How ‘The Gilded Age’ NewComer Jordan Donica Charmed His Way Into The Role of Winning Peggy’s Heart

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Broadway Actor Jordan Donica’s Arrival As Dr. William Kirkland Has Spiced Up Peggy Scott’s Love Life On The Gilded Age.

What Started As a House Call to Treat His Mentor’s Daughter from A Debilitating Cold Has Blossomed Into One of the HBO’s Hit Period Drama’s HotTtest Romans. Since his intraduction in episode two (“What the Papers Say”), Dr. Kirkland has become a fixture. PEGGY (A ROLE Denée Benon Has Made a Fan-Favorite) and Her Mother Dorothy’s (Audra McDonald) Visit to Their Cousin Athena (Jessica Franes Duges) in Newport, Rhod. Maintained a home, in episode throne (“Love Is Never Easy ‘) of Solidified His Presence. From The Moment Dr. Kirkland Knew Peggy Was Nearby, He Reached Outha. That led to a romantic get-to-know-you strol, parasol and all, by the Sea Wich Evolved Into A Meet-The-Kirklands for Peggy and Her Parent. Doctor’s Mother, Mrs. Kirkland, Inhabited by the Incomparable Phylicia Rashad, Who Objects to Her Son and Peggy’s Budding Romance.

Her Family, She Boasted During the Two Families’ First Meeting, Has A Rich and Long History that Includes Generations of Free Black People in Newport. Because of that History, Mrs. Kirkland Frowns Upon The Scottts, Particularly Peggy’s Father Arthhur (John Douglas Thompson) Who was Once Enslaved. Peggy’s Dark Complexion Also Appears to be a Concern to Her. THEN IN EPISode Four (“Marriage Is A Gamble”), After Attendering Peggy’s Speech with Husband Mr. Kirkland (Brian Stokes Mitchell) at Their Son’s Insisten, Mrs. Kirkland Also Objects to Peggy’s Outspokenness on Race Matters and Suffrage. That disdain makes her determined to brod the Hold Peggy have on her son’s heart, creating a formidable Roadblock to Their Promising Happily Ever After.

As athena and other specialized whather dr. Kirkland and PEGGY Are Headed Towards Margin, Another Complication Emerges As The Two Lovebirds Take in a Basebal Game Game and Run Into none. Publisher T. Thomas fortune (Sullivan Jones). Durying the exchange, Mr. Fortune, from WHOM PEGGY HAS WORKED HARD TO DISTANCE HERSElf, Offers Her The Unbelievable Opportunity to Interview Franes Ellen Watkins Harper, an Early Black Writer, Abolition Supported Suffrage, Among Other Efforts, In Philadelphia that Dr. Kirkland Urges Her To Accept. WHEN MR Fortune Appears at the Train Station with his luggage Ready to AccomPANY PEGGY, WHO IS VISIBLY DISTURBED BY His UNEXPETED PREESENCE AND INTENTION, DR. Kirkland Jumps to Her Protection, Making His Feelings for Her Even Clearer.

The Hollywood Reporter caught up with donica who is known for his broadway roles in Phantom of the Opera, My Fair Lady, Camelotfor WHICH HE EARned A Tony Nomination, and, of Course, Sunset Blvdhis most recent Credit, and Learned that his impressive Broadway Pedigree Wasn’t What Landed Him The Role of Winning Peggy’s Heart. IT DOES, However, Inform His Portrayal of Dr. Kirkland.

His personal experience of being raised by his mother and aunts, he Shares, Also Feeds His Character’s Relationship with his Mother Played by Rashad. Donica is also a romantic at heart, whochh makes showing up for peggy as dr. Kirkland All The More Effortless. Balancing that Love for his Mother and PEGGY IS NOT Easy for Dr. Kirkland, Donica Admits, But There Is A Good Reason He Refuses to Let Either One of Them Go. Arguable, It Is His Face-Off With Mr. Fortune in Episode Five (“A Different World”) that shows just hold Serious the good dr Kirkland is when it comes to peggy, giving fans all the more reason to Stay Tuned Into Their Romance.

