Ice-T began his career as an underground rapper in the 1980s and released his debut album Rhyme Pays. The following year, he released another album, Power, which would go platinum. He’s also released several other records that went gold. In 1990, Ice-T co-founded the heavy metal band Body Count, releasing its self-titled debut album in 1992.

As an actor, he starred as police detective Scotty Appleton in New Jack City (1991) opposite Wesley Snipes and Chris Rock. In 1994, he appeared in the action-adventure film Surviving the Game and continued to appear in small roles in television and other films throughout the 1990s. Since 2000, he has portrayed NYPD Detective/Sergeant Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

One of Ice-T’s latest projects involve being the brand advocate for My Legacy Voice, a new platform from VoCapsule, LLC, that offers voice banking and legacy management. My Legacy Voice is a new service that captures and protects a speaker’s voice until a designated recipient wants to access a replica – a clone – made with AI technology.

In an exclusive interview with Smashing Interviews Magazine, "Law & Order: SVU" star Ice-T discusses his love for his departing longtime costar Kelli Giddish and offers her encouragement for her future:

Smashing Interviews Magazine: Kelli Giddish’s last episode airs December 8. Anything else you can say about this season?

Ice-T: No, not really because we don’t know. We know Kelli is leaving. She’s doing nine episodes. Don’t ask me why. It’s like they just stack the deck. This is how you keep a show on. They just say, “Hey, we want to put new people in and move some things around." But I love Kelli. We worked together for 10 years solid. I told her to go get an Oscar. Go do something else. One thing about acting is every actor doesn’t get into it to play the same character for the rest of their life. One thing about acting is you get to do this, you get to do a period piece or whatever. That’s the fun thing about that job.

I don’t have a problem staying on the show because I’ve already had a career. I’ve already maxed out music. I’ve had a 20-year rap career. You know what I’m saying? So to get into this, I’m comfortable. I’ve done a lot of movies. I’m not that person that feels like, “Oh, I’m missing something by doing this. But we’ll see. I don’t know what’s happening in the next script until I get it. I’m just going for the ride. There’s a theory that we know what’s happening. No, we don’t.

© 2022 Smashing Interviews Magazine. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written consent of the publisher.

About the authors:

Marc Parker is an American journalist, author, artist, a photographer and a computer scientist. He is the founder/publisher/editor-in-chief of Smashing Interviews Magazine. Marc Parker's social media: Twitter Facebook

Melissa Benefield Parker is an American journalist and author. She is the founder/publisher of Smashing Interviews Magazine. Melissa Benefield Parker's social media: Twitter Facebook