During his six seasons as the lead on “Lucifer,” the Welsh actor Tom Ellis developed a heightened version of his natural British accent. When he was cast in the new CBS series “CIA,” he figured it was time to sound American.
Then he met the creator of “CIA,” Dick Wolf. “And after about a minute he was like, ‘Tom, I’ve been talking to you for 10 seconds and I realized we’ve got to make your character British,’” Ellis said.
On “CIA,” which is set to premiere on Feb. 23, he plays Colin Glass, an agent transferred to the New York office from an overseas post. His ability to switch from British to American “is actually a wonderful tool for him to have in his armory,” Ellis said. “Because the CIA can’t operate properly on U.S. soil, he doesn’t have a gun. He doesn’t have anything to protect himself apart from his guile.”
In a video call, Ellis elaborated on why Rudyard Kipling’s “If,” a pint of beer and a pun are among his essentials. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Arsenal Football Club
My dad was never a soccer fan, so I wasn’t indoctrinated like a lot of kids are by their parents. But when I settled in London, I lived literally on the same road as the old Arsenal stadium. I started to feel this kinship and now it dictates a lot of my life. I’m onboard of that roller coaster from the moment the ball is kicked off.
‘Mary Poppins’
The first time I watched it, I couldn’t believe it — the use of animation and real-life actors. It blew my mind, even though this was in the ’80s and it was made in the ’60s. It made me feel all the feels as a kid that I didn’t know I had.
A Pint of Beer
Without a shadow of a doubt, beer is my favorite drink in the world. When I was a student, I didn’t have a lot of money, but I certainly still had enough to buy a pint at the end of the day.
‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling
I always quote that first line and the last line of the poem. I think we studied it in English when I was about 13 or 14, and it just spoke to me — about keeping your head, about remaining calm, about keeping your dignity, about not getting flustered or carried away by the outside world. It’s like a mantra that I say to myself.
The Welsh National Anthem
Most national anthems in the world will feel quite turgid, but the Welsh national anthem is a sort of rousing hymn. Every time, at the same point in the song, my hairs go up on end, I get tears welling up in my eyes and it feels like a call to arms.
‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ by Eric Carle
This is a book that I remember vividly from my childhood — the illustrations of the lollipop and the bit of salami — and I read it to my kids now. It was all the things that I loved so much that I wasn’t allowed to eat.
The British Love of Punning
Anyone who knows me knows that I can’t help myself when it comes to punning. I think that is part of the British DNA. And maybe a lot of that is to do with how powerful the tabloid newspapers were. When I was living in Glasgow, there were two football teams, and Inverness Caledonian Thistle beat Celtic, who were a few leagues below them. The headline was, “Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious.” I was like, “This is genius.”
Roald Dahl
That was “Harry Potter” to me when I was growing up. I loved the fact that he had these dastardly characters that were just awful and the kids were always the heroes and the kids did really bad things, but they were good. I don’t think you’d be allowed to write those stories these days.
Britain’s Peak District
Between the ages of 11 and 18, I was in Sheffield, which is on the edge of the Peak District National Park. You drive 10 minutes and you’re in this vast “Wuthering Heights” landscape, and it’s quite bleak. It’s often against moody gray skies, but there’s something so eerily magical about it. Anytime I drive out there, I breathe the air, and it takes me back immediately to being a teenager, reminding me of the person I was before all this adult stuff got in the way.
Leading With Kindness
My dad was the leader of the church, and he always talked about kindness being a really important quality. I witnessed him be that person throughout my whole childhood. It’s something I now realize is a wonderful quality to have and something that I really look for in other people — and something that I wish the leaders of our world possessed right now.
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