“At that point, you can’t speak anything. It’s pure joy in your body,” Isaiah recalled. “I remember pushing the chair out and just jumping up and down.” However, although he was a Lakers fan before, he had been a Shaquille O’Neal man. “I was a Shaq fan, so naturally I loved the Lakers,” Isaiah said in another interview. “I always thought my dream role was Shaq, but I ended up playing Magic—I was like, ‘This might be a better role!’” When they were casting for Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, the HBO series based on the book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, producers knew they had a challenge. They had to find tall guys who could play some ball–and capture their personalities too. “The casting gods smiled down on us,” says executive producer Rodney Barnes. “Quincy is from Michigan, so there’s already this understanding of who Magic is as a person. And he is a big personality—he looks like Magic and has that million-dollar smile.” And Isaiah is working with some heavy hitters in his first major role: Adam McKay (Anchorman, Vice, Don’t Look Up) is directing, Oscar nominee John C. Reilly is playing Lakers owner Jerry Buss, Oscar winner Sally Field is playing Buss’ mother and Oscar winner Adrien Brody is playing coach Pat Riley. Isaiah admits that was intimidating at first. “That is difficult as a newer actor being in that space, to be Magic Johnson, and bring that level of charisma and confidence. I like to think I held my own.” He says everyone was supportive, though. “Knowing that the people around you are setting you up for success is what I really leaned on, which helped me feel more comfortable as days went by. “ He made an impression on co-stars too. “My life has changed because of Quincy,” says Solomon Hughes, who plays Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (and is also in his first major role). “I can’t imagine having to embark on this journey without him. He breathes life into the room.” Read on to find out more about Winning Time star Quincy Isaiah, what he thought about playing Magic, what he thinks about his new fame and what else we might expect from his upcoming career.
How old is Quincy Isaiah?
As of Winning Time’s March 2022 premiere, Isaiah is 26, six years older than when Johnson was hired by the Lakers in 1979. Because of how young he is, he didn’t remember Johnson’s heyday. “I knew he was great but I didn’t see; I didn’t go back in until I booked this role, really saw and dug into his archive of how great he was.” Isaiah relied on his parents and production to give him an idea of what Johnson meant at the time. “Yeah, my mom, she was born during that time, so I asked a little bit to her,” he said. He also got help on set. “I would say the production really did a great job of helping me understand what it was like. And obviously, with the research and everything else, that made it easier, but actually stepping into the production, [did a] really good job of helping feel the period, whether it was the clothes, the hair, music. I [also] watched movies, documentaries.”
What did Quincy Isaiah do before playing Magic Johnson?
Isaiah graduated from Kalamazoo College in 2017, and went on over 200 auditions before scoring the Johnson role. His only other acting credit is for a short film he did in 2018.
Can Quincy Isaiah play basketball?
“First thing I ever wanted to do was play basketball,” Isaiah says. “I wanted to be in the NBA, like growing up. And then my mom was like ‘You got to go to school. You got to pick something realistic,’ so I chose to be an actor.” So does he still play ball? Not so much. “I stopped playing basketball after my sixth grade year,” Isaiah will tell you. Don’t worry, he looks authentic in the show. “We can’t give away all the tricks but we are going to make it look good,” he says. Also, don’t challenge him to any basketball if you see him. “I just want to say this — this is TV,” he’s said. “I don’t want anyone to come up to me challenging me to a game of one-on-one.”
Who is Quincy Isaiah playing on Winning Time?
Isaiah will play Johnson just as his career takes off, before he became the player–and icon–he would become. “It’s tough, I’m not going to lie,” Isaiah said. “You’re playing someone who is beloved, a hero. It’s tough to see that the people you look up to are human. But it’s also helpful. It shows that they’re not that different from you. You can mess up, make mistakes and still come out on top.” He managed to have fun with the part, too. “I get to have fun with it, because I know what he becomes,” he said in an interview with BlackTree TV. He said he got to figure out “what it was that…[made him] choose to be an icon….you don’t just become an icon, you choose that.” Overall, he thinks everyone’s respect and adoration for all the characters will come out in the show. “You don’t do a show like this without a deep admiration and love for what they did and who they are. I just hope the people see that—that these people are human but also extraordinary.”
Did Quincy Isaiah meet Magic Johnson?
While he hails from Michigan like Magic does, he still hadn’t met the b-ball legend for real as of Winning Time’s debut. He explained in a recent interview, “Well, I did not speak with him, but of course, Magic is an icon, and being from Michigan, it definitely factored into me knowing who he was and hearing these stories about who he was in college and knowing somebody who knew somebody that knew him. It was always like six degrees of separation.”
What movie will Quincy Isaiah be in next?
Once the show airs, Isaiah might be turning down more work than he accepts. But right now, it’s not clear where he’ll land next on film. So how does he feel about all these changes happening to him? Excited. “The outpouring of support and just excitement and everybody wanting to do a watch party, and… it felt like, I don’t know. It felt like, I did it for me and my family, but also I did it for my community and the younger people that didn’t know that this was something that people could achieve where I’m from, especially where it is outside of sports; this is art.” He’s happy that he can share what he’s learned on the film with others. “Just being able to do something in this lane and then come back and tell them like, I’m an actor, but there are so many other positions behind the camera, that we just don’t know exist, you know. Hair, makeup, costume, gaffes. You know it is so much and I just I really appreciate the fact that the position that I’m in; I don’t take it lightly.”
Is there a trailer for Winning Time?
Yes. The spirited trailer features all the glitz and glamour one would expect of the Lakers during their “Showtime” era in the early 1980s.
How can you watch Winning Time?
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty, premieres Sunday, March 6 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max. Next, How Space Jam Star LeBron James Became a Basketball-Playing Billionaire
