Kenny Johnson is best known for his portrayals of Detective Curtis Lemansky on The Shield and Detective Ham Dewey on Saving Grace. Now, he's trading his badge for a life as an outlaw on Sons of Anarchy, earning his patch with his portrayal of Kozik, the sergeant-at-arms of the Tacoma chapter (who's slightly less, shall we say, manic than SAMCRO's sergeant-at-arms, Tig Trager).
We got to hang with Kenny and discuss his new life on SOA and look back on his days on The Shield, in which his character got blown to smithereens after having a grenade dropped in his lap by his best friend. He first appeared on Sons near the end of Season Two, sitting on a bar stool -- now, he's pretty much a series regular. Apparently, Kenny and series creator Kurt Sutter have been buddies for a while, so the collaboration was pretty much inevitable...
The Birth of Kozik:
"Saving Grace, the show I was on with TNT, was going to be cancelled, so [Kurt Sutter] kind of asked me, he said, 'If you have a second, can I throw you in? I want to introduce you as a character. I'd love to at least do this as a cameo, would you do it for me?' and I was like, 'Yeah, of course.' And I had, like, two days off, so it worked out perfect that I could just go and play this character Kozik.
And Kurt goes, 'Maybe next year if your show doesn't go or whatever, I could maybe add you on as a guy. I hope it works out... I'd love to have you come on and do an arc, and who knows where it might go. You know, it might be a few episodes, it might be more, it might, if it works out, we could go and do more.'
"Kurt's a really good guy, you know? He had met with me prior to doing this series, and he had a movie that he was going to direct and write -- or he wrote, and was going to direct for Warner Bros, and it ended up not panning out for some reason, but he wanted me to play one of the characters in that, and he kept saying 'I'd love to work with you. We will work together, I promise you we will work together.' So, you know, a lot of people say that stuff, but he actually kept his word, and I feel really blessed that he developed this guy. So that's how that came."
On What Hurts More: Riding a Motorcyle or Having a Grenade Dropped In Your Lap:
"That's a tough question. The grenade sucked, especially under the conditions. Like, yeah, kill me off this show, slow death, grenade in the lap. That's cool, by my best friend! Yeah, definitely riding motorcycles is more uncomfortable.
On Getting On the Hog:
"I have a 1100 Honda Shadow, it's an old one that's restored in mint condition. I don't personally own a Harley, but I've owned two of those in the past, and also back in the day, when I was younger, I used to get like a Ninja, just so I could race around. And I grew up on a farm in Vermont, and I used to have a bike that I would dirt-bike all the time all over the mountain, so I've kind of ridden bikes.
"So, luckily, unlike a lot... no, I shouldn't say a lot... a few of the guys in the cast have definitely dropped their bikes quite a bit, and you would never know it watching [the show], but some of the guys endanger your life. So I'm always happy I'm the new guy, that I'm in the back, and I always make sure I'm back a little bit because I've had some crazy stuff happen in front of me and I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?' So it's pretty interesting."
On Which SOA Cast Member Drops Their Bike The Most:
"I would say Ron Perlman drops his bike the most. He is the guy that will tell you he doesn't ride; he took lessons in-between seasons this time to learn how to ride. I'm not going to say what happens, he's definitely dropped the bike more than anybody. Even in the [Season Three] finale, he, twice, dumped his bike, one time going about 30, where he kind of panicked when the bike went down and kind of hit the throttle. It can get scary.
"[Tommy Flanagan] is a close second, and Tommy swears he's a great rider. I would give him a hundred thousand dollars to stop riding to work. You know, because I see him on the set, and Tommy's a nut, but in his mind he thinks he's ridden all his life, but he has not. It's pretty apparent when you see. 'Holy sh**, buddy!' It's crazy."
