PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Portland-raised actor is featured in a new Amazon Prime Video series that debuted at No. 1 on the streaming platform.
“Cross,” based on James Patterson’s book series “Alex Cross,” centers on the eponymous, sharp detective solving crimes for Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department.
In the first 20 days following the crime thriller’s premiere on Nov. 14, it garnered 40 million viewers worldwide — Prime Video’s third-highest debut for a series this year.
Although the series’ success could be attributed to the prowess of its leads, with “Straight Outta Compton” actor Aldis Hodge in the titular role and former Old Spice commercial star Isaiah Mustafa as his right-hand man, Johnny Ray Gill stole many scenes as a supporting actor.
He portrays Bobby Trey, a former cop who earns money by doing dirty work for the main antagonist and serial killer in the series. The Jefferson High School graduate told KOIN 6 the role was offered directly to him.
“I remember in the initial conversations, you know, they told me the character was named Johnny Ray,” Gill recalled. “That sounded like Hollywood talk, to be real… And then I read the script, I said, ‘Oh my goodness…maybe [showrunner Ben Watkins] did write this for me.”
While the actor said the recognition he’s received for his portrayal of the unhinged Trey “feels like a moment,” it isn’t the first he’s had in his career. He previously appeared in Sundance TV’s critically-acclaimed “Rectify,” CBS’ “BrainDead” and WGN’s “Underground.”
But what attracted Gill to “Cross” was the script for the series’ pilot. The episode features a dinner party where the namesake detective and his partner engage in discourse with supporters of the “defund the police” movement — a movement that also had support in some communities in the actor’s home state of Oregon.
According to Gill, that moving scene is what drove him to join the show and consequently conduct research for his role. He explored media like “Devil In a Blue Dress,” a book-series-turned-film about the search for a missing woman, and took to Reddit to learn more about Trey’s background from Louisiana.
“That's the research that I like to have, not just in Bobby Trey, but every character that I portray because I think that the depth and breadth of Black people is incredibly important, and I think it gets undervalued in Hollywood far too often,” Gill said.
His thrilling portrayal of Trey can be seen in “Cross,” with the entire eight-episode season currently available on Prime Video. The streaming service has already announced that audiences can look forward to a second season of the series.
