Nelsan Ellis on Lafayette, Rutina Wesley, & Playwriting

NY Mag has an excellent interview with True Blood breakout star Nelsan Ellis. He gives us some additional insight into Lafayette, as well as Nelsan’s own past, attending Julliard with Rutina Wesley, and his motivation to write the award-winning play Ugly.

You look nothing like Lafayette in real life. How much goes into physically getting into character?
Um, I wear more makeup than any of the girls on the show. I wore everything initially: eye stuff, lip stuff. That didn’t work too well on my face, so it just evolved to where it is now.

What about Lafayette’s hair this season? Was the Mohawk your idea?[Whispers.] Yeah, that was my idea. I figure since he’s got a boyfriend, he probably wants to jazz it up a bit.

Did you base Lafayette on anyone?
He’s inspired by my mother: his spirit, his strength, his femininity, his masculinity, his hand gestures, his hair pieces. A friend saw a picture of Lafayette and goes, “That looks like your mother, dude.” I don’t look anything like my mother, except when I’m Lafayette. I look like my father.

As a straight man, how concerned were you with not making a stereotype out of an already eccentric gay character?
I was very concerned. I didn’t want to offend anybody in the gay community. And I wanted to make a believable human being, not this concept of gay.

(Read the full interview here…)