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This is Fresh Air. I'm David Bienkule. The Academy Awards are less than a month away.

Today we continue our series of interviews with or

about Oscar nominees. Sterling K. Brown has been nominated for best supporting actor

for his role in American fiction. The film has four other

nominations including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Brown also

played prosecutor Christopher Darden in the miniseries The People versus O.J Simpson winning an Emmy Peter NBC series This is Us. Let's start with the film American Fiction.

It stars Jeffrey Wright as a college professor and novelist who is black.

It appears to him that the only books written by black authors that white publishers want

a print are books about being poor or in gangs or addicted to drugs or being a pregnant teenager.

So under a pen name he writes a book conforming to those expectations to prove his point.

He's offered a huge advance and the book becomes a bestseller.

Sterling K Brown plays the writer's brother.

He's a plastic surgeon who's currently having money problems because his wife has left

him and has taken half his practice after discovering he's having gay relationships.

Terry spoke with Sterling K Brown in January.

Sterling K Brown, welcome to French We're so happy to have you on the show.

Terry, thank you so much for having me.

I'm delighted to be here.

Did you experience any of the same type of preconceptions about what it means to be authentically

black in your personal life or in your acting career?

...