LL Cool J Credits Navy SEALs With Teaching Him Quiet Confidence

LL Cool J says the real Navy SEALs he met while getting ready to play Sam Hanna taught him a clear lesson. Great skill does not always come with noise.

The rapper and actor has played a former SEAL for years on NCIS. He told Military.com that the service members he met were “extremely humble.” Yet they were also among the most dangerous people he had met.

His point was not about fear. It was about the space between what those men could do and how little they felt a need to show off.

That lesson fits the Sam Hanna now leading CBS’ NCIS: New York. Skydance’s guide to the new show says Hanna comes home after years of covert work. The death of a friend pulls him into a case with a new team. It also makes him face a city that has changed since he left.

LL Cool J’s respect for the people behind the role goes back many years. In a 2011 CBS interview, he said he went to Camp Pendleton. He spent time with Marines, sailors and special-ops troops.

“These are people that put their lives on the line every day,” he said.

That work gave him more than tips on how to move or hold a weapon. It gave him a model for Hanna’s calm and self-control. Hanna can face grave risk without turning every room into a stage.

That lines up with the quiet strength LL Cool J says he saw up close.

The actor is also still finding new sides of Hanna. The series moves him from Los Angeles back to New York.

Both the star and the role have roots there. CBS has sold the show as a new chapter, not just more of the same. The move lets fans see a man who knows his job but must learn his home again.

It is a busy time for LL Cool J. He also has his first Las Vegas run on the way and still finds time for live shows. But his latest note goes back to the base of his TV work.

Watch the people who do the job. Listen to how they carry their power. Then let that truth shape the role.