Kingsley Ben-Adir is playing two American icons. Back in the U.K., 'There is no work'

Once Kingsley Ben-Adir finished filming his scenes in "The Comey Rule" - Showtime's two-parter based on former FBI Director James Comey's book "A Higher Loyalty," which premieres Sept. 27 - the classically trained, 33-year-old actor flew back to New Orleans to resume filming "One Night in Miami." Directed by Regina King, the Amazon acquisition (premiering Sept. 7 at the Venice Film Festival) imagines private and still-too-timely conversations among newly crowned boxing champ Cassius Clay, singer Sam Cooke, football star Jim Brown and activist Malcolm X - the latter also portrayed with care by Ben-Adir.

"I knew it was only going to be seven weeks of no sleep," he said of the combined preparation time and overlapping shoots. "As soon as I'm thinking about a character, you get an adrenaline rush from just constantly inquiring and investigating. Your mind is so active, so there's no rest anyway, you know?"

Ben-Adir - who also appears in AMC's sci-fi anthology "Soulmates," premiering Oct. 5 - spoke with The Times from London about portraying President Barack Obama and Malcolm X concurrently, playing American icons as a Black British actor and lamenting