MovieWeb EXCLUSIVE: Lee Norris Gets Mouthy for One Tree Hill

Sometimes an actor can be just so right for a part based on where they came from. Lee Norris grew up in the basketball-friendly state of North Carolina and attended the ACC powerhouse school Wake Forest, known for a rich legacy of college basketball greatness. Norris plays Marvin “Mouth” McFadden, who becomes a basketball commentator on the hit CW series One Tree Hill, which is currently airing its seventh season on Monday nights at 8 PM ET on the CW Network. I recently had the chance to speak with Norris over the phone about his role in this long-running series, and here’s what he had to say.

I was curious how you first heard about this character Mouth and what was your first reaction about this character?

Lee Norris: I was actually a student in college when I got the call to audition for Mouth. I was really interested in it because he was really interested in sports and I wanted to be a sports announcer. I went to an ACC school, Wake Forest, I’m a big college basketball fan and it was just a natural interest for me. In fact, I wore my basketball t-shirt into the audition and kind of talked junk with our executive producer Mark Schwahn, who went to Maryland. It was sort of a cool way to try out for the part and, obviously, the part grew and it was nice to become more complex as the show has gone on.

With your background, I guess it wasn’t that hard to prepare and to channel in this character?

Lee Norris: No, no. Definitely not. Sports is a natural thing for me, it’s something I’m interested in so I channeled all my old ESPN SportsCenter nights watching those into the character. It was just a natural fit, really.

via EXCLUSIVE: Lee Norris Gets Mouthy for One Tree Hill.

Home