Empire’s Trai Byers Is The Cover Star For Bleu Magazine’s Latest Issue

Trai Byers who plays Andre in the TV show, Empire covers the latest edition of Bleu Magazine

In the series of pictures, the handsome actor flaunts his abs as well as show off his dapper style.

Trai spoke to the magazine about the show, Empire, choosing acting as a career, going to Yale among other things.

On when he discovered he wanted to e an actor: I’m told that as a kid at vacation bible camp, [the church] asked me what I wanted to be and I said a movie star. The first performance I remember seeing and thinking “Wow, this is somebody who is actually doing this for living. I’m not watching this in real life,” was Denzel Washington in Malcolm X. That stuff hits — it hits you hard — and it stayed with me.

On how much impact his personal story has on his character in Empire and whether the spiritual elements were intentional:

Not intentional by me. We were presented initially with a very interesting character who didn’t sing, was the underdog, but intelligent and not really conniving outside of the way he had to be for the music industry. Certain things -desperation, being usurped from what he felt was his birthright – illuminated the darkness in him as a means of getting what he needed. That’s not me!

To answer your question: I don’t think I’m anything like Andre. With the spirituality thing, that was something that the writers brought to me as a sort of redemption for him. The spirituality was a part of his coming into his own. The biggest difference between Andre and I is that I am deep into religion and he’s at the beginning of understanding how that applies to his life. At times, playing Andre is a hard journey, but very fulfilling to show a man who’s trying to be a star despite the fact that he’s not a singer, or that no one is rooting for him.

On how he feels about the second season and if he watches it: What I think about the second season: as artists in general, we need to keep the bar up. We have a room full of very talented people and we didn’t expect the show to be as massive as it was. Trying to find the formula again has proven to be difficult because now we are caught between “well we must have been doing something right and what do the people want” The people didn’t know what we were writing when we showed them the pilot. All they could do is watch and all we could do is be true to ourselves. Not knowing how they would react which made us ballsier and gutsier and more intent on telling the truth of everybody rather than zooming on what we thought they wanted. I think that we’re learning our lesson.

I don’t watch this season. For me, as an actor, what I value most is not the finished product, it is the process. I love working through the scenes with my fellow actors, trying new things and making new discoveries each take.

There is never more truth to the characters than in that present moment. These are the most exhilarating times for me, because I get to learn. These moments, I feel make me a better actor. I never want to stop learning. I hold these moments as sacred to me, the edit chooses what’s best for the show. I like to remember it all. So I excuse myself from the finished product.

On the hardest thing about doing the show Empire: The hardest thing about Empire, for me, is going to those deep dark places repeatedly. I remember doing the boardroom scene in season 1, we literally did it over and over from different angles. You can’t lose the pace, the intention, the urgency, the meaning. I felt like I had to catch lightning in a bottle 20 times in a row. It’s fulfilling, but exhausting. Andre has a lot of those heavy, emotional moments – poor guy. As an actor, it is very cathartic to expel high energy to capture Andre’s torment, but sometimes it can also be difficult.