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> The actors -- many of whom are actual former gang members, police officers, judges, politicians, teachers, etc. from the city Baltimore This is a persistent
by garmaine 6y ago
> The actors -- many of whom are actual former gang members, police officers, judges, politicians, teachers, etc. from the city Baltimore
This is a persistent myth. They were all professional actors.
- I-M-S 6y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Pearson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Pearson
- augustt 6y agoOr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Williams_(actor) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Williams_(actor)
- bourgoin 6y ago"Many" may be a stretch, but at least a few of the actors did meet that description, if only in bit parts/cameos. I think the only actor to that description that played a 'major' role on the show was the one who played Snoop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Pearson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felicia_Pearson
- cs702 6y agoBesides Felicia "Snoop," Pearson, here's a partial list of main characters that also meet the description: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Andrews https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Williams_(actor) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Williams_(actor) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Norris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Norris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_D%27Addario https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_D%27Addario https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Landsman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Landsman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burton_(Baltimore) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burton_(Baltimore) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Earle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Earle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Zorzi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Zorzi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwan_Glover https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwan_Glover And don't forget the show's creators: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Simon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Simon - former journalist at the Baltimore Sun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Burns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Burns - former Baltimore police and public school teacher.
- chrisseaton 6y agoWould you be surprised if I told you that you can be both an 'actual former gang members, police officers, judges, politicians, teachers, etc' and simultaneously a 'professional actor'?
- garmaine 6y agoWhat I mean is that they were hired based on their acting CV and auditions. It turns out that a very small number of mostly minor actors had some run in with the law in their youth, and there is one actor who had been selling drugs decades before. This story got media play when The Wire was on TV and people thought that the producers had gone out and hired actual gang members for the cast. This isn’t true. They went through the usual screen actors guild and casting process. The iconic characters people remember are mostly stage actors, and not from Baltimore (two of the main characters are British).
- mattkrause 6y agoSteve Earl, who plays Walton and performs the season 5 theme, is a professional musician but also, like his character, had trouble with heroin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Earle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Earle
- aetherson 6y agoIn addition to Snoop, the actual Jay Landsman (real person) plays a sergeant in the wire, though it's a small part and he does not play Jay Landsman (the character).
- OminousWeapons 6y agoAdditionally, the actor who plays detective Ed Norris is the former police commissioner for Baltimore and the former Police Superintendent for the state of Maryland.
- leetcrew 6y agothe guy who plays the deacon on the wire was a drug kingpin back in the 70s/80s. he was actually arrested by one of the writers of the show.
- smcnally 6y agoMelvin Williams as posted above: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25626484 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25626484