While the storylines may keep Sgt. Jay Landsman in the background, his surly demeanor and affection for porno magazines help him to steal most of the scenes he is in. Although entertaining, Delaney Williams, who plays Landsman on HBO's critically-acclaimed drama The Wire, wants you to know that he is quite different from the character you see on your television screen. To help you learn more about the man behind the magazine, he recently sat down and talked with us about himself, his character and the real Jay Landsman.

Where are you originally from and where do you call home now?
I'm originally from the Washington, DC area and I split my time now between New York and the DC-Baltimore area.

How did you get into acting? How old were you when you started and what made you decide this is what you wanted to do for a living?
It's one of the things my father did when I was about 12 or 13. My father did a little community theatre, I went with him just to find out what he was doing. I ended up auditioning for a small role - he ended up not getting a role in the show, but I ended up getting a role. I was hooked from there, I guess.

I did some things in high school and, of course, went to college for it for a couple of years. Then, while I held a day job for many years, I did a lot of stage work. I did mostly stage work for 20 years. Film and television started taking off for me in the last 10 years or so and has been the bulk of my work. But, I have been doing a show or two on stage a year.

What was it like starting out for you? Did you find it really tough to get roles or were you pretty lucky?
I worked fairly steadily on stage. It's difficult for any actor. It's not a career you would choose because the opportunities are enormous. If you are looking to make a lot of money and secure a future, you are probably not going to make this choice. You are going to make this choice because you love to do it.

Was there ever a point where you thought, "I don't want to do this?" or "Maybe I should do something else?"
Every day. Because you live through the struggles of trying to find a job everyday. I don't know if you've had the experience of looking for work and being rejected, but that comes with the territory. The hardest part is getting the job and you're always doing that. But, for the last 10 years or so, it's been fairly good, especially because of television and film.

You have a lot of experience working on David Simon projects. You appeared in an episode of Homicide and The Corner before being cast as Sgt. Jay Landsman on The Wire. What were those experiences like for you and did they lead the way for you getting cast on The Wire?
The Homicide job was just something that being in the DC-Baltimore area a lot of actors worked on the show. I don't believe I worked on a show that David wasn't involved with. Obviously, he wrote the book that the show was based on.

But The Corner and The Wire were connected. I was one of the people that was called in to read for a small role on The Corner and it turned out well enough that they wrote another scene in another episode of The Corner for the character. So I think they were pleased with my work on the show. And, of course, the miniseries did very well for HBO, so HBO picked up David's idea for The Wire.

They called me in specifically to read for that role. Bob Colesberry and David Simon remembered me from The Corner and brought me back in. It's actually kind of a funny story. I really tanked the audition, but I think afterwards I really begged and pleaded to do it again. By begging and pleading, I think they got what they wanted out of me. The audition process was an odd one, but it worked out well. The show is a great show and I'm glad to be on it.

How was the Jay Landsman character described to you initially? What kind of direction did they give you?
Absolutely none. There was no direction. It's partially there in the writing and I knew that a Jay Landsman existed. I hadn't met him until the end of the first season, actually. It's not really based on that person. But, there is a Jay Landsman and he worked for the Baltimore City Police Department and now he works in Baltimore County.

But, it was one of those things where I could see in the writing how I thought they wanted it to go, my audition took it there and then when we started working on the show, I didn't know it was going to recur as much as it did, but I think they were pleased with what I brought to the character. It worked out that the choices I made were something they were interested in having for the character. Of course, they've written to that since then. I think that's true for a lot of the character traits you'll see in Landsman's scenes throughout the four seasons.

Do you know why they decided to name the character after a real person?
I think it was a shout out, sort of an homage. It was a person that David had known when he followed the homicide unit for a year in Baltimore before writing the book Homicide: Life on the Street.

When you met the real Jay Landsman, what was his impression of the show and what was it like meeting him?
I think he liked the show a lot. It was kind of fun. We got a picture taken together and we've met several times since then. I think he enjoys the show a lot. It says a lot of the things he thought about working in the Baltimore City Police Department or any big city police department. He's a much smaller man than I am, so I think that was sort of a joke played by David Simon on him. Of course, I don't get the joke. (Laughs.)

One of your bigger moments on the show came during episode 28 in season three, when everyone gets together at Kavanagh's Irish Pub to honor the late Ray Cole. Can you talk about filming that scene and also, is that something that really happens in the police force?
My understanding is that it's a traditional thing. It may not happen exactly as depicted in the show. Our show is fiction, of course. But there are certain traditions that are carried on when someone passes away - just as in any tight-knit organization. It's beyond my knowledge, but apparently there are some traditions that are carried through by the detectives and the police department that are just their own.

As far as that particular episode and that particular scene, I was very proud and honored to get a chance to do it. Ray Cole was played by Bob Colesberry, our executive producer. He was extraordinarily important to our show and a decent human being and I think he pulled our show together the first couple of years. The creative forces that David Simon brought to it were very important to it, but Bob was the guy that made it good television and good art. It was very sad when he passed. And it was absolutely my honor to honor him in that way. I'm glad we got the chance to do it. The scene kind of steps out of the show a little bit, just a little bit, but it ties back in to that part of the story. It was kind of an emotional and moving day. It took us many, many hours to shoot that. I think I recited the eulogy probably 50 or 60 times. It was a long, hard day, but well worth it.

And, of course, we just recently had an episode air where Col. Forester passes away and we had a similar wake for him. I had a smaller speech in the squadroom about him and that was also kind of a sad day for us because the actual actor, Richard DeSantis, passed away. That was the basis for doing that in the series. Richard was a really, really good guy and a good actor.

Do you think those episodes are cathartic for the cast to get to do?
I think a little bit. I know definitely for me they were. The cast is so broad and wide that it doesn't affect everyone the same way, I guess, but certainly for me they were chances to say in public "Goodbye to our friend."