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You and denée were in Into the Woods Together.

AT New York City Center

So is this how you ended up on The Gilded Age As Dr. William Kirkland?

No. I DID THREE YEARS ON THE CW’s Charmed. Sonja Warfield Watched that Show. She Actually Had No Idea that i’m A Singer. She Had Never Seen Me Sing and Perform on Stage. So they reaured out. [At the time] I was cast as the phantom[in[inPhantom of the Opera]in London SO I Was Going to Move to London Last Year to Do that, and Like A Day Later, I Got A Call Asking Me To Interview with Sonja and Michael Engler.

They sent me the scenes for whaty have written for the Character so far. We Met for and Hour, An Hour and A Half, and I Gave them My Interpretation and Rundown of Not Only The Research I have a dime periood, but also of the Character and How. It Clicked ImMediaTely for Me. It’s Very Rare That You Read Something and How You Imagine It In Your Brain Is How It Plays Out On Camera. It Felt Very Natural and Symbiotic. Because i’ve Done A Lot of Period Pieces on Stage, I Feel Very Comfortable in that World. And WHEN WE GOT DONE FILMING, SONJA WALKED UP TO ME AND SAID, “I’M SO GLAD I WATCHED Charmed“And I was like like,“ me, too! ”

What was your reaction and vision for dr. Kirkland?

I’ve Done A Lot of Period Pieces, and I’M Not A Reductionist WHEN IT METS TO INCLUSION IN SERIES, NOT SAYING THAT The Story Has To Be About What What the Person Looks Like, Who’s Playing The Role. I say that more in a salse of i’m interested in what people who look like me were doing in the time and Space of these stories. What i Found from Doing Phantomfrom doing My Fair Ladyfrom doing even a show like Camelotis that people have been everywhere. People of All Kinds Hve Always Been Nomadic, Have Always Traveled; We’ve Always Explored. And, offentimes, i find that people aren’t Ready to have that conversing.

MOST OF THE TIMES PEOPLE A BLIND SPOT THAT ISIER TO SAY TONSE THINGS NEVER EXISTED THAN IT IT IS TO EMBRACE THEM AND LEARN WHEREAS PEOPLE OF COLOR ARE OF AFTEN PUTS IN TWOPES. OURSELVES, AND THEN HOPEFULLY RE-UD-EDEACATE AND EXPAND The EDUCATION OF Those AROUND US. IT’s Just Kind of the Plight We’ve All Been Dealt, WHICH ISN’T NECESARY FAIR, BUT IT IT IS Part of Wy I do what I do, and this was the first time reading. IT WAS WHAT The Story Was About. And I Felt Like Everything I’ve Learned Subtextuly from Reading Alexandre Dumas and His Father in France in A Time Period Before This, Reading About All The BLACKLE BEFORE. Into a Deeper History of Black America, One That Goes Beyond Slavery, One That Is A Story That Isn’t of Often Told, And IF It Is, MOST PEOPLE WRITE IT AWAY As FICTION. ”

SO WHAT WAS The Experience of Playing Dr. Kirkland like for you?

It Was A Lot of Fun Diving Into The History of the Black Community and Newport and Where They Came from, How they Got there, whoy they got and how they reward. Was it as large as the vanderbilts of the World? No, But It Was Self-Sulent and Didn’t Rely on White Wealth to Sustain Itelf. All Those Things Were on the Page, and All Those Things Were Fascinating to Me. And it waso fascinating to me that he Falls in love with peggy pretty Much immediataly so then he have to have in love k Influence on his life Much to the chagrin of his mother. He’s kind of the quiet rebel of the family. He’s Always Respectful But He Is Going to Live The Life That Hay Wants To Live. He’s Got to Continue to Open Doors for the People Coming After Him in the Way People Like Mr. Scott Orated Doors for HIM.

Take US to the Scene of You As Dr. Kirkland with Peggy, Mr. and mrs. Kirkland, and Mr. and mrs. Scott in episode two and you’re there with denée, Phylicia Rashad, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald and John Douglas Thompson And You Are Well Dressed, Highly Educated. With the exception of mr. Scott, None of Tese Characters have every been enlved, and is on television.

