of mine, as a

matter of fact, about your coming on the show. And they were saying to me how much they love this guy Mekhi Phifer, and "he's such a great actor. Where did they find him?" I started cracking up, these white friends of mine. I'm, like, "Brothers and sisters been diggin' Mekhi for a long time." He lands in the 'ER,' now all the white folk know who Mekhi Phifer is. Have you experienced that at all, that now that you're on the 'ER' it's a whole different thing?

Mekhi: Yeah, you know. Actually, I was telling somebody the other day, it's opened up such a huge demographic for me. You know, sometimes walking through the airport, things like that, you got 60, 70-year-old--older white women, older white men who are

big fans of the show. And it's funny to see them express that they love the character. You know what I mean? Because it is an interesting character, 'cause there's not many characters like it on television.

Tavis: Yeah. Speaking of interesting characters, how important is it for you to have

the opportunity at this point in your career to play a character like this, to play a doctor in

the 'ER?' I talked to Eriq la Salle, who was on the show, obviously, before you arrived

there. But you've played a variety of characters in your career. Talk to me about where

this fits in with the characters you play?

Mekhi: Well, you know, it's all in a transitional phase. I mean, everything is in a transition, you know what I mean? Everything should be moving to the next level. You know, as I started out, I started out in 'Clockers.' No formal acting training, never

been to school, anything like that. And I've been blessed with the opportunity to keep working. So what I've tried to do is design my career around just making it fun for me, doing different characters. I'm never gonna be able to escape being a young black man, so I never run away from that. I love being strong young men, you know what I mean? I have no problem with that. So this is just another step in my career, you know? It's a transition to let other people know the full gamut of what I have to offer.

Tavis: I suspect you're right that it is another step in your career, but since you mentioned

the first step in your career, let me step back to that first step, 'Clockers,' the Spike Lee

joint. Um, so, your first...your first role is a Spike Lee movie. Uh, how did that happen to your point because you didn't have any formal training, ain't been to the acting school...

playground, let alone inside the classroom, and you end up in a movie with Spike Lee. How'd this happen?

Mekhi: Well, actually, I think a friend of mine named Hasheem, who actually bumped into me about 2 weeks prior to the open casting call that I went to, uh, he told me about the open casting call for 'Clockers.' At the time, I was--I had a record deal with Warner Brothers, I was working construction, I was due to start college for electrical engineering in, like, 2 months. So, I had a lot of different things that I was doing. I was in the studio, you know, all kind of stuff, and, um, I just went to this open casting call and, uh, went down there. Uh, they told me to come down to the audition. I went through a very rigorous audition process, uh, you know, 8 auditions, different scenes. I had to read with

Harvey Keitel, Isaiah Washington, and do improvisations. So, Spike really just put me under the...under the fire, but I--I--I-- I give credit to, uh, actually, my freestyling days on the streets and being able to, uh-- and all the talent shows and things that I've done that just helped me be comfortable, uh, in that situation.

Tavis: So, you can't even tell me--maybe you can, 'cause maybe over the years it's hanged. You can't even tell me that you were really even passionate about the acting thing, 'cause you just fell into it or because--

Mekhi: Well, you know, let me just--that's funny and ironic that you say it--and sometimes, you know, you know, you fall into things. I'm very passionate about the acting craft. I love, actually, the movie business. I love every aspect of it, and that's one thing I discovered. I had never been on a movie set then seeing everybody work together as a team and everybody working--hundreds of people working towards one goal and

making this one thing happen, you know, and then being able to see it and be immortalized by it, you know, and be appreciated by your works. That's what drew

me towards having a great passion for what I do. So, the passion is definitely there, and it's in all my work. And I realize and come to the realization that, you know, it's immortalizing. You're immortalizing yourself by doing what I do and what we do.

Tavis: Tell me how the--how you got to be so good, though, at what you do...not having any formal training. What is it about a guy--in your case, Mekhi Phifer--that steps onto a set, and whatever Spike was looking for, you came with it, you came correct, even though you didn't have any training. Where did that gift come from?

Mekhi: You know what, man? Just--heh heh--I don't think people--and that's the one thing that I love doing about being on the show and not running away from who I am as a young, black man from a ghetto situation, um, is that you get thrown into, um, situations where you--you...I got strayed away from the question--oh, how does it...

Tavis: I think the answer you're about to give me is: 'Cause as a brother in Harlem, you knew how to improvise in a lot of different situations.

Mekhi: That's exactly where I was going with it, and that's something that, you know, I've been able to do and show, uh, the people is that, um, well, there's a full gamut, you know? And I've always in some way, shape, or form been an actor, whether it's, uh, you know, having to walk in a certain way in a store so that people don't think I'm trying to steal or when the cops pull me over, uh--

Tavis: So brothers are acting all the time.

