Local actor gets tapped to play Cecil B. Moore in Tigre Hill film

PHILLY-BASED actor Christopher Mann has landed what could be the role of a lifetime - portraying legendary civil-rights activist Cecil B. Moore in Tigre Hill's upcoming film, "American Zealot."

A movie about Moore's life would be timely, given all the buzz around the new movie "Selma" and nationwide protests about police brutality following the untimely deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

"I know he'd have a problem with the way things are," Mann, 50, said of Moore - a Philadelphia lawyer and politician who headed up the local NAACP and led the fight to integrate Girard College. "I'm sure we'd be having rallies with him out in front right now.

"I know he wouldn't be quiet - he wouldn't be silent at this time. He wouldn't sit back and say 'That's OK, we have to overlook that' . . . I think also that he would be helping [protesters] understand how important it is for them to improve their image as well."

A colorful figure, Moore, who died at 63 in 1979, chomped on cigars, wore flashy clothing and was known for his aggressive style in agitating on behalf of poor, disenfranchised African-Americans. He famously once told a reporter, "I don't want no more than the white man got, but I won't take no less."

He and Mann share a passing physical resemblance - especially when Mann picks up a cigar.

Mann actually is Hill's second choice to play Moore. Producers first offered Terrence Howard the role, but withdrew it last fall amid concerns about Howard's messy personal life.

Hill, a local filmmaker whose previous projects include the documentaries "The Shame of a City" and "The Barrel of a Gun," is finishing up the screenplay for "American Zealot" and hopes to start production later this year.

"Cecil had a very colorful life. That's what makes him fascinating to me. He was a flawed hero," said Hill, now in the final editing stages on another documentary, "The Corrupt and the Dead," with former Inquirer reporter George Anastasia and Fox 29's Dave Schratwieser.

"Zealot" will be his first narrative feature, Hill said.

"I looked at [Mann] and thought, 'Wow.' Then I looked up some of his stuff online and saw some of his work and thought, 'This guy has nice chops.' "

Hill and Mann met for the first time at a Starbucks in Bala Cynwyd last year and found themselves finishing each other's sentences. "He said, 'You know? I understand this character. I get this character,' " Hill recalled.

Mann, born in Chester, feels he can relate to Moore because of similarities between Moore and his own paternal relatives - college graduates at a time when that was a rarity for African-Americans.

Mann's father worked for the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, and his mother was a secretary. After their divorce, Mann moved around with his mother until her 1977 death from cancer when he was just 13. He returned to Chester to be with his father and enrolled in Chester High School, where he ran track and dabbled in school plays.

After graduating in 1982, he attended Virginia State University but dropped out during his second year. Back home, he took a class on how to get hired to do TV commercials taught by John Barth, a Philadelphia-based actor known for playing the Ty-D Bol Man.

While working as a telephone-company service technician, Mann would audition for acting jobs, occasionally nabbing work in TV ads or industrial films. He got his first big acting break in 1997 - a guest spot as a drug dealer on NBC's "Homicide: Life on the Street."

Since then, he has racked up a slew of mostly secondary acting roles. He appeared in two seasons on HBO's "The Wire," playing a city councilman. He was in the 2007 film "Michael Clayton," starring George Clooney, and "The Bourne Legacy" with Jeremy Renner.

Last year, you might have seen him playing a U.S. energy secretary on Netflix's "House of Cards."

The actor's life hasn't been easy for Mann, who is married and has four children and two grandchildren. Things got especially tough in 2006 when he lost his Verizon job and several relatives passed.

Mann decided then to concentrate on acting full time. But that's tough to do when you have kids to support.

"He's well-liked in this market, New York, Baltimore, Pittsburgh. He's just an amazing actor," said his agent, Pat Yorks of Agency Connects in Langhorne, adding, "He needs more. He should be in Hollywood."

Starring in "American Zealot" could catapult Mann to the next phase of his career.

"He deserves it," Yorks said. "It's his time."

Like Moore, Mann won't be denied.

Blog: ph.ly/HeyJen