The Untold Truth Of Sterling K. Brown

Sterling K. Brown is well known to television viewers for his two-time Emmy-winning role as Randall Pearson on tear-jerking NBC hit "This Is Us." Other notable roles for the award-winning actor include portraying prosecutor Christoper Darden in "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" (for which he earned the first of his three Emmys), while other nominated roles have included the TV comedies "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," and "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." In addition, IMDb reminds that Brown has also appeared in a variety of other television series, such as "Army Wives," "Third Watch," "Supernatural," and "Person of Interest."

While Brown's acclaimed body of work on the small screen is indeed impressive, he's also distinguished himself in film, with highlights including Marvel Studios blockbuster "Black Panther," starring opposite Tina Fey in the comedy "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot," battling filmdom's most lethal extraterrestrial hunter in "The Predator," and playing a futuristic bank robber in the dystopian action-thriller "Hotel Artemis."

Brown has become such a ubiquitous screen presence in recent years, portraying an eclectic and wide-ranging array of characters, that it's easy for fans to assume they know more about him than they actually do. For a deep dive into the life and career of this talented actor, keep on reading to discover the untold truth of Sterling K. Brown.

Sterling K. Brown received universal acclaim for his portrayal of Christopher Darden, one of the prosecutors in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, for the FX series "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story." While researching the role, Brown attempted to contact Darden in hopes of picking his brain. "I reached out to him on a couple of occasions and he did not respond," said Brown of Darden in an interview with Backstage, "which is fine. And I do believe after having walked in his shoes, kind of, I can see why he wouldn't be interested in revisiting this particular period of his life."

Brown, in fact, admitted that his own personal views about Darden were reshaped radically by taking on the role. At the time of the trial, Brown recalled, he also felt disappointed that Darden was "trying to prosecute another African American man." Two decades later, Brown admitted, he'd come to realize "just how judgmental I was of [Darden] as a young man without nearly enough information to be that judgmental of anyone."

When ET asked Darden about why he didn't take Brown's call, he said, "It was 3 o'clock in the morning." The attorney went on to share that the show highlights "a hugely negative life experience" and he wasn't exactly raring "to go back there." That said, he was "very happy" about Brown's win.

Sterling K. Brown and wife Ryan Michelle Bathe have been together since they were teenagers. As Bathe revealed to ET, the two actors first met when they were college freshmen living in the same dorm while attending Stanford. What sealed the deal for Bathe was seeing her future husband auditioning for a school production of "Joe Turner's Come and Gone." As Bathe recalled, "At 18 years old, he got on the stage, and wasn't even off book, and was Joe Turner. He was 18!"

In fact, it was when both landed roles in that very play that came to know each other even better, leading their friendship to blossom into something more. "We were homies before everything else, and then it grew," said Brown, pointing out that she was dating someone else at the time. "So we were just buddies."

In addition to sharing their lives — and two children — the couple has also shared the screen, when Bathe and Brown appeared together in Lifetime drama "Army Wives." Bathe also showed up in "This Is Us," but wasn't in any scenes with her husband; her character, Yvette, was the mother of one of young Randall's friends in flashback scenes when Brown's character was a child, played by actor Lonnie Chavis.

One interesting fact that even longtime fans may not realize is that Sterling K. Brown hasn't always gone by that name. As he explained in an interview with "Access Hollywood Live" (via People), he took the name as a tribute to his father, Sterling Brown Jr., who died when he was a child. "I lost my dad relatively early in life, but he gave me 10 of the best years that a kid could ever have," said Brown, who went by his middle name, Kelby, when he was a youngster.

However, he related a story that was oft-told by his mother, about how young Kelby came home from kindergarten one day and declared his intention to be known as Sterling when he turned 16, but would remain Kelby until then. While Brown admitted didn't remember actually saying that, he did wind up changing his name from Kelby to Sterling as a teenager.

In fact, that story formed the basis of his acceptance speech when he dedicated his 2016 Emmy win for "The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" to his dad. "Sterling Brown Jr., I changed what people called me at age 16 so I could hear your name every day of my life," said Brown in his speech. "I love you, daddy."

