Although Lucas Neff’s acting career began by accident, the success and recognition he is receiving as Jimmy Chance on the Fox comedy series Raising Hope, is a sweet reward from his hard work. In our recent interview with the newly engaged Neff, he shared his growth as an actor, and hopes of becoming a dad, someday.
JIMMY AND HOPE TRY TO MAKE NEW FRIENDS ON AN ALL-NEW “RAISING HOPE”
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, ON FOX
Tichina Arnold (“Everybody Hates Chris”) Guest-Stars
Jimmy hasn’t had any time to socialize or make friends since Hope was born, so when he meets another single dad at the grocery store, he immediately sets up a play date. But when Jimmy finds out that Virginia is his new friend’s housekeeper, Virginia insists that Jimmy cancel the outing. In an effort to keep the peace, Jimmy and his friend arrange a dinner at the Chance house in the all-new “Romeo and Romeo” episode of RAISING HOPE airing Tuesday, Feb. 8 (9:01-9:30 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
Are you planning on becoming a dad anytime soon? If you so, do you think you’ll be a way better dad than Jimmy is?
Luca Neff: Soon enough. I’d love to have kids. I think I can wait a few more years, but yes, I hope I’m a more educated father than Jimmy is, but I would hope—I don’t know that anybody can love their kids more than he does, so I hope that I love them as much. I hope that I’m just a little bit better prepared.
Babies like adults are—they’re very individual. So, I can’t really tell you what working with babies is like, but I can tell you what working with these babies is like. They’re great. They’re really, really personable. They’re really social. I think they’re in a really good community of people on set. Certainly, everybody in the crew and cast really adores these two little girls. We look out for them. They’re a lot of fun to work with.
How are you enjoying the success of the show so far?
Lucas Neff: Oh, yes. Are you kidding me? It’s way better to be in a successful show than on a cancelled one. I love it. I hope I get to do it for a long time. The scripts are still incredibly funny, which I couldn’t imagine having to write 22 episodes and hundreds upon hundreds of pages of jokes that these guys write. It’s just a blast. I’m having a great time. I really think it’s a tribute to how great the ensemble of funny people are in the room because I certainly benefit greatly from being around all these other funny people. It’s nice to be able to afford to go out to dinner. It’s nice to be able to buy new socks. I just like to get to work with the people I get to work with. If it wasn’t TV, if it was all just us hanging out, putting a play together, I’d still want to work with the same people and do the same thing. So, I think that’s the best part of it is I’m so lucky that I really, really enjoy what I’m actually doing. And it hasn’t changed my life too much, other than that I am not desperately poor anymore. It remains to be seen. We have a whole other season to look forward to, so I’m excited to see what that will mean for my life as well.
How much have you grown as an actor since the initial episode?
Lucas Neff: I mean, it’s hard to objectively quantify your own performance. It’s certainly something I would never want to do, but you certainly get more comfortable with people and with a job the longer you continue to do it. Yes, there’s a symbiotic evolution that happens. Hopefully, that is happening for me. I’d love to—I try to encourage myself that whatever job I’m doing, I’d like to be a little bit better every day that I come into the office because I don’t think there is such a thing as perfection. Wherever I am as an actor, I always think there’s room for improvement. So, I try to just come in with my head up and try to pick up as much as I can and be a little bit better every day. I’ve got a great group of people to help me towards that goal.