Jeff Katz

"I love what I do. I show up and enjoy every moment," say Laurence Fishburne.

Laurence Fishburne: Intensity Defined

A lot has happened since Laurence Fishburne made his New York debut in Thurgood in April 2008. In this critically acclaimed one-man show written by George Stevens Jr., Fishburne, 48, assumes the identity of Thurgood Marshall, who in 1967 became the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court.

Fishburne quietly commands his audience—whom he addresses as if giving a speech to a class of university students—for 90 minutes as he lectures about the challenges and hurdles the great lawyer and judge faced before being named to one of the highest posts of the land.

Between the final curtain call at the Booth Theater two years ago and now, when the actor is busy preparing to bring Thurgood to the Kennedy Center (kennedy-center.org) June 1–20, Fishburne’s professional and civic lives have changed, well, dramatically.

First, he was invited to join the ninth season of one of television’s highest-rated dramas, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (cbs.com/primetime/csi), to take over the lead when actor William Petersen left the show. As intense, brilliant Dr. Raymond Langston, a professor of forensics turned investigator, Fishburne has reinvented the dark and moody CSI for a legion of fans.

Fishburne—who is perhaps best known for his role as Morpheus in the Matrix movies, his Academy Award-nominated performance as Ike Turner in What’s Love Got to Do With It? and his cult following as Cowboy Curtis on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse—talks with Flyer about his love for the Thurgood Marshall role, what it means to him to have President Obama in office, and why he (not so secretly) hopes the leader of the free world and his first lady will do him the honor of coming to see Thurgood this summer.

Has Thurgood evolved since it debuted in New York during the most recent presidential campaign?

George [Stevens] tells me Thurgood was one of Barack Obama’s inspirations, because he was a lawyer and one of the greatest legal minds of the 20th century. So to get the opportunity to espouse the views of Thurgood Marshall and our democratic way of life, the promise of our country, the power of our Constitution, all of these things … I felt [when first performing Thurgood] that in some small way I was making my contribution to what we’ve seen become manifest in the election of Barack Obama as the 44th president.

Will [Obama’s election] affect how I perform it [at the Kennedy Center]? I’m not sure exactly, but I look forward to finding out. And I hope and pray that I get the opportunity and the honor to perform this piece for the president and his wife as a way of saying thank you to them for all that they do.

What do you think Justice Marshall, who died in 1993, might say about President Obama’s election?

He would be very pleased. He’d also have some questions. He’d say: It’s long overdue! Like Martin Luther King Jr., he felt there were many, many African-Americans qualified to become president, long before Barack Obama’s election.

Sidney Poitier is one of your heroes, as is James Earl Jones. Do you have any heroes outside of the acting world?

Thurgood is one of them. As is Dr. King and Mr. Gandhi. Count Barack Obama and the Kennedy brothers, too.

Is there a difference between playing the Booth Theater in New York and the Kennedy Center in D.C.? And have you spent time in Washington before?

I’m sure there will be, but I’ve never played the Kennedy Center before. I’m looking forward to it. I’ve been in D.C. before for an extended stay around 25 years ago when I did the movie Gardens of Stone. I love Washington—it’s a great city. Once upon a time I had a close relative who lived in D.C., so I’d drive down from New York and spend weekends in town. So I know the city.

So where can Washingtonians find “Morpheus” hanging out? Any favorite haunts?

Now, why would I tell you that? I want to enjoy my favorite haunts! But I’ll give you this: The Library of Congress (loc.gov) is a pretty amazing place.

Are you a big traveler? Name your favorite destinations.

I love Italy. I enjoyed Russia when I was there. I adore the Southern Hemisphere. I lived in the Philippines for two years when I was a teenager filming Apocalypse Now, which was a great experience. For the Matrix pictures, I lived in Australia. But I have yet to make it to India or China or the North Pole, all places I want to see.

Now let’s talk CSI and your character, Dr. Raymond Langston. Did you get to name your character? I know your son, 23, is named Langston. [The actor also has a daughter, Montana, 19.]

I was doing Thurgood in New York, and Thurgood Marshall went to school with Langston Hughes—whom I named my son after and who is mentioned in the show several times. The producers and writers who came to see me perform liked the sound of that name coming out of the mouth. So, they asked if I liked the idea of naming my character Langston, and of course I did.

What’s it been like to join such a popular TV show and help reinvent it?

I’ve finally settled into the rhythm of the show. The audience has embraced me into their hearts. I love the opportunity to go to work every day and to work on a character over a long period of time. It’s a great blessing because the show has such a faithful audience, which means there’s an opportunity to communicate with a large audience in a way I haven’t had access to before. Even with the success of the Matrix films, they’re singular events—The Matrix was a pop culture phenomenon, not unlike CSI, but TV worldwide is a consistent thing. It’s ongoing. It’s a relationship.

I caught you on the UK’s Jonathan Ross show, where you admitted you hated blood and guts and all the stuff CSI is so famous for. How do you get through your day?

(Laughs) I do what I signed up for. I knew there’d be a murder every show. But it’s not some slasher movie, even if it can be dark—it’s not Drag Me to Hell!

What’s tougher: the grind of putting out a weekly television show, or taking to the stage before a live audience night after night?

I don’t think of either as being hard. I love what I do. I’m happy to be there. I show up and enjoy every moment.

Pee-Wee Herman has returned to the stage in L.A. Are you going to dust off your purple chaps and rock the Jheri curl again to bring back Cowboy Curtis in all his glory?

I got a call from Paul Reubens when he decided to do the show. He knew he’d have to cast someone else, because with CSI I’m unavailable. I just saw the show, though, and it still works! He’s trying to put some money together to make another Pee-Wee movie, and if he does, I’m there.

You were a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF some years ago. Are you still involved with the organization?

I am still involved. We need to focus on the help Haiti is going to need, not unlike New Orleans, for years to come. It’s going to take many years, maybe a decade. So I want to bring continued awareness to this fact and remind people that the ongoing effort the world needs to make will continue when you visit unicef.org and simply pledge.