Like many people, I’ll bet you, dear reader, grew up with a few people who ended up being in the public eye, either as a celebrity or just someone who got their ’15 minutes of fame’. As for me, one of my closest friends when I was about 16 was Lance Reddick, who shared my love of music — he was a fellow composition student, and just as a pal through many of the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. Lance and I also ended up as fellow students years later at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, a place that both of us left before graduating back in the 80s. After that he went into acting, and I went into computers. His acting paid off big time; He starred as a regular character, Lt. Cedric Daniels, in one of the most critically acclaimed shows of all time, The Wire, which Pam and I watched regularly before we moved here (it was on HBO, and we didn’t get that after the move). Lance’s height, striking looks, and natural but intense acting style all made for a great following, and besides his roles in some movies (The Siege, Don’t Say a Word, I Dreamed of Africa) as well as either small parts or or regular roles on other TV shows (West Wing, Law and Order: SVU, CSI: Miami, Oz, Fringe and Lost), he’s now attained the status of an identifiable star. No red carpet appearances at the Emmies or Oscars that I’ve seen yet, but I’ll bet there are some.
So last week, on CNN, his face shows up in a Cadillac commercial: