“I still think of myself as this regular kid from the Meadows,” Emmy-winning actor Sterling K. Brown said as he prepared to star in the Explore St. Louis campaign promoting his hometown.
He’s gone from his stomping grounds in Olivette to making history. The MICDS alum broke new ground at the 75th Annual Golden Globes Sunday night when became the first African-American to win in the “Best Actor in a TV Drama” drama category for his portrayal of Randall Pearson in the NBC drama “This Is Us.”
“To be the first of something is really interesting because I never considered myself to be a trailblazer,” Brown told ABC. “I just try to stand in my truth all the time and if I come from a place of truth, that’s all I can do. I can’t worry about trying to be Jackie Robinson or anything else, but I’m honored.”
Last year, he became the first black actor in two decades to take home the “Best Actor in a Drama Series” Emmy Award for the same role.
His portrayal of Randall Pearson has captured the hearts of television fans and helped make the show a pop culture phenomenon in addition to a top-rated drama.
As the black adopted son in a white family, Randall constantly fights the perfectionism that has been his coping mechanism to deal with the insecurities that stem from his complicated family dynamic.
Randall’s quest to connect with his biological roots has made for must-see television from the start of inaugural season of “This Is Us.” The show’s focus on the relationship between Randall and his birth father as an adult brought hope and broke hearts as he was inserted into Randall’s family’s life while facing down a terminal illness over the course of the show’s inaugural season.
His identity as a black man – compounded by his unique life experience – continues to be a central theme of the show.
“So, what I appreciate so much about this is that I’m being seen for who I am and being appreciated for who I am,” Brown said during his Golden Globes acceptance speech. “And it makes it that much more difficult to dismiss me or dismiss anybody who looks like me.”
“All of this has been a dream come true,” Brown told The American while promoting his film “Marshall,” which was directed by East St. Louis native Reginald Hudlin. “And I don’t know if it was a dream that I dared to dream until I booked The People vs. OJ.”
A graduate of Stanford and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Drama School, Brown had been a journeyman television actor with 15 years of credits that include “Third Watch,” “Person of Interest” and “Army Wives” to name a few.
But his breakthrough role as Christopher Darden in the 2016 FX True Crime Anthology that dramatized the infamous O.J. Simpson trial caught the attention of the mainstream. The role earned him an “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie” Primetime Emmy Award. He became a back-to-back Emmy Award winner thanks to his “Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama” award for “This Is Us,” which hadn’t gone to a black man since Andre Braugher won for his portrayal as Detective Frank Pembleton on NBC’s “Homicide Life on the Street” in 1997.
And as the “kid from the Meadows,” lives his dream, he has now blazed a trail for others to follow.
“I’ve never been the first person to win anything, so to be the first black man to win best lead actor in a dramatic series is kind of amazing to me,” Brown said in an interview about the impact of the victory posted on the official Twitter account of the Golden Globes.
“Hopefully it won’t be another 75 years before another black man wins this.”
