“VAMPIRES WERE COOL, but now it’s time to bring in the Greek gods!” says Brandon T. Jackson, who currently stars in the Chris Columbus-directed Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, a modern-day Greek mythology flick based on Rick Riordan’s novel. The film also stars Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman and Rosario Dawson. “I don’t know if anyone has ever seen a black satyr [a mythological creature that’s half man and half goat],” he says of his character, Grover, Percy’s loyal sidekick. “It’s a cool twist,” Jackson says of the role, which required him to walk like a goat. “I had to watch a lot of goats,” he says with a laugh.
One of seven children, the Detroit-born Jackson, 26, learned early on how to use comedy to stand out from the crowd. After being discovered at LA’s Laugh Factory at the age of 17, Jackson went on to compile an impressive list of film credits, including roles in Tropic Thunder and Roll Bounce. Later this year the actor is set to appear in the movie Lottery Ticket, which he describes as “a cool comedy about a kid who wins the lottery.”
Having already starred alongside the likes of Thurman, Brosnan, Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr., the rising comedian is aiming high when it comes to whom he would like to share the screen with next. “Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are the two I’ve got to get,” he says. “And Jamie Foxx. Then I’ll be happy.”
