Morris Chestnut, star of Fox’s new series “Rosewood,” has earned his reputation as a ladies’ man.
When asked in a radio interview to rate the kissing skills of her co-stars, Vivica A. Fox — who worked with Chestnut in “Two Can Play That Game” (2001) — named Chestnut the best among the quartet of Boris Kodjoe, Will Smith and Larenz Tate.
And when director Malcolm D. Lee was preparing to make “The Best Man’s Holiday,” the second installment in the popular “Best Man” movie franchise, he asked Chestnut if he could get his body to look like a “V” for a scene in which he wears only a towel.
Sitting in a conference room at Fox, Chestnut, 46, laughs uproariously when asked to describe exactly what the “V” is. “It’s kind of like the groin area. It’s like an arrow, a V that leads down from the stomach,” he says. “It’s sexy for women to see the V on a guy. So [Lee] asked if I could get that. That’s a very true story.”
When Taraji P. Henson was asked — at an “Empire” Season 2 premiere party — to describe the secret of Chestnut’s sex appeal, she took 10 seconds to think it over: “He’s Dark Gable. He’s got it all.”
Chestnut is bringing his proven charisma to a wider audience on the medical procedural “Rosewood” (premiering Wednesday at 8 p.m.), where he plays pathologist Beaumont Rosewood, a Miami dandy who drives a canary yellow 1969 GTO convertible, rocks a raspberry T-shirt and has a high-tech lab that allows him to stay several steps ahead of the local police. In the first episode, he teams up with sardonic, sexy detective Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz) to solve complicated crimes. Think “Moonlighting” with forensics — and flavor.
“I call Jaina the secret weapon superstar,” Chestnut says. His co-stars include the formidable Lorraine Toussaint, who scared people half to death on “Orange Is the New Black” but here puts on lipstick and a smile to play Rosewood’s mother, Donna.
Chestnut has done guest stints on TV shows before — including “American Horror Story” and “Nurse Jackie” — but “Rosewood” is his first series. Why does he want to work so hard? “I’m not going to complain about that,” he says, laughing.
On the show, for all of his seemingly gleaming robust health, Rosewood has a disturbing medical history: two strokes, suffered at ages 11 and 21. “He could leave this Earth at any point in time,” Chestnut says. “He lives every day like it’s his last. And that’s what I like about him.”
He’s Dark Gable. He’s got it all.
- Taraji P. Henson on Morris Chestnut's appeal
Fox has given “Rosewood” excellent company — the timeslot directly preceding the network’s biggest hit, “Empire.” Henson is not the only star from that show with whom Chestnut has worked. He also appeared in several films with Terrence Howard, notably “The Best Man” franchise. Howard says that, as a young actor, he looked up to Chestnut. “When I started out, I couldn’t get a job because all the jobs went to him,” he says. “I learned so much from his strength. He’s every black woman’s dream.”
It comes as somewhat of a relief to learn that in contrast to his big-screen persona, Chestnut is seriously grounded. He’s been married to Pam Byse for 20 years and they have two children: a boy who just went off to college and a girl who’s a high school senior. His co-stars may know the secret of his sex appeal, but Chestnut knows what makes his marriage — and life — work.
“I met my wife when I was in my early 20s. We’ve been very fortunate to grow together instead of growing apart,” he says. “Part of it is luck. Part of it is that we respect each other.”