Hosea Chanchez: It’s Not Always A Game

From poppin’ bottles to picking out which girl he will take home that night, Malik Wright knows how to have a good time and make himself the center of attention. This star NFL quarterback says what he wants and makes no apologies, so if you love a bad boy, then Malik Wright is the man for you. Now for the women who like a man who can get in the kitchen and show his softer side with a touch of silliness, then you might want to get to know more about Hosea Chanchez. Hosea is the man who brings Malik to life every week on The CW’s The Game. Nothing like the character he portrays, Clutch realized that after speaking with Chanchez, life doesn’t always imitate art.

Clutch: I haven’t missed an episode of The Game, but I have to be honest, when I first started watching it, I honestly didn’t think it was going to last. Have you ever felt fearful of the show being cancelled?
Hosea: Wow, it’s funny that you ask that question, because this has probably been the most fearful I have been this year, just because of the climate of the industry. I didn’t know if we were going to come back and not based off the show but based off the writer’s strike and other things. We are just so fortunate to be on air and to be one of the only black shows left, it can get really lonely and sometimes you don’t even know the value of what your giving to other people because there aren’t many shows with us around. This year will probably be the scariest year just based off of those circumstances.

Clutch: But I’m sure you feel good about what you’re doing?
Hosea: This year we were like the last of a dying breed when it comes to black shows, so we were one of the only shows that black people could go to and really see themselves. I have faith in the show and I have faith in the writers and in God.

Clutch: Do people ever expect you to be Malik?
Hosea: Oh my gosh, all the time. I always tell the story of this girl who met me in the airport and I was just Hosea! You know I’m just a crazy, regular guy, I’m nothing like my character, he’s a little extravagant and excessive in so many different ways, so this girl thought I was really gonna be him and she told me how she was upset that I wasn’t him! I was all nice and polite and she was like “Ugh! Aren’t you going to tell me what to do?” She was disappointed, she was over me.

Clutch: Where does your name come from? I was about to ask you to speak some Spanish!
Hosea: (Laughs) It’s not Spanish, but I have a long bloodline and it’s a little confusing, a little weird, but there is a mix of everything in my immediate bloodline.

Clutch: What type of character would you like to portray?
Hosea: I want to just continue to do work where the character has levels. I would love to get into the mind of someone who is psychotic. Everybody knows love, hate, surprise, joy, all the basic emotions, but I’d like to do something that I can’t get to easily on my own, if that makes sense.

Clutch: How do you like working with the cast of the show?
Hosea: I hate everybody on the show. (Laughs) No I’m playing! I really have five brand new best friends. We really have each others back and we see each other every day and even when we’re not working we still see each other, I talk to Wendy (Raquel Robinson) all the time, I just saw Pooch (Hall) last night when we got off work. We really have adopted new best friends and family members. I love them.

Clutch: How do you like living in L.A?
Hosea: I love L.A, but I love being back home. There’s nothing like being in the south, I’m like counting down the days till I get to go home. Home for me is Atlanta and Alabama.

Clutch: Do you see yourself as a role model?
Hosea: I do, I think being in the limelight and being a black man, you have accountability to people you don’t know. You can’t raise people, but you definitely are responsible for things, that is a part of being a role model.

Clutch: Are you in a relationship right now or at least dating anybody?
Hosea: I’m dating, but I’m not in a serious relationship, just dating a special young lady, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m not really much of a romantic, I’m thoughtful but not a big romantic type of guy, I’m kinda boring! I’m a homebody you know? Romance for me is dinner and movie, I love to cook!

Clutch: Oh yeah? What can you make?
Hosea: I don’t’ really have a favorite, but I’m good with ghetto tacos. It’s like Mexican but it aint! (Laughs) Everything is like fried and spicy and saucy and really greasy. The flour tortillas are fried and you could just eat the meat alone, the ground beef is like sloppy joe meat! Yes, they’re called ghetto tacos.

Clutch: Do women ever only want to talk to you just because you’re on the show?
Hosea: All the time. It is flattering, to be honest this whole thing is flattering. I just want to make sure I handle myself the right way. My job is not really a job to me and I just want to make sure that I’m always thankful to God for this experience. I don’t take advantage of anything and I don’t want to take anything for granted. I have a problem getting stuff for free! I’m just in a place in my life where I really want to be accountable for everything that I put out into this world. Whether they be groupies or not I see it as flattery because just three years ago I know how I was trying to get where I am today. It’s all appreciated.

Clutch: What do you think of all the reality shows that are out right now?
Hosea: I think that the art that I’m in is being diminished by reality. I’m not mad at the reality people for doing what they do, I’m more upset with the producers, directors and artists for not upholding the art and diminishing it just to capitalize on something else. Not all reality shows are bad, but when you take away what an actor does by pretending that something is reality when it’s really not and it’s scripted. There’s just no cap on the business anymore. Back in the day when you saw Eddie Murphy, he was a star, the definition of a star was someone who was far away from you but you still felt close to them in so many ways. There was just a beauty, when you saw Diahann Carroll and Audrey Hepburn and all of those women, they all handled themselves with so much dignity and grace and you fast forward and see people now and how they are celebrities and all it took was a sex tape to make them famous and successful it just takes away from the suspense and anonymity of the business. Back in the day if you had a sex tape your career was over. So it’s just a really deep issue to me when it comes to these reality shows because people are getting famous off of doing nothing.

Clutch: Do you feel that roles that are available to black actors can be stereotypical?
Hosea: Of course, not only stereotypical but very limited.

Clutch: Do you ever have to deal with the paparazzi?
Hosea: Nope, because I’m black. I think somewhere some weird person feels that black people aren’t marketable and don’t sell magazines or purchase them, when in fact we buy more than anyone. Hopefully people will get a real dose of reality sometime soon, but I think people think that black people don’t buy magazines, but then they say that black people only read things with pictures so pick a side and stick with it! Which one is it?

Clutch: Where were you election night?
Hosea: I was with Wendy Raquel Robinson and her family and oh my lord, we were so happy! I’m not really the one to jump on the bandwagon, but this process, I was just amazed at what it turned me into, just how profound it was. I was a real fan of something for the first time in my life other than Michael Jackson (laughs), and then it happened. I wasn’t all Barack Obama’d out until the last minute, like right before it happened it hit me, this is one of the greatest moments that will happen while I’m alive. So it developed for me a little late, but I’m glad it came late instead of not coming at all.