Hampton Fluker says his newfound stardom has been a whirlwind.
We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Shades of Blue star Hampton Fluker and talk about his experience being on the show. Hampton gushed about working with the beautiful Jennifer Lopez and one of his biggest idols Ray Liotta. Hampton also tells the story of how he got involved in acting and talks about reconnecting with his theatrical roots. He also teases on what fans could expect to see in the show’s upcoming episode, which airs this Thursday 10/9c on NBC.
How has your experience been on Shades of Blue?
It’s been wonderful. I’m a young actor kind of fresh out of school so to work with these types of people like Ray Liotta, Drea (Drea de Matteo), JLo (Jennifer Lopez) I mean it’s kind of a dream come true. It’s both great for learning and practicing a little bit. They’re great performers and just admiring their work ethic and trying to take some of that away with me as I continue with this career.
Speaking of JLo and Ray Liotta how was it working with them?
They’re both dreams to work with. You know outside of their talent with JLo being a triple threat and Ray being one of my idols they’re really just kind people. They’re very supportive and again their work ethic is something I hope to adopt for myself as I continue. It’s really like acting with the gods it’s pretty cool.
When we’re flipping through the channels we always see a particular type of cast, but on this show it seems like that view is being erased, can you speak about the diversity on the show?
I think the diversity in the show is wonderful, but it’s also very rare and I think casting wise it’s actually what New York looks like you know the fact that this is a New York show. New York is a very diverse place and it’s great that we’re telling who we see as honed in on, we have them reflect reality so I think it’s less of a statement and more of a this is what reality looks like. This is what actual people look like, the police force in New York. I live in Brooklyn and when I walk around I see more faces of color than I see white faces. I think it’s also wonderful that JLo and Drea are in this because these are powerful women and that’s also in New York. Powerful women surround us all the time and it’s time that people saw that on their television. It’s wonderful.
How did you get started in acting?
I thought I was going to go to school for football that was my dream back in high school. I’m only 25, so this is kind of like a whirlwind. I fell into acting and I just loved it all of a sudden I went from an athlete to a theater kid. I didn’t know if I could make a career out of it, but it was just fun. I had some really good influence, really positive influences in my life that told me I had a chance that I had a talent. So I moved to New York after school and really grinded. I worked at Juice Press in the Upper East Side for a while, canvased for women’s rights, I was really one of those typical New York actors who really had to kind of strike through it and all that kind of stuff. Then in 2014 I got my first big role and then from there it’s been like a gust of wind towards really good things so far. I wish this story was more dramatic, I just enjoyed acting so I kept doing it and I kept on doing it to make a career out of it.
Given your theatrical background can you tell us some of the differences you’ve noticed between being onstage and being in front of a camera?
I still miss the stage. I think that every actor that went to a conservatory will say that they miss stage. There’s something that I learned, that there’s magic in everything when you’re filming something. There are so many different people working on this one shot it’s not just you, you are part of this machine. What I miss about theater is the live aspect you know feeling emotion in front of people almost like you’re a gladiator like it’s do or die time you can’t mess up you got to put the show on right now people paid hundreds of dollars to see the show on right now and that’s really cool. On the flip side I love film because it’s more of a community type of thing. You got to know where the camera is, you got to really connect with this person in front of 100 people who are looking to get this one particular shot. Also the camaraderie with the crew like the PA, the first Ad’s and learning behind the camera like watching the director work it’s magical. So I would say that I enjoy both equally, but I do miss theater and will go back to it soon but I’m very happy to be working on film and T.V. right now as a young actor and be able to do both of those things.
What can fans expect for the next episode?
Well I can’t go into too much detail but I think that if last night’s episode was any example I think that you will be expecting a surprise of what the turn out is. The writers on this show have really written themselves out of corners so well to the fact that when I read the last episode I actually called up one of my cast mates and was like “dude wow.” So if I’m surprised I’m sure the audience will be surprised as well. I have to give it up to the writers it’s ridiculous I can’t go into detail about it cause I can’t give any spoilers, but its really really good it’s going to be wonderful.
