Ser’Darius Blain Was Sure a Director Hated Him—Then They Cast Him on ‘The Big Leap’

Ser’Darius Blain had aspirations to become a doctor. That is, until he competed in a talent and acting competition and changed course. Soon after moving to Los Angeles, Blain booked a role in the 2011 remake of “Footloose” and in the following decade, he appeared in the “Jumanji” franchise and on the “Charmed” reboot. Blain is now a regular on another series, Fox’s “The Big Leap” (premiering Sept. 20), on which he plays Reggie, a former NFL player-turned-dance show contestant.

What was the moment you decided you wanted to be an actor?
I’ve always secretly loved [acting] from watching “Hook,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and memorizing those movies word-for-word. I was secretly like, Man, I wish I could do that. But I was so damn shy that I never told my mom. I never told anyone what I was truly dreaming about. I knew I was good at school, so I just stuck to that. My mom’s American, but my dad’s family is all from the Caribbean. You get taught to grow up and have a good job—a doctor, lawyer, engineer, something that provides for a family. You put away childish things at a very early age. But I got to a point where I started seeing the adults around me very unhappy and miserable. I was like, I wonder why that is. I realized that the one thing all of them had in common was they had never gone for their dreams. There’s nothing wrong with that. At the end of the day, I want to really live my life. I found acting and entertainment. I step on these sets and I’m in awe. I thought I’d book an acting job or two and say I had an opportunity to act when I was younger, but now 12, 13 movies and two series in, it seems like it wasn’t a fluke. 

What advice would you give your younger self?
I would’ve told myself to start earlier. I probably would’ve also told myself to stop and smell the roses. I came into acting and entertainment with the mindset of trying to get everything right, so I never really lived in the moment. I did six or seven movies before I ever started taking pictures and trying to commemorate certain memories. 

How did you first get your SAG-AFTRA card?
“Footloose,” baby! My first movie. I booked a feature film before I ever even booked a commercial, which is kind of backward. I moved to Los Angeles in April 2010 and I booked “Footloose” in June and hit the ground running from there. 

Was there a learning curve adapting from film sets to a commercial or TV set?
I’m adapting even now. I’ve mostly done film in my career. I love the form of beginning, middle, end that film offers. I know exactly where my character’s going; I know where they’re starting. I think it’s a little bit easier to build that picture. With TV, it’s a little bit open-ended. You have to be really flexible and ready for your character to change between now and lunchtime. That becomes fun, trying to find the commonality as those changes are being presented to you, to find the constants of your character while also being fluid and flexible. I was never really good at booking commercials. I would book one every year. But [having] one line or no lines was really tough for me to be able to tell a story. How do you find an arc in a 30-second or minute-long commercial? Film and TV present two completely different challenges. In TV, you’re working with a different director every week and you have to know your character better than anyone else on set, especially when you’re part of a big ensemble. You’re self-governing at that point. You have to lean on your training and know what you want to do when you get in there, but be ready for it to change. 

What is your worst audition horror story?
Jason Winer was the director of the first pilot I ever tested for back in 2011. When I came back from filming “Footloose,” I auditioned for this show called “Don’t Trust The B---- in Apartment 23” and Jason Winer was the director. It was down to me and Eric Andre, who is now a superstar. I remember being in this audition on the Fox lot and this little short director with this kind of squeaky voice was barking all these commands at me while I’m auditioning for this show. I was like, Is this guy trying to throw me off my game? I found out on my birthday that I didn’t get it. I was gutted. I actually skipped my own birthday party. I found a bottle of vanilla vodka somewhere that a friend had given me. My friends came and found me and dragged me to my birthday party three hours late. 

Throughout the years, I continued to audition for Jason and never got the roles; [for] “Modern Family” at one point, “New Girl,” all these different shows. I was like, Man, this guy hates me. I had it stuck in my head that he hated me. When I got this final audition [for “The Big Leap”], I saw it said Jason Winer and I thought, Oh, my God, I’m not getting this one. Obviously, I booked it. We were having dinner one night and I told Jason, “I thought you hated me.” He was like, “I don’t hate you, but you weren’t right. As soon as you walked in for this one, I thought, He’s perfect for this one.” Now, he’s one of my favorite directors I’ve ever worked with. I realize now I wasn’t prepared. I wasn’t ready for what he was asking me to do back then. It’s funny how we live in our own heads sometimes and become our own worst enemies and don’t realize there are great things on hold for us. 

What has playing Reggie on “The Big Leap” added to your acting skills?
We have a really dope creative team: Jason Winer, Liz Heldens, Sue Naegle, all these really great producers and writers that have had long track records with really great shows under their belts, from “Modern Family” to “Friday Night Lights” to “The Passage.” The show’s tone is so different from anything that I’ve done before because it has equal parts drama and comedy. It’s actually quite hilarious. I feel like the show gets funnier every week, but it’s still grounded in this really cool dramatic realness. I have some really cool scene partners in Anna Grace Barlow and Simone Recasner and Scott Foley. Everybody’s really prepared for the comedic sides. And the show moves, the pacing is a little bit faster than I’d originally read it on the page. It’s been fun playing with the comedy and finding the truth in the comedy and grounding it with drama as well. This has definitely stretched me in ways that I didn’t expect, especially when you’re talking about the dancing. I’ve been doing ballet! I go from playing football in this show to doing some really intense ballet and ballroom.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever done to get a role?
I was up for this boxing movie last year and it was down to me and one other person. I actually moved a personal trainer and nutritionist into my house and converted my son’s room into a guest room. I hired a boxing coach as well, and I was paying an exorbitant amount of money for a job I didn’t even have for three months straight while I auditioned for this thing weekly. It ended up costing me thousands and thousands of dollars. “The Big Leap” ended up coming back so I wasn’t even eligible to play the role anymore, and I broke my wrist in the process. I’m still rehabbing my wrist right now. I don’t regret it at all. 

What performance should every actor see and why?
“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” Leonardo DiCaprio. That entire cast. That’s one of my favorite movies ever. The entire series of “Game of Thrones” is a lesson in the power of stillness. Everybody has such an incredible presence on that show.