Interview:Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine

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On October 23, 2008, Ryan Gibson Stewart conducted an interview with Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, the actor who portrays Usutu.

Ryan Stewart: Where are you from?

Ntare Mwine: My family is originally from Uganda. I was born in New Hampshire and grew up for the most part in the States.

How did you get into acting?

That's a good question. "How does acting get into you?" is the question, really. I guess I could blame my parents. Somehow they created an artist, and one of the outlets was acting. I started by doing stuff like school plays in primary school and through college. It has been a long walk.

You've lived quite the life, haven't you?

Yeah, I've tried! [laughs]

You had another role on Heroes two years ago.

Yeah, I was really fortunate to be in the pilot. But as you know, the storyline changed, and that whole plot went to the cutting room floor. But it's great to be able to come back for this role.

Can you tell me about the character you used to play in the pilot?

It's almost the opposite of what I'm playing now! He was almost like the head of this terrorist cell--a really bad guy. He was plotting a terrorist attack. What they did was they kept all the footage that was shot for the terrorist attack, and just used it for the train wreck scene [in Genesis]. It was re-edited.

And your character was the head of the terrorist organization.

As far as I recall. It's been a few years.

And Tim Kring called you back to play the painter?

I'm not sure if it was officially Tim who made the call or if it was the casting department. I still had to go and audition just like before.

It sure is a testament to your acting abilities that you were able to play such diverse characters.

It's been a great opportunity.

Why don't you tell me your take on the character you play now.

Usutu is basically at the opposite end of the spectrum as Joseph. He is sort of serving as a spiritual guide for the characters he has interacted with so far. Maybe it's best to quote Tim Kring. I asked him how he saw the character, and he said he saw him as a Yoda-like figure. That actually gave me a lot of insight as to how he saw the character and the role he plays in terms of heroes and villains. He is one who tries to pull people to him for the forces of good.

Thank goodness you speak in full sentences as opposed to Yoda!

Yes, exactly! [laughs] Actually, in the original script of the first episode Usutu appeared in, he was speaking Yoda-like. He wasn't speaking in full sentences and some of his words were backwards. I don't know why they changed it, but that's how the first draft was.

Tell me a bit about the character's ability.

Well, one of the things is that he can paint the future. But, as we saw a little with Matt, is that he's able to enable others to [see] the future or to tap into their higher selves. I think that's one of the things with Masi's character Hiro--[Usutu] is challenging [Hiro and Ando] to exercise other muscles in their own selves that they haven't really used before, or that have atrophied.

How does he go about doing this?

He has quite a few arsenals. [laughs] One of them is the paste that he feeds them. Another is the headphones he puts people in. There's a walk that happens. A totem that people find. There's several different ways which he helps them reach their higher selves.

Yes, the paste...

It has hyena dung and is an old family recipe. If there's any behind the scenes peeks I can give you, I can say that Greg was a trooper. He really dug into the paste. But Masi was the other extreme. He was like, "I need a spittoon!" [laughs]

And the music...

They were regular headphones, but when we shot the scenes, there was no music on the headphones.