As dark as life gets for Robbie, he’s also a remarkably upbeat character. Is that an interesting duality to play?
I think Robbie’s very positive. In a sense, in and of himself, he’s a very light character. I just think he’s in very dark circumstances. Obviously with Robbie, he’s someone who’s coming from a place of loss and now existing in a place of survival in a lot of ways — back up against the wall, I have people I need to take care of and I’m gonna do what I need to do to get that done . . . Can I [as Tom] understand that? I can, and then you’re just trying to bring the truth of that in yourself into the character. I guess that’s our job in a nutshell, is just to bring enough truth from yourself that you can make it come to life. And I felt like I understood Robbie pretty well.
Robbie’s story is also splayed across his body, with his tattoos. Can you talk about that aspect of character-building?
My favourite was the one that I put on my neck. That’s an exact replica of an Allen Iverson tattoo. Allen Iverson’s a famous basketball player in Philadelphia, and I loved Allen Iverson. I wanted Allen Iverson to be part of Robbie somehow. So I studied all of his tattoos, and I was trying to think of what I could get away with, what would work for both of us. He had that great Chinese symbol on his neck — and it stands for loyalty. So I put that same tattoo in that same spot for Robbie.
The show’s creator, Brad Ingelsby, is widely beloved for Mare of Easttown. What exactly stands out about his writing?
I just got to hear Brad talk about that yesterday. He was saying that he’ll start with the character, always — and that’s very different than how most writers operate, as far as I understand. Brad’s just daydreaming characters he wants to spend time with and then reverse-engineering a plot to put them in where he can extract the value that drew him to the character in the first place . . . He never sacrifices the characters for the plot, ever — and that happens more often than you’d like [in other shows].
We all obviously want success as soon as possible in life. But is there something to be said for getting the opportunity you’re getting now, at this age — having lived the life and had the career that you’ve had?
Yes, I am very grateful to be able to be in this position now and not sooner. You know, I think that especially with what we do as actors, there’s part of your growth in your work that is tied to your growth as a human being. And I feel like I had a lot of learning and growing to do. There are parts of the job now that I feel I understand in a way that I didn’t even 10 years ago, and there are ways in which I can show up now and be present that maybe I couldn’t have done when I was younger.
I would’ve loved the opportunity at 19. My 19-year-old self would be sitting next to me saying, “What are you talking about? We would’ve been great!” [Laughs] And maybe, in the right situation, it would’ve been. But there’s something about going through ups and downs and appreciating things and understanding the things that you can control — and I certainly take those seriously and work very hard — but there are other things you can’t control. So to come to this now, I come with a real sense of appreciation, a real sense of gratitude — understanding what this is and enjoying it.
The season finale of Task airs Sunday, October 19 on HBO Canada
MEMORABLE ROLES:
Tom Pelphrey got his start via an Emmy-winning run on soap opera Guiding Light, playing volatile bad boy Jonathan Randall. He’s since gone on to feature prominently in Banshee as reformed neo-Nazi turned deputy Kurt Bunker; in Ozark as Wendy’s wild-card brother Ben; and true-crime miniseries Love & Death as eccentrically brilliant Texas defense attorney Don Crowder.
CURRENT GIG:
In his most high-profile role to date, the New Jersey native plays Robbie, a blue-collar Pennsylvania family man who moonlights as the leader of a heist crew ripping off drug dealers. After his latest job goes south, Robbie finds himself on the run from both a vicious biker gang and a task force led by a troubled FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo).