"The lines don't matter. The life does." — James Landry Hébert (On the difference between working with Sam Levinson and Taylor Sheridan.)

Welcome James Landry Hébert:

We’re joined on the Starline by a character actor born in Lafayette went from Brad Pitt's stand-in, to have Sam Levinson write a role specifically for him. Season 3 of “Euphoria” is streaming now on HBO Max. We welcome James Landry Hébert.

James, let’s go Beyond the Mic. You said “Harley didn’t show up fully formed, we found him piece by piece.” When you read your first scenes, what did you recognize in that character that told you Sam already knew something true about you?

“Euphoria” is so precise, with each frame deliberate. How do you hold onto the looseness, especially in the living room scene, when everything around you is that controlled?

How has the way you see acting changed from when you started to now with “Euphoria”?

The Rockin' 8:

James Landry Hébert joins us Beyond the Mic for the Rockin’ 8, 8 random questions, just trust your first instinct.

1. James, you graduated high school on the rez. What's one thing you knew how to do by graduation that your LSU classmates definitely did not?

2. Before acting you were a horse wrangler and a band manager. Which one prepared you more for Hollywood?

3. Which show or movie doesn’t get the respect you thought it should have?

4. Most Cajun thing you've done in the last month?

5. If the Chitimacha Tribal School had a yearbook superlative for you, what would it have said?

6. When you were a kid on the reservation and you first understood what storytelling was, not as a career, but as something people do to survive... where were you and who was talking?

7. Tarantino, Costner, Sheridan, Levinson: who scared you the most before you walked in, and was it deserved?

8. You've said you want to make a film about being adopted. What's the first scene?

Sneaking in a couple more:

You spent years in casting before you were acting... watching auditions, seeing what worked and what didn't. How did that change the way you walk into a room now?

You've talked about wanting to produce, to connect the dots for people, help others get their stories told. When you think about the stories that aren't getting told yet… what's the one that sits with you?

One Big Question:

You've spent your whole career making dangerous people human. Finding the heart in the heavy. The Dardens took in a kid from Lafayette who had every reason to go sideways... and gave him a world. When you finally make that film... who are you making it for?

The Wrap:

The most Cajun thing James has done this month is make his families secret gumbo recipe, managing a band prepared him for Hollywood and wants you to see Euphoria Season 3 streaming now on HBO Max. James Landry Hébert, thanks for taking the time to talk with us today.

And that my friends is a Beyond the Mic Short Cut.