Kenyan-Born US based actor joins Prime Time TV in US

Edi Gathegi: Kenyan-Born US based actor. (Photo: Chris Wamalwa)

By Chris Wamalwa

USA: One of America’s leading Broadcast Channels ABC recently announced the premiere dates for its midseason programming which includes a new comedy show that co-stars a Kenyan born US based Hollywood actor.

Edi Gathegi, best known as the black vampire in the first two ‘Twilight’ movies joins the cast of ‘Family Tools,’ debuting Wednesday, May 1 at 8:30 p.m.

He plays alongside Kyle Bornheimer who stars as Jack Shea, a man who returns home after a streak of bad luck and finds himself having to take over his father’s (JK Simmons] handyman hustle when Dad is diagnosed with a heart condition. As expected, things go sideways.

Mr Gathegi stars as Edi’s friend Darren, who gets sucked into Jack’s effort to maintain the family business – and also tries to keep Jack from flirting with his sister.

“My character, he’s just a wildcard,” the Kenyan-American actor tells EURweb exclusively. “Sometimes I’ll be the straight guy, like when he’s flirting with my sister – and all of a sudden I’m more uptight than I thought I would be. I think everybody has their turn to be the straight person and their turn to be the buffoon, and that’s kind of refreshing.”

Born in Nairobi and raised in Albany, California, Gathegi has a number of drama projects on his resume outside of ‘Twilight’s’ Laurent – most notably his recurring character Dr Jeffrey Cole (aka ‘Big Love’) in the Fox series  ‘House,’ his role as Cheese in the 2007 film ‘Gone Baby Gone’ and as Darwin in ‘X-Men: First Class.’

In deciding to take on his first TV role, Gathegi said, “I wanted to do a comedy. So I read a bunch of comedy scripts, and I laughed out loud at this one. …I love my character. And honestly, I was a huge fan of JK Simmons. And when he signed on to it, I had to be a part of it. I’m just so lucky that they hired me.”

(Additional contribution from MWAKILISHI News Media)