Tommy Ford

The way I met Martin Lawrence, he and I actually have a strong theatrical background. We did Martin’s first play together, so when we met it was like, he said, “Hey man, aren’t you that guy?” and I was like “Yeah, aren’t you that guy?” We hit it off with the theatrical and comedian backgrounds - we really became close friends. So one day he said listen, I’ll handle the comedy part and you handle the straight part - we’ll make a great team. And the rest is history.

CHRISTOPHER: Are you still the same Tommy Ford that folks back in school would remember?

TOMMY: Absolutely. My address has changed, but my disposition has not. I still occasionally run into folks I’ve known from childhood. We still laugh the same, talk the same, just as silly as we were before. The difficult thing about it is that I am more accountable, I have to be cautious and careful about the choices I make because I affect those around me. I can’t be the same fool I was because I'm affecting someone’s life, particularly the lives of young people. I’m accountable to my family, my parents, my children, my wife and my girlfriend, oh I’m sorry, I meant my wife - they’re all affected by the choices I make. Things are different with my life right now, but I’m still the same cat. I grew up in a spiritual home, where we believed in family, laughter, fun and having a good time. We believed in issues affecting our community and I’m still involved in those activities.

CHRISTOPHER: Since you brought up the topic of accountability, do you, as a Christian, ever struggle with scripts or comedy sketches based on its content or message?

TOMMY: Well, I find less of a struggle as an actor as I do as a human. Scripts and acting is make-belief; we run into struggles as Christians every day in life and that’s the biggest struggle to me. When I look at a script, and I’ve heard Christian performers say before, “Oh, I couldn’t do that role because that’s not of God”, well, my take on it is a little different. The wages of sin is death, and because I’m playing a terrible person does not make me a terrible person. As long as the message is clear that the wages of sin is death then there’s ministry in it for me.