Ghostbusters star Ernie Hudson made it to Toronto before the massive snowstorm hit this week, although catching the flight from Los Angeles proved more of an adventure than he expected.
“My goodness,” he says with a chuckle. “The driver was just dashing. He got stuck in traffic. He ran two red lights.”
Settled in Toronto and a little shocked by the cold weather – even though he was born and raised in Michigan – the 79-year-old actor received the 2025 Career Achievement Award at the Toronto Black Film Festival on Feb. 12.
“Part of the problem that has always been an issue with being Black in the film industry is we all tend to, over the past years, work as lone wolves, so to speak. We find little entryways on our own, and it’s very hard to pass that on to future generations,” Hudson says. “I can’t even explain to someone how I managed to survive in this industry. I don’t even know how I got to this place. So, I’m hoping that with this film festival, and with other festivals, and with the programs they’re trying to set up for Black Canadians, that this is a way that they can network.”
Hudson has spent 60 years in the film and television world and his credits are long and impressive, including: on TV, Modern Family, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Law & Order, LA’s Finest, Twin Peaks, Scandal, Blue Bloods, Grey’s Anatomy, and Ballers; and in film, Ghostbusters (all five), The Crow, Miss Congeniality one and two, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Congo.
He also stars and executive produces the TV drama The Family Business, in its fifth season, co-starred in the Quantum Leap reboot for two seasons and, this spring, returns as Dr. Winston Zeddemore for the latest Ghostbusters film, Frozen Empire.
And, of course, the actor also went viral last year while posing with the Frozen Empire cast, impressing fans with what fantastic shape he’s in – not just for a man in his late 70s, but for a man of any age.
Hudson spoke to Zoomer about the TBFF honour, why Ghostbusters still appeals to fans of all-ages, how on Earth he looks so good at almost 80 years old and what he plans to do to celebrate the big milestone.
KAREN BLISS: This Career Achievement award doesn’t just celebrate the incredible body of work that you’ve created over 60 years, but you are receiving it from your Black community. What does that mean to you?
ERNIE HUDSON: It’s a real honour. It was unexpected, but very nice. You know, I’ve been doing this for a while, and my thing is to just do the work and let it fall wherever it may; hopefully, someone will notice, and you’ll keep working.
But, to get this in Black History Month, especially during a time when all the attention on DEI and a lot of the things that we’ve worked so hard to establish are now being threatened, it’s especially nice to see the community acknowledge me because I haven’t done a lot of the quote-unquote Black films over my career. I haven’t worked with a lot of the Black directors or filmmakers, but I’ve always hoped to set a precedent, a standard, and certainly to do work good enough that it would make it easier for the next person to come along.
And this Black History Month, to receive this is just very special. And I’m very impressed with the Toronto Black Film Festival because not only did the people set it up to be a place to exhibit films, but they also are creating programs to allow people access into the industry. It’s very hard when so many things have been set up to keep us from ever participating.
KB: You’ve had such a varied career and so many different roles. Was there a time when you were only being offered cliché, typecast roles for a Black man by the predominantly white industry?
EH: Yeah, when I started out, my head was shaved, and I was physically fit, and so that meant I was going to be the bodyguard or whatever. And you really worked very hard to not do many of those roles or find another way. The thing that [I] really felt always was God or the universe that would guide me. But [I] also really trusted [my] training, so that when the opportunity came that I really was prepared to step into that. So when I would get an audition, I’d go into a room convinced that I’m going to show them something that no one else is going to be able to come in here and do. Just based on that alone, a lot of jobs that I really feel that they had no intention sometimes of hiring someone Black, I was able to turn things around.
KB: Many Zoomer readers have kids, grandkids and perhaps great grandkids. Ghostbusters is a franchise they can all watch together. Why do you think it has that appeal?
EH: I have two sons who are now in their fifties and I have two sons who are in their thirties and I have five grandchildren, who’ve all seen it, and then I have three great-grandchildren who’ve seen it. The movie is one of those rare films that crosses generations. It’s the kind of film that you can enjoy and you can also share it with your little children. Little children love Ghostbusters. I’ve seen the movie in theatres, where there are great-grandparents in their eighties laughing at the film and their three-year-old great-grandchildren next to them laughing at the film. I think that’s very unique. And also, I think it touches on that primal fear we all have about what happens when the lights go out, what’s in the closet, what’s under the bed, and those fears of ghosts and deaths and all those things that we don’t normally talk about. But it gave us a chance to laugh and be brave in the face of it.
KB: You had a photo of you go viral last year because of how great you look. I watched a video you did for Men’s Health at your home, showing what’s in your fridge and your workout routine. You’ve been healthy your whole life, but is there’s any hope for someone that hasn’t exercised properly since their 20s?
EH: Well, I’ve been healthy, but I’ve never really been a gym rat. I’ve never really done a lot of exercising. More since I turned 70, which is now almost 10 years, is when I finally realized, “Okay, I have to now maintain.” But, more importantly, we like to think that we can avoid things that we know we need to do, that we can somehow get away with it. Even though they’ll say, for example, “You should walk 10,000 steps a day,” most people go, “Well, I can walk 3000 or whatever.” So, we try to negotiate, avoiding doing the things that we know we need to do. What I’ve tried to do over my life – and also to set an example for my children – is just do the things that you need to do.
KB: Can you see progress when you start working out when you’re in your 60s or 70s? Can you build muscle and get rid of that gut?
EH: Yeah. Well, you won’t probably get a sixpack. I joke a lot about “Mr. Jiggles came to live in my stomach.” But, yeah, you can slim it down. We’re not going to be 21 and I’m not going to be Mr. Atlas. But keeping your form is really important. There are things we can do to mitigate it. But we are getting older. There’s a, what I would say, expiration date. But in the meantime, we don’t have to deal with the obesity. We don’t have to deal with a lot of issues. I have friends who will sit down after dinner and not move until bedtime. We avoid any kind of movement. And I say, it’s the little stuff – just find a way to move, find a way to engage.
You can’t sit for a week and then want to run a marathon. It just doesn’t work like that.
But you can build up to it with intention. Have the intention about how you want to live your life. I used to tell my [late] brother, dying isn’t the worst thing that can happen to us. We don’t want to spend our later years, if we can help it, incapacitated, having someone else to help us with big functions. So, if there are things we can do that really doesn’t cost, now’s the time to start whatever stage you are because the body will definitely meet you in terms of just improvement, whatever you can improve just a little bit. If you can only walk a few steps, you can stretch. We have to be purposeful in saying I want to live. One thing’s for sure, you’re only going to get this one body.
KB: You’re turning 80 at the end of this year. How are you celebrating? Is there something you always wanted to do?
EH: Well, my biggest fear, I think, is giving parties. I’ve never given a party. I had friends give me a party when I was very young and no one showed up. I just can’t bear that. But what I realized, I have my children, my grandchildren, my great grandchildren over at different times, because they all live in different places. But this year, for my 80th birthday, I want to take a little vacation with all of my descendants and their mates and have some time together. I’ve never done that because I’ve been working so much. But that’s my big thing. And now I’m starting to plan that because, obviously, it’s coming up.
The Toronto Black Film Festival runs until February 17. Visit their website for details and film information.
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