Actor Stephen Kunken said many of the roles he has portrayed have not been nice people.

The Long Island native played the ruthless hedge-fund fixer and enforcer Ari Spyros in “Billions;” Commander Horace Calhoun, a high-ranking Gilead official complicit in a regime’s oppression and brutality, in “The Handmaid’s Tale;” and Roger Kaplan, a Cold War U.S. government operative involved in morally compromised intelligence work, in “The Americans.”

“I tend to play a lot of bad people, a lot of horrible people,” Kunken said. “It’s really nice in real life to step out of that and play people who are on the force of good.”

Kunken was at the Jefferson County Courthouse Thursday in his role as a board member of KultureCity, the international nonprofit begun in Birmingham that addresses sensory accessibility and acceptance. During its meeting, the Jefferson County Commission pledged $3.5 million toward the nonprofit’s aim of creating the National Accessibility Park, a major accessibility and training development at the former Powell Avenue Steam Plant building.

KultureCity bought the site from Alabama Power Co. earlier this year.

While Kunken is accustomed to being in the spotlight, the acclaimed actor and director shone the light on the commissioners who enthusiastically pledged the money. Joe Knight and Lashunda Scales were in a dead heat as each tried to make the motion for the action.

“As you can see,” Commission President Jimmie Stephens said, “the commission is excited for this project.”

The KultureCity board member said he was moved as he watched the county leaders make a pledge “when so many communities are just in complete stasis right now because people can’t agree on anything that’s impactful. They’re impactful on me. I played characters who’ve made an impact. A lot of them have made a very awful impact. It’s really, really lovely to step into my own shoes and try to do something positive.”

Speaking to media after the commission meeting, Kunken said he came to his work with KultureCity from a background in storytelling as an actor and a director in film, television and theater. He said a life in storytelling has taught him that the character matters.

“The choices we make and the people that we choose to be shape the world that follows us,” he said. “Our actions do not end with us. They echo outward, shaping the future that others inherit and sometimes close at hand and sometimes far beyond our sight. In that same spirit, Jefferson County is opening a new chapter today with its pledge of significant support for the Steam Plant project, adding a meaningful chapter to the legacy that this county is writing. On behalf of KultureCity, our board and the communities, this work will ultimately serve far and wide.”

The KultureCity National Accessibility Park is designed to be a national model for accessibility, workforce development and economic growth. The project will transform the former steam plant into the country’s first fully integrated accessibility campus, combing:

• A technical college and workforce training center, including real-world job training through retail and culinary spaces.
• A museum and navigation center focused on accessibility and inclusion.
• An inclusive outdoor amphitheater and public gathering space.

Once completed, the project is projected to attract about 250,000 visitors annually, generate $45 million in total annual economic activity and produce an estimated $900,000 in annual Jefferson County tax revenue.

KultureCity’s partners include organizations across the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League. It also works with such global brands as LEGO, airports, museums, entertainment venues and first-responder agencies.

Dr. Michele Kong, who cofounded the nonprofit, admitted that creating a worldwide brand wasn’t on her mind when she helped launch KultureCity.

“We didn’t start it with the hope of saying, ‘One day, we want to be global,’” said Kong, whose oldest son is autistic. “We just started it saying, It is not cool that a family cannot go to a zoo. It is not cool when you start seeing 35-year-olds coming back as veterans with PTSD who could not attend basketball games because it was too overwhelming.

“I think it was really more seeing the need across the age spectrum and across the diagnosis and across family,” she said. “It didn’t matter if we were Asian, African-American, white, and across religion. It was just a human thing to do. I think the byproduct is because the need was there and we were able to provide the resources and build the community. It became global was a side effect.”