Exclusive: Mixing it with Hollywood elite

Bermudian actor Sergio Harford has taken his career from commercials and print modelling to starring opposite Oscar winner Halle Berry in a TV show set to debut this summer.

Harford, 28, was born in Bermuda, but left the island in 1992 and moved to South Carolina with his siblings and mother Marquita Thomas, daughter of Fred and Clara Thomas. He moved to Los Angeles after graduating high school and after 10 years in the City of Angels, he is about to become a household name.

Harford stars as Marcus Dawkins in the Steven Spielberg-produced Extant, which will air on CBS this summer. He calls it a “dream come true”.

Extant is a sci-fi drama revolving around Berry’s character, Molly Watts, who returns home to her family after spending the past year in outer space.

Asked how he got into acting, Harford said: “I started doing middle school, high school, and local theatre musical/dramatic productions which helped me fall in love with acting.

“An opportunity came about for me to be in LA to audition for the movie Coach Carter. I fell in love with LA then attended AMDA for a semester and after leaving began auditioning/acting fulltime.”

Harford said he has always wanted to be an actor but didn’t realize it could translate into a career later in life.

Reflecting on his roles over the past 10 years, Harford said: “Like most actors, I grinded for years auditioning and during all that time I booked over the years, I’ve done 50 national/global commercials and print campaigns including a guest star appearance on CBS’s Without A Trace, which all led me to the role that I just booked on Extant.”

Asked how he heard about Extant, Harford said: “Like any working actor, my agent Nic at JLA secured the audition and when I saw Halle Berry and Steven Spielberg were attached, of course there was excitement but the fact that it was a sci-fi thriller really had me intrigued.”

Speaking on the casting process, he said: “The casting process was pretty quick, but as an actor being optioned for such a project, mentally it felt like an eternity. Once I met the director- Allen Coulter at the directors session, I had a good feeling about being cast. He was so warm, genuine, and an actors’ director, practically directing me in the session as if I had already booked the role and was on set.”

One of the highlights, of course, is working with Berry.

“Finding out I would work opposite Halle Berry, my first thought was ‘OK, this is really real, I’m going to have to bring it’, because well, she is an Academy Award-winning actress and an icon. So naturally there was a bit of nerves and anxiety. But meeting her for the first time at the table read and being on set with her was so natural, normal, nice and organic.

“She is one of the most humble, genuine, and down-to-earth people I’ve ever met. 

“As an actor she of course gives her co-star a lot to work with but she is also sensitive and concerned about helping her fellow actors perform at their best and be as comfortable as possible.”

Speaking on his experience of filming the show, Harford said: “Filming this show is a dream come true, with both working with Hollywood living legends and a cast and crew that are seasoned experienced professionals but also being involved in a sci-fi project with such range and great writing is incredible.

“So far we’re on episode three and they’re shooting 13 episodes, and so far I’m three for three.”

Asked what’s the biggest thing he’s learned so far, Harford said: “The biggest thing I learned was that you don’t actually have to be an astronaut to go into space.

“First day filming, I got to work with Halle in an actual NASA space shuttle where we duplicated the art of no gravity with wire work and specific blocking.

“The director Allen Coulter made me feel extremely at ease and appreciated as an actor, and between takes gave me words and notes that helped me bring more to the scene with his encouragement and support.

“Also getting to know Extant creator/writer Mickey Fisher, I learned through his awesome testimony to keep pushing, continue to believe in my passion, and that beyond the sky, into space, is the limit.”

Extant premieres on CBS in July.