Jimmi Gathu: Chocolate Empire Star Opens up on His Most Demanding Emotional Role

• Jimmi Gathu is one of the antagonists in Chocolate Empire, and in an exclusive interview with TUKO.co.ke, he opened up about his role
• The talented actor plays JB Mauzo, a once-powerful businessman freshly released from prison
• The actor has described the role as one of the most challenging ones in his career which has spanned over several decades

Chocolate Empire actor Jimmi Gathu has gotten candid about his role as JB Mauzo in the series.

What is Jimmi Gathu's role in Chocolate Empire?

Real-life experiences from ex-convicts influence the portrayal of JB Mauzo’s reintegration into society.

The actor revealed how he prepared for the role, stating that he resonated with the aspect of ex-cons trying to reintegrate into the community.

He also learned how they stay safe and find good friends to help with the business.

"With the expert artistic direction from Grace & Phil, I was able to research on specifics from people I know who are ex convicts trying to pick up from where they left off in terms of being accepted back into the business community, assessing the kind of businesses that are high risk and huge profits and the protection one needs in order to open and conduct such a business and find the right clientele"

In the film, his character runs an esc*rt business, and Gathu states that he watched many mafia movies to learn their behaviour.

He also thought about times in his own life when he had to make tricky choices, but made sure those choices didn’t hurt his family.

"I watched a lot of movie scenes that had such situations, mostly mafia-type ones like the movie Gotti. With that, I did my own prepping imagining how I would react in such a situation. Of course I have experienced such in my personal life where marital rules are guided by clear cut communication against my own choices that I felt were risky but to no detriment to my family," he shared.

Gathu credited the emotional connections his character built in Chocolate Empire to his directors Philippe Bresson and Grace Kahaki.

"Now that's where the two erstwhile directors played a huge role in achieving this. I'm ordinarily an instant smile kinda guy whose flaw is being such a good and trusting guy. It took quite a number of takes and tough rehearsals for me to get this right," he said.

Gathu said working on The Chocolate Empire was special because it used everything he’s learned over many years of acting.

He had to understand new feelings for this character that were different from those he had played before. He also watched a lot of great actors to learn from them.

"Delivering my character on Chocolate Empire was a culmination of years of practice, understanding character's emotional requirements that are different from the previous and lots of watching powerful actors both local and international. Chocolate Empire's tone is a mix of raw urban living that is it's what goes on in real life Kenya," he said.

What was Jimmi Gathu's painful lesson?

In other news, he narrated painful lessons he learnt after job loss.

He recalled asking a friend for KSh 1,000, and the friend told everyone he was begging.

Gathu learnt that phones stop ringing once you are out of work.

Proofreading by Asher Omondi, copy editor at TUKO.co.ke.

Source: TUKO.co.ke