Constable: Former Waubonsie sprinter hitting his stride as actor
The acting seed was planted when Jared Wofford of Naperville was just 10 years old. It just took a couple more decades to blossom.
"My mom took me to an agency in the Oak Brook area for acting and modeling," says Wofford, the middle of three children born to Tommie and Tina Wofford. But it didn't take. No modeling, no plays, not even during his years at Waubonsie Valley High School.
"I wasn't into acting back then," says Wofford, 40, who is acting in a variety of television series these days. In addition to portraying iconic attorney, Johnnie Cochran, in the BET series, "American Soul," Wofford had recurring roles in the Facebook Watch series, "Queen America," and the Crackle drama series, "StartUp," which currently is one of the 10 most popular shows on Netflix. Wofford also can be seen as the wise bartender in a new Amazon series, "Life's Rewards."
The closest he came to performing on a stage when he was a teenager was when he sang in the choir at the St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church in Aurora. He was an athlete.
"I played football, basketball, ran track," Wofford says.
A sprinter, Wofford won many 400-meter races, qualified for state, and anchored his school's 1600-meter relay team. He also was a defensive back on the football team. At Florida A&M University, where he made the track team as a walk-on, Wofford graduated in 2004 with a degree in business administration.
He landed a job as a salesman for a pharmaceutical company and made a good living, but he never forgot acting.
"I always thought it would be cool," says Wofford, who took an acting class before performing in his first stage production in Tallahassee, Florida. He also played roles in many student films.
"Back then, I don't think I was getting paid, and I didn't care," he says. "A part of me just wanted to have fun."
Moving on to print ads, commercials and roles in TV shows, Wofford once played a character known simply as "handsome man." But he's not just a pretty face. In his role in "StartUp" as Frantz, second-in-command for a Haitian street crew, he gets into a fight and shows off his tough side and a physique sculpted by workouts and yoga.
Wofford's father, who was a trooper with the Illinois State Police and became an administrator and investigative case manager with the Illinois Gaming Board, doesn't give his son a hard time when he plays characters who break the law. Neither does his mom, who worked for a credit union.
"My dad and mom are super-supportive," Wofford says.
For his role as Cochran, Wofford watched news clips of the attorney and also talked with a defendant who was represented by the colorful lawyer. In the show, Wofford's Cochran defends a young Black man who was beaten by police.
"It was a special opportunity," says Wofford, noting the stories of racial injustice that dominate headlines today. "It has an historical aspect."
His role as Jared, the bartender at the landmark pink Don CeSar hotel in St. Petersburg, Florida, is unique because Amazon's "Life's Rewards" show was funded by the Florida tourism industry to tout local attractions. "The way they placed the landmarks was very subtle," Wofford says.
He quit his pharmaceutical job in 2007, and is dedicated to the arts, where, in addition to acting, he has been a producer and a writer. He also teaches acting through catapultacting.com and his jaredwofford.com website.
"Success comes in different forms for different people," says Wofford, who adds he is driven to help others find their way in the arts. "I'm not famous, but I'm not a starving artist. I love what I do."