Audiences are used to seeing Bernie Mac in comedies, yet the actor's equally adept at dramatic roles. Mac gets serious in Pride, playing a custodian who helps schoolteacher/swim coach Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard) - the real founder of the P.D.R. (Philadelphia Department of Recreation) Swim Team - save their recreation center from destruction.

Howard had high praise for his Pride co-star. "See, that’s the thing, to have that comical wit, it means you must be smarter that everyone else around you," explained Howard.

"He understands the dramatic pauses and that’s the beautiful thing about him. You don’t know if he’s playing or if he’s dead serious about what he’s doing, and he can make light of a heavy situation."

Tackling a Dramatic Role: Bernie Mac says that dramatic is easy. “A lot of people don't know I started dramatic. Comedy is something you all know I can do. I've introduced myself with comedy and once you've introduced yourself as something, that's where people keep you. That’s where people like to hold you. But Miss Hunter in 4th grade started me in drama. That's where I first started doing plays. I took a page out of my Big Mama and my mother's notebook. ‘Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,’ so that works in my favor. When you all see me in that light or an individual in that light, I love to hear you all say, ‘Wow, I didn't know he could do that.’

For actors and stuff, ballplayers, they sometimes when they want to do other things and the media or the critics don't let them, they get frustrated.

You shouldn't get frustrated because that goes with the territory. For example, it's an honor when people see you and without you saying a word just start laughing and smiling. One person I know had that, and that was Richard Pryor. And Richard Pryor in Lady Sings the Blues did an excellent job. Every time he came on the screen, everybody was laughing. He was tight afterwards. “Man, I did good. I wasn't trying to be funny and I learned from that.’ I remember when he said that and I said, ‘Don't get mad, Richard. They love you.’ You know what I'm saying? That's a compliment. I realize the frustration on people's parts when they want to do something outside of what everybody else sees them. All you do as a performer is keep doing it.

Drama is something I can do, man. I got chops, but you just have to always, always, every time you get the opportunity, that's what this life is. Life ain’t no dress rehearsal, you know? Every time every time that light comes on or every time that camera comes on, every time that microphone comes on the Mac Man seek and destroy.”

Getting Into 'Elston' - His Character in Pride: Elston is a combination of real people Mac knew while growing up. ”I came up in the community center. I used to be physical director of the South Central Community Center in Chicago on 83rd. It's still there. …I grew up in the gym. I was a gym rat and I had Mr. Hill, Mr. Butler, Mr. Stevens those were Elston's. Those were the guys that were in my head, besides my mother and my grandmother. Those were the individuals that were in my head, pushing. They were my counselors, my guidance teachers, my lawyers... They defended me, they sat and talked to my parents and told them how and what I was doing, how I was improving. My boxing [coach] Mr. Hill, when I was boxing and stuff, those were Elston's. So having experience as a physical director dealing with the black kids, dealing with the single home mostly female parents, and trying to get sponsors to help sponsor the kids.

The kids don't like swimming…the black kids don't like swimming. Golf, tennis, track, gymnastics because those sports are put on the back burner, plus in my day they were sissy sports. Black kids, the minority kids, feel there is no instant financial gain in those sports. But those are the hardest working, dedicated, focused sports. Look at the build on a swimmer; look at the build on a gymnast. They have the best build in the world. It takes every muscle in your doggone body to swim. And water - you're dealing with an element that is so underrated. Water, man like Bruce Lee said it's as strong as a mammal. Water is underestimated. Water puts out fire. Water sterilizes. Water drowns, water tears brick, and swimming is something that you know a lot of people just don't know. I got introduced into swimming by watching [Lloyd] Bridges in the Sea Hunt.

I swam all my life and boxing and sports. I never ran track and I never played tennis but volleyball… I played volleyball, baseball, basketball, football. I kept chalk in my pocket. We used to play strike out. People used to holler at me, ‘Bernie Mac, don't write on my wall!’ ‘I'm not going to write on your wall.’ But I would draw that square on the wall. The playground used to be filled when I was coming up. Playgrounds are so empty now, but my point is those sports are put on the back burner. I think those sports should be forced in the schools. We had to swim naked in high school because it was unsanitary to swim with trunks. Class after class you couldn't wear swim trunks, so we had to swim naked. That's where that line came from. We had to swim naked.”

Going Off the Script: Mac says only occasionally would he throw in his own line or two. “I only ad-libbed when Sunu [Gonera] told me to ‘Bernie Mac’ it. I try to do and stay [on script]. I'm very disciplined and I'm a fan of respect. Sunu, a first time director, I didn't want to go all off the page and everything. But when Sunu instructed me, he said, ‘Bernie, I need something right there. Give me Bernie Mac, you know?’ That’s when I did. We took a take the way Sunu wanted it and Sunu, if he had a note for me, I did what Sunu's note described to me. And then when [he said to] ‘Bernie Mac’, I put the Mac Man on it.”