Bravely serving as one half of the summer movie season’s riskiest pairing, this 24-year-old actor and stand-up comic stars opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Tropic Thunder. That Downey — playing one of a group of pampered actors who get caught in a real-life conflict while filming a Vietnam movie — appears in blackface makes Jackson’s task especially tricky, but their onscreen friction definitely juices up Ben Stiller’s action comedy. It’s a breakthrough part for the Detroit native, whose previous credits include playing best friend to Bow Wow in the roller skating comedy Roll Bounce and hosting and producing the Teens of Comedy tour. He spoke with EYE WEEKLY during a local stop after a Just for Laughs appearance in Montreal.

So how’d you earn your spot alongside so many comedy heavyweights?
I must have auditioned 30 times — I can’t even remember how many. At first I didn’t get the role. I got so down watching the gas prices go up and looking at the Ramen noodles I was gonna have to buy. Then Ben Stiller called and said the other actor wasn’t what they expected or wanted for the role and I was the right one. They thought I was too young at first. It was a pleasure to know they felt I could hang with the big dogs and bring some hipness to the movie, too. I couldn’t wait to learn from these guys — this is my comedy grad school.

What was your reaction when you first heard about the “pigmentation procedure” that Robert Downey Jr.’s character undergoes?
I thought, “How are they going to do this?” Then when I saw Robert perform on set, I thought, “OK… he’s a black man — really, a black man.” Robert stayed in character the whole time and that amazed me, shocked me and almost offended me. At the same time, it helped bring more out of me. We’d be on set and Robert would keep going even after Ben yelled “cut.” Robert would be going, “So I’m gonna go back to my trailer and get some chicken with barbecue sauce — gonna get me something to eat!” One time, he showed up late to the set and he was like, “You know how we always late!” I’m like, it’s funny… but he was really taking it to the next level.

You play a rapper-turned-actor named Alpa Chino. Which real-life MCs were you basing the character on?
Ludacris, Nelly, Lil Wayne — I just took all of them and thought about what I could do that would be really over the top.

It’s a funny part because it really demonstrates how rappers can get trapped in these personas and not know how to play anything else, or even be themselves.
Exactly. That’s why I think 50 Cent is getting rid of his tattoos just to do more movies now. They really want to take it seriously, which I think is cool. As an actor, I always take it seriously. Actors don’t have that problem because we don’t have just one character to play. But it happens with stand-up comics, too — people think they’re only that person who they are on stage and can’t be another character.

Yet the guy in the movie who most wants to be Alpa Chino is actually the producer played by Tom Cruise. Is it true you taught him those dance moves?
Ben wanted me to come to the set on my day off and teach Tom some cool dances. In the script, it said there was a dance called the G5 that he does. So I gave him a few moves and he took it from there and did his own thing. He had his own groove. His character can’t be too cool with it so it was funny to see him try to be cool anyway.