Larenz Tate, whose first professional acting role was at age 10 in a Twilight Zone reboot in 1985, sat down with Tamron Hall today to discuss his illustrious career in Hollywood, who indirectly introduced him to his wife, and the highly anticipated third season of Power Book II: Ghost.
Tate seemed shocked when Hall revealed that it has been 26 years since one of the most iconic Black romance films, Love Jones, was released in theaters in March 14, 1997.
“Wait a minute, how is that possible when I’m 22 if you’re 21?” Tate joked. “We’re too young for this to be 26 years old. What is going on?”
To which Hall reminded her friend of his online moniker, the real-life Benjamin Button, which fans call him because he seems to age in reverse. Then Hall took it all the way back to 1985 with a clip of Tate in the Twilight Zone remake. His first professional line was, “I think Santa’s wasted.”
Tate also revealed how playing Jamie Foxx’s wingman led him to meet his wife Tomasina Parrott, whom he wed in 2006:
“So it’s an interesting story. The story is that yes, he didn’t quite introduce me to her. There was an event back in 2000. Look at my wife, she’s so fine … My wife and I have been together for 23 years and she is my rock. She’s the CEO of our family, she runs everything. I truly love her and she sort of, you know, steps back and supports me in a real way to do what I do. So back in 2000, during (NBA) All-Star Weekend, we were all having this big party, and there was a private event, and there were all kinds of people coming in. And I knew Jamie [Foxx] was throwing a private party and there were a couple people that you know, he invited, right? And so, at the time, he was like ‘Hey, there’s a couple of people that’s gonna come through. I want to talk to somebody, but I need you to keep her friend occupied while I just talk to her.’ But I was like, ‘I’m not playing your wingman.’ And that person was the person that I later would marry and spend my, my life partner … I was on my wingman for a moment. And the person that he was talking to, they didn’t connect at all. It was like two, three minutes and they were like, OK, whatever. But I got the prize.”
Tate also chatted about the third season of Power Book II: Ghost and what it’s like being in the Power universe:
“It [the Power franchise] is something. Like we don’t even have Power fans we call them Power family, the Power universe, Ghost family. I mean it has been such a phenomenon. And what’s interesting about the Power phenomenon is that our ‘family,’ they don’t distinguish the actual actors from the characters. So when you are out, they are like, ‘Yo Rashad!’ ‘Yo Councilman Tate! What happened to the Queen’s Tower Project? Did you really steal that money?’ And I’m like, ‘Relax, relax.’ I gotta say like, Councilman Rashad Tate, he’s a person that you either love or you hate, right? And I’m good with that because I don’t want the gray area. I want you to love him or you hate them. But this season, you get a chance to maybe love them a little bit more than you typically would but – it’s not a spoiler – but you’re also gonna hate him too. I’m just saying we’re keeping, we’re keeping the shenanigans going on, yeah for sure.”
Check out a sneak peek of Power Book II below.
