{"id":48852,"date":"2025-05-10T06:19:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T10:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/government-cheese-star-david-oyelowo-considers-oprah-chosen-family\/10\/05\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T06:19:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T10:19:06","slug":"government-cheese-star-david-oyelowo-considers-oprah-chosen-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/government-cheese-star-david-oyelowo-considers-oprah-chosen-family\/10\/05\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Government Cheese\u2019 Star David Oyelowo Considers Oprah \u2018Chosen Family\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/16\/arts\/television\/government-cheese-review.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Government Cheese<\/a>\u201d began as what David Oyelowo called \u201ca beautiful experiment.\u201d He had long admired the fantastical storytelling of Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers. But he hadn\u2019t seen that applied to a Black family.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then the filmmaker Paul Hunter approached him about playing a version of his own father \u2014 an ex-con eager to reunite with his family and make his fortune \u2014 in a short film with absurdist elements set in the San Fernando Valley in 1969. Eventually they spun it into a television series for Apple TV+, taking care to leave that tone intact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe were very keen to make something that we knew might not be for everyone, but was very unique in its nature,\u201d said Oyelowo, who is an executive producer on the show in addition to its lead. \u201cIt\u2019s very rare that people of color get to make things where they are not feeling the need to explain their existence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Oyelowo lives in the San Fernando Valley, where the series was shot, which meant there was little danger of violating the \u201cno more than two weeks apart\u201d rule that he and his wife, Jessica, established early in their relationship. And which they\u2019ve broken only once, by 11 hours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a video interview, Oyelowo elaborated on why his rambunctious dogs, going to the movies and Oprah Winfrey are essential to his life. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-2bef6525\"><span>My Bible<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I was brought up in the church, but it never really meant much to me because I was sort of piggybacking my parents\u2019 faith. Then I had what can only be called a spiritual awakening at 16. And all of those stories that I grew up reading suddenly took on different meaning and have remained that way. It\u2019s where I learned the true definition of love.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-6e0cb0a\"><span>My Wife<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">We\u2019ve now known each other for 30 years. When we met, she was 17, I was 18, and she just hijacked my heart. There was a moment where I realized I couldn\u2019t picture a single day of my life going forward without her in it.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-6db5666\"><span>My Kids<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Selfishness is an occupational hazard as an actor. But the greatest gift my kids have given me is selflessness. What being a father has afforded me is the opportunity to gain a new habit, which is to constantly be thinking about others.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-3892a2\"><span>My Gym<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That\u2019s a mental health thing for me. I need to sweat. I need to get those endorphins going. I need to shake things up. I remember in playing Dr. King in \u201cSelma,\u201d I had to gain about 30, 35 pounds, so I couldn\u2019t be in the gym for several months. I hadn\u2019t appreciated just how difficult it is to stay mentally sharp when you are not as physically active.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-6d83eb0\"><span>My Dogs<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">We have a Bernese mountain dog, a Siberian husky and a Cavalier King Charles. They\u2019re too rambunctious. Two of them are very big, and I wish they didn\u2019t jump on us the way they do \u2014 but I also love the fact that they jump on us the way they do.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-61648d6d\"><span>Oprah Winfrey<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Oprah and I met in 2011 during \u201cThe Butler,\u201d playing mother and son. I\u2019ve lost both of my parents now, and they were massive in my life. Oprah has kind of become my chosen family, which has been a profound reality. I call her Mama, she calls me Son O.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-6c004c1a\"><span>Going to the Movies<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I just love the communal experience of going to the movies. Between being a storyteller and being a lover of community and being a real believer in the fact of the healing ability that story has as a mirror to humanity, I can\u2019t imagine my life without that privilege.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-35b60e77\"><span>My Scholarship Program for Girls<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It coincided with the #BringBackOur Girls movement for the Chibok schoolgirls who were kidnapped in Nigeria. As much as I love being a Nigerian, it\u2019s a very patriarchal society, and I\u2019m a big believer that one of the ways to bring peace on earth is to have more female leadership. We started with three girls and we\u2019re now at 44 girls, and we pay for all of their education, all of their mental health needs, all of their menstrual health needs.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-18d43b8c\"><span>The Theater<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That is where the contract between actor and audience is cemented. We are going to go on a journey together, and I am going to do everything I can to tell the truth. Giving a performance hundreds of times to an audience, you start to understand what it costs to tell the truth.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-3410157b\"><span>My Assistant<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I\u2019m a bit of an A-type personality, but there is simply no way from a capacity standpoint that I could do as much as I\u2019m doing without Darnell Rhea, who is carrying in her body about 25 to 30 percent of my brain. She is the GOAT. I\u2019ve told Darnell that, at the very least, she has to give me seven years\u2019 notice if she\u2019s thinking of quitting because she\u2019s that good at her job.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/10\/arts\/television\/david-oyelowo-government-cheese.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&ldquo;Government Cheese&rdquo; began as what David Oyelowo called &ldquo;a beautiful experiment.&rdquo; He had long admired the fantastical storytelling of Wes Anderson and<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/entertainment\/government-cheese-star-david-oyelowo-considers-oprah-chosen-family\/10\/05\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48853,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/05\/18\/arts\/18myten-Oyelowo\/18myten-Oyelowo-facebookJumbo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48852"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}