John Earl Jelks

Age: 40

Hometown: "I'm sort of from all over the place, but my family's from Mississippi. I spent a lot of time in California, some time in Illinois, and pretty much got my start in San Francisco."

Currently: Making his Broadway debut in the pivotal role of Citizen Barlow, a man with a heavy conscience, in August Wilson's latest play, Gem of the Ocean. "It feels absolutely wonderful," Jelks says of his main stem debut. "I make sure I walk to work, so I can look around. It's every actor's dream to come to Broadway, so I need to look around and see what we all believe in. I'll tell these stories forever. I feel for my understudy, because if he thinks he's going on, he's wrong!"

Meeting the Master: Jelks first became involved with Gem after first starring in Wilson's The Piano Lesson in San Francisco. "August saw the play, and he waited afterwards to talk to me," Jelks recalls. "He paid me a compliment. He said, 'You a bad muthafu**a!' We talked for a few minutes, and I was in awe. The show closed two days later, but the day before it was closing, I got a phone call from a cast director out of New York, and they wanted me to audition for Joe Turner's Come and Gone." After that run, Jelks was offered the chance to understudy Citizen, which at the time was being portrayed by Gem's director, Kenny Leon. When Leon had to step aside before the show's L.A. bow, Jelks was in. When asked if this strange shift in power--the original Citizen is now helming the show's New York bow and must certainly have some ideas about how the character should be played--Jelks only has the highest compliments for Leon. "He let me go and do my own thing. He said, 'Man, I don't want you to do it like I did. I think I weakened the character.' He was so open and honest. I completely trust his artistic ability. Even if he wanted me to imitate him, I'd have done it, because I trust the vision. For the most part, any August Wilson play is primarily August's work."

Heavy Drama: Citizen Barlow is no easy character to play. Plagued by guilt, he travels from the Deep South to the Pittsburgh home of Aunt Esther, a nearly 300-year old mystical figure played by last year's Tony champ Phylicia Rashad, to have his "soul washed." This journey, during which Citizen connect to the shared heritage of his ancestors as they first come to America in chains, requires Jelks to spend a serious amount of time in Act Two reliving the experience of a slave ship. It's a harrowing display, and one that clearly demands a lot of him, but Jelks says he doesn't mind being pushed to the limit. "I think it's every actor's dream to say that you're in a role where you can give your all. Every night, I get a chance to give my all in this role. And so do the other actors too. It used to be a hard place to get to. After talking to all these brilliant actors, I've had the chance to really talk to them about process. This was on the job training for me. All I know to do is be moment-to-moment and let it comes from the inside. I've learned to just let it go, and then I'm assured of the purity of it. If I can come up with just an eighth of what these people actually went through and saw, it will be a lot."

Hero Worship: Jelks says that one of the "true blessings" of his current job is being able to share stage time with his regal leading lady: "To work with Phylicia Rashad is amazing, and I'm going to say that with a big A on Amazing! I have to be careful when I'm watching her sometimes, because it's hard to stay in character. You can get caught up in watching her, and I have to think to myself that I'm working here! I can't just watch! Her eyes are so beautiful and so pure, and you can see right into her soul." Another icon for Jelks is James Earl Jones, soon to be back on Broadway in On Golden Pond. "He's actually the reason that I added back in my middle name," Jelks says. "I went by just John Jelks for a long time. My wife wanted me to put the Earl back in, but I thought people might confuse us. She said, 'Baby, how's anybody going to confuse you with James Earl Jones?'"

In Loving Memory: Jelks recently suffered the tragic loss of his wife of fourteen years, Naomi, who was killed in a traffic accident. Left with their three children--sons Jamal and Jabari and daughter Jamila--Jelks considered leaving acting. "It put me in a place where I didn't know if I could continue," he says. But he decided to continue on "I can hear her voice, telling me that I've come too far to turn back," he says, and he dedicates his emotional performance in Gem to Naomi's memory. "I believe that I pay homage to her when I think about her. The tears I shed for my wife--and some of them are shed in this show--they aren't all tears of pain. They're tears of joy and tears of remembrance. To be able to think about her and cry at the same time is a wonderful feeling. That's how I wash my soul."