Interview with Nelsan Ellis from "True Blood"

When Alan Ball's pulpy, sexy vampire mystery series True Blood premiered on HBO, viewers found themselves in the company of a gay character the likes of which they hadn't seen before: Lafayette Reynolds, a gender-bender Jack-of-all-trades just as likely to win a barfight as he is to borrow your lip gloss.

As the show became increasingly complicated, so did Lafayette, who revealed himself to be an entrepreneur, a drug dealer, an Internet pornographer, and a fierce ally to his friends. He was certainly not a character you can sum up in a few words.

So when the opportunity arose to interview Nelsan Ellis, the young actor who brought this fascinating character to life, we jumped at it. Nelsan was accommodating enough to visit with me near Times Square, so we're pleased to offer a few video clips to accompany the written interview. In it, Nelsan discusses playing a gay character for the first time, his Southern roots, working with Alan Ball, and what might be in store for Lafayette in the future.

Note: The discussion covers recent events on the show and also the source material, so there are possible minor spoilers ahead, although nothing major is revealed about the remaining episodes.

AfterElton: Congratulations on Season Two being renewed. Are you finished filming Season One at this point?
NE: Yeah, we’re done. One is all wrapped.

AE: The last time we saw Lafayette, he was comforting Sookie after her grandmother was brutally murdered. Can you give us any taste of what’s coming up?
NE: A lot of murder. A lot more blood. And it could be any one of us, actually. Certainly if they are willing to take out grandma, they are willing to take out anybody. So, yeah there’s some more murder.

AE: So there’s more nasty murders going on?
NE: Well, this will probably be the most nasty one and we’ll find out later why this particular murder was so nasty.

AE: I spoke to Alan Ball a couple months ago. He said that your characterization of Lafayette was “like something from another planet.” But you’re not from another planet, right?
NE: No, I’m from Alabama.

AE: And you came up here to Juilliard for acting?
NE: Yes.

Nelsan discusses his Southern roots and how they informed his character