Page 52 - ABILITY Magazine -Cedric Yarbrough Issue

(L-R) John Ross Bowie, Minnie Driver, Cedric Yarbrough, Marin Hinkle on the set of “Speechless”: Minnie’s character Maya delivering a “Trash or Person”? lesson upon finding out that the only wheelchair accessible ramp at the school is for hauling trash
He’s a brother now, which I’ve wanted from the very beginning. I felt like first and foremost he and I should be friends, good friends, and that would translate to the screen.
(laughter)
I went home for Thanksgiving, and I had to meet all the
He’s a spirited, funny, hard-working kid who’s not new to the business, but new to these hours. These are long hours, sometimes 12-, sometimes 16-hour days. I’m always checking in on him on how he’s doing. He’s really gung-ho. We have a lot of fun on the set.
neighbors and all the people she works with.
Martirosyan: How was your experience with the Media Access Awards?
Yarbrough: Yeah, the new family that we apparently have. But she’s proud and happy with the show. She’s of course very biased, but I’m the best one. But she loves the show. So does the family. And my family hates everything, so I’m excited they like the show, too.
Yarbrough: Oh, it was great! It was a phenomenal expe- rience. It’s so funny, because you are in a bubble of sorts working, working, working, and you don’t want to receive too many good and bad comments, because then you have to believe it all. So you try to stay in this Speechless cocoon. It was nice to meet a lot of people who enjoy the show, who are affected by it and who accept it. And also to give Scott Silveri a Media Access award, when we’ve aired six or seven episodes, is just crazy. It’s not what we’ve been going for. We’ve just been trying to make a really funny show, and for people to embrace it that way is amazing.
Martirosyan: Oh, good! What elements do you find your family pointing out most about the show, besides you?
Martirosyan: What does your mom think?
his board.
I’ m also
doing his
dia-
Yarbrough: Oh, wow! She can’t be stopped!
Martirosyan: Ten new cousins! (laughter)
Yarbrough: Besides me? I think they connect mostly with J.J. and Kenneth’s friendship. “They,” meaning not just my family. Some of the people I’ve spoken with really like seeing the adventure they go on. Even in Kenneth’s eyes, watching him do his teenage years again and how he’s also watching that process. And then they ask about my own personal process with the show, because it’s a kind of schizophrenic way of acting. I’m doing both J.J.’s line and my own lines,
since I’ m reading
logue. So a lot of times it’s just a long monologue of me speaking, if you’ve noticed. A lot of people don’t.
52 ABILITY