An Open Letter to Orlando Jones
"Someone I met years ago explained to me the difference between a personality and an actor, a personality being Eddie Murphy or Roseanne Barr, and an actor being Morgan Freeman and Alfre Woodard or Marlon Brando. And in the shrinking world of sound bites, the Internet, and other mass media, there were going to be fewer actors and more personalities" (Orlando Jones from a PopMatters interview, 2000).
Thank you, Mr. Jones, for neatly summing up the latter half of the 20th Century. Fortunately you seem to be a genuine actor. Your performance was one of the highlights of the movie Drumline. Unlike many actors of your generation you can convincingly play a variety of roles. Too many actors become personalities because they seem to play the same character - usually themselves - in every production. Eddie Murphy is a great example. How different is his Beverly Hills Cop series character from his portrayal of Donkey in the Shrek franchise? About as different as the characters he plays in his other films: very, very little. It is a tremendous shame, though, as in the film Coming to America Mr. Murphy showed that he does have considerable talent.
Yes, I enjoyed those films, but as with other personality-driven productions they tend to be just eye candy. Works such as yours (The Replacements, Bedazzled, and of course, "Mad TV") are better grade because of the depth a quality actor provides. I look forward to seeing you in future films and TV shows.
