THE BEST OF TASTY CLIPS: Done with ‘ish,’ Marcus Scribner dons ‘Boston Blue’ again
By Bill Vaughan
Entertainment Writer
As Andre “Junior” Johnson Jr. on the long-running sitcoms “black-ish” and its spin-off “Grown-ish,” MARCUS SCRIBNER has been like that welcome family member we have watched mature before our very eyes.
With the “ish” shows coming to an end, he wasted no time securing the part of Jonah Silver in the hit CBS procedural drama “Boston Blue” returning for a second season on Oct. 9.
He first contributed to this column for our Faves edition as a teen, and we eventually met at the NAACP Image Awards. Some years later we officially had an interview as the actor graduated to the new role of producer for the poignant drama “How I Learned To Fly” in which he also shared the screen with Lonnie Chavis (“This Is Us”), Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Michele Selene Ang (“13 Reasons Why”) and Cedric The Entertainer.
“When they say it’s a stressful job, they’re not kidding,” the Los Angeles native told Tasty Clips from his new residence in Brooklyn. “Of course, being able to put together any kind of squad, being able to assist creatively and making sure we’re on schedule is going to be stressful, but it was a lot of fun to learn how to do.”
In the quietly powerful debut feature film from writer/director Simon Steuri, Scribner portrayed the eldest of two African-American teenage brothers who suddenly find themselves on their own after being mysteriously abandoned by their parents.
“What I love so much about it is while it is such a gut-wrenching situation and so full of heartbreak and heartache, it also is an uplifting story,” he explained about his attraction to the project. “It shows the despair and the direness of these boys’ situation, and all of the people who are trying to take advantage of them, but at the same time it also shows all of these speckles of hope in this very dark and difficult and gloomy world. It reminds you to have hope and to hold out.”
Despite now being a producer, Scribner was in full support of writers and actors during the then just-ended strikes.
“AI is no joke,” he said. “Fair pay when it comes to these streaming services is no joke. There were a lot of things that were just not handled properly. Obviously, it’s the turn of a new era.
“There are machines creating stories. Machines copying people’s likenesses and they’re not getting paid for it,” he added. “I definitely was on the right side of history, I would say.”
When asked who he would like to play in a biopic, he offered some intriguing possibilities.
“People I know have said I look like Lionel Richie,” Scribner said. “I could rock with that for sure. I’ve heard Drake. I’d try that. If there’s anybody I would really want to play it would be Muhammad Ali. He has been a great inspiration to me. That would be a dream come true.”
For 12 years, Bill Vaughan has kept Wave readers up to date with the latest news in entertainment. To contact Vaughan, visit his social media pages on Facebook and Instagram or @tasty_clips, on X @tastyclips, and on LinkedIn to William Vaughan.
