Giancarlo Esposito — who played the two-faced drug kingpin Gustavo Fring in AMC’s Emmy Award-winning “Breaking Bad” — will speak about his acting career on campus on Friday.
Esposito could not be reached for comment, but if he could, he might have said that he was doing the show because “a man provides. And he does it even when he’s not appreciated, or respected, or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it. Because he’s a man.”
Amanda Wolfe, the Insights Chair for the Student Association Programming Board, said that Esposito had a lot to offer as a speaker because of his experience as a successful African American actor in the entertainment industry. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he acted in four films directed by Spike Lee (he played Buggin’ Out in “Do the Right Thing” and Thomas Hayer in “Malcolm X”). A report this year by the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA found that minorities are underrepresented by a factor of about 7 to 1 in lead roles in broadcast comedies and dramas.
“He’ll cover things that really matter, like overcoming racial stereotypes and boundaries in the world of entertainment, and things he had to do to get into this world, and get the jobs,” Wolfe, a senior majoring in English, said. “Because it’s predominately a white kind of atmosphere in the entertainment world.”
Esposito was nominated for an Emmy for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series in 2012 for his work in “Breaking Bad,” losing out to co-star Aaron Paul. On stage, he’ll share stories from working on the set of “Breaking Bad” and on other shows, Wolfe said.
After Esposito’s talk, he’ll accept audience questions predetermined by a Twitter question-and-answer to be held by the Programming Board at noon on Wednesday.
“We’ll pick the best tweets, and the people who get picked will be able to actually ask him the question in person,” Wolfe said.
The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 21 in The Anderson Center’s Chamber Hall. Tickets cost $8.50. There were 25 meet and greet tickets available for $15 each, but they sold out in four minutes. Doors open at 6 p.m.