Theatre

BU Alum Russell Hornsby Reflects on Diverse Acting Career

From off-Broadway productions to starring opposite Denzel Washington, CFA alum Russell Hornsby (CFA’96) has enjoyed an enviable and varied acting career. He attributes much of his success to Shakespearian training at CFA, where (then new hire) Professor Judy Braha saw his potential and encouraged Russell to expect more from himself. And he certainly did just that and then some.

According to Russell, School of Theatre’s emphasis on words and stillness was a major factor in portraying a quadriplegic in his recent lead on Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. You can also catch Russell’s acting skills in movies like The Hate U Give and Fences as well as popular TV series like NBC’s Grimm, ESPN’s Playmakers, and ABC’s Gideon’s Crossing. In all of these roles, Russell brings this training into focus and shows us how he “works from the words.”

“The beautiful thing about actors with theatre training is that they can put the nose on or they can take it off. You can be a clown if you need to, you can be dramatic, you can be funny, you can be a leading man, or you can be a character actor. Because you have the talent and you have the tools.”