Aldis Hodge has been keeping busy. Like, really busy: In the last year, he’s already appeared in three films and a TV show, and this month, Hodge will reprise his role as smooth-talking computer whiz and grifter for good, Alec Hardison, in the reboot of Leverage. The series’ last episode, “The Long Goodbye Job,” aired in 2012, but the cult show is making a comeback thanks to IMDB TV. And it’s not just Hodge’s Alec who will back: Fan favorites Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman), Parker (Beth Riesgraf), and Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) will all be returning. Along with Leverage: Redemption, Hodge will also be back for another season of City On A Hill—Showtime’s crime drama series starring Kevin Bacon. And next summer, we’ll get to see Hodge on the big screen as Hawkman, flying archaeologist and reincarnated prince, in DC Comics adaptation Black Adam.
With Leverage: Redemption set to hit IMDB TV on July 9, The A.V. Club asked Hodge our current list of 11 Questions ahead of its release. The actor talks about how he got through quarantine with a couple of new businesses under his belt, gushes about his love for buttery seafood, and gets real about just how awful his retail job was (stars, they’re just like us….).
Aldis Hodge: We went to Disney World. We went to Florida, it was an amazing time. I was probably 12 or 13, so my little sister was like two or three. I still have pictures from that time. And for me, personally, those are my favorite pictures that I have of my little sister. Me and the whole family, we really enjoyed ourselves. It was a really nice time.
AH: I would say self-confidence. I say that just because people think it’s about learning lines and learning how to act and do all this stuff on TV and all that, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to have self-confidence. Sometimes people are so ready to please other people as opposed to just pleasing themselves. So I would say: Keep your mind open to learning, but also be confident that you know exactly what you know and how you should do it. It’s all about who you are as an artist. And confidence is a huge part of knowing how you should handle your business, strategize, and move forward.
AH: I didn’t pick up any new skills, I wish I had. But I definitely started and initiated quite a few different businesses, so I’m happy about that. Yeah, I finally initiated production on my flagship watch model that I’m producing. And I started a company with some friends, an art studio called 9B, for which we are currently working on many jobs which I’m happy about. I also started working with my brother on a film that we’re currently producing now. So, yeah, the new skill is probably time management.
AH: The Dirty French in New York City.
AVC: I’m from here, and I haven’t heard of it!
AH: It’s pretty awesome. Great chicken. The bread is great. Great potatoes. Everything’s great…
AH: Hmmm. Okay, a way to block myself from being tracked—by anyone, anywhere, anytime.
AH: I would say Regina King completely exceeded my expectations. I mean, I already held her in high regard. I thought she was a wonderful performer, actor, and also just a good human being. But as far as my working experience with her, when it came to One Night In Miami…, it was next level. Just because of how she handled herself and what she did with that particular project, and what she did with the actors. She really is truly superlative in many ways. And I still hold her in high regard. So I would say Regina King, absolutely.
AVC: It’s nice that she’s as amazing as she seems.
AH: Definitely.
AH: [laughs] I don’t know if I could say.
AVC: Diplomatic. Okay, that’s fair. But can you at least tell us what was awkward about it? Was it the hours? The environment?
AH: I was working retail. A clothing store. And the thing I couldn’t stand about the whole thing was—I mean, the hours were okay, the pay was crap, but I didn’t care, you know, it was a job. I was grateful to have a job. But what sucked was the treatment. Sometimes I’d spend hours trying to fold a whole display table of clothes and people come by and tear it up in two seconds. And then they treat you like servants. “Hey, get me this” or “You do this,” and it’s like “I’m here to help you. I’m not here to serve you, so figure it out.” So eventually I got to a point where I started working in the back folding clothes. And, you know what, that was cool. But it just wasn’t my purpose. It wasn’t my ambition. I was like, slowly dying there. So I yeah, I really want to say what it was, but nah, I can’t.
AVC: Working retail is one of the things where it’s a really formative experience. You learn how to treat people nicely when you go out shopping or dining, because you yourself have been treated so badly as a worker.
AH: Yeah, I mean, you’ve got to always treat people who work in those stores well. Like, they’re here to help you so, you gotta give them respect off the top. Why are you going to go in there acting like you’re Mr. Fancy Pants, you know what I’m saying?
AH: Damn, that’s a tough one because I grew up on shows like Family Matters and The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.
AVC: The classics.
AH: You know, I’m going to have to go with Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.
AVC: You’d get to be in that fancy-ass house! That’s a really great house. It’s formative. I would pick that one, too.
AH: You know what, it is.
