Wesam Keesh Breaks Down the Importance of ‘For the People’ in Today’s World [Exclusive Interview]

Wesam Keesh is no stranger to television. He has had many roles over the years from Awkward to NCIS and The Mentalist. These days, he has been keeping himself busy with his role as the lovable, passionate Jay Simmons on For the People. 

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Keesh about the stories being told on For the People and what makes this show so important; especially in today’s world.

For the People — a newer Shondaland member — focuses on the 2nd District Court in New York City. This court is deemed the “Mother Court” and holds a vital role in our country’s history.

As Keesh puts it, “A lot of the news right now centers around the 2nd District Court and that is where the show takes place. [The stories] are not pulled from the headlines necessarily, but these are real stories of similar stuff that happened to people.”

It’s a fact that makes this show very important for viewers; it allows a conversation to be started about just what happens in our justice system. 

“What I love about the show is they promote a healthy discussion of what’s really going on in our system. And sometimes we focus mostly on the prosecution side. Sometimes on the defense side. Sometimes it’s a mix of that,” Keesh explained.

He even went on to discuss one episode in particular — For The People Season 2 Episode 2, “This Is America,” due to its extreme relevance to one of our nation’s biggest issues today, immigration. It’s also an issue that Keesh is very passionate about.

“I am an immigrant. My family is from Syria,” Keesh shared. “The stories we’re telling are actually happening. Now, the story on that episode is not a political agenda story. What we’re showing people are the procedural policies of what the government does when separating families who come here illegally at the border or catching them in the United States.” 

“We are not saying whether illegal immigration is bad or that it’s ok. That is not the point of the episode. The point of the episode is to show our procedural policy is horrendous,” Keesh continued.

As passionate as Keesh is about the immigration issue, he will freely admit he doesn’t have any solutions. 

“I don’t know what the solution is. I will say this: what we have in place right now is not acceptable. At all. I don’t care what your political views are. You want to tear families apart because their living situation is so bad that they want to come here, or whatever the reason is, so we do something ten times worse?”

Keesh then added a plea for all the viewers of For The People. “I really urge people who saw the show as a political one-sided liberal episode to rewatch it and focus on what we were addressing. We’re not addressing that it’s okay for illegal immigrants to come into this country. The episode is [about] the splitting up of families.”

The conversation then turned to his character itself, Jay. Keesh managed to take our serious topic and turn it on its head.

When asked about his favorite aspect of Jay, Keesh replied, “his hair.”

Hair aside, Keesh and Jay have many things in common. “His loyalty to his family and friends and his love for his job are definitely things we share. But in all of my roles, there’s a little bit of me.”

Keesh then shared a bit about what we can expect from Jay this season.

“We will see Jay’s principles challenged. And his loyalties to his friends and family challenged as well,” he confirmed. “I think [that] is always interesting to watch on television — characters who hold strongly to certain relationships and those relationships are tested to see whether or not they were real to begin with.”

While that all sounds dramatic enough, Keesh’s idea of a great episode for Jay takes things out of the Mother Court and into the streets of NYC.

“[He’d have] some cool action sequence when he’s riding his bike through NYC. I think that would be really cool. Maybe mix it up with the movie Speed. Like he has a package that somebody gave him; they thought he was a bike messenger.” 

“He has to stay going faster than five miles per hour or the package will explode. Then at the end of the episode, I jump off the bike while the bike dives into the Hudson River,” Keesh finished with a chuckle.

Through it all, he couldn’t speak enough about the family he has created with his costars and the show creators.

“My cast are some of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. It’s like a master class of acting every time I get to work with them. The writers are incredible. Paul Davies, the creator has created an amazing show. Shondaland, the production team there is just a well-oiled machine,” Keesh said. 

“It is definitely one of the best shows on television right now, and it’s the best project I’ve gotten to work on.”

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You can catch Wesam Keesh on For The People Thursdays at 10/9c on ABC.

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