Columbus Short & Scandal: MyBrownBaby’s Latest Obsession Is Hot and Green

Deep sigh. As if there wasn’t already enough reasons for me to stan for Columbus Short, he of Stomp the Yard fame who stars alongside Kerry Washington in the new hit Shonda Rhimes show, Scandal (my new most favoritest show in the world): now I find out that he’s a married father of two young children, geeked about being a role model for the young ‘uns and… wait for it… a thoughtful environmentalist.

Short told Mother Nature Network he’s super conscious about the products he uses in his home, so much so that his personal care items consist mostly of “hemp products—lotion and shampoo and detergents—and biodegradable plates and cups.” Even his son is in on his family’s eco-friendly lifestyle, Short adds; the 8-year-old boy goes to an eco-conscious school that teaches kids all about the environment—lessons that have made the younger Short want to “change the world.”

“We’re trying to do as much as we can,” Short told MNN about his push to be environmentally conscious. “We need everybody doing it.”

I promise you, this man is going to mess around and take Idris Elba’s throne on the MyBrownBaby Hot Actors Who Make Us Fan Ourselves Just By Waking Up In the Morning List. (Sorry, Nick Chiles. You still The Kang, baby.) But Columbus Short isn’t just beautiful; he’s quite the talent. If you haven’t checked him out yet on Scandal, you’re totally blowing your Thursday nights. The ABC series, about a crisis management firm in Washington, D.C., is addictive—insanely smart and face-paced, with a juicy plot line that’ll make you mad the show is only an hour long and comes on only once a week. Short plays Harrison Wright,  a slick-suited go-getter with enough intelligence, wit and charm to, as Short puts it, “sell an Eskimo ice.” Indeed.

Short told BET he loves Scandal’s ability to show “people of strength, people you can look up to,” and added that while he used to consider being a role model a “daunting burden” he didn’t want to carry, he’s now proud to be a guy kids can look up to. “I didn’t want to be accountable to people that might look up to me. But now, having a son and a daughter, I feel a responsibility to younger people, especially our people,” said Short, who, in addition to his 8-year-old son, has an infant daughter with wife, Tanee. “Being an example at home first is important. Then going outward into the community.”

Don’t sleep on Columbus Short; while it was his body and dance moves that got him on my radar, he did a helluva job channelling sexy, badass Little Walter in Cadillac Records opposite Jeffrey Wright, Gabrielle Union and Beyonce. And there’s just something about his bravado and wit in Scandal that shows he’s grown as an actor in ways that all-too-many black thespians can’t because of limited roles and lesser opportunities. Watch Scandal and see just what I mean. And try not to drool all over my… I mean, Tanee’s eco-conscious man.

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