Sterling K. Brown and wife Ryan Michelle Bathe are parents to two sons, Andrew and Amaré. Fatherhood, he told Life of Dad, was something he knew he wanted to experience "since I was about 18 or 19 years old." Recognizing he "wasn't ready to be a dad," he nonetheless used to fantasize about being a college student with a baby. "I would find a way to make it work," he said, recalling his friends suggested he "try getting a dog first."

Once he ultimately did become a father, he told Parenthood, the experience enriched his performances as an actor. "Everything's just deeper," he said. "They also have a tremendous sense of play that is awesome to be in the presence of. What they do naturally is what I attempt to recreate in front of the camera."

While Brown's boys are aware that their father is a famous actor, they aren't particularly impressed by that fact. That, he revealed during an appearance on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," became evident when he asked the family for feedback following a screening of "Frozen 2," in which Brown played Mattias. "And my 8-year-old was like, 'Yeah, you were fine,'" he recalled. Gotta love a classic kid response.

In May 2021, NBC announced that "This Is Us" would be bowing out after its sixth season, bringing the saga of the Pearson family to a close in 2022. For Sterling K. Brown, the ending of the series brought about mixed emotions. On the one hand, he was finding it difficult to say goodbye to Randall Pearson, a character that brought him two Emmy Awards, a history-making Golden Globe win, and bona fide stardom; on the other, the success of the show had also catapulted him into a next-level situation that he was eager to take advantage of.

During an interview with Us Weekly, Brown was asked if he'd be interested in reprising Randall in a potential "This Is Us" spinoff. "I love the show. I've had the greatest experience, and if ['This Is Us' creator] Dan Fogelman is part of the show, I would absolutely have to consider it," he responded.

However, he also detailed his misgivings. "But in wrapping my head around it, I also have to say I've wrapped my head around what the opportunities will be post-'This Is Us,' so I'm actually looking forward to exploring what else is out there," he said. As much as this series and this role have meant to him (and his mantle), he is more than ready to take on a new creative challenge. "I also look forward to all the other characters living inside of me having an opportunity to find their way into the world," he said. 

Given his health-and-fitness goal of becoming a centenarian, it's not surprising that Sterling K. Brown keeps himself in top shape. However, there was a period where Brown's pursuit of physical fitness wound up clashing with his thespian ambitions. 

Speaking with Men's Health, Brown recalled that when he was earning a postgraduate in theater at NYU, his teachers apparently thought he was getting too buff. "I was like, 'What are you talking about?'" he said. "And they were like, 'It's gonna be hard for things to pass through you with all this musculature. So for emotion, for feelings to flow through, you have to be a vessel, a sieve, rather than something that is heavily armored.'"

Rather than become offended, Brown took that advice to heart. As a result, he told Men's Health, he ditched the barbells and instead embraced yoga and calisthenics in a quest to attain a less bulky (but still ripped) physique, all in service of broadening his artistic palette as an actor. "There's a wider breadth of who you can be onstage than was allowed on the camera," Brown pointed out. "Denzel Washington, Sam Jackson, Delroy Lindo, Don Cheadle — all these dudes come from theater, and they weren't jacked-up, crazy-"

Sterling K. Brown has been acting professionally since his early 20s, and his increasing success over the years has also led to an increase in his paydays. Landing a lead role in NBC's hit drama "This Is Us," in fact, proved to be very beneficial to the actor's bank account; Celebrity Net Worth estimated that Brown has an impressive worth of a cool $10 million, a number that promises to increase accordingly as his stardom continues to grow. As the site pointed out, a hefty chunk of that fortune likely came from Brown's TV paycheck, listing his salary at $250,000 per episode (the result, as Us Weekly noted, of a raise the cast received ahead of the show's third season, bumping up Brown's initial salary of $75,000 per episode).

Now that he can afford a few extravagances, Brown has been able to indulge his love of premium watches. As he told Hodinkee, he's been building up an impressive collection, tracing his obsession with watches back to a relative. "My uncle had — and this was a big deal for a Black man in the sixties — a Rolex," Brown recalled. "I remember he never talked about it. He wasn't ostentatious, but every once in a while, I would watch other people notice his timepiece and say, 'Hey man, that's a nice timepiece.' It wasn't a watch, it was a timepiece." What a won-dial-ful purchase.