Jeffrey Wright opened up exclusively to Us Weekly about 25 things you might not know about him — including his most embarrassing moment on stage, his best subject in college as a political science major and the best dish he makes. Read on to learn more about the Westworld actor.
1. My favorite food indulgence is a charred, buttery, pink-in-the-middle steak.
2. My first job was as a locker room attendant in a public swimming pool in Washington, D.C., when I was 14.
3. My first splurge after I was working on Broadway in the ’90s was a 27-inch color TV. It was a big deal at the time.
4. When I was younger, I wanted to do hurling.
5. I was starstruck meeting Muhammad Ali and Angela Davis.
6. I took up surfing while filming The Hunger Games in Oahu, Hawaii.
7. If I weren’t an actor, I’d be surfing every day and eating lots of fresh fish.
8. My best subject in college was constitutional law. My worst subject was oversleeping.
9. My favorite book is one I’m rereading now: 1984 by George Orwell.
10. The album I have on my turntable right now is Miles Davis’ ’Round About Midnight. Keepin’ it old-school.
11. The coolest thing about working on a James Bond movie [No Time to Die] is just that you get to be in a Bond movie!
12. My favorite movie is Apocalypse Now. I’ve watched it 500 times.
13. My dream role is a character in a Shakespeare play.
14. I was a huge fan of Adam West’s Batman. I’d watch every day after school and built my own Batcave out of cardboard.
15. My least-favorite TV shows are political news, but I find myself watching them every day. There’s some type of masochistic side of me that likes it.
16. I’m pretty mean in the kitchen. My biggest crowd-pleasers are my charred grilled oysters.
17. I took custom coasters from the set of Wes Anderson’s [upcoming] movie The French Dispatch. They’re up on my wall.
18. My favorite places to vacation are Hawaii and Paris.
19. I cherish the guys I played lacrosse with the most. We’ve stayed close for five decades.
20. One time I was with my kids and an aggressive fan asked for a selfie and I didn’t take kindly to it. The woman vowed never to watch anything I was ever in again. My kids love to bring that up.
21. Sometimes we have 20-hour days on Westworld, but it’s so worth it in the end.
22. I used to skateboard a lot as a kid until I broke my leg.
23. My celebrity childhood crush was Diahann Carroll as Julia.
24. My first music festival experience was Live Aid in Philly [in 1985]. It was an incredible moment.
25. My most embarrassing moment on stage was in the early 2000s when a cellphone went off. I shouted some type of obscenity at whomever was receiving a call. I was upset it broke my focus.
New episodes of Westworld air on HBO Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
