Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion Interviews Tatyana Ali, she breaks down how she survived being a child star and the difficulties playing two roles in her upcoming Lifetime Movie "Vanished: Searching for My Sister!"

Transcript

Rushion Interviews Tatyana Ali, she breaks down how she survived being a child star and the difficulties playing two roles in her upcoming Lifetime Movie "Vanished: Searching for My Sister!" · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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  Speaker 1: It's all about the journey and my guests. Tatiana Ali
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  Speaker 1: has a journey. A Harvard grad actress, singer. Her resume
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  Speaker 1: includes The Fresh Prince of Blair, Loved That Girl, the
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  Speaker 1: CBS soap opera Young, The Wrestlers, and many manymore. And
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  Speaker 1: but on this show today, she's going to talk about
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  Speaker 1: a new Lifetime original movie, Vanished Searching for My Sister,
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  Speaker 1: which premieres Saturday, January twenty second on Lifetime a PM,
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  Speaker 1: seven Central. Here's the great thing to bout. It's gonna
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  Speaker 1: see Tatiana like you've never seen her before. She plays
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  Speaker 1: the role of twins Jada and Kayla, who could not
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  Speaker 1: be more opposite. I've seen the movie. As they say,
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  Speaker 1: if you have four starts, I'm giving it all for
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  Speaker 1: plus a little pinky for a plus. It's really that good.
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  Speaker 1: So please work with the money making conversations as we
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  Speaker 1: explore her life and talk to my friends of the
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  Speaker 1: h b C. You talk to my friends across the
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  Speaker 1: country as well as about black excellence, and she does
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  Speaker 1: exemplify that the movie Vanished Searching for My Sister to
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  Speaker 1: star Tatiana Ali. Welcome to the show. Thank you so
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  Speaker 1: much for having me there's always a journey in uh,
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  Speaker 1: your career, especially when you're starting at such a young age.
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  Speaker 1: And that's one of the one reasons I wanted to
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  Speaker 1: bring you on this show, because you know, we've seen
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  Speaker 1: so many tragic stories of young people not being able
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  Speaker 1: to get over the hulp. I've been fortunate. I've written
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  Speaker 1: sitcoms Robert Townsend, Sister Sister, Uh, Jamie Foxes, and The Parkers,
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  Speaker 1: so I've I've worked with young talent, and you're a
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  Speaker 1: young talent. You still finding yourself in his business. Talk
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  Speaker 1: about starting in this business and being able to survive
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  Speaker 1: in his business, Tatiana. UM. I think for for young
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  Speaker 1: people especially, UM, it's hard to you know, have a
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  Speaker 1: career and just go through the natural challenges of growing up.
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  Speaker 1: And young performers need all of the support that you
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  Speaker 1: know every other child meets and sometimes you know, we
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  Speaker 1: we we tend to be precocious, right, UM, usually intelligent, artistic,
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  Speaker 1: and are able to take on a lot of responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: And I think you know, even people that I've known
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  Speaker 1: in my life, UM, growing up who were also actors, UM,
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  Speaker 1: who necessarily didn't do so well in life afterwards. UM,
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  Speaker 1: you need that support system and you need somebody to
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  Speaker 1: sometimes treat you like a child and tell you know,
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  Speaker 1: guide you rear you. Um. I think all that responsibility
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  Speaker 1: that we kind of exude fools people into thinking that
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  Speaker 1: we're okay when we're not okay, or that we need
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  Speaker 1: less than we actually need. And I'm lucky if if
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  Speaker 1: you know, if I have been successful in life, which
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  Speaker 1: I feel, I feel happy with my life. Um, that's
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  Speaker 1: all because of my family. You know, my parents they
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  Speaker 1: could care less about entertainment or same. Um, they really
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  Speaker 1: raised me too hopefully be courageous enough to just do
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  Speaker 1: what I love, whatever that is. And so my pride
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  Speaker 1: and my understanding of self is not really wrapped up
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  Speaker 1: in what I do. I exist outside of it, you know, acting, performing,
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  Speaker 1: that's just what I do. It's not it doesn't make
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  Speaker 1: up all of me. And I think that's allowed me
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  Speaker 1: to you know, for the with the highs and the
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  Speaker 1: lows of my career. You know, it's always interesting when
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  Speaker 1: when you get in entertainment because people are kind of
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  Speaker 1: short training, because you use the word intelligence just smarts,
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  Speaker 1: because some people tend to think that there's a limit
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  Speaker 1: to the abilities. And that's why I made sure I
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  Speaker 1: put Harvard grad. If you had to put Harvard grad
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  Speaker 1: actress singer, which one of those three would you be
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  Speaker 1: most proud and be willing to brag about the most?
