Questions Every Actor Needs to Ask with Actor Jamie Hector (‘Cape Fear,’ ‘The Wire’)

Jamie Hector’s first paid acting job almost went sideways before it started.

He’d booked a Spike Lee-directed commercial for the United Negro College Fund, playing a young Edwin Moses hurdling toward a track career. There was one problem. Hector had never actually jumped a hurdle in his life.

The two-time Emmy-winning actor, known for Marlo Stanfield on ‘The Wire’ and Detective Jerry Edgar on ‘Bosch,’ joined ‘How We Role’ host Robert Peterpaul to talk about that first job and everything he’s learned since, including how he builds a character now that he’s on Apple TV’s ‘Cape Fear’ alongside Amy Adams, Javier Bardem and Patrick Wilson.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

Why preparation matters even when you don’t know what you’re preparing for

The single question Hector asks before anything else

How he finds empathy for characters whose choices he doesn’t agree with

What it’s actually like working alongside Spielberg, Scorsese and Bardem

How to handle rejection

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Jumping Audition Hurdles (Literally)

The night before his flight to shoot the commercial, Hector realized he had no idea how to clear a hurdle. So he found a coach and went to a park.

“We jumped garbage cans and benches in the park,” he said. “Unbeknownst to me, we were going to Atlanta to film young Edwin Moses when he started his career, before he started his career, and what he trained on was garbage cans and park benches.”

He didn’t know it at the time, but he’d stumbled onto exactly how Moses actually trained. The lesson stuck with him well beyond that first job: be prepared in all things. When you stay ready, you don’t have to “get” ready.

One Question Comes First

Ask Hector how he approaches a script and he’ll tell you it always starts in the same place.

“The first question for me is who is this person,” he said. “That’s the question of life. Everyone’s trying to figure out who they are, what their purpose is.”

From there, he builds out pages of notes on a character before ever stepping on set: playlists, personal objects he associates with the role, a full sense of what the character needs and what stands in the way of getting it.

Playing a Villain With Empathy

Hector’s most famous role, Marlo Stanfield on ‘The Wire,’ required him to find compassion for a character built on ruthlessness. His method is to shadow real people who share a character’s mindset or circumstances.

“I made it a point to actually be around people that I know that have the mindset of financial gain, of extreme capitalism,” he said. “They didn’t know that I was watching them and studying them, but I also know that they came from somewhere.”

For ‘Cape Fear,’ that meant spending time with a private investigator and drawing on his relationship with a Brooklyn district attorney who helped exonerate more than 20 wrongly convicted people.

“I wanted to find out what you do when you’re incarcerated for a crime you didn’t commit, and then an organization helps you get out of prison,” he said. “I try to look at it through the lens of those who are experiencing that in real life.”

Working Alongside Spielberg, Scorsese and Bardem

‘Cape Fear’ comes with executive producers Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese and a cast that includes Amy Adams and Javier Bardem. Hector said the nerves he used to feel on a set like that have faded, replaced by something closer to reassurance.

“Working with Javier on ‘The Wire,’ the animal I associated with my character was the lizard,” he said. “His was the cheetah for Max Cady. It always reminded me that I’m on the right course.”

Asking for Clarity Instead of Fighting for It

When a director’s note runs against an actor’s instinct, Hector doesn’t push back. He asks for clarity.

“I need clarity. You need to make it make sense,” he said. “Help me understand why you feel the character would do this. Once we have a conversation about it, whether it’s quick or not, we come to a place of understanding, and then I can move forward.”

Rejection, Moving Mountains and Giving Back

The conversation ends on something bigger than craft. Hector founded the nonprofit Moving Mountains Inc. to give young actors the kind of support he wishes he’d had earlier.

“Movement is life, stagnation is death,” he said of handling rejection. “You don’t want to let that consume you. It can derail people from what their passion is.”

Asked what he’s learned most after everything, his answer was simple.

“What I’ve gotten was to give,” he said. “The more you give, the more you receive, whether you know it or not.”