The Dallas Examiner feature We Examine, looks at the career of actor Mehcad Brooks, a Texas native and one of the stars of ABC’s The Deep End, a midseason drama about the legal profession that was shot on location in Dallas. Brooks, 29, is the son of Austin-American Statesman reporter Alberta Bledsoe and former NFL player Billy Brooks Sr., and the stepson of longtime Texas NAACP President Gary Bledsoe.

At least as compared with most young Black actors, Brooks has had a highly varied career. From 2005 to 2006, Brooks played the role of Matthew Applewhite on the ABC TV drama Desperate Housewives. He appeared in Glory Road, portraying Harry Flournoy, basketball player at Texas Western University, and was also in the 2007 film In the Valley of Elah. Brooks played Benedict “Eggs” Talley in the second season of HBO’s True Blood. He now appears as hotshot young attorney Malcolm Bennet in The Deep End.

TDE:Austin, where you grew up, has a reputation for being a laid-back town. I’m sure the list is long, but what are some of the differences between living in a city like Austin and Hollywood?

Brooks:Hollywood/Los Angeles is such a large and diverse city that you have a little bit of everything. Many neighborhoods in Hollywood remind me of Austin. But Austin’s personality is so unique that there really is no comparison to any city that would be accurate.

TDE:You have had a very varied career. You played a jock in the former television series Boston Public and in the highly acclaimed movie, Glory Road. You were a soldier in the Valley of Elah, a murderer in Desperate Housewives and your latest role in True Blood was pretty wild. Which of the roles you have played were the most like you and which roles stretched you the most?

Brooks:I’d say that Harry in Glory Road is a lot like me. Elements of Eggs from True Blood are similar to me as well. Though I’m smarter and more responsible than Eggs, it’s where I could have ended up if I had been raised under different circumstances. Malcolm from The Deep End is a lot more like me holistically than many of the characters I’ve had the pleasure of playing.

TDE:In Glory Road, did many people tease you that your mother in the movie might have been a tiny bit like your mother in real life?  

Brooks: Yes, people did tease me and rightfully so. My mother showed up to school once in elementary and sat there quietly and effortlessly made me pay attention.

TDE:What can you tell us about your new series, The Deep End, which you are filming here in Dallas? What is your character going to be like?  And, for our female readers: will they get to see you without your shirt?

Brooks:Malcolm is like a young Barack Obama meets a Jeremy Piven from Entourage. He’s a charming, sharp-witted, lovable douche bag. And he wears shirts and ties proudly.

TDE:The Deep End has been picked up by ABC as a midseason replacement. Do you see this series having a future? What will we be seeing from you, acting-wise, that we haven’t thus far?

Brooks:What you’ll see in Malcolm is a more comedic side that lurks in me between takes or off camera normally because I’m shooting dramas. But this show has wonderful comedic elements and I hope it has a long run. It deserves it.

TDE:The series is going to be set in Los Angeles. Should we assume that, given such a “sexy” setting, that this series will see its share of bed-hopping and racy subplots like Grey’s Anatomy?

Brooks:Yes.

TDE:Despite your busy production schedule, you have been socially responsible, participating in HIV awareness efforts and working for the Obama campaign are two things that come to mind. Please tell The Dallas Examiner why it is important for actors to also be politically and socially involved?

Brooks:I think it’s important for anyone with a platform and something constructive to say to at least involve themselves in the debate. There are a lot of loud voices in society at the moment saying nothing of value, spouting negativity and perpetuating the thoughts and actions of the past. It’s our responsibility to make sure this country mirrors the vision articulated by our founding documents. These documents would provide peace and harmony if we lived by them.

TDE:I’ve heard that you have turned down roles for fear of being typecast – as an athlete, for example. You come from a socially conscious family – will you continue to be an advocate on your own behalf to ensure that the roles you get are challenging and non-stereotypical?

Brooks:It isn’t so much that I mind playing an athlete. I didn’t want to be typecast as in a stereotypical portrayal that many young minority actors have had to do, to keep the lights on. James Dean once said he’d rather starve than do a bunch of work that he didn’t care about. I agree. Part of being an actor is having the resolve to wait or fight for a role that you really care about. It stretches you. It tests you. It makes you better than you were yesterday.

Local officials view the series as an encouraging sign for what has recently been a sluggish period for Texas’ film and television industry. According to The Deep End co-executive producer Garry Brown, the advantage of filming in Dallas is its lower cost of doing business compared to Los Angeles.

Brown was also instrumental in persuading the Texas Legislature to recently increase the size of financial incentives for filming in the Lone Star State and convincing Fox to shoot in Dallas.

Dallasites, like people in most communities, get excited by a television series or movie filming in their city. Local boosters tout the potential benefits from production – i.e., the use of local film crews, the hiring of extras, the use of local caterers, electricians and others. The Dallas Film Commission fought to have a film based on the television series Dallas shoot in North Texas, and although the film never materialized, rumors are now circulating of a modern-day version of the Dallas series that may or may not shoot in its title town. Brown convinced the producers of Prison Break to move filming from Chicago to Dallas, where they would have no difficulty finding experienced film crews. This was a prelude to The Deep End’s coming to Dallas.

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