Aaron Pierre ends his big year on a high note with 'Mufasa'

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Aaron Pierre is closing out his big year on a literal high note.

After donning Malcolm X’s distinctive browline glasses in the “Genius: MLK/X” series and getting his modern-day Rambo on in the Netflix action hit “Rebel Ridge,” the 30-year-old English actor showcases his vocal talents in “Mufasa: The Lion King.”

To deliver as the titular regal lion, Pierre trained under Lin-Manuel Miranda in what he calls a “wonderful singing boot camp.”

“My voice was doing things I never imagined it could do. I was hitting notes that I didn’t think existed for my range,” Pierre said. “I’m just really hoping the footage of me singing these songs doesn’t come out because I’m using all the techniques. Lin’s like ‘Throw the baseball!’ So I’m throwing the baseball trying to hit that high note.”

His Hollywood trajectory keeps going up: He's been named one of The Associated Press' Breakthrough Entertainers of 2024 and HBO announced in October that, opposite Kyle Chandler, Pierre will lead “Lanterns.”

That’ll be the broad-shouldered, hazel-eyed actor’s second DC Comics-based series, following his 2018-2019 run on SyFy’s “Krypton,” which explored early days on Superman’s home planet.

As for Pierre’s own origin story: He grew up in South London as the oldest of three, with childhood aspirations of being a track star and a criminologist. At 13, he joined a local theater troupe that performed in a warehouse, sometimes with just several people in the audience.

“That’s actually where I learned some of my foundations. And one of those is irrespective of whether there is one person in the audience or 1,500 people ... you give the same performance, you give the same energy,” Pierre said.

Mark “Moonlight” and “Mufasa” director Barry Jenkins down as impressed by that energy. After watching Pierre play Cassio in the Globe Theatre’s “Othello,” Jenkins cast him as Caesar in “The Underground Railroad.” The small part grew and grew after Pierre arrived on set in Atlanta.

“I found myself just creating scenes for him,” Jenkins said. “You know, that character is in the show for much longer, much longer than his character exists in the narrative (Colson Whitehead’s novel). He just keeps reappearing. And that’s just because it was just a joy to work with him. And it was so clear that his presence was just immediately a part of the spiritual essence of the show.”

Counting Denzel Washington, James Earl Jones and Sidney Poitier as career role models, Pierre has been deliberate with his choices as he moves deeper into stardom. Art is the end goal — not fame or even fun, really. He hopes new fans go back to watch his 2022 indie “Brother,” about family bonds in 1990s Toronto.

“I always want my community to feel seen. I want them to feel respected. I want them to feel heard and understood. And I think the projects that I choose, that’s my small contribution hopefully to that manifesting itself,” he said.

Pierre, now living mostly in Los Angeles, says he's been reaching out regularly to his mom back in London as he navigates the Hollywood circuit.

“Any time I speak with her, any time I’m present with her, I feel safe. I feel reassured, I feel rejuvenated,” he said. “I definitely call her phone a lot and she’ll answer even if she’s at work. Yes, I’m 30 and 6-foot-3 and doing Terry Richmond in ‘Rebel Ridge.’ But like to me, I’m still her baby and I’m still her little boy and she always makes time for me, no matter what the situation.”

Both on and off-set, Pierre carries himself with a sense of purpose and seriousness. “I don’t know that there’s anything frivolous about Aaron Pierre, even in downtime, which is — I mean that as a compliment,” Jenkins said.

“He’s very intellectually engaged. But he also looks like a superhero. And there’s a version of him that is only viewed that way. He’s always diligent about protecting against that by doing things that are maybe a bit outside the box,” Jenkins added. “And for me, I just hope that he gets to grow and express himself in all the different ways that I think he’s capable of.”

Indeed, when asked about his aspirations for future creative collaborators, the first name out of Pierre's mouth might surprise: “Women Talking” writer-director Sarah Polley.

“If you could put a word in for me, please,” he said.

“Yeah, just to continue to work with filmmakers who inspired me and whose work I admire and respect and that will inevitably put me in a situation where I’m forced to evolve and develop and grow and challenge myself as an actor. And I want to be doing that until the day that I decide to stop doing this,” Pierre added. “I want to always feel like I’m growing, like I’m shifting the needle. You know, I never want to feel stagnant. I never want to feel comfortable.”

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For more on AP’s 2024 class of Breakthrough Entertainers, visit https://apnews.com/hub/ap-breakthrough-entertainers