Exclusive Interview with The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story’s Dale Godboldo

When Dale Godboldo was offered the chance to be a part of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, he jumped at the opportunity.

The limited series features an all-star cast, including Cuba Gooding Jr., John Travolta, David Schwimmer, Sarah Paulson, and Courtney B. Vance. It’s based on the book, The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson, and explores what went on behind the scenes of the trial.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Godboldo about what it was like for him to be a part of this project.

Godboldo said there were two main reasons he was excited to join the cast. “One, obviously, is Ryan Murphy. He has an extraordinary creative mind, and the opportunity to work with him was a no brainer,” he explained.

“The second reason I was excited to be involved with the project is I understood that the project would explore race relations in America today through the lens of the O.J. trial. It was an incredible opportunity to be a part of the conversation and to use my artistic talents to join the conversation,” Goldbodo said. “The trial was about so much more than the unfortunate deaths of Goldman and Brown. It was also a referendum on the LAPD, how we interact with each other as black people and white people, and this is not talked about that often, but it was a discussion on how the media has changed. There was before the O.J. trial and after the O.J. trial, and then living in that era. And so it was just a fascinating and amazing opportunity.”

The character was also one Godboldo was really interested in being able to play. “My character is Carl E. Douglas, who is alive today, and is one of the most outstanding defending attorneys in the nation,” Godboldo said. “I did a lot of research on Carl, and I was most struck – in what I’ve been able to glean – by his commitment to the idea that O.J. was innocent.”

“He truly believed in the justice system and making sure that O.J. got a fair trial,” Godboldo continued. “But I believe he believed in O.J.’s innocence, and I was fascinated by that. That really made me excited, because obviously, so many people think he actually did it. Obviously, many people think that he’s innocent as well.”

“The other thing that I was really drawn to with Carl Douglas, was, you know, Carl was the managing director of The Cochran Law Firm,” Godboldo said. “He was Johnnie Cochran’s number two guy. And so, that came with a lot of responsibility above and beyond this case. So how does this man not only manage the case of the century, but also how does he interact with the other members in the firm? How does he maintain the right sort of spirit within the firm and within the “Dream Team” as well? He’s a fascinating, brilliant man, and I was honored to play him.”

Of course, playing a character who is based on real person is also comes with some added pressure.

“You feel a tremendous amount of responsibility to that human being,” Godboldo said. “I don’t think anyone on the cast was really doing an imitation of their characters. But what you hope you do is accurately reflect the spirit of the character. And not character as in a scripted, created character, but their character. It makes you nervous sometimes [laughs]. Late at night you wake up: Oh my God, is he gonna hate this performance? Am I gonna embarrass him? Is he go out and publicly say, ‘Hell no! That didn’t happen! I’m nothing like that!’ You hope that he appreciates your work and then you just, when they say action, you just go.”

Godboldo also explained why he thinks audiences are drawn to these sorts of event series, and compared The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story to the Netflix hit, Making a Murderer.

“There’s so much about the system and how someone is either found guilty or acquitted that we just don’t know. And so the brilliance, I think, of what Ryan Murphy, Anthony Hemingway, Brad Simpson, and Nina Jacobson have done with this series is that they’ve gone inside not only the procedure – which we see often on Law and Order and all of that stuff, but deeper than that in how that affects each individual person that’s in the system, and what’s going on in their personal lives,” Godboldo explained.

“You know, that’s very much a part of why Making a Murderer is so popular, I think. It’s not just the procedure, and that’s amazing, right? But each individual person, and their psyche, and who they are, how it’s affected them, I think that creates compelling television. And I think that’s why many times, this show has been compared to that. Because there’s a lot of similarities in that regard.”

At the time the O.J. Simpson trial was taking place, Godboldo could be seen on the All New Mickey Mouse Club. He said he remembered watching the trial in between scenes and dance numbers along with other members of the cast.

“It was particularly interesting to me when they started really diving into the racial discussion because of my environment at that time,” he said. “In some regards [it] forced me to think about things that maybe I hadn’t yet, and it helped me explore things that I had already experienced or was feeling or, you know, was thinking about it general.”

It was actually his time on the All New Mickey Mouse Club that led Godboldo to start the Always in the Club Foundation. “I look at the leadership of Disney and the executives of the show that really did use the show as an opportunity to provide guidance across the board in how to be a better human being. Which is a powerful statement, but I think it’s very true,” Godboldo said. “The training that we received – there’s a reason that so many former Mouseketeers were able to parlay their experience into extraordinary careers. That training, the focus on our education, all of those things were important parts of why all of us are who we are today.”

“The adults on that show were our first mentors, and they were extraordinary human beings. So, fast forward twenty years later, when I was able to launch my own foundation, I remembered that. I remembered that training and institutional support of not only my talent, but my mission in life,” he explained.

“I’m passionate about doing the same thing for the next generation. So in honor of my time on that show, I decided to call my foundation ‘Always in the Club.’ Once in the club, you’re always in the club. So that was the motivation and the spirit behind why I named it that and why I made our focus youth in arts, youth in entrepreneurship, youth in mentorship, and youth in education. Then we partnered with the Clinton Global Initiative to launch our most recent initiative called, Project: NOW. That initiative is dedicated to rapidly addressing the educational needs of at risk youth in under-served communities in America. We utilize the arts, we utilize innovative literacy training programs, and we give scholarships to outstanding teenagers and graduating high school students.”

That work also led Godboldo to another important opportunity. “I was asked by Chelsea Clinton and the Clinton Global Initiative to join Chelsea’s LEAD team. The CGI LEAD Team,” Godboldo said. “What it specifically focuses on is mentoring the next generation of global leaders. I’m working with a young lady that they introduced me to under that program that is doing some outstanding work in Haiti, using the arts and entrepreneurship to spur excitement and motivate outstanding kids in Haiti. So as you can see, it’s very important to me.”

Catch Dale Godboldo on The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story premiering this Tuesday, February 2nd at 10/9c on FX.