Q&A: Combs pursues new career "like any aspiring actor"

By Melissa Grego

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Entertainer and entrepreneur Sean Combs, who starred in the ABC telepic and Broadway revival of "A Raisin in the Sun," now spends 15 to 20 days every month in Los Angeles pursuing his acting career.

In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he addressed the hubbub about his ever-changing aliases (nope, not going back to "Puff Daddy"), why recording music is on hold for now and the acting roles he is going after next.

The Hollywood Reporter: Did you change your name?

Sean Combs: No, no. See, the evolution of my name has really just been many sides of me. One of the things about being an artist is you have different personalities that you channel artistically, and my name changes have been just fun. It hasn't been anything serious.

It's just saying things growing up in the neighborhood, and different people call you nicknames. But then you're famous and things get blown out of proportion.

It has been a description of how I've evolved. Right now my focus has been on myself as an actor, and I've preserved the right of using my birth name from my mother, my most vulnerable name, to go by as an actor. So when you go see my movies you won't see P. Diddy. You'll see Sean Combs. That would be the honest representation of who I am.

THR: Do you see the potential for another nickname?

Combs: Anything is possible. I wake up in the morning and I just go with the flow. I just make the best of it, and I'm just having fun. But at the same time it's a very serious time for me because I'm evolving as an artist, I'm evolving as a person.

I don't want to stop. I've had a great career and a huge amount of success and I want to keep on going; I want to do things that people don't expect me to do. I want to surprise people, I want to keep on entertaining, and I think the best way to do that is through the art of storytelling and exploring different characters.

THR: What roles are you considering to follow "A Raisin in the Sun"?

Combs: I'm spending a lot of time on developing something really tailor-made for where I want to go, which is more of a modern action, almost a more realistic, black Bruce Willis/"Bourne Identity"/Quentin Tarantino. I want to do something where people take a ride with me. Like, if you were going to hang out with me for 48 hours, you have no idea what would happen. On a more serious note, I've always had a dream to play Miles Davis. There's a script that's out there that doesn't have me playing him in the typical way.

THR: You said this spring you intended to go back to the studio and record. Are you recording?

Combs: I haven't started recording yet. I need to be settled to record music. Right now my focus has been reading scripts and taking meetings and just introducing myself to people. There's an obstacle that I have that people just believe what they see, maybe online or in a publication, and so it's important for me to sit down with people so they can understand my motivation and how serious I am.

Whatever the process is, whatever the obstacles I have in front of me I have no problem tackling. I'm putting in the work. Really it may sound really crazy, but it's just like any other aspiring actor.

THR: How and why did you decide to make "A Raisin in the Sun" your first leading role?