How ‘Evil’ Actor Mike Colter Picks His Roles (Exclusive)

When you think of Mike Colter, it’s hard to put him in a box. The actor has played everything from a cheating husband in Girls Trip, to a superhero in Luke Cage, and even a priest in Evil. The latter, a horror series, is currently streaming on Netflix and is in its fourth season. Colter fans are always eager for what he’ll do next. When speaking with PopCulture.com while promoting his family’s hair care line, Niles & Chaz, the actor dished about his selection process for his projects. 

“It is strategic,” he tells PopCulture.com. Colter says that in the beginning of his career, he didn’t have much choice about what to play. But as time progressed, he became more intentional. 

“When I first started out as an actor, it was very interesting because when you’re young, you’re trying to figure out where you fit in in the business you want to work in, but you also want to like what you’re doing,” he said. “You want to sort of control your career. But at the end of the day, sometimes you must just find your niche and then see where it falls. And I think I really realized that I just wanted to do things that were things that I was not familiar with.”

For Colter, he says getting out of his comfort zone is key to pushing himself as an actor. No matter how big or small the project is, it’s about stretching himself to places he never imagined he could go.

“The priest in Evil, I am not Catholic. I am not particularly religious. I don’t know anything about that world. And so, when Evil came along, it was just what I was looking for after playing a superhero,” he explained. “Anytime I’m doing a film, I am trying to find something that I really respond to with the material and that I can sort of create a character around that is unlike myself because I find anything close to me to be boring.”

He knows that as a Black actor, it’s easy to get pigeonholed into certain stereotypical roles, which is something he wants to avoid. “I grew up in South Carolina, and I am a Black guy in America. I have a certain background and certain things that I do. I just want to find things that are not connected to those things. I sort of want to be an example of no limits in terms of what you can do with your life.”

As it turns out, his role model for acting was nothing remotely close to him. But because his role model was so great, he was able to imagine a world beyond his surroundings. “When  I was growing up, I responded to people on television and films and people I looked up to, and Bruce Lee was one of them. Me and Bruce Lee had nothing in common, but I looked at him as an icon of some sort and I just really enjoyed watching his movies. Did I follow the path of Bruce Lee? No, but I want people to see something. Whether it’s a Black guy playing a priest or the Black athlete, a superhero…I just want people to think outside the box.”