Carl Clemons-Hopkins wouldn’t be on HBO Max’s Hacks if it wasn’t for Barry Jenkins. In 2016, Clemons-Hopkins saw Jenkins’ Moonlight, and everything changed for the actor, who had previously been pursuing a career mainly in theater, including a run in Hamilton in Chicago.
“It was a big aha moment because that was the first time I recognized people who looked like me with stories that sounded like mine,” says Clemons-Hopkins, who uses they/them pronouns. “That was the first time I saw Black, queer representation and that character representation at that level. It truly changed my life. And changed the trajectory of my life and the trajectory of my career. I worked in theater, and I was bartending on the side and pretty content with that. But I wrote in my journal, ‘I know there will never be another Moonlight, but if there’s another opportunity like this, I want to be ready.’”
Since then, Clemons-Hopkins has slowly been adding to their résumé, scoring a small role in Jordan Peele’s upcoming remake of Candyman and landing one-off TV episodes. But last summer, while quarantining at home in Chicago, Clemons-Hopkins got a call from their agent requesting a self tape for a new TV pilot from creators Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky about an aging comedian working in Las Vegas who decides to hire a millennial comedy writer to help freshen up her stand-up. The actor quickly created a self tape with the help of a friend and was called back for a Zoom meeting with the showrunners, followed by a second callback where Clemons-Hopkins did a chemistry read with star Jean Smart.
“I was really nervous because I’m still not fully comfortable with Zoom at all,” Clemons-Hopkins remembers. “But Jean was so great, and the showrunners were so wonderful. Later, I got a phone call from Paul saying, ‘Would you like to play Marcus in the show Hacks?’ And then I realized I had to relocate and actually leave my apartment — and city and state and time zone. It became the new and challenging world of Covid production. I never really got to have the ‘Oh, you’re on a TV show’ experience. There were no parties. Our table reads were over Zoom. It was just about keeping your head down and getting your job done and trying to do it quickly. And now it’s become this thing that a lot of people are excited about, which is really great, and it balances the energy of the beginning of it.”
Clemons-Hopkins’ character Marcus was initially written as the assistant to Smart’s stand-up comic Deborah Vance but quickly evolved into the chief operating officer of her brand. He’s massively successful at his job, with strong opinions and an eye for perfection. Marcus has a hilarious relationship with his mom, although he’s had less success in his romantic life. Basically, he’s unlike anyone Clemons-Hopkins has had the opportunity to play before.
“For a long time, it was just henchmen and bodyguards,” they recount about their past roles. “Nothing against henchmen and bodyguards, but I wanted to do more than that. The fact that Marcus was an out, queer, Black character with agency, and his adjectives were not the conflict of the piece — that was the most exciting part for me. The idea of playing a character in a TV script where there’s challenges and obstacles that are not necessarily societal or life threatening was exciting for me.”
They add, “I hope it allows younger people like myself to say, ‘I have actually seen some type of representation on screen.’ It was definitely far and away from what I grew up seeing.”
The actor is also grateful that Marcus’ romantic story line — in which the character meets a hot water-maintenance worker named Wilson (Johnny Sibilly) and lures him over by running the sprinklers for too long — never needed to be defined. The characters get to be in a same-sex relationship without it being a narrative issue. It was something Clemons-Hopkins became more aware of after watching Sam Feder’s 2020 documentary Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, which discusses how representation is often overly linked with disclosing identity as part of the plot.
“It was really great to do a piece where everyone entered already accepted,” Clemons-Hopkins notes. “If you have a show filled with heterosexual people, no one has to say, ‘Hey, Mom, I’m straight,’ and there’s no plot around that. It’s just expected. So what I loved about this show, specifically with Marcus and Wilson’s relationship, was that the point was Wilson came to the door and Marcus saw him and they were attracted to each other. That’s it. Not that they had to go through any hurdles to express that attraction.”
Shooting for nearly six months in Los Angeles and Las Vegas during a pandemic was challenging, but the actor found that Smart’s presence helped keep their anxiety at bay. Clemons-Hopkins, who says they continue to learn from Smart even after wrapping the show, didn’t have much time to prepare the relationship between Marcus and Deborah. In fact, the two actors only met in person for a few minutes ahead of shooting.
“The only time we had together was a makeup screen test, and it was maybe 10 minutes,” Clemons-Hopkins laughs. “Jean, in all her wonderfulness, we get on the set, and she starts asking me a question about the episodes. Like ‘What do you feel about this?’ We were just having a conversation about it, and from that instant we were just in conversation. I think that, along with both of us having a theater background, really helped us fully, convincingly portray that these are two people who have been in each other’s lives for years and years. Their rapport is a years and years and years rapport.”
They add, “There’s such an ease and a graciousness and a joy about her work that you don’t only admire but you want to emulate. Joy, ease, and graciousness kind of knocks anxiety out the window. Or at least halfway out the window.”
The final two episodes of Hacks, which air June 10, bring a lot of changes for the characters, including Marcus, who is forced to grapple with what it means to have a real relationship outside of his job.
“We’re going to see him having to confront being an active participant in his personal life,” Clemons-Hopkins teases. “There’s some major choice-making. He’s built his life and his world around this one thing, and we finally see the aspect of life he forgot to build in it. But, as with anything in life, your fulfillment is your choice. We get to see him make some choices, and we get to see how he feels about those choices. My hope is we get to see even further development of those choices in a potential second season.”
The idea of seeking out your own life fulfillment is deeply familiar to Clemons-Hopkins, who plans to continue pursuing roles that reflect real experiences and real people. The actor, who is based in Los Angeles and Chicago, is currently directing a few theater workshops but is open to any role as long as it allows them to embrace who they are. And, with season two of Hacks now confirmed, we'll hopefully get plenty more Marcus.
“I’m only here for my thing,” Clemons-Hopkins confirms. “I know the feeling of when something sparks in me. I don’t always get it, but I’m like, ‘I understand this character’ or ‘I see this character,’ then I go for that. I’m looking to do as many different things as possible.”
Emily Zemler is a freelance writer and journalist based in London. She regularly contributes to the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, PureWow and TripSavvy, and is the author of two books. Follow her on Twitter @emilyzemler.
Get Shondaland directly in your inbox: SUBSCRIBE TODAY