AH: I would say the first piece of art, or just an artist himself, rather, was my brother. My brother, going on auditions and doing print work and all that kind of stuff was what inspired me to become an actor. Aside from that, I would have to share that space with Batman, just because I wanted a Batman toy [as a kid]. So if you consider a Batman toy a piece of art, then there you go!
AVC: Oh, for sure.
AH: So, it’s between my brother’s art and Batman toys. That’s what it was. That’s what made me want to become an actor.
AH: The funniest person I know and the person that makes me laugh the most is a friend of mine.
AH: What would be on a sandwich named after me… I’m trying to think of deli meats.
AVC: Or it doesn’t even have to be deli meats. You could get really creative. What kind of toppings are on your favorite sandwich?
AH: I mean, you know, give me a crab cake sandwich.
AVC: Loving this already.
AH: Two crab cakes as the patty, put some shrimp and some lobster between them with a little reduced brown butter and I’m good to go.
18 Comments
July 9? Shit, I thought it was still much further away. Whole family’s been waiting with bated breath.
I love Aldis Hodge, I am very excited for the new Leverage series, and I am very impressed by Shanicka getting this interview while running alongside Hodge’s moving car.
Indeed! He’s one of those guys who seems to be on the move 25 hours a day, 8 days a week.
The more I read about Hodge the more I realize that he’s a true polymath. This guy has more layers than an onion.I like how the interview touched on his interest in horology. Hodge is becoming well-known in the watch world, not as a collector—though he does own some spectacular watches—but as a watchmaker. He’s jumped into the deep end and learned the craft, actually designing and building his own watches. This is in addition to having a full-on career as an actor.The only question that I can think of that wasn’t asked is, “Aldis, when do you find time to sleep?”
I am not saying this at all to take away from this guy’s work, but there’s a lot of downtime in acting. I can imagine sitting in a trailer/dressing room and working on designs between scenes where you’re needed.
I get what you’re saying. I’m just amazed that what he does as a hobby is at a level that’s a primary career for most people in the horology industry. If he wasn’t working as an actor, he could be working for one of the high-end companies in Switzerland.Most watch aficionados collect and/or restore watches. A few build them from readily available parts. Very few design them at the hobby level, even fewer build their own movements. That’s really the realm of the pros.Most hobbyists like to tinker, restore vintage pieces or modify mass produced timepieces, kind of like what hot rodders like to do with Fords and Chevys. Hodge collects watches that are more like the Ferraris and McLarens. And now he’s building his own. The best comparison for Hodge in the auto industry is probably Christian von Koenigsegg.
As good as Chadwick Boseman was (and as iconic as he became), I have always thought that Aldis Hodge should have been cast as Black Panther instead of him.
Wow. Bozeman was incredible, but…..I kinda hate you a little now for putting that idea in my head😎😘
Always liked him in Leverage (and the banter between him and Christian Kane was reliably fun). But he was a revelation as Jim Brown in One Night In Miami. I would never have pegged him as a hulking, dangerous-seeming football guy – because he was a skinny, geeky computer nerd in Leverage – but he was just perfect.I don’t have Hulu so I never saw Underground. I really should get Hulu.
“But he was a revelation as Jim Brown in One Night In Miami. I would never have pegged him as a hulking, dangerous-seeming football guy”
You should watch Friday Night Lights then 😉
(admitedly he wasn’t the most dangerous seeming in that, but definitely a far cry from Hardison)
You should watch Friday Night Lights then 😉 Oh my gosh, I forgot Hodge was in that! He played Voodoo, right? Man, I have to watch FNL again….Anyway – I met Jim Brown once, at a book signing. He was very nice, and very much not physically like Aldis Hodge. But in One Night in Miami Hodge was pretty much Jim Brown.
because he was a skinny, geeky computer nerd in LeverageTestament to his acting ability, because man is he not skinny in Leverage. He’s not Dwayne Johnson big, but he still looks like he could snap the average computer geek in half by flexing. He makes Christian Kane look doughy. Had a look at pix from him in The Experimental Job compared to his current Hawkman physique for Black Adam, and he looks almost the same size – he’s just more defined and vascular now.
Underground is definitely worth the $5.99.
That sandwich sounds like it could kill you.
Most mortal men, but not Aldis Hodge.
Aldis Hodge! He should have been a big star, like, ten years ago already. So glad he’s getting work and the big screen time he deserves.
Aldis Hodge is a fabulous actor. He should have received much more attention for his work in Clemency.
When I worked at Best Buy, this old man threw the new computer I just helped him purchase at me. He was frail so it pitifully landed at my feet and he then yelled at me that the computer didn’t work. Techs looked at it and found nothing wrong. We asked him what happened and come to find out he thought computers were battery powered and tried to press the button without plugging it in. He apologized and I told him how funny an old man attempting to throw a box was.