photo by steed media service

Story by Kenya M. Yarbrough & Todd Williams
Images by Hiltron Bailey for Steed Media Service

The entire world loves a clown, but what happens when someone you're accustomed to laughing at asks to be taken seriously? That's a tricky question in Hollywood, where pigeonholing and typecasting run rampant. But nothing is impossible, especially for the remarkably talented. Actress Aisha Tyler made a name for herself as the hilariously silly host of E! Television's "Talk Soup," and turned heads weekly during the ninth season of "Friends," as the love interest of Ross, David Schwimmer's lovelorn neurotic. But, beginning with 2004's intense Never Die Alone, Tyler began shifting away from her comedic roots and stretching her dramatic muscle. After memorable stints on ABC-TV's hit drama "24," audiences should now be more accustomed to Tyler's more straight-faced fare. Her latest flick, Death Sentence, pairs the mahogany beauty with box-office vet Kevin Bacon in a gripping thriller about loss and revenge. In the film, Tyler plays homicide detective Wallis to Bacon's Nick Hume, a father who is consumed by vengeance and finds himself tangled in a web of revenge. The film, based on the novel by "Death Wish" author Brian Garfield, reshapes the revenge genre theme while Tyler and Bacon reshape their film careers.

"It's an opportunity to show people that I have a diverse skill set," she says. "It's great for me to show my ability and to stretch myself [because it's] important not to get typecast."

A wise man once said, "Tragedy equals comedy minus timing," so admittedly, the film came easy to Tyler.

"I love doing dramatic work," she says. "It's easier than comedy. There is a math to comedy. Drama is much more organic and interior."

Tyler isn't the first former comedian to make the leap to hard-hitting drama, two-time Oscar® winner Tom Hanks cut his teeth on the silly sitcom "Bosom Buddies" in the early '80s; and before he won his own Little Gold Man as the legendary Ray Charles, actor Jamie Foxx was a standup comedian and a cast member of the sketch comedy show "In Living Color."

"That's the kind of progress that I'd like to follow," continues Tyler. "The best model for your career is to stretch and not to get comfortable, but to push yourself to grow."

Her co-star Bacon knows a thing or two about growth. The '80s classic Footloose made him a hit with the "Tiger Beat" set, but he progressed as an actor, starring in A Few Good Men alongside Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, and Sleepers with Brad Pitt and Robert De Niro. The star's recent work has been even heavier, including such work as Mystic River and The Woodsman. Still searching for new experiences after a 30-year career, Bacon was anxious to try his hand at action.

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