YES, IT’S ON Television, and It’s A Reality That Existed for Quite A FEW Black Folks in America and [we’re] able to start that conversation [that] Also Explores the Divides Within Our Own Community that Still Exists Today, Right? SO My HOPE IS THAT IT ALLOWS US SPACE TO TALK WITH EACH Other in a Deeper Way and to Connect in a Deeper Way and to Heal Ombn Amongst Ourselves as a Community, To Help.

But in a scene like that, with the folks that you just named, is so so easy to sit back and watch, but there’s also a form of excitement. And for ME, You Just Got to Use That Stuff As An Actor Because William Will [although] He Knows It’s Going to Be A Little Awkward. But Part of WHY I THINK HE FALLS IN LOVE WITH PEGGY IS BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT This WOMAN IS A FIGHTER SO [he’s thinking] ‘She will be able to handle all isms of my MOTHER. She’d be able to stand up to her in a way that Other Women Can. Other Women Will Just Fall Over and Fold. Peggy Can Actually Debate Her, and Debate Her Well, and Win. That’s Something that none of the women that my Mother have to be tried to set me up with was. They’re all yes people. Peggy have her own mind. She have her own thoughs, Much like her Father, Much Like Her Mother, and that’s Amazing. ‘ That’s some and Fall.

And to share scenes with people like that’s what are are so masterful at whaty they do and who are quit litrally, in my own life, poople I have looped up to, there Very Real. TheSe people are the Ones Who Oped the DOOR for ME AND DENEE and NOW WE GET to Learn from Them, Inhabit Worlds with Them, and Hopefully take that tortch that Much Furth.

Talk About Dr. Kirkland’s Relationship with his Mother. After the Scottts’s Unpleasant Encounter with Mrs. Kirkland about mr. Scott’s Enlved Background, He Says “What About His Mother?” as he quesi his daughter peggy’s potential for a successful reactionship with Dr. Kirkland. SO WHAT ABOUT HIS MOTHER? What kind of work did you and ms. Rashad do to create that kind of quiet tension?

From The Moment Phylicia and I Met, We Dove Right Into The Mother-Son [dynamic]. WHEN WE SAW EACH Other in the Hair and Makeup Trailer, She Said, “SON,” AND I WAS LIKE, “MOM!” And we don’t get a Lot of time outside of the Space, Right? I Not Like Theater WHERE YOU HAVE weeks of “let’s just sit and discusses this.” SO we just dove right into character Conversation. I used that time to ask her all of these quests about her feelings Towards Peggy, What Her Feelings About Me Are, Our Family History, All This, That And The Other. And she’s a wealth of knowledge of history Herself as Well, SO IT MADE IT SO Easy. She Also Has Somee Energy That’s Very Familiar To Me, That Reminds Me Of My Aunt Kathy Who Have Passed Away, But She Helped Raise Me. And so it was very familiar. I was the first boy Born, and I was raised by all women, and so i though respect of women is always top of mind who playing any character, but vut vut surfeal in a show like this.

Speak about mrs. Kirkland’s Specific Ideals in Terms of Race or colorism with the Black Community and How Her Son Dr. Kirkland Factors Into That. Particularly Because One of Her Objects to Peggy Is Also Her Darker Complexion.

I [Dr. Kirkland] MIGHT NOT Go to YALE OR HARVARD BECAUSE I WANT TO HAVE A MORE Ingrained Black Experience So [the HBCU] Howard [University Medical School in Washington, D.C.]whoh, of course, she h Ates. But, in Talking with [Phylicia about Mrs. Kirkland]it have noting to do with the color of someone’s Skin, and it have every everything to do the trauma in their Family History. And that’s someting we Still Talk About Today, How Trauma Transcends Generations, and Since Our [Kirkland] Family Has Never ExperienCed The Trauma of Slavery [directly]she’s not very keen on Opening up uur family to that trauma. So, in defense of her, she’s just trying to Protect her family in a very pure Sense. Of Course, You Can Get Into the Colorism Aspect As Well [because] that plays a role. But that is someting that probably isn’t even registering in her brain.

