– An Augusta native is now residing behind “the gates” of the fictional gated-community, Fairmont Crest.

Actor Maurice Johnson portrays Dr. Ted Richardson in the new soap opera, Beyond The Gates, and Johnson sits down with to talk about his role on this groundbreaking series as we travel down the road that got him to this point in his career.

Thank you for joining us on Celebrating Black Excellence. For the people who do not know, how did you get started with acting? What inspired you to become an actor?

Well, I got started acting in Albany State University, so I jumped into the speech and theater program. I was looking for some easy classes and I said, “Hey, let me take some speech classes.” Then, I jumped into a play, and the spotlight hit me, and I was just stung at that point, you know? I wanted the rush of being on the stage and interaction with the crowd. I just continued to do that even when I left college and jumped into the corporate world, I did stage plays on the weekends, and I traveled to be in those, and that’s where casting directors found me.

You were born and raised in Augusta, and you are a graduate of Glenn Hills High School. As an Augusta native, from the outside looking in, how important is the arts here in Augusta? How important is the cultivation of the arts here in Augusta?

Well, I’ve always felt that Augusta was a center of the arts, and it’s a lot of different things. You hear the music, you hear you see the murals downtown, and you see the festivals, so I felt artsy a little bit, but of course, I didn’t get that going to a public school. Of course, what Davidson is doing and what some of the theater companies around here are actually doing I think is really, really good. I didn’t jump into that because I was more into sports at that time, and I really was trying to figure out what I was going to do, but I wish I would have jumped into some of the theater outlets here. Growing up here and seeing James Brown like at Sally Beauty or the Kroger, I was like, “Oh, wow, this is an international star”. So, I saw the possibilities. Even though I was here, I could maybe expand my horizons just to see the possibilities, but I definitely felt the arts were here.

What was it like for you when you were cast in your first mainstream speaking role? What was that moment like for you?

I definitely can go back to my first time, which was on the same network [as Beyond The Gates], CBS. My first major network show was Hawaii Five-O. Many don’t know that it shoots actually in Hawaii, not in L.A. I flew to Hawaii. I betted on myself because I felt that I was going to bring something to this role. When I saw this role, I said, “This is for me.” The original role was for Bob Dietrich. Bob Dietrich is actually German. So, they actually changed the name to Bob Ledford, and so I actually booked the role that was written for a White man. So, I definitely betted on myself. So, it was one of those things where some things that are definitely for you, and those are one of the moments just like being on Beyond The Gates, I knew that role and felt that role was for me. When I actually hit that scene, I’m in beautiful Hawaii. I’m working with Sam Anderson, who I was watching at the time on Lost. I’m watching all of the major players that’s actually on there like Scott Caan. I’m like, “Wow. I actually grew up like watching these guys and their parents,” and just to get on there, I said, “Hey, this is something big.” With the level of production that they had and also being on a major network, I knew I had to come in, perform, hit the ground running, and be a professional.

As we mentioned, you are currently on the daytime soap opera, Beyond The Gates, as Dr. Ted Richardson. Can you tell us about your character and about the world of Fairmont Crest?

I love my wife – that’s what I’m going to start off saying. Fairmont Crest is, I think, a beautiful thing, and I’m so glad that Michele Val Jean actually wrote this because it opens the world to what people many people don’t know about the DMV area that you probably have 3 to 5 of the top ten most affluent areas for Black folks are in the DMV area. So, this is just a snapshot of one of those neighborhoods, which definitely is a gated neighborhood, which definitely is on golf courses. You know, we spend a lot of our time in the country club. So, we are definitely the upper crust. We’re a very connected family. Of course, Clifton Davis, who we all saw growing up, Tamara Tunie are the patriarch and matriarch. So, everything kind of surrounds them and their two daughters: Nicole, who I’m married to, who is played by Daphnée Duplaix, who I actually grew up watching as well; and Dani, who is played by Karla Mosely, who is giving like Emmy performances like all last week. If she doesn’t get an Emmy for what she did last week, I’d be surprised, but that is the nucleus of the family. You know, we call them the big four. So, I’m blessed to be number four on the call sheet. So that’s something for me and that means something for folks in the industry. We have created this community, but this community has flaws. You see all of the affluence. I’m a doctor. My wife is a psychiatrist, but we have flaws. Some people have kids that are popping up – maybe, maybe not. My character has two kids that are doing very well for themselves. I have a son that’s married to a man, and he has two kids that he actually adopted. So, this was something that was new for me as well. It’s something I think, you know, the world needs to actually see, and as an interracial couple, those are a lot of different, movable parts that’s in there.

