My first conversation with actor Carlin James was back in 2021 when he was a guest on the 71st episode of our flagship podcast Actors With Issues. His calm and easy-going demeanor made for a delightful interview where he talked about everything from growing up on the West Coast, how he tackles audition anxiety and a look back at the dozens of network series he’s worked on, everything from Criminal Minds, How To Get Away With Murder and This Is Us, to not one, not two, but THREE different NCIS series, the long-running original NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans and, at the time was his latest booking, NCIS: Hawai’i. We sat down with James just yesterday to see how things have changed for him since our last chat three years ago, when he took his career into his own hands and changed his look, and his latest role on the hit series High Potential. James’ guest starring role airs tonight at 10 pm ET on ABC.
A new medium he began working in recently was that of voiceover and animation. He’d done plenty of dubbing work for foreign films and series like Netflix’s Korean drama Mask Girl, and a multi-episode role on Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a series he was especially excited to work on as a fan of the TMNT films and series of the 80s and 90s. He revealed that, due to the secrecy behind the show, he didn’t know it was a TMNT project until he booked the job. “They gave us dummy sides with a fake title. I was scrolling through the script and saw the names Raphael and Donatello and thought, ‘Wait a minute…’ I scrolled up to the top of the script and saw the title, and said ‘Oh, shoot! This is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!’” he laughed.
Given the mature nature of the network dramas he works with, TMNT gave him the opportunity to share one of his bookings with his younger relatives. “To get to show my little nephews and nieces who are young has been so cool, it made me so happy.”
Representation has been an important aspect of James’ career, and although it’s not something he actively seeks out, he shared he is humbled and honored to be part of projects with diverse creatives and Filipino storytellers. His recent work in the short films Buzz Cut and A Sweet Tooth was centered on Filipino-American characters. “As Filipinos, we’re such a loud group with a lot to say, y’know?” he explained. “I think for us in the creative community, there’s been a little chip on our shoulder like, ‘Hey, what about us?’ We have something to say. There are a lot of Filipino creatives who now have the power to write, to direct and motivate themselves to tell their own stories.”
“There’s a lot of dealing with those emotions and the desire to be seen and heard, you know, whether it be from how we grew up, people saying we couldn’t do it, our parents saying we couldn’t do it,” he went on. “Now we can use that and I think it’s good. We need to get that out. At some point, we are being seen, and we don’t have to explain to everyone what lumpia or adobo is anymore,” he laughed. “I’m immensely grateful to be chosen to represent my culture in some aspects. When there’s not much going on and I have time, I get to meet a cool filmmaker who wants to write stories that reflect my life or culture. That always feels good.”
As mentioned, our last chat with Carlin was in 2021 as he approached the air date for his latest booking, an episode on the first season of NCIS: Hawai’i, which happens to be the last time he played a teenager. “I’m so glad I’m done doing that. I played a 16-year-old!” he laughed. “That’s where I was facing success, so my reps sent me out for those younger roles, and casting kept calling me in. But, it felt very weird for me as an adult, so that’s when I decided to shave my head.” The change in his look moved Carlin from a bright-eyed, teen/college student, to a more mature young man with a gleam in his eye.
“There were some growing pains in playing a grown-up, but I’ve been fortunate. Good Trouble was great because I got to play a social worker in his late 20s. That was a huge jump for me. And then on The Rookie, I got to play a lawyer during the season finale. With what’s this role I just did on ‘High Potential’, I get to play a grown-up again, too. It’s one of the most fun roles I’ve done.” he continued. “It’s not a super meaty role, and I knew that going into it. I’ve done many procedurals before but this show was a new type of role for me and one I’ve always wanted. I got to work with a bunch of other guest stars who were all super dope, I could really just go in and enjoy with no pressure.”
Tonight’s episode of High Potential, “Dancers in the Dark”, was directed by TV and film veteran Marc Webb, the director behind such films as 500 Days of Summer, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of Snow White. “I got to see how he conducted himself on it and could just see the passion there. You can see there’s a level of perfectionism and I just absorbed that, and me not having to worry about an over-manicured performance.”
Carlin is a huge fan of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, a show he had the chance to work on in 2019, which High Potential star Kaitlin Olson has starred in for nearly 20 years now. “Seeing how she approached the role was amazing, too. And she’s just so fucking funny. It’s not Always Sunny. She’s not cracking jokes or being overly comedic. High Potential is a procedural, but she had this way of keeping everything light-hearted and fresh.”
Looking ahead, James has his sights set on more dynamic and authoritative roles. After years of playing vulnerable characters, “who were on the verge of tears”, as he described, he’s eager to dive into something more challenging and commanding. “I’d love to do a political drama or something like Succession or Industry, which I just started watching,” he shared, citing his business background in college as being a perfect fit for those types of projects.
“I just want to keep playing, man. I know this will sound so lame but I want to just keep paying the bills with my acting,” he said with a laugh. “If I can do that and be fortunate enough to work on sets with good material and good actors, I’d be so happy.”
Carlin already has an impressive list of credits, a positive outlook on the challenges that come with the pursuit of being an actor, and already has exciting projects on the horizon, including a new series for Amazon’s Prime Video and a role he “can’t talk about just yet.” We’ll have him back on the podcast for an update once he can chat about it.
Don’t miss Carlin James in tonight’s episode of High Potential, airing at 10 pm ET / 9 pm PT on ABC, available to stream next day on Hulu.
