Judson Mills was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in a small town in Northern Virginia. Mills majored in Theatre at Barry University in Miami after being inspired to pursue acting in high school, and continued onto the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York afterward. Mills has guest starred on shows such as “Law and Order,” “Dexter” and “The X Files,” among many others.
How did you get involved in acting?
“I was an athlete in school, and the school that I went to was sort of an arts-oriented school. There was a woman there that was a drama coach and she thought that I should be a performer. She pushed me into doing a play in my junior year, and I kind of liked it, and kept doing it. Then I just sort of decided that a career in athletics might be a lot shorter given injuries than a career in entertainment. I just kind of kept after it. I just really responded to it and enjoyed it.”
What is “The Bodyguard” about?
“‘The Bodyguard’ is about a pop star, played originally by Whitney Houston in the movie, who has a stalker. Her team hires a former secret service agent [Frank Farmer] and bodyguard, played by Kevin Costner in the movie, to protect her. Ultimately the two are very alpha in nature, and they butt heads and really have a difficult time getting along as this relationship moves along. ”
You play Frank Farmer — could you tell me about his character?
“Frank Farmer is a pretty simple, very focused, very dedicated individual. He’s perhaps a little bit socially challenged — he prefers to be by himself for the most part, and he’s very good at his job because of that. Bodyguards do the best when they’re unseen and unheard, sort of undetectable. He’s got a little bit of a dry sense of humor, but he’s a really simple kind of a guy, which makes him kind of difficult to bring to life on stage.”
Why should people come see “The Bodyguard”?
I think there’s a lot going on in the world today, and there’s a lot of stuff to be stressed about… oftentimes when you turn on the TV or look at your phone you’re like ‘ugh, really?’ I’d like to think that for two and a half hours you can come see our show and be entertained, and laugh, and get involved in the story, and enjoy the music and remember Whitney Houston, and all of her songs and just take some relief for a minute from all that is going on right now.”
If students or young people want to pursue a career in acting, do you have any words of wisdom for them?
“Make sure you really love it, because there’s going to be a lot of times where you’re not getting paid what you’d like and you’re not getting the jobs that you wish you would get. It’s a lot of hustle… so if you don’t really love it, and you’re not really committed to going the distance, I would say find something else to do, because you have more downtime than you do success time.”
Catch Mills playing Frank Farmer in “The Bodyguard,” coming to the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts from April 3-8. Reserve your tickets by calling 305-949-6722 or go to arshtcenter.org.
