LANTERNS Star Aaron Pierre is MEN’S HEALTH’s Nov/Dec Issue Cover Star!

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Maybe you missed him in THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD or REBEL RIDGE. But with major roles in DC’s LANTERNS and STAR WARS: STARFIGHTER, Aaron Pierre is evolving into a new kind of action hero. In a new interview for November/December issue MEN’S HEALTH cover story, the award-winning actor opens up about how exploring discomfort has made him more comfortable in his body and in his mind, beating self-doubt, earning back his own respect and the industry’s attention, and anticipating what’s ahead. Plus, in an episode of the MEN’S HEALTH video series Gym & Fridge, Pierre shares how he trains and fuels his body, including his go-to comfort food, the things you’ll never see in his fridge, how he keeps his mind fit, what keeps him motivated and more.

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On his first job, working at his mom’s friend’s hair salon as a teenager: “I would take their jackets. I would offer them a magazine and a hot or cold beverage of their choice. I thought, I’d love to show these very kind ladies that I can belong there too.”

 On how his family, and particularly the women in it, taught him to let himself—and his feelings—be big: “They taught me the strength of feeling what you felt, feeling it visibly, and owning it enough to speak on it.”

On how it felt when he saw himself on the side of a bus in a new ad campaign for Hugo Boss: “That was trippy. There were the buses I used to run for and miss!”

On exploring discomfort in his work, as he did in the much-lauded indie Brother, in which he plays a teenager grappling with his masculinity, reflecting the anxieties of his own adolescence, of growing up faster than you want: “Within my community, young men can grow to the size of an adult at a very young age. And sadly, many parts of the world engage with those young men inappropriately. They engage with children as adults; they engage with boys as men.”

 On how he approached his role of Marine veteran Terry Richmond in Rebel Ridge, wanting Terry’s strength to be “so quiet that you would be forgiven for thinking that he had none”: “I decided I needed to be the loudest quietest person in the room—someone who, when he steps into a room, he steps in discreetly, he steps in almost undetected, but something in the air has shifted.”

On his role in DC’s Lanterns, playing Green Lantern John Stewart, a revered comic figure, particularly to Black readers: “For me, the character just radiates strength and fortitude. That hunger to be the best version of yourself, which also holds you accountable when you’re not.”

On the evolution of his diet: “I think probably from the age of 16 is when I started to become a little bit more, I would say mindful, about what I was eating. And that really just stemmed from me having quite severe, unsettled stomach issues. So I started eliminating one food at a time, and got closer and closer to what it is, and then eventually we’ve landed, years later, at where I am today. My diet is largely paleolithic. Responsibly sourced and quality proteins, fruits, nuts, vegetables and sweet potato. That is what it largely consists of.”

On what we’ll never see in his fridge: “You would never see in my fridge things that I love the most, chocolates, cakes, things like that. Those are things I really love and adore, but I try not to have them in my apartment, because it just limits the likelihood of me indulging—or over indulging, as the case might be, on a rough day.”

On his fitness goals: “My fitness goals now are longevity. It wasn’t always that. It was, at a time, being as strong as I could be, or as explosive as I could be. But now it’s longevity. Just, how can I be able to move in the way I want to move for as long as possible.

[Photo Credit: Danny Kasirye for Men’s Health]

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