LOS ANGELES: It is not easy singing opposite television’s most musical family, but that is the task Forest Whitaker has taken on as a new member of the “Empire” cast.
Fans have known since July that the Oscar-winner would be joining season four of the Fox drama about family feuds inside a musical dynasty, but the company confirmed for the first time on Tuesday that he would be channeling his inner tenor.
The 56-year-old Hollywood legend will appear in a multi-episode arc as Uncle Eddie, a music icon who gave main character Lucious his first radio airplay.
“We knew that he was very musical and we asked him whether he wanted to sing on the show,” executive producer Ilene Chaiken told the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills.
If any actor has the pedigree, it ought to be Whitaker, who has been belting out tunes since getting into California Polytechnic State University on a football scholarship and changing to music after injuring his back.
He toured England with the Cal Poly Chamber Singers in 1980 and studied opera at the University of Southern California’s music conservatory.
Whitaker also held his own alongside established musical stars Mary J. Blige, Angela Bassett and Jennifer Hudson in “Black Nativity” (2013).
“We let him guide us. He was really excited about singing. He is playing a musician, a producer, somebody who is integrally involved in the music in the world of the show,” Chaiken added.
Broadcast television’s number one program hit a high of almost 18 million viewers in its season one finale in 2015 but has been struggling to recapture its mojo, with audiences dropping to 10 million.
“Empire” returns for a fourth season on Wednesday, September 27 at 8:00 p.m. — an hour earlier than in season three — with Lucious making his first public appearance after being injured in an explosion.
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