AP Breakthrough Entertainer: 'Snowfall' star Damson Idris

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Damson Idris transformed from his real life British-speaking Nigerian persona into a canny drug kingpin character with a West Coast accent on FX’s popular crime drama “Snowfall.” Idris made his presence felt as Franklin Saint, a young street-minded entrepreneur who was educated in an upper-class neighborhood, but determined to get into the drug game to take care of the people around him. “It’s the foundation of my career,” Idris said of “Snowfall,” which was co-created by John Singleton who died in 2019. I’m learning so much every day.” In preparing for “Snowfall,” Idris said his upbringing in Peckham helped him relate to the plight of Black people's struggle in South Central Los Angeles. “I didn’t know what acting was, but I was impersonating these people from Martin in ‘Bad Boys’ to whatever since I was 5 years old.” Idris, 30, is a part of a long line of British Black actors who have found success on American soil including Idris Elba, Daniel Kaluuya, David Oyelowo and John Boyega He said acting is embedded at an early age for their culture by them going to the theater when “we're babies.” “I think when we see you guys on the screen, we are instantly locked in because we feel a connection,” he said.