Fast Chat: Blair Underwood rides 'Streetcar'

In this new, multiracial "Streetcar" revival, which opens April 22, Underwood makes his Broadway debut as the brutish, volcanic Stanley -- the role that made Marlon Brando a star -- with "Rent's" Daphne Rubin-Vega as Stanley's wife, Stella, and "Soul Food's" Nicole Ari Parker as sultry sister-in-law Blanche.

Underwood first made a name for himself on TV's "L.A. Law," and has since appeared in series (including "In Treatment"), films ("Madea's Family Reunion") and onstage ("Measure for Measure"). His latest film, "Woman Thou Art Loosed: On the 7th Day," hit cinemas this month.

Married with three children, Underwood took time out from rehearsals to chat with Newsday contributor Joseph V. Amodio.

Last July. I shot "On the 7th Day," produced by T.D. Jakes. I soaked up the rhythms of that world, the melody of the language -- and the food. Of course, I ate myself into oblivion.

That's right, that's right. While in the French Quarter, I heard a number of people who I thought Stanley might sound like. Two, in particular. My driver -- every day, I'd record our conversations. And then there's a buddy of mine, born and raised in New Orleans. He read all my lines so I could hear his lilt. So this Stanley's accent is very unique to the French Quarter.

Sharon Leal plays my wife. Our daughter is kidnapped, and we find out there's a serial killer who murders his victims "on the seventh day." So we have seven days to find her. In the interim, we discover all kinds of secrets we've both been keeping from each other.

It was mind-blowing. The icing on the cake was being able to take my father to Africa, to Cameroon. He'd never been to Africa in his life and always wanted to go. To stand side by side with him, and see it through his eyes, made it all worth it.

Like Samuel Scott, my four-times great grandfather . . .

He owned 200 acres of land in Virginia in the early 1800s. Incredible. By the way, it ties into the authenticity of this casting of "Streetcar."

There will be those who'll say, "Well, wait a minute, this family had plantations, they owned land and slaves."

Well, yes. Just like my four-times great grandfather had a plantation. And slaves. As a man of color.

There were free people of color in the 1700s and 1800s in New Orleans, and many owned plantations and slaves. So I'm excited about that. It gives this multicultural casting a certain credibility.

My character on "L.A. Law" was the president of the Harvard Law Review. So Harvard invited me to visit. A number of students said, "You have to meet the guy who actually is the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. So that's when we met. . . . The irony is that I'd forgotten. But during the campaign in 2008, he mentioned it to someone at The New York Times. And they called my manager, asking, "Is that true?" It wasn't till my manager asked that it clicked, and I thought, "Thaaaat was that tall skinny guy with the big ears."

I was invited to a state dinner at the White House. And when I saw him, he mentioned to one of the Secret Service guys, "Yeah, I've known him since I was at Harvard." So that was kinda cool.