Tom Pelfrey is our guest on this episode of Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards talks Podcast, he is a distinguished actor who has done impressive work on stage and big and small screens for over 20 years, along the way earning two Daytime Emmys for his portrayal of Jonathan Randall on the CBS television series. Guidance light and Critics Choice and Primetime Emmy nominations for his role as Ben Davis, the bipolar brother of Laura Linney’s Wendy, in the Netflix drama series. Ozark.
But Belfrey is currently experiencing unprecedented levels of acclaim — and Emmy buzz — for his exceptional performance on the HBO drama series a task Like Robbie Prendergrast, a single father and janitor in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, who mourns the murder of his brother and robs the biker gang responsible for his brother’s death, putting him in the crosshairs of that gang and the FBI task force.
Over the course of a conversation in the Los Angeles offices THRthe 43-year-old reflected on his path to acting, and how his career only began to take off after he got sober on October 1, 2013; How did he arrive in seasons three and four of Ozarkhow his work on that show led to other high-profile opportunities; Why he was so drawn to — and personally moved by — playing Robbie a taskany Respected It has been described as “the role of a lifetime”; Plus more.
You can listen to the full conversation via the audio player above or read excerpts — lightly edited for clarity and/or brevity — below.
On training with Mark Rylance while in college…
“We had to go a whole semester and study Shakespeare at the Globe Theater. At the time, Mark Rylance was the artistic director of the Globe Theater. It was everything you could hope for as an actor. Here we are in New Brunswick doing Meissner, kitchen sink drama, crying, screaming, punching holes in the walls, venting your anger, making it natural, touching their feet, all that stuff, but it’s really internal and intense. And then we go to the Globe Theater I mean it’s unbelievable… Suddenly they were talking about our situation and how to use your voice and teaching us how to breathe… It was like seeing the other end of the spectrum… I fell in love with Mark Rylance and I was like, ‘Who is this guy?!’ Because at that time, real theater people knew he was an alien, but most people had never heard his name and I certainly hadn’t and he would come and talk to our class and teach us and my whole class, our jaws were on the floor.
On getting sober…
“I got sober at the end of 2013 and then everything changed. Yes, 100 percent. I can tell you everything from that point on in an easy way to explain this led to this, led to this, led to this. So I say that just to say, by the grace of God, I got sober in 2013, and I wouldn’t be here without it.”
On making Ozark With Jason Bateman, who was his scene partner and director…
“It was my first experience on a set where an actor was directing, and I couldn’t believe it. It was like the first two episodes, and I was nervous to be there — this was this show that I loved, and this role, and all these people that I looked up to — and Jason was walking around giving notes to the camera and the actors, and he was also directing this particular scene, and then he was joking with me, and as they were counting down to the role, his heartbeat never went up. He was like, ‘What’s going on?!’ I’m getting ready to do one of my first scenes, my heart is pounding from “My chest, this guy literally coordinates the whole set while being the main actor in the scene, and he’s completely free and easy. It was unbelievable!”
Get the recitation a task…
“It was like that Ozark Meaning that as soon as I read it, I knew there was work to be done, but there was something about the character that I felt I completely understood, and then I wanted to; It made sense to me. So we recorded some scenes on tape very quickly and sent them out, just like we did OzarkAnd we heard back a few days later and they were like, “Great, you’ll do this.”
In the heartbreaking scene in the fourth episode of a task, When Ruby’s daughter confesses to him that she didn’t buy a ticket to the father-daughter dance, and then they dance together…
“I had the greatest honor in the world to become a father some time before we started filming a taskMy daughter means the universe to me, so should I play this scene? He’s a man whose daughter means the universe to him, and he let her down, and he knew it would be the last time he saw her… For me, Tom, I was literally trying to distract myself. “It was a lot.”
At this moment in his career…
“It’s an incredible time. I remember having a conversation with my agent years and years ago, and he was like, ‘What is success?’ And for me, success is just greater ability to come up with good scripts. When you have access to really good scripts, there are usually really good people working on them, and you get these amazing opportunities to showcase what you can do and whatever talent you have. Hopefully I’ll get better and better – I think I am – but you need the opportunity to show that. There’s a lot that’s out of your control, and that’s really what I’m trying to say, and I So grateful for how this all worked out, and that I will have more opportunities to have great opportunities.
