On the latest episode of Shadow And Act’s Facebook Live Q&A series, Locked Down With ____, This Is Us star Niles Fitch talked about a number of topics, including his experience meeting with Denzel Washington.
Fitch had a role in the 2017 film, Roman J. Israel, Esq., which Washington received an Oscar nomination for. On working with Washington, Fitch said, “It was the craziest thing because I was beyond nervous and he made me feel comfortable. And that’s really kind. Because he didn’t have to do that, he didn’t have to talk to me and get to know me and laugh with me — and that touched me. I’m always going to pay it forward because he didn’t have to be kind to me and I really do appreciate that. We joked about football, we talked about life and it was really nice of him to do that. I haven’t met him since, sadly, but I gotta see him again so I can talk to him. He doesn’t come out like that [laughs] when you got that presence you don’t have to. But it was one of the best experiences ever.
He also talked about how Washington creates opportunities for Black people behind the scenes. “On his sets, he gets Black people hired. So you’ll see a Black camera grip or a Black script supervisor and you rarely see that in this industry. So he’s paving the way for other people to be innovators and trendsetters in their sub-industry. Full makeup team black…it was stuff you never see. Full makeup team, Black. I’ve never seen a Black script supervisor, and [at the time] I had been acting for 14 years. My first interaction with him will forever stick with me.”
