Ari Stidham and his character Sylvester Dodd's lives paralleled each other during the first season of "Scorpion" (as much as an actor and certified genius can). Both were 22 years old when the show began and started to realize their full potential in their chosen professions.
"It's been a transition from late teenage misfit to like guy with a job," Stidham described his first year on the hit CBS drama to Headlines & Global News in an exclusive interview.
Sylvester is referred to as a human calculator. He's part of the super genius team assembled by Walter O'Brien (Elyes Gabel) and recruited by a Homeland Security agent (Robert Patrick) to help thwart complicated threats in the modern world. The show found quick success and CBS gave it an early season two renewal.
"There's no getting around our show being a procedural. You see how well they do and figuring out a new way to use that format that we know works that's where ['Scorpion' creator] Nick Santora comes in with the list story of Walter O'Brien. He builds this team that's based on all of the things that Walter has done, but he's concocted this ace team of misfits that saves the day each and every time."
"I was doing this stunt and I hurt myself. I tweaked my knee a little bit. I'm unsure how it's going to affect my work for the rest of the season. I'm sure it will be fine," Stidham said. "It is an injury but it's not life-threatening. I am walking around. I'm not immobile."
His other creative endeavors require a little less physical danger. Stidham is a musician and had his single "Wonderbread" featured on last season's episode, "Forget Me Nots." He also co-created a radio play podcast called "Dick Duquesne: Tales of a Private Dick" with his friend Zach Green.
"We've kind of taken the independent comedy theater route with it," Stidham said about reviving an older art form. "If you want to be creative, you can go anywhere with a radio play. You can do sci-fi, you do a western, you can do anything you want because you don't need to pay for locations to shoot."
The first three episodes are available at soundcloud.com/dickduquesne.
Catch Sylvester and the rest of "Scorpion" gang back in action tonight, Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. on CBS.