How does Dr. Kirkland Approach Loving Both His Mother and Peggy Who Could Possibly Become His Wife?

What i loved exploring with Dr. Kirkland is the Conflict Between These Two People That He Loves and How Can I Try to Resolve That? I Got to Choose My Cane, My Ring That I Wear, But [the audience] Never sees the Details of these Things. My Cane is an Elephant, and Elephants Are Matriarchal Societies. SO Out of Respect for My Mom, I ALWAYS HAVE HER ON MY ARM BECAUSE I respect the fact that she is Our Leader. On my ring is a bridge, Because I View My Character As a Bridge Between Worlds, Both The White and Black World and a Bridge Between PEOPLE WITHIN FELPP My Character Is, What The Logic of My Character Is, And You Get To See In Different Ways Throughout the Course of the Season, Within My Family, Within My Profession and With. So, is been a blessing to portray that.

But Talking with Phylicia About Things and Through Her Thought About Peggy, Because I View Peggy in a Very Similar Way that I ALSO VIEW MOM, MRS. Kirkland. There’s A Lot of Similarities: They’re Both Outspoken, They’re Both Very Intelligent and They’re Both Leaders in Their Community; One is Just of A Different Generation and HAS A DIFFERENT UPBBBBRINGING. But they’re quite similear, and i Remember Saying that to mama kirkland [and she protested] – I Really Love My Mother But, ALSO, I UNDRSTAND THAT She CAN SAY SOME PRETTY [cringey] Things, But Guess What What’s All of Us. I THINK THERE IS A DEEP Respect There and the Whoa Season He is Trying to Balance that Love for His Mother and His Love For Puggy in A Way Hee Had to Before.

Well, He’s Highly Romantic. Is that Great to Play?

It is. I Love Romance Myself. IT’s Great and Denée Makes It So Easy. To not just be romantic but to also be friends and i though that’s a huge key and not someting that we see a lot in that time period. I kind of like what the russells have [or had] WHERE THERE’S THIS INTHERENT REASET for the Other in Whaty they and how they live their Lives and there are a desire to let them do that frely and to Support it. And I Think It’s The Same with William and Peggy.

SO let’s talk about the Fight with Mr. Fortune.

AW yeah, sullivan and I. we have fun doing that because we’re bot of the same size. Denée would Always Say «Yes My Caramel Kings Fighting Over Me!”[[Laughs]

In that moment, Dr. Kirkland Really Stands His Ground and Makes It Clear That He Is Going To Love and Protect Peggy, and there is no man that’s going to get in the way of that.

And it’s an opportunity to show a Flash of the non-Mild-manned Side of HIM. We just get a glimpses of it in the eyes and in his resposise. He’s Like, I’M Always Going to Be Kind and Maintain My Gentlemanly Composure. But is also like, I Win; You lost your composure, but, if you want to Fight, that’s Fine. I DON’T Mind. And i’m that way in real life, too. SO THERE’S A LOT OF JOY THAT DAY BECAUSE YOU’RE FIGHTING AND STANDING UP FOR WHAT YOU LOVE AND the PERSON THAT YOU LOVE. But Also Her Reputation, Because It’s About the Optics of This. And also this woman told you, no. Kindly. SO YOU NEED TO JUST KEEP GOING. You have a wife and kids. I respect you. We all know who you are. He’s One of the Leaders Of Our Community, Nationally, At This Point in Time, In Real Life. SO IT’S LIKE, “WHY Are You Behaving this Way?” But is just fun to do physical scenes like that.

i Also One of Those Things WHERE WHEN I [as Dr. Kirkland] Learned More About Peggy and Her Past with Her Telling Me, and Denée and I Talked About Its, But Kirkland Is Also Like Are Right Now. And that means a Lot, especialy because two black men Fighting in a train Station, we Know How thing goes down today. That’s not sometting that short really be happering for anyone’s safety. But for the love of a woman, whole nations have burned.

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New Episodes of the Gilded Age’s Third Season Continue Weekly Through Aug. 10, Streaming on HBO MAX.