Sudden surprise: explosive role for gifted actor

For an actor, the notion of “career plannng” is sheer whimsy.
Just ask Matthew Jeffers (shown here), who delivers a stunning, Emmy-worthy performance in the latest “Walking Dead” spin-off.
“When I moved to New York, I envisioned … this happening – going from 15th-century England to post-apocalyptic America,” he deadpanned.
Nobody really imagines that,.but it happened. After co-starring in a Shakespeare in the Park production of “Richard IIII” in New York, he soars in the second episode of “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live”; it airs at 9 p.m. Sunday (March 3) on AMC and streams on AMC+.
“I know audiences are about to be wowed by this young man,” Danai Gurira, who stars in “Walking Dead” (and starred in “Richard II”) told the Television Critics Association.
Viewers have seen him before, but not in this sort of complex role – as an inventive guy (specializing in explosives), at war with zombies and with greedier humans.
Jeffers – who has dwarfism and stands 4-foot-2 – had a regular role as a doctor in NBC’s “New Amsterdam.” He’s done guest roles in other shows (including three “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” episodes), won a film-festival award in an indie film (“Unidentified Objects”) and will reach Broadway this spring, in “Enemy of the People.”
He told the TCA about another dwarf break barriers, a dozen years ago. He saw “Peter Dinklage as this mutli-faced character, during his meteoric rise in ‘Game of Thrones.’” It helped “shape that narrative of what does a little person look like on screen.”
After majoring in acting at Towson University (in his native Maryland), Jeffers, now 32, gradually found success in New York.
In “Richard III,” he played Earl Rivers, Queen Elizabeth’s brother. “He was just such a fantastic presence in the show,” Gurira sad. She asked “Walking Dead” producer Scott Gimple to scout him – without telling Jeffers.
One day, Jeffers told the TCA, he didn’t get a role he’d coveted. “It was two hours before I had to perform Shakespeare. I said, ‘Danai, I’m really kind of devastated.’
“She gave me that pep talk that allowed me to put on my costume and go and perform. But as she was walking away, she said: ‘But something’s coming. I know it.’
“I thought that she was just being supportive.”
He later learned that something really was coming – the sort of big, complex guest role that an actor can never plan on.