Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine is captivating viewers with some serious character work as ‘Freddy’ in The Smoke and will also be part of Dexter: Resurrection when it premieres July 11 on Paramount+. But when he’s away from set, Mwine loves to work on his muscles by keeping fit with pullups, as an impressive video reveals. Mwine sat down with M&F to trace back his passion for pullups, and we soon learned how it became a fun family exercise.

Mwine has a very public profile. Whether you recognize him for starring opposite Leonardo Decaprio as ‘M’Ed’ in Blood Diamond back in 2006, or for appearing in 30 episodes of The Chi as ‘Ronnie Davis,’ this American-Ugandan is truly a Renaissance man. Not only does Mwine have a masters degree in Fine Arts but his photographic work, representing Ugandan culture, has been displayed at the United Nations and has inspired movies.

Now living in Los Angeles, the actor has been praised by critics once again. His brooding portrayal of the chilling ‘Freddy’ in The Smoke is keeping audiences on the edge of their seat. Of course, acting, much like fitness, is all about transformation, and Mwine certainly knows all about challenging himself to replicate any particular role.

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine Began His Pullup Journey on ‘The Chi’

“They had written a scene where my character was in jail. He’s doing all his workouts, and they had dialogue while I was doing the pullups,” Mwine tells M&F. “It was like the writers were just trying to throw me in the deep end,” he jokes. “So, I had no choice but to try to figure out how to do pullups. Otherwise the scene was just not going to play the way they had written it.”

To perfect his performance, the actor began practicing underhand grip pullups (also known as chin-ups) and found that his his lean physique gave him an advantage. But then, a trainer suggested he attach some weight to his pulls, in order to increase the intensity and prepare him for taking on dialogue too. “I was shocked,” recalls Mwine. “Because I didn’t even know you could add weight back then.”

After mastering weighted pullups, the pandemic provided Mwine with an opportunity to workout at home, so he installed a pullup bar in his garage and got to work. “And then I started trying to do it with my daughter,” he explains. “So, we did it for fun.”

To track his progress, the actor began to film these sessions. By 2022 he was able to lift Emanzi for three solid reps. While Mwine has learned to love pullups, he also likes to leave recovery days between sessions, and so he only performs them twice per week. “I would want to do chin ups every day and then I realized, I can’t, because I’m self-destructing,” he shares.

The star says that when it comes to fueling his body, he is vegan but stays away from processed foods. “The protein comes from beans, legumes, or whole grains,” confirms Mwine. Recovery through sleep is at a premium however, because in addition to his daughter Emanzi, the actor also has a 6-year-old son called Macheo. Surely he couldn’t pull him up too?

Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine is Stronger Than Ever

Mwine tells M&F that he dropped 40 pounds for The Smoke to give Freddy the extreme transformation that was required in order to make him look frail. He stopped working out and relied mostly on juice for sustenance. But when he wrapped the series, Mwine was once again able to eat some of the foods that he was craving, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and says he put around 15 pounds of bodyweight back on, in just one week.

In Dexter: Resurrection, Mwine plays “Blessing Kamara,” a “cab driver who you wouldn’t want to mess with…. Someone who can handle a bad customer,” he explains. And, while the script didn’t specifically call for Mwine to bulk up, he was certainly motivated to do so.

“I knew that Dexter and Smoke would be out the same time, and I was like, ‘wouldn’t it be cool to have people not even recognize that I’m the same person in both roles?’

There was one problem, however. With his energy depleted after giving his all to playing Freddy, Mwine couldn’t muster up a single pullup when he returned to the bar. He kept returning to that faithful pullup bar in his garage, regained the reps, and eventually wondered if he could once again lift his daughter. This would be an epic challenge, because Emanzi had grown to 68 pounds by this point. “There’s lava on the ground, don’t touch it,” enthused his adorable girl as he once again hit three reps.” Mwine then decided to up the ante once again, muscling-up Macheo, who was now up to 75 pounds. So, as the video evidence proves, Mwine is the man!

The Smoke is currently streaming on Apple TV+.

Dexter: Resurrection premiers on Paramount+, July 11.

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