Cornelius Smith Jr Bio

Cornelius Smith Jr. is an american actor. He is famously known for his role on the ABC drama series Scandal as Marcus Walker from 2015 to 2018. He also played the role of Frankie Hubbard on the ABC soap opera All My Children from December 2007 until September 2011.

Cornelius Smith Jr received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series in 2009. In 2018 Smith was cast in the upcoming film Against All Enemies. He is also known for  Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013).

Cornelius Smith Jr Age

Cornelius Smith Jr was born in San Diego, California, U.S. on 18th March, 1982. He is 37 years old as of 2019.

Cornelius Smith Jr Net Worth

Cornelius Smith Jr. is has a net worth of a whooping $4 million. He made his fortune mostly from the films scandal and how to get away with murder.

Cornelius Smith Jr Family

Cornelius Smith Jr has been secret about his family. There is currently no information about his parents or his family.

Cornelius Smith Jr Gay | Cornelius Smith Jr Wife | Cornelius Smith Jr Married

Cornelius Smith Jr got married to his wife Stephanie Lilly Smith in May, 2018. The ceremony was conducted in Mexico.

Cornelius Smith Jr is not gay.

Cornelius Smith Movies| Cornelius Smith Jr Movies And TV Shows

Cornelius Smith Jr Films

Cornelius Smith Jr TV Shows

Cornelius Smith Interview

Q: Tell us about yourself before being cast on the show, Scandal

Cornelius Smith Jr: I always knew who Shonda was, but I didn’t know who she was. It turns out that I did a stand on one of her previous shows and I didn’t know she wrote those shows. Then I noticed really quickly that all the shows that I loved were Shonda shows, going back to Private Practice. So I knew of her, but I wasn’t a fan yet. I wasn’t watching all the shows; I was in and out of Grey’s Anatomy and I had heard of Scandal, but wasn’t originally interested. My girlfriend told me to watch and I finally decided to watch the pilot. It wasn’t until the second episode that I became attached and fell in love with Scandal. I binge-watched, and then finally caught up. I was watching every Thursday, and then in 2014, I got the audition for Scandal to play Marcus Walker.

At the time the role was a guest star, possible recurring, and I couldn’t make it to the audition because this was right before Christmastime. I made the tape, didn’t really like the tape and didn’t really hear anything back. So I enjoyed the holidays, went back to Detroit—which is my hometown—then came back to LA ready to prep for the new year. Two days later I got a call saying that they haven’t cast the role and they wanted me to come read in person.

Q: The Scandal cast is just as close-knit as it seems.

Cornelius Smith Jr: [With] my first two episodes, everything that I shot was on location, so I hadn’t met the cast. The only people I met were Kerry and Courtney [B. Vance], so I didn’t really have an idea of the full interworkings of the cast. It wasn’t until the first table read of Season 5—even though I wasn’t in the first three episodes, they invited me to come around and hang. It was a great opportunity to observe and listen and meet everybody, and I was welcomed with such open arms. It was very heartwarming and touching and I immediately saw how much of a family it was. Everybody is the best at what they do and the commitment and the integrity and passion is very high.

Q: Were you expecting expecting your storyline with Mellie to go where it did?

Cornelius Smith Jr: [The story is] learned over a process of time and every table read we get a little bit more information. When the spark with Marcus and Mellie was first introduced, I was surprised. I guess some people saw it coming, but I had no idea, and it’s funny because when we tape these scenes, we are taping them without any information of what’s going to happen [next]. Every single episode, it’s just in that moment, dealing with what we know—and that’s it. So when I look back at it, from that perspective [of] not knowing, you can see the interactions between Marcus and Mellie and you can see that it’s there.

Q: Did you take the rumors that you were replacing Columbus Short on Scandal seriously?

Cornelius Smith Jr: I viewed it as not taking someone’s place, but as a character being created. That was my impulse. Marcus is a completely new character. He has nothing necessarily in common with the other character, from a story standpoint. This is a different character and a new world, so I approached it like that and continued it with the utmost respect and integrity. In the world of fiction, characters come and go, especially in the world of Shondaland.

Q: What can we expect for Marcus this season?

Cornelius Smith Jr: Marcus came in setting the moral high ground for a lot of these characters and really represented justice. I would say he generally does not lie and does not like to cross a certain line. He hasn’t killed anybody, he hasn’t manipulated or lied—he hasn’t done things that seem to be so common for everybody else in the show, but I think that we’re going to see Marcus get an opportunity to have access to power. And we all know power itself is very tempting [and] corrupting, [and] people do a lot of things to get power and do a whole other set of things to maintain it. We’ll see Marcus get that access and we’ll see if he can continue to stand up to what he knows or thinks is right and [we’ll] see how he holds up against it.

Q: Who is your favourite Scandal character?

Cornelius Smith Jr: One of the reasons why I fell in love with the show watching [it]—before, I like to say, I stepped inside the television—was that all the characters are so unique and individual that there is something to love about them all. You might like one or the other, but there is something you either hate to love or love to hate about them all.

Q: How is it to work with Shonda Rhimes to change the diversity stigmas of television?

Cornelius Smith Jr: It’s a lot of fun. It’s an honor. It is a privilege. It’s something that I don’t take for granted, but I also don’t want to put the weight of the world on my shoulders, if that makes any sense. I try to remain present and remain grateful that I have this opportunity to not only be a part of this beautiful machine that is Shondaland, but she once said that she wants to see stories about people who look like her, and I think she does that. When we think about America, it is built and based in diversity and we had a real need and real cry, not necessarily from the industry, but from Americans saying that they want more of that in a very honest and truthful way.

Q: Whats your advice for black actors and actresses working in a post-Trump reality?

Cornelius Smith Jr: I think we have to continue to be the light and what I mean by that is continuing to listen to each other [and] support one another, and we gotta stand together and not only fight for ourselves, but fight for what is right. That means coming together to tell our stories, to continue to combat whatever negative stereotypes or pressures that are out there and we have to be able to infiltrate but still maintain a cohesive unit. It’s so easy to feel more marginalized or to feel not connected, especially today. It’s easier, depending on what side you are on, to feel [more] disconnected than connected. But if you’re searching for a way to connect or you want to feel connected to the community or your fellow people, that opportunity is there. I think the best thing we can do right now is give ourselves the permission to do just that. It’s easy for someone to wait for permission to do something, even for themselves. At the end of the day I think it’s reflecting love and fear.

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