Harold Perrineau Jr.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on the twist to his character in the second season of Lost) He's been such an honest guy, just a good Joe kind of guy, just trying to get his son back. So, to throw this kind of twist really just comes out of nowhere, and I think that'll be exciting. I'm an actor who likes to have lots of weird, crazy things to play, and that seemed pretty weird and crazy. To be, like, the bringer of death.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on co-stars Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros) Michelle brings this really great, energetic personality to the set, and it was really a lot of fun to have her around. And Cynthia's just the consummate professional, and she's an East Coast girl, so we click on that level.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on his Lost character, Michael Dawson) I have aspirations that not only does he come around but that he gets to be the hero and eventually gets to have some luck. A lot of what happens to Michael Dawson is that he's had a lot of bad luck. Bad things keep happening over and over and over. So, there's a part of me that hopes he has some good luck, that some good things happen to him. Then there's that other part of me that wants to explore what happens to people who have bad luck like that all the time.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (working on Lost) Well, we have more than a few hours, with the exception of the last episode. We literally got the lines for the scenes the night before we shot but normally we get about a week of preparation. And luckily for me, this year, there weren't huge sweeping stories that I had to prepare for. So, luckily for me, when it did come you had to wrap your mind around a bunch of stuff really really quickly. I'm not used to working that way, in that way that I like to try different things, but it was good for me. And it will be good for me this year to see how creative I can actually be.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on his co-star Matthew Fox, and his likeness to his Lost character Jack Sheperd) He's handsome, he's tall, he's running around saving people's lives. But Matt Fox, himself, is just a really interesting guy. He's got a lot of stuff in his background, and you can see it behind his eyes, that has nothing to do with any of that stuff. When you talk to him, you're like, 'Oh, I didn't expect that at all.' So I'd say he's least like his character.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on his co-star Jorge Garcia) Jorge's a really funny guy. Like Hurley, at those right moments he will say something that will crack you up.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on his co-star Terry O'Quinn) Terry O'Quinn is like Locke, because he is a mysterious, fascinating guy. He lives up on the north shore in this house in the woods. You'll see him, and he's always walking around like Locke does.

Harold Perrineau: (on shooting the season one finale of Lost) I don't swim, or at least I didn't swim when we shot last year's finale. So just being out on that raft was a little scary for me. Also, at the time we hadn't received the final pages of the script, so we didn't know how the second half of the episode ended. When I found out the night before that the raft was going to be destroyed and our characters would wind up floating in the water, I also got a call from the show's production office asking, 'Harold, is it true you can't swim?' I was like, 'Yes, it is'. Of course, we were going to be shooting in the ocean as opposed to a water tank in some nice safe soundstage. On the day we filmed the scene with the raft going up in flames I told myself, 'OK, be brave now, and just jump into the water.' Happily, everything turned out fine and I didn't drown.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on his Lost character, Michael Dawson) I was somewhat confused about him at first. Because the show's writers and producers don't give us much information ahead of time, I had no idea where the character was headed. I mean, I didn't know, for example, how Michael spoke, the sort of attention span he had, or even how passionate as well as compassionate he was.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on his plans for the Lost hiatus in the summer) A couple of things came up, but nothing that I really liked. With more people watching and with more acclaim for the show, I'm hoping this year a few things come up that are down my alley. I totally would love to do other things, because as much as I love the show, it's just part of my career. I don't want to give up my career [as if] this is the end. The hope is to actually do other stuff that I really connect with that's really good and really cool.

Harold Perrineau Jr.: (on how his hairstyle has lost him auditions) They actually have, a couple yeah. Not so much a role, but a couple auditions. This year I got to audition for Martin Luther King. I did my best, but they couldn't see past it.

Harrold Perrineau Jr.: (on his role in Oz) It's a good job. Can't complain about that. And it's such good writing. Tom Fontana is so smart. He's just got a really interesting point of view about stuff. It's odd -- he says when he writes (my part) he hears my voice. When I read it, I hear his.