So, we’re creating a very diverse world. So, it’s based on a black, affluent African-American family, but it’s definitely a diverse cast. So, we have everybody represented in this cast. So, I think people are going to see themselves. They’re going to see their cousins in there. They’re going to see the drama that they have in their own families. I don’t care if you’re Black, if you’re Asian, if you’re Hispanic, you’re like, “I know a Dani, right? I know Dr. Ted Richardson.” Or hopefully this is something that people are going to aspire to do. Like where we grew up, we saw The Cosby Show. I saw Bill Cosby. I saw how they lived. I saw New York because even though I was sitting in Augusta, Georgia, that’s how New York is. “Oh, they have brownstones.” Never would have known it if I wouldn’t have seen it on that show. So, we’re going to open the eyes of hopefully… some of this is educational. You know, from how we wear our hair, because black people are not a monolith. We have different hair textures. We’re in all different shades and sizes and all kinds of things that we represent on this show. So, I think it’s really eye opening.

We have older people that grew up watching the soaps that were in love with Victor [Newman of The  Young And The Restless], that are crying about this show being out. So, we realized like, “Wow, this is like really big that people are really looking at this.” We’ve been working, so we haven’t had the time to really experience that. When you see social media, which is blowing up… TikTok’s blowing up. You know, it’s crazy. We have fan clubs and stuff that’s popping up everyday.  People are talking about it. So, that’s one of another good things that it starts the dialog about certain things that plague us, whether it’s from a psychiatrist-standpoint because of my wife about the mental health piece that’s going on. Some people follow the show just for fashion because everybody’s fly, you know? We have a Black writer that’s actually on there. So, we don’t have another culture that’s writing about my culture. So, I should sound like what my uncle probably says the same thing, or what’s the banter when a doctor is talking to his son or to his cousins, or when he’s having beers with his boys? That’s what we see and hear on this show.

It is entertainment. It is a soap. So yeah, it’s a lot of scandal. It is spicy. It is sexy, but you see a lot of different elements. You know, you see affluence, right? What you see is the human part of it. Also, you see long term relationships. So, you see 30, 40, 50 years of relationships, right? Then, you also see the possible things that happen along the way. You know, just like many of us, you know, you have outside children, or you have other things that these couples have had to get over, over the years to maintain their status in this community and also their relationship as well. So, it’s a lot. Also, we have the affluence but we have doctors and lawyers, we have nurses, we have a fireman, we have Jibre Hordges’ character, Jacob, who’s playing a cop. His dad is the chief of police, you know, so we have a lot of different elements that’s actually in there. There are blue collar workers. There are people who you would be considered the upper crust, you know, as well. So, it’s not totally like a Dynasty, but I can see why some people have been comparing it to, you know, an African-American Dynasty.

There has not been a soap centered around Black characters since Generations. So, how does it feel for you to be a part of this groundbreaking soap opera?

It is humbling to be asked to be a part of this. We are history. We’re definitely history, and I’m glad to be a part of this and that I was tapped to be a part of history. Representation matters, and we haven’t seen ourselves on TV. A large amount of the audience had always been for soaps have been the African-American audience, but we didn’t see ourselves just like Tamara Tunie was one of the few Black faces, and for the most part, she was the only Black face that was on the soap opera that she was actually on [As The World Turns]. So now you get to see a family of that, but you know, like I said, Black folks are not a monolith. So, we show, I think, a wide variety, which is definitely cast, you know, on here, but then we show our interactions with a lot of different things. We have interracial marriages, we have love triangles, and we have like all kinds of stuff. but it’s important for us to see ourselves there. My character went to an HBCU. So, I’m glad that we’re representing HBCUs because my character went to Tuskegee, and my character’s wife went to Tougaloo. So, a lot of people might not know where Tougaloo is. So, guess what? Now you have another group of folks that don’t know about HBCUs that are learning about Tougaloo and Claflin and where Paine College is. So that’s something I think that will be eye opening as well. Also, other things like 100 Black men or things that we might belong to… we had a reference to The Links actually in there. So, this is educational. So, I think someone from another culture is able to look at this like, “Oh, okay, you know, it is sort of eye opening.” They can learn more. We can continue to learn more about each other by watching the show. Absolutely. Like not only are we entertaining, but we are educated.

