‘Orange Is the New Black’ star Michael Harney on playing ‘bad’ guys but keeping God close

From over at Fox411 (Fox News) on Facebook comes an encouraging interview with the actor Michael Harney:

By Sasha BogurskyPublished September 24, 2014FoxNews.com

Actor Michael Harney plays prison counselor Sam Healy in “Orange Is the New Black.” (Bryony Shermur)

Michael Harney is best known for his roles on “Deadwood” as the drunkard Steve Fields and Det. Mike Roberts on “NYPD Blue.” He now stars in “Orange Is the New Black” on Netflix as corrections officer Sam Healy.

The veteran actor has often portrayed questionable characters with checkered pasts, drawing from his own personal life experiences as a self-described “hellraiser” in his early years.

“Quite frankly, I’m f***ed up, everybody is. Part of what I do in creating these characters is to unveil that,” Harney told FOX411. “Even when I do roles that are really profoundly abusive like I would say in ‘Deadwood’ — there’s a guy who’s a breeding ground for ignorance and hurtful behavior — the fact that people are so taken aback by that is a good thing because they’re looking at themselves and there’s a part of me in there too. I don’t want stuff that’s compromising to me as a person but as long as it has a pathway to redemption and has meaning, there’s something solid in that in terms of the way I experience it.”

The Bronx, New York native had a long path to his own redemption, he said. Harney admitted spending most of his first twenty years “getting loaded at bars” and “doing drugs.” It wasn’t until a fated ride on the Long Island Railroad to his maintenance job at the World Trade Center did he finally realize it wasn’t a high he was chasing, rather it was God.

“I was a pretty wild kid and I probably lived 48 years in my first 20,” he recalled. “But I always seemed to have a true line of faith for some reason. I would get loaded and start talking about the Lord in bars.

“I remember going on the train to work and I was reading the St. Francis prayer and it was then that I realized my compulsion to drink and get loaded was gone,” said. “That was a real benchmark experience for me in terms of my faith … CLICK HERE to continue reading

Here is segment of an extended interview I had with Michael earlier this year over at the IN Network: