O-T Fagbenle Reveals The Unique Way He Prepared To Play Barack Obama

O-T Fagbenle is opening up about portraying Barack Obama in Showtime’s The First Lady.

In a new interview with The Wrap, the 41-year-old actor revealed that he had a unique way of studying the 44th President of the United States for the series.

Click inside to read more…

Turns out that O-T didn’t turn to footage of Barack, but actually turned to impersonators!

“I started listening to a lot of his impersonators, because what impersonators do is they kind of a lot of times hook on to the most idiosyncratic parts of someone’s speech patterns, someone’s idiolect, and exaggerate them and do them over and over,” he explained.

O-T added that the technique of doing so “was a useful starting point for someone who knew nothing about how to do a specific person’s idiolect.”

“I actually reached out to a couple of his impersonators who gave me some tips, and then as I became better and more accustomed to the act, I started working with actual dialect coaches and getting into the nuances of the nitty gritty.”

O-T revealed that while he was doing that, he picked up on “the pauses that Barack takes and where he takes them. The other thing is … he can go slow at the beginning and then get really fast at the end.”

“I think also his voice placement is a very particular thing. And that took a long time to try and feel comfortable within my own physiology.”

The First Lady, which premiered tonight, airs Sundays on Showtime.