Micah and I are like real brothers. And
honestly, we became that way very quickly. I
met him for the first time at the pre-network
table read and he and I just clicked. He has
a great sense of humor and laughs at all my
stupid jokes, but he is also genuinely one of
the nicest people I have ever met. The cast
and I don’t treat Micah any differently than
each other because he is just an actor at work
like we are. We hang out on set in between
takes and go to movies pretty often outside
of work, He is a great guy and WAY nicer
than JJ [laughs]. I think we developed the
brotherly dynamic on the show very quickly.
Speaking of which, like all brothers, JJ
and Ray's relationship can be a little
contemptuous at times! They like messing
with each other or enjoying a joke at the
other's expense. Do you and Micah ever
prank each other on set?
I love to make Micah laugh on set.
Sometimes we have too much fun and start
laughing uncontrollably when we are
supposed to be focusing on the scene, but
our set is so much fun, it never feels like
work. I am a big prankster and love to sneak
up and scare people. Micah will literally
jump five feet up out of his chair if you scare
him. It is SO funny.
Ray recently started a romance with
Taylor, a girl who also has a special needs
brother and who appears, thus far, to be
as loveably dorky and weirdly enthusiastic
about long-term financial planning as he
is. How would you like to see their
relationship develop in future episodes?
This is a tricky question to answer because
since we wrapped filming on season two last
week, I know a lot of info on this subject and
I have to be very careful not to give anything
away. I will say this season has been a
roller-coaster in the Ray-Taylor romance
with lots of ups and downs. One of my
favorite parts of the development of the
storyline is that it has allowed Ray to find
some long-overdue self-confidence. They are
a great match.... Or are they? As far as where
I would like to see it go? I trust the writers to
do what is right for Ray, but I am very good
friends with ultra-talented Sedona James,
who plays Taylor, so I would be excited to
have her back for a third season!
Something that Speechless does really well
is pairing unexpected characters together.
Is there any particular character that you
would want to see Ray interact with?
I am just going to come
out and say it... our
writers are the best in
the business! It would be
so much easier to keep
storylines separate and
link the obvious characters
together week after week,
but they keep it creative.
It makes sense for Ray to
have story lines with each
of his parents and siblings
but having a Ray-Kenneth
storyline is out of the
box. Our storylines have
turned out to be among my
favorite episodes –
especially the one when
Ray and Kenneth are in
charge of Thanksgiving.
I want a storyline with
the nut job teacher, Mr.
Powers. His character
makes me laugh out loud.
A Ray-Mr. Powers
storyline would be a blast.
If people only take away
one message from
watching Speechless,
what should it be?
From day one, Scott said
to us, and the press, that he
did not want “Speechless”
to be the heart-warming
“After School Special” TV
series designed to teach
people about disability. He
wanted to create a funny
show about a funny
family. Unfortunately for
Scott, his writing is so
good that you can’t help
but get the feels when you
watch our show. At the
end of each episode I want
people to think, “I just
laughed for 21.5 minutes
(without commercials) and
never once thought about
the fact that one of the
characters is in a
wheelchair and can’t
speak.” That would prove
that, without even trying,
we can see people as
people and not people
with disabilities.
www.clichemag.com
Photographer: Leslie Alejandro | Stylist: Erica Mer | Groomer: Sean Harris
I put myself out
there 100% with
each audition,
meeting, and
role I play.
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