In the new Peacock series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, Dexter Darden stars as legendary boxer Muhammad Ali. Off-screen, years before, however, Darden was mentored by one of the greatest in the acting world.
“My mentor, my guy who got me started in acting, was Paul Newman. He hosted a camp for kids with special needs and blood disease. It’s called The Hole in Wall Gang Camp,” Darden told me in a recent Zoom interview. “I have sickle cell anemia. The year my dad passed away, that’s where I went just to get away. My mom didn’t know what else to do. My dad died. I was in the hospital for six months.”
Darden said his hematologist recommended Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, which the iconic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting star established in 1988. Per the camp’s website, Newman established the camp “so children with serious illnesses could just be kids, and ‘raise a little hell’ while experiencing diverse and transformational friendships that go hand-in-hand with camp.”
“At this camp, kids can ride horses, they can fish, they can play basketball. And I mean kids with cerebral palsy, cancer, hemophiliacs, leukemia and sickle cell,” Darden explained.
Darden’s said his first encounter with legendary actor and philanthropist was by mere happenstance, thanks a recommendation from his Hole in the Wall Gang Camp counselor.
“I was just dancing around my cabin and my counselor goes, ‘Why don’t you dance on Stage Night?’ and I’m like, ‘What’s Stage Night?’ He was like, “It’s the night at the end of the session where every camper gets the chance to go up whether they want to do a magic trick, sing a song, pie a counselor in the face. Just go up and express yourself,’” Darden recalled.
“So, I went up and I did a Michael Jackson [impersonation]. That’s what I was just doing. I was always singing and dancing and moonwalking in my house so that was just easy for me,” Darden added. “So I did it and Paul Newman saw the tape and he was like, “Come help. Let’s do fundraisers for the camp,” and my mom thought it was a joke.”
Darden, of course, wasn’t joking around, and he ended up doing fundraisers for The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for seven years. After that, the young performer kept in touch with Newman, who gave him a crucial piece of advice about acting before he died in 2008 at age 83.
“Right before Paul passed, I told him I wanted to pursue acting professionally,” Darden recalled. “I think I was 14 at the time, and he goes, ‘Yeah, kid. Well, you got it. Go figure out how to do it. Do what’s best for you.’ He didn’t give me any hints or tips or anything like that. He said, ‘Well, I’m going to just give you one piece of advice. Auditioning is the job. Booking the job is the reward.’
“So, every time I audition for a job, I’m going into it like, ‘This is my job. My job is to build this character to the best of my ability,’” Darden added. “And when I get that reward, it’s my job to put it on that pedestal and then cherish it … So, I’m just taking it one day at a time and learning that each day is a blessing. Each day is a gift, so you can’t just take it for granted.”
Darden’s screen career kicked off in 2006, and he’s amassed more than 30 screen credits to date including starring roles as Frypan in The Maze Runner movie trilogy and Devante Young in the reboot of the teen sitcom Saved by the Bell.
Darden Has Deep Admiration For Hart’s Passionate Work Ethic
In Peacock’s Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, Dexter Darden plays Muhammad Ali during one of the most difficult periods of the boxing great’s career—his comeback fight on October 26, 1970, against Jerry Quarry (Spencer Mulligan).
The bout marked Ali’s first appearance in the ring in three years, since he was stripped of his World Heavyweight Boxing Championship title and suspended from professional boxing for three years after he refused to enter the U.S. military draft. As such, the once-massively popular Ali was largely spurned by the general public.
As it pertains to the plot of Fight Night, the Ali-Quarry fight gave an Atlanta street hustler, Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams (Kevin Hart) an opportunity to host an afterparty attended by some of the wealthiest people in the country. What Williams doesn’t realize is that his afterparty also created an opportunity for a brazen criminal heist that targets all of his wealthy guests.
In addition to starring in Fight Night, Hart executive produces the series—one of the many projects the actor-filmmaker-comedian and business magnate has produced through his company Hartbeat Productions.
“Kevin is a machine. He’s not just working and passionate about his stand-up. He’s also passionate about his business,” Darden enthused. “He’s passionate about his career and the TV and film that he’s doing, and the projects that he’s producing that he’s not even starring in. And [seeing that passion] was one of the biggest blessings that I think I got from this project … Kevin is pounding the pavement as hard as he can, everywhere, all the time right now.”
Ultimately, Darden noted, Hart’s passion has proven to him that there is no limit to what he can do in the entertainment business.
“Kevin is heading the ship as No. 1 on the call sheet as a lead actor and producer, and also has 80,000 other investments going on,” Darden said. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I now know that I can do more than just hold these pages in my hand.’ Working with Kevin was just an eye-opening and educational experience for me.”
Also starring Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard, Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist is streamning exclusively on Peacock. The first six episodes are now available to stream with Episode 7 set to debut on Thursday.
The series finale of Fight Night will premiere on Thursday, October 10.