Carson Cerney

What is your favorite role you’ve ever done?

I’ve got a couple but I think the one would be Millet of Fuddy Meers. It’s a fun, little show. It was probably the most rewardingly difficult show I’ve ever done because of the emotional, physical and technical demands of the character. Millet was kind of crazy … I had a sock puppet with me the whole time. … I think it was one of my last shows as an undergrad. It was a nice way to go out. … It was a lot of fun to perform because he was a dark guy but funny and somber … and Hinky Binky (the puppet) was like a demented Sesame Street character.

How long have you been acting?

Around a decade.

What do you enjoy most about acting?

I guess, to put simply, it’s one of the few things that makes me truly happy. … I have another degree, and I’ve always been interested in psychology, but I’ve never really been happy with it in terms of following it professionally. … I guess the ability to open up and show the world all of the good things about myself and all of the bad things. … As actors and artists in theater, we can show the world who we truly are.

Why did you choose to come to the graduate program at OU?

A lot of reasons. All the professors were awesome … I love the fact that we have a playwriting program. It’s a great opportunity for us to do work and to make connections … The MFA filmmaking program is another big reason I’m here. The opportunity to work with a professional theater that is associated with OU and get best training I could get. … (The faculty are) all going to push me in different ways. That was important to me, having a wide range of personalities and disciplines to work with.

What are you hoping to get out of the program after three years?

To be the best artist, actor, person that I can be. To be a completely different actor in some ways, not in every way. But who you’re speaking with now and who you see in three years, I want to be completely different in a lot of ways and OU has the capability to do that.

What’s a fun fact about you?

I’m in the background of a lot of big budget movies. I was in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire … with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Just to be in the room with him, see him work. Being an extra can be tough but there’s lots of beneficial stuff. … I also really like sushi. I’m part Japanese so it’s a big part of who I am.

See him as Friar Francis in Much Ado About Nothing Nov. 11-14, 18-21