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Geoffrey Owens is headed back to the small screen. On Friday, TMZ announced that the actor, who was recently shamed after a photo began circulating that showed him working as a cashier at Trader Joes, will appear in a big role on “The Haves and the Have Nots.”
The role is recurring and will span ten episodes.
The Have and the Have Nots is a crime drama and soap opera that Perry produces, writes, and directs. The show, based off Perry’s 2011 play of the same name, premiered on OWN (The Oprah Winfrey Network) on May 28, 2013.
News that the show would be returning for a sixth season surfaced in March.
People reports that Owens will be flying to Atlanta next week to begin filming.
After the photo of the former The Cosby Show actor hit on the web, hundreds of fans and celebrities took to Twitter to voice their support for Owens.
Perry, in particular, tweeted, “#GeoffreyOwens I’m about to start shootings OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist.”
#GeoffreyOwens I’m about to start shootings OWN’s number one drama next week! Come join us!!! I have so much respect for people who hustle between gigs. The measure of a true artist.
On Tuesday, ET sat down with Owens to discuss the offer and the prospect of working with Perry. He tells ET, “That was kind of cool… I mean, that kind of sounded like he was saying, ‘Come work with me.’ I’m so, like, skeptical. Like, really? Are you actually saying come work with me? Because we’ve never worked together before. So, that’s a very, very generous thing for him to say. And we’ll see what happens with that. But, that’s encouraging.”
Ironically enough, Owens says he isn’t much of a TV watcher, himself. “Never have been. I remember the day that my first Cosby show aired back in ’85! I didn’t even… I barely owned a television. We had to borrow my brother’s TV and set it up. It was this little, dinky thing with the satellite, the little rabbit ears and stuff, in order to watch my first show. I’ve never been a television watcher.”
News of Owens having a day job as a cashier has been one of the top trending stories of the week– it even inspired a new hashtag, #ActorsWithDayJobs. After Owen made headlines, actors and those in the entertainment industry have started sharing their own side hustles in an attempt to remove the stigma associated with working a second job while trying to make it in the industry.
When I’m not on set working as an actor I’m teaching kids Karate. #ActorsWithDayJobs
So you know back in the day I was a Social worker on the Lower East Side NYC and pursuing an acting career…I Loved working with my Humanity and Humanity has always Loved Me Back…The hustle is real as in gratitude…#ActorsWithDayJobs