GALO: And let’s imagine that Malik is a more nuanced character and you were the principal writer of the series. Creatively, how would you craft and develop the character going into season seven? What direction would you take the show in as a whole?

HC: That’s a very simple question. I have the answer in the back of my brain and the forefront of my tongue. I want to see him with a family before this show ends; I would like to see him have full evolution in his life, and the full experience of what it is to love a woman and really appreciate a woman. I want to see him do a 180, 360, whatever you want to call it, than what he was in the past. I want to see him in a monogamous relationship because he’s never done it. I want to see what he’s like with kids, whether they be his own or his wife’s or whoever. I want to see him in these elements of life because I believe everybody deserves a real chance. I don’t care who you are, whether on TV or in real life, everybody deserves a real shot at having a full life — whatever that means for whomever, whatever that means for everybody.

And potentially, when these characters go off the air, they die. And I know some people like to build imagination for what they do or don’t, but the truth is they end the day that the show ends. If he never gets a chance before the show ends to understand a full life, this will be really disappointing for me. I hope that if I was writing it, it would be to surrender this guy to learning new things in life, experiencing something new, and changing old habits because that is where growth lies, in change. That’s what I hope.

GALO: Could you see Malik being a big brother to the newer characters like those played by Brandy, Jay Ellis and Lauren London?

HC: Well, that’s the thing. It goes back to the selfishness about him. I don’t really think that he cares about monitoring someone else’s life. To be a big brother or have to monitor [someone], you have to care; I don’t think he is into any of those characters on the show. I think that maybe one day, he’ll get to experience that. The thing is that I don’t think Malik is a big brother in a way to anybody. But I think that Malik is — I know he is — a leader. He’s a captain; he’s a leader. And he, by nature, knows how to manage and operate under that guide. He knows how to do that, just by nature. Now, [managing] comes with being a quarterback, too. You have to know how to manage the team and the plays, positions and everything. And that is just second nature for him. But again, it’s kind of upended by his selfishness of winning and it’s just competitive. It’s a competitive selfishness that he holds dear to himself, and he prides himself in that in a way.

GALO: If we can retrospect and ruminate for a few minutes, The Game was one of those shows that was saved by its fans and social media. When The CW network canceled the show in 2008, fanatics took to Twitter and online petitions to bring it back to television. You and your costars even had the “Change the Game” campaign video on YouTube. And, of course, the drive and determination paid off when the series was brought to BET, premiering its fourth season in 2011. What do those fans mean to you in resurrecting the show?

HC: The only reason why I’m still playing this character almost 10 years later is because of the fans of the show. That’s the only reason why I have not moved on, because I inherently believe that this is my way to pay back all these people that wrote, that petitioned, that called and that complained. And this is my way to pay back BET for listening to me. I don’t know, at the end of the day, if what happened had not happened, if I would still be playing this character. But because that happened, I feel indebted to the fans of the show and BET to ride this character and this show until these wheels fall off it — until BET says that it’s time for you guys to go, or until not one person shows up to watch it. Long as somebody is showing up to watch this show, I’m going to do my best to thank them.

Interestingly enough, it moved out of as an actor getting this job, doing my own selfish job as an actor and fulfilling my dream; it moved out of my dream a long time ago and that was when we got cancelled. And it moved from this being my dream to a social responsibility to people who look like me and whose voices were heard. It doesn’t matter what — our voices were heard by this network, who, for better or for worse, may feel a [certain] way about our going from the CW to where it is on BET now. For better or for worse, I’m proud of them for listening, and making a decision that not only impacted six actors’ lives, but also millions of people — seven to eight million people.

GALO: Stepping out of The Game, you have done dramatic roles on NCIS and The Shield. What attracts you to dramas, and are you going to explore film, theater or more television in the future?

HC: When The Game ends — because I had this one particular job for almost a decade — I probably am going to take a hiatus from TV. I don’t have any plans to move onto another television show right away, right after this. I am going to take a break from TV and explore the world of film; that’s my plan. Eventually, one day, I believe I’ll go back to television, but it’s always been my plan to start in TV and move into film full-time. I’m going to take a break from TV because I’ve done it for so long. It’s a huge blessing to have a job, a paying job for a certain amount of time. But also, what that does to [you], because of the television schedule, it creates an appetite; it has created this appetite in me to really want to expand in the film bracket of my work. We’re still actors, there’s no real difference in being an actor on TV and film; the only real difference is the diversity in it. You get to be a completely different character each film that you do. That’s the only real difference — it’s all still acting. I really want to experience what it’s like to portal into different characters for a while, and find a groove in the film world.

GALO: Aside from acting, you are a philanthropist. Your Watch Me Win foundation “encourages and empowers youth to envision living beyond their circumstances,” while “understanding they can truly achieve anything they believe.” You inspire children to dream and change their perspectives from negative to positive. Tell us about envisaging as a child, and how you left Montgomery, Alabama to turn those aspirations into a reality?

HC: You know what is so profound is that the reason why I started a foundation about dreams is because, literally, I’m living my dream. I always dreamt since I was a kid. The one thing I really have been good at is acting like a damn fool like my grandmama says. Since I was a child, it was second nature for me to make people smile and make people laugh. And I was good at it. I was a really shy kid — oddly enough — but really entertaining. So that was something that I always wanted to do. And as I got older from five-years-old, I [watched] Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live speaking, watching it against a video of my parents and grandparents; [I was] able to appreciate films and people in movies and wanting to take the route of Denzel [Washington,] Will [Smith,] Laurence Fishburne, Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor, and so on and so forth. I’m actually living my dream; it’s odd but dreams really do come true. It makes you wonder if they really are even dreams, or is it just what you’re supposed to do. This is my dream; it’s always been my dream. And now my dream — the second half of that dream — is to dive into film and experience it fully.

GALO: When you’re not in front of the camera, you love to cook as a self-professed foodie. Given your epicurean spirit and talent for gastronomy, could you share one of your favorite foods?

HC: You know, my favorite dish right now… I’m on a diet, which is so Hollywood-like; and because the older you get, the more of being a foodie and eating what I want, like [when I was] a kid, shows up at every age… Now, in my 30s, I have to be way more conscious of what I put into my body because it shows up in my everyday life and it’s hard to recover from things. I choose to try to have leaner foods. I eat a lot of greens and a lot of salads. And right now, my favorite thing that I’m making and perfecting, which is really cool, is chili. My chili is like somebody’s mama’s gumbo.

BET’s “The Game” premieres on Tuesday, March 4th at 10p/9c. For more information about the show, please visit http://www.bet.com/shows/the-game.html.

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