I want to definitely give a shout out to CBS Studios, the P&G Studios, and then, also to the NAACP. So, this is a merger that a lot of people don’t realize. They see it on CBS, but this was definitely a merger of three different groups that came together to actually create this. So my hats off to them. Also, we have to acknowledge that there are women who are at the helm of this series – in every department.

We know that you are busy with Beyond The Gates. Are there any other projects that you’re working on that you can discuss?

Operation Aunties is coming out on AllBlk very, very soon. So, we had to Tichnia Arnold, who is actually in that, and we had Rebecca de Souza, who plays my wife in that. So that will be released soon. I did seven films last year before I booked Beyond the Gates, so I started filming that in October. I had two more films to finish, and then I got signed on for this, and of course I had to focus on this. So, it’s definitely been a blessing, but I have a few more films that are coming out, and one is a Christmas film, but I don’t have a release date for that, but follow my social media pages, and I always post that whenever I’m able to post it and show when we have release dates for those.

Now, what words of encouragement can you give someone who may want to get into acting or entertainment business?

Theater… community, theater… take classes. Don’t think that you can just, “Oh, I can jump on it. Just say that one line.” It is a whole lot bigger than that, and it’s also having respect for the craft. So, it’s a lot of things that you need to understand from just set etiquette and being in front of the camera, behind the camera, etc. The person has set up these cameras [Gary Nipple] … I have much respect for him. The angles, the lighting… there is so many different things. Don’t just think that you have to be in front of the camera. Sometimes, you can be behind the camera. Just find what your path is. Because I think, quite honestly, this is one of those industries where you have to try everything. You might be a P.A., then a D.P., and now, you’re doing lighting. You might be a gaffer, you might be the boom guy one day, etc. So, just figure out what that is, but just figure out all that. On our set, we have 200 different individuals that are working on the set, and everybody has to do their job. If one person messes up… if the lighting is not right, I don’t care about the sound. I don’t care about the cameras. You’re not going to be able to tell because the lighting is messed up or the sound piece is not here. At one time very recently, the sound actually went out on us, and it killed half of our day. So, that’s also money for the production, you know? So, you know, CBS, that was a lot of money that they had to pay because we had to shoot over time because something happened… you know, it was a technical thing. So, there’s a lot of different things that can happen, but you always have to be ready. You always have to come up with your A-game. You’re always being supported by but relied on for so many different people just to do your job. So, I had to come in and do my job as an actor for the folks that are behind the scenes as well.

Now, if people want to follow your journey, or they want to know more about you, how can they do that?

For any of my projects, if you want to really do some research on IMDB, all of us in the industry, that’s how we kind of verify what people have been doing. So, you can look at all of my projects. I’ve been blessed to have a lot of projects, so some of them I’ve forgotten about, but check those out on there. You can see clips, you can see pictures, and stuff I think is kind of fun. I do a lot of research on there as well when I’m trying to get ready for a new project and see who I’m working with, and I do a lot of studying on there.

You can follow me on social media @MrMauriceJohnson. I would love to see what you think about the show. If you’re interested in getting in or learning more about the industry, send me a message.

I have my kids down at Albany State. I speak down there, and when I’m doing guest lecturing or whatever, they send me their projects, they send me their clips, they send me their YouTube videos, and so we critique this stuff. So that’s the thing. Be a student, be a student. You know, constantly take that feedback because I’m still learning. So, I’m 46 years old, and I’m still learning. It’s so much work and learning. It’s going to be something on every single set that I can learn from, even the camera guy. I can learn from him. I can sit down and talk with someone about the lighting piece, i.e. how to find my light. Some people don’t even know that. I can be all into your shadow. It’s just different things that we can learn every day. I come in to learn something different. We spend a lot of time on set. So, find something to learn every single day. So, 10 to 12 hours on set, sometimes 14 hours on set, you know, it can be taxing, but we try to make sure that it’s a cohesive environment. I make sure I bring my energy, and I have a very big energy when I come in the room. People know when I’m not on set, and I know what it does for certain people. So, that’s what I try to do. I just try to bring my A-game every single time.