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(CBS Local)– Jason Weaver has been acting since the 1990s, but he is doing some of the most impactful work of his career in season four of “The Chi” on Showtime. The actor was new to the show this season and he plays a character named Shaad who has recently been released from prison and is trying to get his life back together in Chicago.
Shaad and actor Luke James’ character Trig have some really meaningful and important conversations in the show about friendship, love and reintegration into society. Weaver recently spoke to CBS Local’s DJ Sixsmith about what it was like to join the show, the conversations his character has about the transgender community and memories from the movie “Drumline” and the TV show “Smart Guy.”
“It was amazing and I’m so thankful to Lena Waithe for the opportunity to work on the show,” said Weaver. “Unbeknownst to most people, I actually worked on the original pilot of the show before it got picked up as a series and they had made some changes going into the first season. She told me that there would come a time to circle back around and get you in the show. Sure enough, come season four, this amazing opportunity circles back around. Working with the regular ensemble cast has been absolutely amazing. It’s been a very rewarding experience professionally and personally.”
While Weaver has played a lot of interesting roles over his career, Shaad really stretched him as an actor. He’s really excited for fans to see where his character ends up in the season four finale of the series, which airs on Showtime this Sunday, August 1 at 9pm EST/PST.
“I wanted to give people a glimpse of what it is like to reintegrate back into society, especially as an ex-con and the challenges these people meet upon re-entering into society,” said Weaver. “A lot of people end up going back into the system unfortunately just due to the fact that they are pre-judged based on their past experience or past record. I totally understand why employers and people would have that preconceived notion. The one thing I wanted to convey in my performance with Shaad is that he is just another ordinary guy from the South Side of Chicago that made mistakes early on in life and ultimately paid his death to society, but that doesn’t mean his a bad guy to his core. He is faced with challenges to overcome and hurdle over.”
Stream “The Chi” on Showtime.
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