Distractify: What made you want to play another lawyer after spending years as Barba on Law & Order: SVU? Did you have any reservations about the role?

Raúl Esparza: It's one of the first things I wondered about. I was like, wait, do I want to do that? How do you differentiate what feels similar in theory? [But] he's totally unlike Barba. He's a mercurial character. He has, it turned out, violent mood swings that were fun to play with. I found him really funny. I found him strange.

Don went in with his arms and his eyes open, seeking publicity and believing 100 percent in the case, in a way that, and also with a different legal approach, which was much flashier. He was called an ambulance chaser, though I think that diminishes him. He's much more than that.

He's also a Texan and it's the '80s and he looks and sounds different. I thought there would be enough there to become a different person.

Distractify: Don Crowder has a certain theatricality to him, so did your Broadway experience help your portrayal?

RE: It helped a great deal, because when an attorney gets up to speak in a courtroom, they are trying to command an audience and tell a story that people follow and get hooked on. They reveal little secrets, little bombs, little explosions, and things that will transform the way people are thinking about the case.

The fun of getting to play this in a courtroom setting is that you get to put on that little bit of a show. The stage background has always helped me with this kind of thing. It's language-based, and it's based in the idea of capturing an audience's attention and holding it.

Even when you're filming, you're performing for the crew and background and the other actors [with] that little extra element of nerves and excitement. It helps you every time.