Seth Gilliam: The Mr. Skin Interview

Why don't you give the Mr. Skin subscribers a little background info. For instance where did you study acting?
I started at the High School of Performing Arts and the SUNY Purchase Theater Training Program. That's as much acting classes as I could handle.

With Mr. Skin being interested in nudity per se-although not so much your dick as tits and pussy- give us a rundown of all the productions you've been in that featured skin.
There's a play written by Jackie Reingold called Girl Gone that I did at the Manhattan Class Company. I got naked in that. I played Sammy Chuck, New York's best fuck. I was a gigolo.

I was naked in the last movie that I did for Rebecca Miller, Arthur Miller's daughter, with Parker Posey and Kyra Sedgwick called Personal Velocity. I played the boyfriend of the wacky chick Fairuza Balk. I played her Haitian boyfriend, yeah, a little nudity for that. They had the camera above her bed and were doing a time-lapse thing to show the progression of our relationship. It starts out with her in this tiny, hot outfit and we're spooning and eventually we end up on different sides of the bed. She never got naked but she had some hot little fuckin' lingerie shit goin' on.

I was naked in Oz. I stepped out of the shower dripping wet and I challenged two large corrections officers to a fight.

Oh yeah, what happened?
I scared the shit out of them. They backed down. The scene goes something to the effect that the officers are talking "nigger this, nigger that, nigger this, nigger that," and they don't know that I'm in the shower. So I step out and say something like "If either of you have a fuckin' problem with me, step to me right now." Which is funny because I weigh about 152 pounds dripping wet. I was half the size of the woman officer, much less the guy! And they're fully clothed, and they got their billy clubs.

The woman that played the corrections officer on Oz, she looks a little like Chuck Zito doesn't she?
No, you said that not me. She's very good lookin'. She plays a tough character and busts a lot of balls.

Did anyone drop the soap in that shower scene?
I was alone in the shower.

Who did you play on The Cosby Show?
Aaron Dexter, nicknamed "The Keyman." He was the "smart" guy. Unfortunately, those roles end up being Poindexter-type cats.

Did you ever see Rudy naked?
No, I never saw Rudy naked. I saw Raven Symone naked but she was only four years old. She's hot now.

What's the first nude scene that you remember seeing in movies? Is there one? Or is there a favorite of yours that you remember seeing as you were growing up?
You know, I had the hots for Maria Conchita Alonso (Picture: 1) growing up and there's a sex scene she did with Sean Penn in Colors (Picture: 1 - 2) and she was fucking hot, man. I actually got the chance to meet her at Jimmy's Bronx Caf?ast year. Esai Morales introduced me to her. I would throw it to her.

Isn't she like 55?
Yeah, but I would throw it to her. I would tie her down. If she asked me to, I would do things to her.

Do you have favorite actresses? Let's talk two different things, are there actresses that you find attractive? Anybody that jumps into mind?
I think Thandie Newton (Picture: 1) is beautiful. She played my sister in Jefferson in Paris. She's also in Mission Impossible 2 (Picture: 1).

Of course I have to say Gwyneth Paltrow (Picture: 1). I'd like to see her do more, but I know she's into motherhood now.

As far as hot, 1 Star Page">Gina Gershon (Picture: 1) is hot. I'd pay to see anything she's in.

I mostly like older actresses. It's hard for me to say about actresses my age, because I don't want them to have an advantage over me if we happen to work together in the future and milk it for all it's fuckin' worth. You know, like "Oh this guy thinks I'm hot."

So you like older actresses? Jessica Tandy?
Not that old. Jessica Lange (Picture: 1). She's like a dream woman. Anjelica Huston (Picture: 1), I always found attractive. There's something scrappy about her that I always found hot.

You're aware that Jack Nicholson's had her?
I don't even think of Jack. Jack to me now is an old, fat man. I can't worry about who Jack fucked 25 years ago, know what I mean?

How about your favorite nude scenes?
Yeah, you know, interestingly enough, the scene with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange in The Postman Always Rings Twice (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3), on the kitchen table was fuckin' hot. One of the hottest sex scenes ever and no nudity!

What about the scene with Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High?
You know Phoebe's cute, but a little too pixie-ish. Too cute to fuck.

Did you ever get to see a fellow actress naked by mistake? Or have you ever glimpsed an actress on set in a bra and panties?
I saw Meg Ryan (Picture: 1) when we shot Courage Under Fire. Not naked, but they had given us wet suits to wear underneath our clothes because it was like 20 degrees and we had to do a changeover and I got a brief glimpse. She's hot. She's hot and she's very funny. Yeah, I saw her movies and I thought "Oh yeah, romantic comedies aren't my thing," but she's very funny.

What about Rebecca Romijn-Stamos? Did you hear she broke up with this guy?
She's available but, I mean, at what cost, man? What do you have to do to get her? They were together for years and you wouldn't want to compete with the memory.

Chelsea Clinton? Did you see her bikini shots in the tabloids?
No. Does she have a nice body?

Yes, there a bunch of shots of her in a tight, white bikini and she's running around with her boyfriend who has the same hairstyle that she does. Do you think Chelsea's an attractive woman?
Yeah, she's a fairly attractive young lady. It's got to be brutal going through that changeover in such an intense public way.

What about these Bush girls? They're hot.
Yeah, they are hot. But I prefer brunettes. What are their names?

Jenna Bush, and Bukkake Bush. I don't know their names.
Jenna Bush sounds like a porn star name. I think they're pretty, much more attractive than the Hilton sisters.

What's up with this whole Paris Hilton thing?
You know, I don't know, but I met Paris once in a nightclub and she's very sweet. Just in passing, she was very sweet and she was like that with everyone around her.

What sitcoms did you pleasure yourself to when you were growing up?
Gilligan's Island.

Ginger or Mary Ann?

Mary Fucking Ann.

Seth Gilliam, thank you very much. I'd just like you to take this opportunity plug any thing you've got brewing.
Yeah, thanks. Well, the upcoming third season of The Wire. Just finished a movie called The Great New Wonderful with Maggie Gyllenhaal (Picture: 1), Edie Falco (Picture: 1), Olympia Dukakis (Picture: 1) and Tony Shaloub. It's a New York movie with five different story lines intersecting. Other than that, I just hope to have more work in the future.

I'm sure you will!

header photos: John Johnson, La Jolla Playhouse