‘The Brave’: Exclusive Interview with Demetrius Grosse who plays ‘Preach’

The Brave returns tonight for episode 2 on NBC and I had the pleasure of interviewing one of its stars, Demetrius Grosse, who plays Ezekiel “Preach” Carter, a member of the The Brave‘s elite tactical team.

Based on last week’s pilot episode, I think it is safe to say that viewers can look forward to high adrenaline action and cutting edge technology each week. The Brave demonstrates teamwork at its best with each member having to put complete trust in one another for a mission to succeed.

This includes that part of the team that is often thousands of miles away in the command center. Whether it’s highly skilled analysts feeding the ground team intel, or soldiers relying on one another’s carefully timed moves, precision and confidence are key.

But let’s go straight to the source and get the scoop from one of The Brave themselves, “Preach” actor, Dememtrius Gross. Demetrius has a prolific resume of characters that he has portrayed. You will probably recognize him from his roles on several different fan favorites like Justified, Westworld, Banshee and more.

I wanted to find out more about Demetrius Grosse’s character’s nickname, what viewers can expect from The Brave, and some interesting intel about Demetrius himself. Let’s find out what he had to say!

What can you tell us about the origins of your character’s nickname “Preach”? Or do we just have to wait and see?

“It’s a nickname he inherited growing up in Long Beach California because he has always been the proletariat of his peers and he’s literally the son of a preacher-man.”

Your character’s given name is Ezekiel Carter. I have a son named Carter. After watching The Brave, will I be proud that my son shares a name with your character?

“Absolutely! Some of the greatest of our contemporaries have the name ‘Carter’: Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter, Dwayne ‘Lil Wayne’ Carter,  former president Jimmy Carter, and even Carter G. Woodson, who is the father of Black History Month.

I think the writers chose the name Carter because it has a good vibe and has dual-syllabic ring to it. Blessings to your family and son Carter. I’m sure he’ll be a great one.”

What do you hope the viewers gain from watching The Brave?

“Honestly I’m happy if every time someone tunes in on their phone or online on the computer, or in the rare instances they get to watch it on a television screen, that they are entertained first, and come away from the show having had a good time while having a deeper appreciation for the service men and women who do this stuff for real.

I also hope the show inspires people to be brave in their own lives. Even more, I hope that our show helps to tear down the barriers of stereotype, prejudice and racism in and outside of the military and that we all realize that we all depend on each other regardless of the superficial things that are often fabricated to categorize us.”

Should fans expect non-stop tension in each episode or will we find lighter moments as well?

“Sure, all work and no play makes any team very dull. So yes, when we’re on a mission and things are going down-to-the-wire you can best-believe that the tension never let’s up. The pace is exhilarating.” 

I understand ‘Preach’ is a “Communications and Technology Expert”. How tech savvy are you in real life, Demetrius?

“Well Jean and GB sacrificed a lot so I could earn a degree from arguably one of the top two Tech schools in the country  in Carnegie Mellon University. I remember doing a lot of my student jobs in the robotics Institute building and in the Cyert center.

I can remember working on doing simple coding at like 11:30 at night just to make $8.15 an hour and being fascinated how I could turn  words and alphabetical and numerical symbols into actual graphics.

So technology and robotics have been an interest since varsity. But if you ask me how to operate the expert settings on my laptop or the finer workings of social media on my cell phone, I’m a little challenged at times.”

What did young Demetrius want to be when he grew up? Anything like any of the occupations of your characters past and present?

“Growing up I never really focused on a particular occupation, but I wanted to be conscientious of culture, a survivor and self-sufficient.

When I was growing up, I enjoyed healing and caring for animals so then people told me I should be a veterinarian. So eventually I started studying things in that realm and worked at a few kennels.

Anyone who knows me will tell you, I was a late bloomer, but ultimately I was pretty athletic, so I started playing sports like soccer and basketball and I thought I wanted to be a basketball player and be like Mike [Jordan], like a bunch of other kids that grew up in my era.

I liked doing voices and shape-shifting situations and making people feel good through stories and making them laugh, so people said I should be an actor. So I thought I wanted to be an actor and did over twenty plays.

I was a “shop boy” at Eagle barber shop in DC on Georgia Avenue and I was pretty savvy with the clippers. So I started cutting hair and people said I was pretty good. So when I went out to LA I started cutting at Legends on Fairfax.

But the first thing I can ever remember really wanting to be was a Ninja and that was apparent in all of my costumes for Halloween up until about age 13. And, in a very cool way I get to play a guy whose lifestyle and dynamics with his teammates share a lot of the same elements that those Shinobi dudes embodied way back in the day in feudal Japan while I’m on a show called The Brave through a moniker we’ll call ‘Preach’.” 

Wow, that certainly brings things full circle! Demetrius is such a fascinating and talented gentleman. He is certainly someone I would want on my team any time. And I am so very grateful to Demetrius for taking the time to share with the readers here at So Many Shows.

Please join me as I look forward to a very intriguing season of The Brave. And now we know that Preach’s soccer skills are legit from Demetrius! Tune in every Monday at 10/9 central on NBC to find out all that “Preach” will be up to this season.