AH TUMBLRCON PANEL: MICHAEL IRBY
→ THE ACTOR BEHIND RICHARD PAUL
Paul is portrayed by actor Michael Irby who sure knows how to handle a gun, as he already played many cops and also a number of baddies. He has an impressive résumé of guest appearances on popular TV shows, such as Elementary, 24, Criminal Minds, Person of Interest, Hawaii 5-0, The Mentalist, CSI, Bones, The Glades, Law and Order, NCIS: Los Angeles, Common Law, Lie to Me, and Castle. You might as well have spotted him in the movies Fast Five alongside Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, Flightplan with Jodie Foster, and Law Abiding Citizen starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler - and of course 'The Unit', a military procedural show about the life of top-secret special forces soldiers, on which he portrayed Sgt First Class Charles Grey for all 4 seasons.
Michael Irby was born November 16, 1972, in Palm Springs, California, USA. His father is African-American and his mother is from Mexico. He has two brothers and is the middle kid of the family.
Irby has a passion for writing poetry, playing the guitar, and cooking. He's also an outstanding soccer player who used to play professionally in Europe for Team USA. Due to injury (he suffered multiple fractures of both legs in a car accident) he had to retire from his sports career. He says that the incident sent him into a self-destructive phase, and eventually he took acting classes to help him find an outlet for his anger. Encouraged by the teacher who saw his talent and told him he could probably do this for a living, he moved to New York and started to pursue acting as his new career goal. To be able to afford studying at drama school in NY, he took a side job as soccer coach.
He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife Susan Matus and their eleven-year-old son, Addison (born November 2002). Their son's godfather is actor Josh Lucas who has been close friends with Michael for over 15 years. Susan and Michael married in 2005, but they have been together for about 20 years, ever since they met at drama school in the mid-90s.
Michael Irby has several tattoos (on his forearm, back and stomach) that are all about freedom, as he says. On his back is the Native American sign (on his father’s side) of his spirit protector.
He also is a very active supporter of AIDS charities and often brings up the importance of sex education (especially on the whole topic of safe sex.)
Interviewers describing Michael Irby in their articles:
"very charming and extremely personable"
"Though he has portrayed many edgy characters, when Michael enters the room, he lights it up with his warm smile and friendly demeanor."
"Always the one others on set called 'energetic', Michael is a fast talker leaving me with the thought I should have taken shorthand in school."
"He displays an interesting mix of boyish charm and maturity."
"Talking with Michael, I realize how honest and non-defensive this man is, and what a super role model he makes as a parent."
"Michael Irby is the kind of person you get to know and want to keep in your pocket to pull out when you just need a friend to listen to your troubles."
Originally, Michael Irby auditioned for the role of the android Dorian, which eventually was given to the wonderful Michael Ealy as we know. However, the producers saw something in Irby and invited him again to read for a whole new character they were developing as an addition to the cast: Detective Richard Paul. They obviously loved what he brought to this role and hired him for it.
Michael Irby quotes on the show:
"When I first read the script it was like nothing I had done before. I’ve played plenty of cops, but never one in the future who’s surrounded by all this new technology and where police officers are paired with robots. I just knew it was going to be something special."
"Honestly, I have to tell you, when I first saw the finished pilot, I couldn’t get over what a beautiful job they did in creating this world of 2048, and it’s just very subtle things, like the modes of transportation and the way the characters deal with each other. In doing such a good job creating this world, it made the audience want more, and I think that’s what you try to do as a storyteller. You always want viewers to be fulfilled, but at the same time you want to leave them wanting more, especially with a television series. Obviously movies are different in that you have your first, second and third acts, but with television shows, the first, second and third acts could take place over several seasons, which is always the hope, right?"
"It's still a procedural show, but behind that there's these great relationships and characters that we're all gonna be able to investigate."
[Do you have any other projects coming up that we should know about?] - "No. Hopefully, Season 1, 2, 3, 4 of ALMOST HUMAN." - [Is there anything else you’d like to say about the show?] - "Keep loving, just keep taking care of each other and the human side will show. I think that’s what Joel [Wyman] is trying to do. I don’t think it’s about technology, I think it’s about actually getting back in touch and not forgetting how to hug each other, look each other in the eye."
And with this beautiful statement I will end this post, because it's such a perfect and feel-good quote! :)
PS: I gathered all of this from Irby's public interviews and decent articles across the internet. (Just wanted to mention that all personal info was openly told by himself at interviews and I didn't dig anything up from privacy-invading paparazzi rubbish or something.) Thanks for reading!
[This post is part of the RICHARD PAUL AHFANCON PANEL]
