An Interview with ‘Hightown’ Actor Dohn Norwood

Dohn Norwood is a highly accomplished actor, and he currently stars as Alan Saintille on Hightown on STARZ, and we here at Nerds That Geek had the opportunity to speak with him about acting and the show, in anticipation of the arrival of season two of this dynamic series.
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John Betancourt: What was it that got you into acting?

Dohn Norwood: Back in elementary school, I date myself, because, in the 80s we had some teachers that made it their business to create after school programming to kind of get kids off the street and stuff like that. And during school time, they created like a sort of a drama club kind of thing. So, it was a big deal, like a cool thing to be in drama club, because you got to do some fun stuff. And then you get highlighted in performances, you know, things like that. And so, I was a class clown, and you take a person like that, who loves attention in class, and then you stick them on stage and boom. So, then all of a sudden, I discovered in the fourth grade that I loved acting and wanted to do it for the rest of my life. So, I went to a middle school for performing arts and humanities I went to high school for performing arts and humanities, I majored in theater and English at Morehouse, I got my MFA from UC San Diego, so acting has been around for me for pretty much most of my life.

John Betancourt: What that in mind, what was it that attracted you to the role of Alan?

Dohn Norwood: Employment. -laughs-

John Betancourt: Hey! That’s an honest answer!

Dohn Norwood: Right, right, right. But also, just the gravity of it, you know, being the only black trooper on the force and dealing with the realistic dynamics of his, not just his personality, but having to finesse all that, and what his agenda is being sort of the good guy in a way and what it means to be the good guy, and then having to work, you know, in the trenches. Because obviously, you can't stay clean. You can't go in a coal mine, wearing a wedding dress and think, “you're not gonna get smudges”. So same thing here. It's just how is it going to come out for this the quote unquote, good guy.

John Betancourt: What kind of research did you do to put together Alan as a whole?

Dohn Norwood: Interesting enough, I’ve played a lot of officers and detectives. I play criminals too, but they don't know law enforcement. And having done research before, as well as having friends who've been not just officers, but in the military and having a certain frame of mind and how to handle those things. I had done research before, so I brought that with me, starting with the audition, pulled stuff out of my wardrobe that made me feel like I was a trooper on the street. Having my combat boots on and pants tucked in, and the, you know, the accoutrement on your belt, and all that kind of stuff, what all that means, you know, and how that makes you walk different stand different; your tone is different. And so, I've kind of built that up over time. Anyway. So, I brought all that with me, starting with the audition.

John Betancourt: Now you mentioned realism there. That's something that I've noticed about Hightown, is that all the characters feel incredibly authentic. What as an actor, have you done to make sure that that Alan seems so pure?

Dohn Norwood: First of all, there's great writing that reveals certain things and allows you to highlight those items. Okay, great. We're dealing with that now, you know, whether it be family or service and private moments, and how he deals with things, how does he decompress? How does he juggle these thoughts? How does he keep these things out of the home, or unfortunately, how does he deal with them when they come home, and all that kind of stuff. So, it's just having all that already kind of written and played with that allows you to, to examine and then exhibit what it is that they're revealing in the story and about the character. So, it's kind of put in front of us to begin with, to highlight and deal with.

John Betancourt: So, how much of you, is in Alan?

Dohn Norwood: There's always a bit of you. You know, people kind of wonder “how much did you know” about how despicable or whatever this person is, you just find those elements of yourself either where there's some 1% of something or 90% or just something you thought about. You know, some circumstance you found yourself in or even other personalities that you that you know, you know, even if it isn't directly a part of you, you've been around someone who was like that, and just digesting all that in and so building this person, and then the ultimate goal is to teach you. You don't want to pretend to act and it's piecing it together over time. And obviously, with any performance, the more you do, the more you understand, like a Broadway performance, right? You do it so long that eventually that last performance is nothing like the first one. And so, the more we delve into who he is and what he has to deal with, it defines him. And so, it's just a step by step and incremental exhibiting of who he is.

John Betancourt: What are you most proud of as an actor when it comes to this series?

Dohn Norwood: That it deals with things realistically, that we're not trying to haul around things or make them overdramatic. It is just, this is what you have to deal with from time to time and it doesn't get highlighted in some, you know, sort of just how "we're now dealing with this and now we're off that subject." Or there's a silver bullet and you kind of wrap things up. It's an ongoing process. And that's real life and I appreciate that, and that we get to deal with things in real time.

John Betancourt: So, what then are you most looking forward to fans experiencing this season without spoiling anything?

Dohn Norwood: Oh, absolutely. It's a lot of what we saw in the first season brought back out and then some new things and it's coming hard and it's coming heavy. So, there's no gaps. There's lots of brick and mortar and its solid, and you have to hit the wall fast. And so, every episode is dealing with all the different contingencies and elements of that universe. You know, as I said in another interview that it is kind of like seeing the, the part two of something right, you kind of get a taste of a person, and you're excited about the second one because you're like, oh, now we get to see more of those aliens or more of those worlds or all that kind of stuff. So, it's more of that and we get to delve even further into the universe of Hightown.

John Betancourt: Anything else you want to tell the fans before we go?

Dohn Norwood: Oh, absolutely, tune on October 17 in and I hope you're ready for, you know, the empire striking back.

This interview was lightly edited for clarity.

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