When actor Omar J. Dorsey needs help wooing his lady or offering advice to a friend, he sometimes borrows a few lines from his “Queen Sugar” character Hollywood Desonier.
The choices are endless.
Take for instance, Hollywood’s wedding vows to his longtime girlfriend Violet Bordelon during the season three finale. “I found what I’ve been looking for since the day I was born. I found the woman my soul was meant to love,” he said as his eyes welled up with tears.
Credit: Skip Bolen/2020 Warner Bros. Ent
Credit: Skip Bolen/2020 Warner Bros. Ent
His words of wisdom to Violet about perseverance during season five are also notable. “We can’t wait for the bad to be over. We have to live through it and find pieces of joy along the way,” he said while preparing for the opening of his business, The Real Spot, a space for Black men to discuss their mental health.
“I steal so much of Hollywood’s stuff. It doesn’t make any sense,” Dorsey told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “If I know the episode might not come out for another five months, I’m just going to say it and hope nobody calls me out.”
So far so good, but soon, Dorsey may have to fend for himself. The beloved drama, which premiered on the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2016, is coming to an end on its own terms. The series, created by award-winning filmmaker Ava DuVernay and based on Natalie Baszile’s novel of the same name, entered its final season in September.
Fans have watched the Bordelon family navigate life, love and a struggling sugarcane farm in the fictional town of Saint Josephine, Louisiana. It all began when the patriarch died unexpectedly, leaving the acreage in the care of his three estranged children: Nova, Charley and Ralph Angel. Along with the siblings’ aunt, Violet, and Charley’s son, Micah, the clan works to preserve both their land and legacy.
The show has been intentional about tackling both serious and joyful topics, from intergenerational trauma and racism to Black love and parenthood. It’s been an exhilarating and often messy journey for the Bordelon clan – an authentic, intimate representation of many Black families.
“It’s just like everybody’s family. Look, I might be biased when I say this. That’s why I think it’s the best family drama in the history of television,” said Dorsey, whose credits also include Oscar-winning movies like “Selma” and “Django: Unchained.” “It’s just regular life. When Shakespeare says the job of the artist is to hold the mirror up to life, that’s exactly what I think we do on our show.”
Filming the series in rural Louisiana reminds Dorsey of home. He recently moved back to Decatur from Los Angeles to be closer to family. Spotting a humongous billboard of the cast of “Queen Sugar” in downtown Atlanta a few weeks ago was the perfect homecoming and farewell.
“It was tremendous to see. I share all the stuff with my mom,” the DeKalb Center for the Performing Arts and Georgia State University alum said. “My mom is one of the great theater directors in Atlanta history. She is the reason I’m an actor. She was teaching me ever since I was a child.”
Hollywood has inspired Dorsey nearly as much as his mother. Viewers can always depend on Hollywood to provide sage, stern counsel to Ralph Angel or run to the kitchen to help Violet mix up one of her “prized pies.” He’s a fierce protector who doesn’t break his promises and isn’t afraid to apologize when he’s wrong.
“He’s like the Yoda of the Bordelon family,” Dorsey described.
Portraying Hollywood has taught Dorsey to be more vulnerable, more sensitive, more supportive and more patient, he said. He says he’s a better partner, father, son and friend. Although DuVernay wrote the part specifically for him, it’s taken him some time to acknowledge the similarities DuVernay spotted long ago.
“When I first started playing him, I said, ‘Nobody can be this good. Nobody can be this perfect. There’s no man like this. It’s just a fantasy,’” he said. “The more I started playing him, I realized this is a person who genuinely loves. He loves his family and his lady, who he wants to protect and shield. You can really be that. That’s the man I’ve actually turned out to be. It only took 46 years.”
Maybe he doesn’t need to steal any more of Hollywood’s lines after all.
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