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Michael Ealy starred in the film ‘For Colored Girls’ more than a decade ago, and yet it continues to be the “most difficult” role of his career. Speaking to entertainment outletSpringHill, Ealy recently opened up about the lasting impact of his Beau Willie character.
If you’ve never seen the Tyler Perry film, here’s a spoiler refresher. Beau was the boyfriend of the character Crystal Wallace, who actress Kimberly Elise portrayed. During the two-hour-long film, Beau kills his and Crystal’s two young kids by dropping them out of their highrise apartment window. Up until the double homicide, Beau seemed to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and physically abused Crystal. Moments before killing the children, Crystal had declined Beau’s marriage proposal.
The host of the ‘SpringHill’ interview brought up the “most difficult” role topic with a question. Ealy wasted no time name-dropping his ‘For Colored Girls’ role. The actor said Beau still sticks with him “to this day,” despite the film’s release year being 2010.
“People still hold it against me, personally, which is not something you expect as an actor when you first start out. You feel like people can distinguish you versus your character. People see pictures of me and my kids and be like, ‘Girl get them kids away from him.'”
Michael Ealy labeled the phenomenon “nuts” but said he also kind of takes it as a compliment to his acting skills. “To a certain extent, from an artistic standpoint, that’s a compliment…,” the actor said, adding, “Either that or they just think I’m freaking crazy,” when the host suggested he’s good at his job.
“Certain roles just stick to people. I’m still getting called Ricky from ‘Barbershop’, and that was over 20 years ago,” he said.
As he mentioned, Michael is a dad in real life to two children with his wife, Khatira Rafiqzada. They welcomed their first child, a son named Elijah Rakim, in September 2013 and their second child, a daughter named Harlem Quest, in April 2016.
According to PEOPLE, Michael and Khatira went out on their first date three days after meeting, and their outing lasted over 12 hours from morning until about 2 a.m. The couple tied the knot on Oct. 20, 2012, and continue celebrating their first date anniversary every year on Feb. 16.
