Ken Arnold

Recently I had the fabulous opportunity to work on the new HBO mini-series, “We Own This City.” 

What an incredible experience to be invited to work on the amazing show. It was based on the book of the same name written by Baltimore Sun writer Justin Fenton. It was created by David Simon and George Pelecanos who created “The Wire,” which is considered one of the best television series ever. I was fortunate enough to have a small role in “The Wire” and so grateful to be brought back twenty years later to play a slightly bigger role in this series. 

It was a reunion for me in other ways as well. I got to work on another project with the incredibly talented Jon Bernthal, who plays Wayne Jenkins in the series.

Jon and I worked on the first feature film he starred in over twenty years ago. A film named “Mary-Mary.” Shot in Washington, D.C. in 2000 as part of American University’s grad program. It was so nice to see Jon in the hair and make-up trailer before we shot. We jump right back into where we left off twenty years ago. He is such a genuine person and good human. I can’t even say that enough. We talked baseball(he played professionally overseas), we talked kids, we talked about careers. It was as if we had just been on set yesterday for Mary-Mary. Jon is now, well…Jon. But he is still the same fun loving, kind, caring person I met twenty years before. And that makes him even more impressive in my mind.

I also got to work with Wunmi Mosaku. What a pleasure to work with this woman. She was kind and friendly and was willing to talk about her background as an actor and more. I was kind of geeking out a little because she plays Hunter B-15 in the Marvel series “Loki” and I am a huge Marvel fan. I asked her about Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson and she had nothing but nice things to say about both of them. 

The director of the series, Reinaldo Marcus Green(directed Oscar nominated King Richard), was a pleasure to work with. If you’ve seen the series it was his idea to throw a little dance in there in one of my scenes. It was brilliant. Thank you Rei! You don’t know how many messages I’ve gotten about my dancing skills or lack there of. He also played baseball and we had some conversations about college ball as his school was in the same conference as mine. So we had a little rivalry going.

But the one thing I was so proud of was being a part of the local acting cast that showed up and did such a fantastic job in the series. So many DMV folks who made us all look incredible. Actors like Delaney Williams, Bobby Brown, Kevin Murray, Ryan Scott Thomas, Paula Black, Jesse Milner, Chris Anderson, Antoinette Green, Paige Carter, Joy Jones, Victor Dobro, Kathryn Klvana, Kim Tuvin, James Lewis, Michael Johnson, Jermaine Crawford, Shaun Woodland, and many more. I am sorry if I missed you. A special shout out to Pat Moran and Associates for the opportunity to audition and book this role. Pat has been exceptional to me and the acting community as a whole here in Baltimore. A genuine treasure!

This is a series based on true events. It is a hard story to watch. It is a story that needs to be heard so real change can come to our policing efforts and justice system. Not only in Baltimore but around the country. I am honored to be a part of this project. One of the best I’ve done. It’s special when it can create change in how we live as a community and it makes it that much more gratifying to have had a small part. 

You can stream the series now on HBO Max. “We Own This City.”