It’s not everyday as an actor that you get tapped to portray one of the biggest civil rights icons in history, but that’s exactly what happened to Kelvin Harrison Jr. when he got the call to play Martin Luther King Jr. in National Geographic’s recently released series, “Genius: MLK/X.”
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Starring Harrison Jr., alongside Aaron Pierre who plays Malcom X, Jayme Lawson (Betty Shabazz), and Weruche Opia (Coretta Scott King)— the eight-episode show focuses on the legendary civil rights leaders, exploring their formative years and pioneering accomplishments with their formidable wives by their sides. If the task of portraying MLK seems like a daunting one considering how much he did and meant to the world, you’d be correct in your assessment.
For Harrison Jr., he admitted he was initially nervous to take on the role due to the magnitude of the man but that he was overwhelmingly grateful for the opportunity.
“Honestly I was nervous, I was so nervous because I remember learning about Dr. King. I remember feeling so grateful that I got to live in a time where I got to reap some of the benefits of the hard work that he put out for us, some of the bravery that he showed,” he explained to The Root on the red carpet at the 2024 American Black Film Festival Honors. “And so to be able to portray him was an incredible honor but at the same time it feels like a tall order. You kind of just go like ‘mm, is this appropriate? Have I lived enough life to do this? What am I offering it?’ So many questions. Jeffrey [Wright] played him and he did it so beautifully. So it’s that pressure as well, there’s so many things. But I was grateful.”
This series comes nearly a year after Harrison Jr. starred in yet another based on a true story-centered project, the 2023 film “Chevalier.” In it, he starred as Joseph Bologne—an 18th century French and gifted composer, violinist and fencer. When asked whether playing in biopics was an intentional decision, he told The Root:
“So this is the thing about the biopics because everyone thinks I’m obessed with biopics. I’m not actually obsessed with biopics, what I am obsessed—well there’s two things. For me as an actor, biopics are such a great way to learn how to be a person. Because the layout of humanity is written on books, in history, so I have a little bit of a rule book or something or a little bit of an outline on how to do it. So it makes me a better actor.
And two, it makes me a better man. So if I choose great Black men who overcame adverse situations, then what is that going to offer me as a man? Because ultimately I kind of go: ‘these great men didn’t live for us to just exist. They lived for us to thrive, they lived for us to be active.’ So if I get to step into their shoes, then maybe it’s going to inform who I get to be in the future and how I get to participate in this life.
“So it’s two-fold. I want to entertain, I want to educate. But I also, I want to grow,” he concluded.
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