Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Tribune
November 5, 2019
Omar J. Dorsey has had parts in critically acclaimed films such as “Selma,” “Django Unchained” and “The Blind Side.” The actor’s latest role is in the Harriet Tubman biopic, “Harriet,” where he plays Bigger Long, a free black man who captures runaway slaves for their white owners. Splitting his time between Los Angeles and New Orleans, the 43-year-old actor stays in touch with fans via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Q. What’s the best part of filming on location?
A. Going to different cities and countries and meeting different people. One of the trips I enjoyed the most was when I did a movie called “Cargo” in the Bahamas. I was there for a month and a half. I really became close to some of the locals. I’ve since been back about three or four times and as soon as I get off the airplane, they’re like “Omar, you’re back!” because Nassau is fairly small and everyone knows everyone.
Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?
A. It’s actually a whole country — Italy. You get everything with Italy … Venice, Milan, Rome, Florence. It’s great to visit. There’s a lot of wine places and farmland. If you’re someone who just wants to hang back and kick it, Florence is perfect for that.
Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?
A. The first trip I took as a child was to a Native American reservation in Cherokee, North Carolina. My dad used to always pack us up and we’d go to different places. The indigenous people were there and teaching us how to do crafts and they showed us how to do a totem pole and all of these different things. It’s just really seared into my head, because we didn’t really fly when I was a kid. My kids fly everywhere in the world. But we never did that.
Q. What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from your travels?
A. To be open. A lot of times people have a tendency to dump their own thing onto other people’s culture. That’s western civilization. You come in and you dominate. But I never want to offend anyone when I travel. I try my best to communicate with people enough in their own tongue. I’m a visitor in their homeland.
Q. If you’ve ever gone away for the holidays, which was the best trip?
A. I go away every Christmas and New Year’s. My wife and I travel with (actress) Niecy Nash and her husband. I think my favorite one may have been the London and Paris trip that we did maybe six years ago. That was a good trip. We were actually going to see a friend of ours, Colman Domingo, who was doing a play out there on the West End.
Q. What are your five favorite cities?
A. Atlanta, New Orleans, New York, Paris, Johannesburg.
Q. What city reminded you of home?
A. I try to go wherever the African diaspora is in every city. When I was in Brussels, I went to the African part of Brussels. I wanted to get some soul food, so they told me where the oxtails were. It really reminded me of the west end of Atlanta.
Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A. Certain parts of Asia. I would love to go to Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Tokyo, Philippines. I really want to get to those places in the next couple of years. I’ve done all of Europe. I’ve done a lot of Africa. I’ve done all of North America, too. South America might be nice, too.
Q. What would be your dream trip?
A. To travel throughout Africa for six months. Not just to go to Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Tanzania or anything like that. I really want to go to the motherland, and I want to experience as much as I can. Maybe for a year, just to live in all the different countries, taste all the different cuisines and talk to all the different people.
Q. What is your best and/or worst vacation memory?
A. Worst: I didn’t know it was rainy season. I went to Cancun and it was raining the entire time I was there. I don’t think I ever left my room and I think it stopped when it was time for me to go. I love the city but that was just a really bad time. Best: My European vacation. I went to Europe for about a month. I learned so much. There’s just so many different people and I made so many friends in every city that I went to. It was just tremendous.
© 2019 JAE-HA KIM
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
