Laz Alonso has long been one of Hollywood’s most quietly dependable leading men. He’s been our father figure on screen, a cornerstone of Black television and cinema, and the kind of actor whose presence immediately signals strength, depth, and authority.

From commanding roles in Avatar, Jumping the Broom, and Miracle at St. Anna, to his layered turn as Marvin (“Mother’s Milk”) on Prime Video's “The Boys,” Alonso has proven time and time again that he’s more than just a steady hand, but he’s the grounding force in any ensemble.

Alonso also flexed those same chops in AppleTV+’s action/thriller Fountain of Youth, where he stars as Patrick Murphy, a man tangled in a high-stakes pursuit that spans generations and secrets.

In a conversation with REVOLT, the actor spoke about playing fatherly roles in Hollywood, working with Guy Ritchie, his admiration for Giancarlo Esposito, and more.

You’ve said your favorite compliment is when people don’t recognize you in a role, but was there ever a role where you didn’t recognize yourself? A performance where even you shocked yourself with the transformation?

I have enjoyed pretty much every film that I've been able to do, even more than TV. There’s a thin line that connects all my characters, obviously, because it's still me, but I love being able to discover new ways to almost deceive the audience into seeing the character and not seeing me. That to me is when I know I did my job. If you don't see me, and if you see somebody else on that screen. Thank you for the compliment, because that tells me that I did my job well.

When I'm crafting these characters, it's hard for me to look at the character on screen because I know what it took to get there. When I see the characters on screen, I don't feel like I'm watching myself, but I do feel like I'm watching someone that I know because I lived with that character for three or four months of my life, and on TV, sometimes seven to eight to nine months of my life. That’s what it feels like when I watch characters that I transform into and become somebody else.

Guy Ritchie’s sets have a rhythm — a kind of swagger to them. Having worked with him before, did stepping onto Fountain of Youth feel like returning to something familiar, or did you have to still start from scratch when preparing?

One thousand percent. It felt like going to a Super Bowl-winning team and their star receiver went down, and they needed you to step in and start catching some bombs down the field. That's what it feels like on a Guy Ritchie set. It's a reunion. Guy has a very different approach to filmmaking from pretty much every director I've ever worked with. The script is alive. When I say that the script is alive, I mean that it's constantly evolving. What you get on that page is not what you're going to shoot. It’s going to continue to develop.

You've spoken about wanting children but being cautious due to your own father's early passing. How has this personal history influenced the father figures you've portrayed on screen, and do you see a connection between your roles and your aspirations?

It's actually pretty humbling, because I've been in this industry now for like 20-something years, and I went from being the young dude on set and learning from the OGs that I grew up watching to now being an OG on set and playing the dads. You look in the mirror, you still think you're a young guy. You show up on set, and you know an actor is asking for a picture for his mom.

In the film, Carmen (Ejogo) and I were part of John Krasinski's character’s dad's crew. I wanted to play that fatherly figure to make his character feel safe. Due to his relationship with Natalie Portman's character being so contentious, they were always kind of competing. I felt like that character would be, like, “Well, what would his dad do in that situation?” The fatherly role is what I play now, especially when I work with a lot of young actors who might show up and they're a little nervous and they're asking for advice. I tell them to relax. You're here, you're good enough. Just do exactly what you did to get this job on camera and you'll be fine. I'm still a kid, too.

Even on “The Boys,” I got to work with Giancarlo Esposito, and I learned so much from that man. I grew up watching Do The Right Thing when Giancarlo Esposito said his famous line, "Why ain't no brothers on the wall?” He’s played so many characters that I’m a fan of from that era. I'm still a little kid on sets when I see actors that I grew up idolizing.