Taylor co-stars as psychopathic killer-for-hire Frank Hooper, opposite Giovanni Ribisi, in Amazon’s popular series Sneaky Pete, which premiered on Friday, March 9. “It was a fantastic experience. I worked with Graham Yost, Michael Dinner and Fred Golan, so it was really nice to get back to work with those guys,” he said. “We’ve been getting pretty good feedback. I think people are really enjoying it since it is reflective of their lives.”
Taylor previously worked with executive producers Graham Yost, Michael Dinner and Fred Golan on Justified, where he played corrupt sheriff Doyle Bennett in 11 episodes along with Margo Martindale and Jeremy Davies.
Throughout his career in acting, Taylor has worked with directors Christopher Nolan, Martin McDonagh, Spike Lee, Woody Allen, Jon Avnet and Sydney Lumet. A veteran character actor of film and stage, Taylor starred in the Tony award-winning Sidemen with Edie Falco, which was written by Warren Leight.
His television credits include The Last Tycoon, Law and Order: SVU, Masters of Sex, House, CSI, and Dexter, among others. His film credits include The Dark Knight Rises, Seven Psychopaths, Sweet Virginia, Cafe Society, Anything Else, Bamboozled, among others.
He listed Academy Award winner and veteran actor Al Pacino as his dream acting partner.
For aspiring actors, Taylor said, “Learn your craft, and work hard. It’s a tough business.” Each day, Taylor is motivated by “digging into a character.” “The promise of work motivates me,” he explained.
Taylor also wrote, directed, produced and starred in “The Glamour of It All,” a short comedy about auditioning in Hollywood, California. He is in rewrites with Bobby Moresco on his feature-length screenplay Paco and James, and just completed Ascension, a television pilot script. “I am working on a couple of screenplays,” he admitted.
For the fans of Sneaky Pete on Amazon, he said, “Thank you all for watching and thank you for supporting. I hope you enjoy this season.”
Digital transformation of entertainment
On the impact of technology on the entertainment business, he said, “Technology opens up a whole new world for music. I play guitar and I write songs, and I have songs up on Soundcloud. I don’t pursue it as a career, but I do it for fun. The playing field is wide open now. These musicians have a hard time making money, because everything is taken and streamed. I don’t know what is going to become of the music industry. You will have to tour to earn money. The market is flooded with a bunch of songs that are not good, but occasionally a really good song goes viral, and that’s a great thing.”
For more information on actor Joseph Lyle Taylor, follow him on Twitter.
