"I was fully prepared to just get made fun of and roasted. Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Simone Garnett, William Jackson Harper as Chidi and Kristen Bell as Eleanor in a scene from the third season of "The Good Place." (Justin Lubin/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images ) But when I got that script, I definitely ramped it up. Working out was something that was very meditative for me, and I really enjoyed it. "And as I've gotten older, and especially as I started to work on TV, I started working out a little bit more and trying to eat a little bit better. "I was terrified of taking my shirt off because I'd always been made fun of as a kid," Harper says.
Still, the call to show his body provokes a very specific kind of dread. He's been the subject of thirst tweets before when Chidi went shirtless on "The Good Place," showing that the philosophy nerd had a surprisingly buff physique underneath his sweaters, Twitter exploded.
WILLIAM JACKSON HARPER INSIDE JOB NETFLIX SKIN
Harper knew that with a series that revolves around dating, showing a bit of skin was to be expected. And sometimes it's funny, and sometimes it's really uncomfortable and sometimes it's messy."
And I feel like a big part of that growing up, a big part of that change, comes from the people you date. You become - at least I became - a very different person from when I first moved to New York to now. "There's so many changes that happen in those years, in your 20s and early 30s. It's really just a story of a person growing up," says Harper, also an executive producer. "It is more than just a story of dating and romance. The story follows Marcus over several years as he floats in and out of relationships while in various stages of self-discovery. He plays Marcus Watkins, a 30-something book editor who dives back into the dating pool after blowing up his marriage in ways only he didn't see coming. In the new season of "Love Life," Harper carries the lead baton passed on by Anna Kendrick in Season 1. in London, and although Harper began the Zoom conversation resting his head on his hand, he grows more animated as he considers how a life spent chasing down opportunities has resulted in him reaching ones he didn't think were possible. I feel like I'm reading a book where every time I turn a page, it's empty and being written right in front of me a little bit. I still would love to play those roles too. That was where I thought the journey ended for me. "I always figured, at best, I'd get to be a really strong left-of-center supporting character. "I never thought that being the central character in anything on-screen was in the cards for me," Harper says. Earlier this year, he gave a soulful performance as a freeborn Black man in pre-Civil War America who has a sweeping romance with a runaway slave (Thuso Mbedu) in Barry Jenkins' limited series, "The Underground Railroad" he also starred in the film "We Broke Up," about a couple who call it quits but pretend to still be together to fulfill a wedding obligation. It follows other recent projects that have placed Harper in leading-man territory. I can't do any of the normal stuff people do in life because I have to make sure I'm making money to get to next month and also auditioning enough to get the job that will give me the money to get to next month.’ I was always just a little bit freaked out." Where I'm just always a little bit scared about rent, and I can never take the vacation, or I can never visit home for weddings or a funeral.
"‘I'm not sure having several roommates and living paycheck to paycheck and being in my mid-30s and wondering, “Is this what my life is going to be forever?” is it. "Just before booking 'The Good Place,' I was at this place in my career where I was like, 'I'm not sure that I like this anymore,’" he says. Until 2016, when he landed the role of Chidi Anagonye, the endearingly indecisive and anxious former ethics scholar, on NBC's "The Good Place," Harper was the definition of "working actor," competing for on- and off-Broadway roles and landing guest spots on shows like "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "30 Rock." To be where he is now - in London, shooting a film he can't discuss, no really, not at all - is, to his mind, a wild turn of events. As recently as five years ago, William Jackson Harper's career goals were simple: He wanted to reach a level of success where he wasn't worried about rent or in need of several roommates.
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