Dourdan, Harper Backstage At The NAACP Awards

Tina Marie TV, with the help of MSN, had the opportunity to sit down with Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown) and Hill Harper (Dr. Sheldon Hawkes) at the NAACP Image Awards, where the actors talked about the honor of being involved in the ceremony.

"You walk into a room like this, with all these beautiful, powerful people, you know, inspirational people, and you have another sense of hope," Dourdan told Tina Marie TV backstage at the NAACP Image Awards.

The awards honor the work of African American artists on the television, movies, and music industries. The 36th annual NAACP Image Awards took place earlier this month, and aired March 25th on Fox. Khandi Alexander (Alexx Woods) wasn't interviewed, but the actress walked away with an Outstanding Supporting Actress win for her work on CSI: Miami. Though Dourdan lost this year to Kevin Hill's Taye Diggs, in this case, the actor insists it really is just about being nominated.

"It's a great honor because of the fellow actors that I was nominated with, they're all friends of mine. Good friends," said Dourdan. "And we've known each other for years, we've been in auditions together. So, you know, at that point it doesn't matter anymore, who wins, because you're happy for your friends, you know, and you push each other up. And that's what it means at this award show. [..] There's no competition."

Hill Harper agreed, and added his praise towards the lack of materialism at the show. "It's not an award show that's celebrating just album sales or popularity. It's about the image of African Americans and the image that we, as entertainers, put out. And so it's a celebration of that image, a celebration of what we do to help support a positive image of African Americans. So I couldn't be more proud to be here."

Harper is also proud to portray such a strong African American figure as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes, and revels in the chance to inspire young African American audiences across the country. "It's wonderful to play a character who's educated, who's articulate... he's probably the most intelligent character on the show," he said. "And it's wonderful to represent that image, to represent positively, to represent education, because I think our young people, particularly black and brown children, need to know about the benefits of education, they need to understand and see those images."

As for where CSI and CSI: New York will take Warrick and Hawkes this season, the actors remained silent. "Nope, no," teased Dourdan. "You have to watch."

To view the videos, visit the Image Awards section at the official MSN webpage.

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