What the Stars of When They See Us Look Like Vs. the Real People They Play
Ava DuVernay's acclaimed Central Park Five mini-series When They See Us is nominated for 16 awards at this weekend's Emmys.
Jharrel Jerome, Vera Farmiga, Michael K. Williams, John Leguizamo, Niecy Nash, and Asante Blackk are all up for acting awards.
Here's a comparison of what the actors look like versus the real-life people they play.
One of the contenders we'll be rooting hardest for at Sunday night's 2019 Emmys is When They See Us, Ava DuVernay's Netflix series which chronicles the Central Park Jogger case in 1989. Five Black and Latino teenagers were wrongfully convicted of raping a white woman, and each served his sentence before finally being exonerated in 2002.
Six of the show's actors—Jharrel Jerome, Vera Farmiga, Michael K. Williams, John Leguizamo, Niecy Nash, and Asante Blackk—are nominated for Emmy awards this year. Given how flawlessly the cast embodied their roles, you may be wondering how the actors compare to the real people they're portraying. Here's a side-by-side breakdown of the major cast and their real life counterparts.
Jharrel Jerome (Korey Wise)
16-year-old Wise was the oldest member of the Central Park Five, and therefore the only one to be tried as an adult. He served 12 years at Rikers Island, and since the group's exoneration has become a criminal justice activist. Jerome is the only actor to play both the young and older versions of his character in When They See Us.
"The hardest part of playing Korey was finding his happy moments and finding his moments where he’s flirting with Lisa [played by Storm Reid], chilling with the homies or hanging out, smiling," Jerome told The New York Times. "It was hard to find those moments because you don’t see that unless you actually meet the man and see him smile yourself. He’s unique, and everything about him is unique. So it wasn’t about being Korey Wise, it was about embracing him."
Antron McCray (Caleel Harris, Jovan Adepo)
15-year-old McCray was pressured into signing a false confession by his father, Bobby McCray. He served seven and a half years in prison. "I struggle with [my feelings toward my father]. Sometimes I love him. Most of the time, I hate him," McCray told the New York Times earlier this year. "I lost a lot, you know, for something I didn’t do. He just flipped on me, and I just can’t get past that."
The teenage McCray is played by Caleel Harris, while the adult McCray is played by Jovan Adepo.
Yusef Salaam (Ethan Herisse, Chris Chalk)
When 15-year-old Salaam was brought in for questioning by police, Wise—who was a friend—went with him voluntarily for support. Wise ended up being interrogated and charged as an adult, and Saleem has spoken recently about the guilt he feels as a result.
"We had all gone through hell. But when I saw this series, I immediately realized that we were in paradise compared to the hell that Korey was in," Salaam told The New York Times. "That reality—that pain, I think, is a better word—is knowing that he came because of me. Offering an 'I’m sorry' doesn’t seem adequate. And I’ve been able to say that to him, but I also realized that that’s not adequate enough to know what he went through, or that he could have been killed in prison. He almost was. It’s not enough. And I have a direct role to play in that."
The teenage Salaam is played by Ethan Herisse, while the adult Salaam is played by Chris Chalk.
Kevin Richardson (Asante Blackk, Justin Cunningham)
Richardson was just 14 at the time of his arrest, and served five years in a youth correctional facility. He's played as a teenager by Asante Blackk, and as an adult by Justin Cunningham.
"This whole thing was a therapeutic process," Richardson told The New York Times. "PTSD is real and I go through that. People might think on the outside looking in that I’m doing swell because we got the settlement. That doesn’t erase the time that I did. We always say we have invisible scars nobody sees. And no matter how you cover it, the scab will keep coming off."
Raymond Santana (Marquis Rodriguez, Freddy Miyares)
Like Richardson, Santana was only 14 when he was arrested, and he served five years in a youth correctional facility. "It brings back the memories," Santana told The Times, admitting that watching the series had been difficult. "But it’s necessary. I was ready and I was willing to relive, to go through that pain again, to cry—because it’s necessary. It’s a sacrifice. You want to change the culture, you’ve got to be engaged. This is how we got engaged."
Niecy Nash (Delores Wise)
Nash's Emmy-nominated performance as Korey Wise's mother, Delores, was singled out for praise by many critics—and Oprah Winfrey. "The most important takeaway is the truth," she told Newsweek of the project. "I don't care who said what and when they said it. At this point, we now know that the course of five babies' lives was turned upside down because of a lie, and we never get to hear from them. So collectively and corporately, this is their story. It may intersect other people's thoughts and perceptions and ideals, but at the end of the day, this story is not only their truth, it is the truth. And I think that's what is paramount in all of it.
Vera Farmiga (Elizabeth Lederer)
Lederer was the lead attorney for the prosecution on the case. In June of 2019, it was reported that Lederer had resigned from her post at Columbia Law School as a result of the "fallout" from the series. Per CNN, she "decided not to renew her teaching application due to the publicity generated by Netflix's portrayal of the case."
Felicity Huffman (Linda Fairstein)
Fairstein was the former prosecutor who served as head of the sex crimes unit at the Manhattan District Attorney's office at the time of the Central Park Five's case. As depicted in the series, Fairstein pushed hard for the five boys to be convicted despite the lack of physical evidence, and the numerous inconsistencies in their confessions. Since When They Saw Us debuted, there has been a renewed public outcry against Fairstein, who in turn criticized the show's depiction of her in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
Michael K. Williams (Bobby McCray)
Williams, best known for his iconic role as Omar Little in The Wire, plays Bobby McCray, who pressured his son Antron into signing a false confession. McCray later testified that he did so because he believed that the police would let Antron go if he signed the document.
“On paper, Bobby—let’s face it, he made some bad choices,” Williams told Vanity Fair, adding that he struggled to understand why McCray abandoned his family. “He split when the going got tough, and you can’t dispute that. That is what he did. I just chose to find out the reasons why, and that was a painful journey... I believe that when Bobby realized that he let the police use his fear, his ignorance, and turned it into a weapon, using him to be the nail in his son’s coffin by signing that false statement, I believe the guilt, and the anger, and the shame, drove him away. I believe he thought that his family was better off without him."
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