Mekhi: Oh, I gotta walk down the street in a certain bravado in my neighborhood back in the day so that nobody messes with you. Right, so it's--it's always, uh, a gamut. I mean, but you...I can't go in the house going "What's up, ma? Yo, where's dinner?" you know what I mean? But I had to do that on the street, you know what I mean? So, it's a--it's a--you know, you learn to, you know, use a gamut of emotions all at once.

Tavis: I hadn't thought of it that way, but I guess brothers are acting all the time. You

just get paid for it, and the rest of us don't.

Mekhi: Well...but, you know, the thing is, I mean, you know, it's about honing in on a talent. I mean, everybody's different, and it is a talent to be able to, uh, perform in front of people and to give yourself up to people and give yourself up to the world and be uninhibited at that, so it is--that is a talent, and it takes getting used to. You know, when I watch 'Clockers,' the truth be told...I watched it for the first time, and...I wasn't that

flabbergasted by my performance. And I said, "you know what? I love this movie." I mean, I love the movie business, and I loved the movie. I loved everybody else in it, and I-- I liked myself, but I said, "I can grow." and I saw where I can grow. And I've just been blessed with the opportunity to work and get in various movies.

Tavis: All right, so you're part of the hip-hop generation. And I ain't trying to dog you, but the record thing didn't quite take off.

Mekhi: No, it didn't.

Tavis: Ha ha ha!

Mekhi: No, it didn't.

Tavis: It didn't quite take off in the way you planned it.

Mekhi: And it's funny, because, you know, it was one of those things where it wasn't that I couldn't pursue it. It wasn't that. My passion shifted. My passion shifted towards movies

and filmmaking, and I want to produce and do a whole bunch of other full-gamut things that have to do with the film industry. I didn't want to go on tour anymore. I didn't want to be in the studio. I didn't want to have to do promotional radio.

Tavis: The irony of it is, though, that you passed on the music thing to do the acting

thing, but there's so many people who do the music thing who get roles as actors.

Mekhi: Right.

Tavis: What do you make of that? Everybody who's a hip-hop star gets a movie role at some point.

Mekhi: You're right about that, and what it is is, man, it's pop. You got to be popular. And when you're popular, you can do movies. The same way...

Tavis: Even if you can't act.

Mekhi: Frank Sinatra. The same way Elvis Presley did it. The same way--all of those guys. Bette Midler. The list goes on. Liza Minelli. Well, you got a whole bunch of people that are multitalented. I don't knock anybody that gets an opportunity to prove themselves and to show that they want to grow. I don't want to hold back somebody because they're a rapper or because they're a singer or a bus driver or a schoolteacher or a UPS worker. Why can't he be in the movie? You know what I mean?

Tavis: You know what happens, though--this debate continues to rage in Hollywood. What happens, though, when the true thespians, those who've gone to Juilliard, are denied opportunity because y'all rappers are taking all the roles.

Mekhi: That sounds like they drinking Hate-orade to me, man. Stop crying all the time, man. Be a grown-ass man. Man up. You'll be all right. You know what I mean? And, you know, that's one thing, too, man. Listen, man, I'm not gonna waste energy on the negative aspects of that. You know, I'm glad that, you know--and if it happens to be rappers or whoever gets an opportunity...football players, basketball players get opportunities to be in movies. Any person who's popular gets an opportunity to be in movies, and I don't--I can't knock, you know, the hustle on that. You have to be able to be diverse. You need to try it out. If you know you're terrible in the movie, then, you know what? "That's not my thing." You know what I mean? We're not gonna keep giving you roles if you keep being terrible. You know what I mean? So, I mean, everybody tried. Vanilla Ice. I mean, the list goes on. And, you know, some people are good. Some people aren't.

Tavis: Try my hand at it one day.

Mekhi: Come on in, brother. Let's do something.

Tavis: Yeah. What's next for you?

Mekhi: Man, I got a few movies--couple movies coming out. 'Dawn of the Dead, ' obviously. And I have another one called 'Slow Burn' with Ray Liotta, Taye Diggs, L.L. It's gonna be a hot movie. It's like a cross between 'Usual Suspects' and 'Devil in a

Blue Dress.' It's that sort of intrigue and all that kind of stuff.

Tavis: I love Hollywood folk. When they explain a movie they got to say, "It's a cross

between "A" and "B."

Mekhi: You know why? You got to give 'em in laymen's terms where you're going with it. You know what I mean?

Tavis: I'm glad to see you. And I'm proud of you. Glad you're on 'ER.'

Mekhi: Let's have dinner one more time.

Tavis: We'll do that. You're representing us well.

Mekhi: Always love.

Tavis: Thanks, Mekhi. That's our show for tonight. As always, you can catch me on the radio on NPR. And I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, thanks for watching. Good night from Los Angeles and keep the faith.