There’s something about Larry Summers that makes him a favourite among Blue Mountain State fans.
In Spike TV’s short-lived, testosterone-heavy college comedy about a fictional university and its football team, Larry – portrayed by Vancouver actor Omari Newton – was BFF to the main character.
Although Larry didn’t always say much, he made quite the impact on BMS fans, says Newton.
“He’s your textbook super-loyal friend who is down for whatever, and for whatever reason, fans really connected to that,” says Newton in a recent phone interview.
“I still, to this day, always have some random, usually college age dudes, who come up super-stoked to meet Larry from BMS.”
When Blue Mountain State bowed out in 2011 after two seasons, diehard fans wanted more of the BMS boys.
And so, spurred on by a wildly successful crowd-funding campaign that raised $1.5 million USD, Blue Mountain State has returned in the form of Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland.
All of the boys are back for what one reviewer calls a “drug-fueled dystopian comedy.” The film premiered last week on VOD and held the number one spot on iTunes in several countries, including the United States.
For Newton, BMS holds a special place in his personal history. It was his first regular role on a television series, and “one of those rare shows where, as much fun as we’re having on screen, we’re having as much fun off camera, and we’re all, to this day, good friends,” recalls Newton, who is also widely known for his long-running role on time travel procedural Continuum.
“The irony is, it’s like college buddies. When I see them, it’s like I went to college with these guys, even though I was 29-years-old and it was a fictional college on TV.”
Long before BMS, Newton was a young Montrealer, playing sports and deriving inspiration from Stand by Me and Do the Right Thing.
In high school, Newton was a nerd-jock hybrid: the co-captain of the basketball team and starter for the local football team who also happened to be a proud member of the drama and improv clubs.
“For guys, I feel like, if you’re good at sports, you can do whatever you want,” laughs Newton. “It’s a pass to get away with being a dork. Like, ‘He’s a nerd, but he played great defense, and he started, so we can’t beat him up.’”
Newton’s parents were immigrants from Trinidad and Tobago, and while he says he didn’t come from a particularly artistic household, his parents were exceptionally supportive.
They were fine with him pursuing acting, as long as he got a post-secondary degree. He settled on the communications studies program at Concordia University.
It took Newton a while – six years – to get his degree, mainly because he was working as an actor the whole time. His big break came at 19-years-old, when he was hired by Black Theatre Workshop, Canada’s oldest Black theatre company, for a leading role in one of their productions.
Newton worked steadily in the Montreal theatre scene for years, until the stage work dried up and he headed west to try his luck in the Vancouver film and TV sphere.
Newton calls those first days in Vancouver “brutal.” He shared a one-bedroom on Jervis Street with two other guys, and worked the graveyard shift at a downtown gym.
“I needed a job where I could make enough money, but I also needed to be able to go to auditions,” he says. “I would go to work at 10:30 at night, and I would finish at 6:30 in the morning. It was basically bar staff and gang members who work out at those hours.”
Newton did a lot of theatre during those early days, too: an all-male Romeo & Juliet with Mad Duck Theatre Collective; The Oresteia at Christ Church Cathedral; a season of Bard on the Beach.
Theatre is still important to Newton, but he’s also logged an impressive number of acting credits in the film and television sphere since arriving in Van.
In addition to his Blue Mountain State and Continuum roles, there have been scene-stealing turns in Supernatural, Blade: The Series, and Fringe, and his voice can be heard in Wolverine vs. Sabretooth, Max Steel, and Barbie in Rock ’n Royals.
There have been challenges along the way, too. According to Newton, many of the roles written for Black men are stereotypical and demeaning.
“I’ve gotten to the point in my career where there are certain roles I just won’t go for because I find them insulting or embarrassing, so I won’t do it,” says Newton, who recently appeared in The X-Files event series.
Newton might not have formally pursued a career in communications, but communicating remains part of his daily practice.
He’s the force behind The Visible Minority Report, a Facebook page dealing with (according to its description) “issues relating to members of minority groups in a way that is accessible to a widespread audience.”
“To me, art and politics and activism have always been intertwined, so I always took it as my responsibility, if I was ever given a platform, that I would have to speak to things that I saw as ills in society or as corrupt,” says Newton.
Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland is available on iTunes and Digital HD. Details at http://lionsgateathome.com/blue-mountain-state.
