‘Accused’: Ian Anthony Dale Talks Importance of Family & His ‘Emotionally Complex Character’

“Jiro’s Story” is one of family.

Ian Anthony Dale guest stars in the April 4 episode of Accused as a son, brother, husband, and father. After his mother, who took care of his brother Sam (Takashi Yamaguchi) since a car accident left him with a traumatic brain jury, passes away, Jiro is left with an important decision. When it appears Sam is being abused in his new group home, will his brother choose him or his freedom?

Dale previews the emotional story.

This episode was so heartbreaking, and you were so good in it.

Ian Anthony Dale: That’s very sweet of you to say, thank you. It was a special, special experience, and I got a chance to take a sneak peek of the episode myself and I was so pleased to see all that we were feeling and experiencing while making it translated onto screen.

What did you know about your character before you got the script, and then what was your reaction once you did read the script?

I had heard a little bit about the new anthology series Accused that Howard [Gordon] was adapting based on the BBC BAFTA-winning crime anthology of the same name, and so there was some chatter about it. When I first found out that there was interest in me to play Jiro in “Jiro’s Story,” I was immediately excited. And then, obviously, when I got the script, I was so moved, as were you, by just the beautiful nature of this particular story. [It] has such a strong theme of family, and having four siblings of my own and two young children, it immediately felt like something I could relate to.

And one of the other very important things that stood out to me was I did a little research on the writer of the original script for this episode, Karl Taro Greenfeld. And he happens to be half Japanese, Japanese American. That is my heritage as well. And so, having done this for 21 years, rarely do you open up a script where the title character and the writer of the story has shared a very similar journey through life, at least culturally speaking, as you, and so there were so many things about the point of view of this story that I sort of instinctually connected with. I was delighted to be given this opportunity to play such an emotionally complex character in such a beautiful story.

You mentioned family, which is so important to this episode, and you really feel it with all of Jiro’s family dynamics, whether it’s with his mother and brother or with his wife (Julia Chan) and kids.

The episode really centers around Jiro and his brother, and his family. Sam and Jiro’s mother was Sam’s caretaker for Sam’s entire childhood and adult life after a car accident left him with a traumatic brain injury. And as we start the episode, Sam and Jiro’s mother passes away, and Jiro is left with an impossible decision and moral dilemma of whether or not he should take over for the care that his mother was selflessly providing for so many years or place more importance on his own family and having the bandwidth and time to care for them and put his brother into an assisted care facility.

Elly Dassas/FOX

We get to see how that decision leads to certain unfortunate events where it appears that Sam is then being abused in his care facility and what lengths Jiro must take in order to ensure his brother and his family’s safety. As you can hear through my sampling of the episode, it really does center around family and the importance of protecting and caring for the ones that you hold most near and dear to your heart.

Speaking of that, how far is Jiro willing to go to help his brother, and what does that do to his relationship with his wife as a result?

One of the things that drew me to the Jiro character was just how complex he is. When we meet him and throughout the episode, we start to understand what’s driving him, and a lot of what’s driving him is the guilt he holds onto of what could have been. In the car accident that they were both in, he could have been the one that ended up with the traumatic brain injury and needing the care that his brother Sam needed. Because he wasn’t, he doesn’t feel that he has any room to complain; he doesn’t have any room to feel pity for himself. He just has to be the one to always take responsibility, always provide the care, always do the right thing.

And when he finds himself in this difficult dilemma after he discovers what appears to be abuse of his brother, he has to make certain decisions in order to protect his brother, that really creates a lot of conflict between him and his wife. What was wonderful to get to play in the episode was the nuanced nature of the conversations that really might happen behind the scenes of a husband and wife trying to figure out together how they can come out of this situation unscathed and what lengths each of them are willing to take in order to ensure that the family can ultimately be together and be safe.

You asked me, at the beginning of this conversation, what stood out to you when you read the script. Another thing that stood out was just how real and raw some of these scenes between Jiro and his wife felt when I read [them] on the page. And Karl and Howard, and Daniel Pearle all had a hand in crafting these scenes to make them feel like real scenes between husband and wife, between partners. I think that reflects in the episode, and it’s exciting to be able to dig into material where it’s not such a simple resolution to a conflict. It’s much more nuanced, it’s much more challenging, and it feels real. Not everybody’s going to agree on what the right course of action is to see their way through adversity.

And you feel that in those scenes. I think the scenes between Jiro and his wife are the best of the episode. You can see both sides.

Absolutely. Yeah, it’s complicated. Look, I am super excited about this show and my episode, but about the show in general and I have to applaud Howard and Alex [Gansa] and David [Shore], all the producers, and Fox for really being a champion for pushing the envelope on broadcast and trying to make a series that feels as diverse and inclusive as possible with episodes digging deeply into subject matters, stories, and characters that are generally underrepresented.

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I just feel very fortunate to get to be part of the series and help portray this Asian American story and this Asian American family in the hopes that what we’re sharing and the stories we’re telling, the audience will find relatable in a certain way that will subsequently provide more comfort with viewing different cultures on TV, with accepting them into your home. I have a great amount of respect and admiration for what this show is trying to do and hopefully doing.

Accused, Tuesdays, 9/8c, FOX