In the true-life inspirational about local hero Jim Ellis and his creation of an inner-city swim team in Nicetown, Mac delivers a characterization as vital to the film as Terrence Howard's lead. Where the comedian's stage act is in-your-face, his film work is more subdued, more in-your-heart.
"Comedians are great actors," he contends, "because of their imaginations. They know how to go into character and hold the audience's attention," he says, punctuating his words with those eyes that have never conceded a stare fight.
Dapper in denim - call it a millennium version of a leisure suit - and custom-made alligator boots, Mac is considerably slimmer than he looked on his eponymous Fox sitcom. Truth be told, the guy famous for playing the grumpus with the moral compass in hit movies like Guess Who and Mr. 3000 looks considerably happier, too.
If the entertainer, who is 49, is swelling with Pride, it's because he knows firsthand how a community center can make a difference. Mac is a veteran of Chicago's South Central Community Center.
"I was in charge of athletic programs and, like Jim Ellis, worked to get funds for kids who were single-parented." He knows the experience of "planting the seeds of hope, of giving them sun."
Mac is the product of a single parent, Mary, who died of cancer when he was 16. Like pearls in his vest pocket, he carries Mary's maxims close to his heart. He calls them "Mac-isms," and flashes a few to give a sense of what got him through the tough times, the lean years of driving UPS trucks and delivering bread:
How you start is how you finish.
Believe in something or believe in nothing at all.
Sometimes when you win, you lose; sometimes when you lose, you win.
To keep from crying, Mac made people laugh.
