David Oyelowo Praises His 'Badass' 'Role Play' Action Costar Kaley Cuoco: 'Phenomenal' (original) (raw)

David Oyelowo is celebrating Kaley Cuoco!

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE on Thursday evening at the premiere of their new Prime Video action release, Role Play, Oyelowo, 47, was singing the 38-year-old’s praises.

"It’s normally the guy who's running around with the gun and being the assassin and all of that, but to be the one who thinks he’s gonna go in and save his wife, and realize she’s so much more qualified with the badassery and the action — it was kind of a fun thing to play,” the Selma actor says.

Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo.

REINER BAJO / PRIME VIDEO

Both Oyelowo and Cuoco told PEOPLE on the evening — which took place at the Culver City Theater in L.A. — that they did their own stunts for the movie and the Lawmen: Bass Reeves star referred to The Big Bang Theory actress as “a phenomenal star."

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“I just loved her work in The Flight Attendant,” he explains. “In [_Role Play_] we see a different side of her, action stuff. She’s just such a winning talent on-screen.”

The actor — who has been married to wife Jessica, with whom he shares four children, for 25 years — went on to admit that acting “could be a tough profession when it comes to family," and offered his advice for balancing work and personal life.

David Oyelowo looked dapper in pink on the evening.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

“We have a 2-week rule: My wife and I are never apart for more than two weeks,” he says, admitting that sticking to that hasn’t always been easy.

“You’re fighting for your family everyday by insisting on that, and I think Kaley and Tom [Pelphrey, Cuoco's partner with whom she shares 9-month-old daughter Matilda] are adopting that,” he adds.

Back in November, the star exclusively told PEOPLE that during filming for Role Play, Cuoco hadn't announced her pregnancy but the signs were there that she was expecting and he had "to keep this secret."

“We were doing this scene in a hotel, a disused hotel, which you could tell had been disused because of how badly it smelled. For anyone who's been around someone who's pregnant, their sense of smell goes through the roof,” Oyelowo explained.

“She was just nauseous with the smell of this hallway. So every time we would do a scene, and we would call cut, she would say, ‘Can you smell that? Is that bad?’”

Kaley Cuoco and David Oyelowo.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

“It got so weird that she had to eventually tell me that she was pregnant, and then I had to keep this secret," he said. “So that's something that probably shouldn't have happened but did, and was very funny.”

Role Play is available to stream on Prime Video now