On Showtime’s The Chi, Nuck is the kind of character who leaves a lasting impression for all the wrong reasons. As a cold-blooded trafficker, manipulator, and the source of chaos in Tiffany’s (Hannaha Hall) life, Nuck represents the kind of toxicity and trauma many viewers root against.
But off-screen, the man behind the menace couldn’t be more different. Cortez Smith, the Chicago native who brings Nuck to life, is thoughtful, grounded, and deeply aware of the emotional toll his character can take. So much so that one particular scene in the Season 6 finale sent him calling his therapist.
For the most part, Smith treats acting like a regular 9-to-5 job. You clock in, you clock out—you become a menace on screen, but when the director says “cut,” he’s back to normal. But one time, he couldn’t shake the emotions.
“There was only one time I had to call my therapist,” Smith tells The Quintessential Gentleman in our exclusive interview. “I was like, ‘Man, let me come in a little earlier than what I have to because I have to get back in my normal mind state.’”
The scene he’s referring to is the Season 6 finale, Episode 16, titled Thanksgiving. In it, Nuck walks into the house after killing Douda (Curtiss Cook) and breaks down while holding his son, Little Ronnie. For Smith, the emotional weight of that moment wasn’t just acting; it was personal.
“The mindset that I had to put myself in was when I walked down the journey of me losing a family member, and if I had the opportunity to avenge his death, and what that would have been like…Walking into the house to my daughter,” he says. “We filmed that on the birthday of my uncle, who was murdered through gun violence, and I couldn’t shake it. I thought I was done with it, I thought I was healed from that trauma, and I was not. It literally took me about two or three weeks to get back to a normal state.”
It’s not something you often hear from actors who play villains on screen. But that’s what makes Smith and his portrayal of Nuck so compelling. He doesn’t just perform; he pours himself into the part.
Smith’s first break came through Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq. Though it was a small role, Lee allowed him to shadow the production throughout the summer. “He [Lee] allowed me to shadow him the whole summer. Get a full feel of how the behind-the-scenes work is with professional film. It was just amazing. I took so much information from that and kept applying that to myself,” he says.
Now, starring on a show that holds a mirror to his hometown, Smith understands just how meaningful The Chi is for the culture, and for him personally.
“Nuck was the first character I read where I said, ‘This is me,’” he says. “I walked around grocery stores, getting my car washed, saying the lines to myself.”
His grandmother, who had encouraged him to never give up, was one of the first people he called when he landed the part. “She told me, ‘Just have faith in everything that you do,’” he recalls. That faith paid off. Today, Nuck is one of the most memorable and divisive characters in The Chi’s seven seasons.
Smith admits that the public’s response has been negative toward his character. “It’s that love-hate relationship because they like, ‘I don’t like you, but we need you to handle Reg,'” he shares. “I’m like, it doesn’t work like that…I’m not the Grim Reaper on the show.”
Smith wants to make one thing clear: he is not the character he plays. “I don’t have tattoos on my face or anything like that. I haven’t hurt anybody. I don’t even know anyone named Rob,” he shared. Even the distinctive face tattoo that Nuck has of Anubis, the Lord of the Underworld, is purely fictional; Smith doesn’t have it in real life.
The love-hate relationship reflects the complexity of the character. Nuck is ruthless, but not heartless. We’ve seen flashes of vulnerability, particularly through his relationship with Tiffany and his son, that hint at a man desperate for redemption.
“When his son came into play, that’s when you saw the humanity of him,” Smith explains. “You can see a room for change…He wants to change certain things that he has undone. And it shows that trauma and his mental health that he’s going through; he never had a father figure to show him the weight of a man.”
Unlike his character, Smith is easygoing, thoughtful, and incredibly intentional in real life. “I’m a loving creature. I’m always happy, literally, all of my family, they know me to brighten up a room. I’m coming in smiling, bringing good energy,” he says. “And to just play Nuck and just be a standoff. uh isolated individual that hurts people when you choose to is crazy.”
And sometimes, the emotional toll spills over. That’s where therapy comes in.
Smith has been going to therapy for years. “I had to get therapy just to understand why I was angry so much,” he shares. “I lost my best friend and my little brother back to back—2016 and 2017. I was battling with anxiety. I was having real bad anxiety attacks, like feeling like my world was crashing in… I didn’t want to get diagnosed with medicine to calm my anxiety down. So I took the therapy route and it helped me out a lot.”
Smith’s advocacy for mental health, especially among Black men, is deeply personal. “I was born in a community that you just pray about it and then that’s it,” he says. “We don’t know how to actually channel our emotions and talk about it and unpack to heal from it.”
That perspective is driving Smith’s future work. He’s launching a men’s mental health foundation and diving into fashion through his new line, Eros Christian. “I’m big on fashion. I’m just leaving the fabric store after dropping my daughter off.,” he laughs.
As for what Black men can learn from Nuck? Smith doesn’t hesitate.
“Redemption,” he says. “It’s not about how you start—it’s about how you finish…You can start off one way and have a redemption story.”
The season finale of The Chi airs Friday on Paramount+. Check out the full interview.
Photo Credit: Antar Hanif / Showtime