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  Speaker 1: Oh good question. You know. I was talking to my
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  Speaker 1: husband about this because, you know, Lonnie Guinier just passed.
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  Speaker 1: She's a Harvard law professor. I knew about her growing up.
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  Speaker 1: You know, she worked in UH I think it was
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  Speaker 1: Bill Clinton's administration. And I remember my first week at
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  Speaker 1: Harvard and she had just started her professorship there, and
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  Speaker 1: I saw her walk across campus and like, I've never
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  Speaker 1: I've been rich. I've been kind of like starstruck twice
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  Speaker 1: in my life, and they weren't entertainers. One was Macy Jamison.
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  Speaker 1: I met her in an a CP function. I was
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  Speaker 1: like eleven, and I really wanted to go to space
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  Speaker 1: camp when I was a kid. That was like she
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  Speaker 1: was everything, Like I had her poster on my well.
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  Speaker 1: And then the second time was when I saw Lonnie
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  Speaker 1: Guinier on campus, and I don't know what it is.
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  Speaker 1: I think I think there's something about those women, you know,
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  Speaker 1: exceeding the expectations of their society, kind of like just
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  Speaker 1: going after their dreams and then also giving so much
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  Speaker 1: to others in their work that that is what impressed
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  Speaker 1: me as a as a as a young woman, and
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  Speaker 1: so so in that thinking about that, maybe maybe going
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  Speaker 1: to school is the thing that I'm like, hey, I'll
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  Speaker 1: do that, because it was the thing that I really
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  Speaker 1: had to I was very deep in my music and
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  Speaker 1: in touring at the time that I got accepted, and
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  Speaker 1: I remember very distinctly having a meeting, you know, a
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  Speaker 1: seventeen year old girl in a meeting with all these
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  Speaker 1: executives saying, I guess what, I just got accepted to
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  Speaker 1: these different places, and I want to go, and then going,
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  Speaker 1: what do you mean you want to go? Why do
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  Speaker 1: you need that? If you do that, then you can't
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  Speaker 1: do this, which I'm so happy to see that now
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  Speaker 1: that's just kind of an unacceptable thing to say to
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  Speaker 1: a young person, but I think, you know, back then
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  Speaker 1: it really was people really thought like, oh, school was
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  Speaker 1: something to fall back on. And I always had this
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  Speaker 1: very deep, just like an intuitive understanding that why wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: you want me to go to school? Why would you
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  Speaker 1: why why would an artist not need to be educated?
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  Speaker 1: Why would you not need to know what you're saying?
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  Speaker 1: What you're contributing how and so yeah, that was a
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  Speaker 1: long answer. The beauty of it is like my degree
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  Speaker 1: is in mathematics and know my minors and sociology and uh.
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  Speaker 1: And so when I would whenever I tell people, despite
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  Speaker 1: all the success I have, you know, whether it's managing
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  Speaker 1: Steve have you step they Smith for doing movies, uh, sitcoms,
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  Speaker 1: when I tell people I have a math degree, it
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  Speaker 1: almost shuts the room down a little bit. Humh and
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  Speaker 1: so so because people don't expect that. They expect what
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  Speaker 1: they expect when you say, if you're an athlete. You know,
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  Speaker 1: that's why applaud Lebron James so much. I applaud you
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  Speaker 1: because one can stand that lane, because sometimes that lane
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  Speaker 1: can box you in, because people can throw fear at you,
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  Speaker 1: said no, no, no no, if you go do this,
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  Speaker 1: you can't do this. And guess right, you went there
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  Speaker 1: did that and guess what I'm interviewing about a very
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  Speaker 1: great movie on Lifetime original called band is Searching for
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  Speaker 1: My Sister. So it didn't stop you from achieving a
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  Speaker 1: continued level of success in the entertainment the world. That's
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  Speaker 1: why I really feel as a blessing. And you know,
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  Speaker 1: my question is just to ask and just to get
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  Speaker 1: you to think about it, because I commend you. I
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  Speaker 1: applaud you because that's a decision you had to make.
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  Speaker 1: You had to get up, you had to open up
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  Speaker 1: that book. You have to stay committed, and you could
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  Speaker 1: have turned and ran off. And so I don't want
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  Speaker 1: to do this. Just look, find me a stay age,
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  Speaker 1: find me a script so I can go in a
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  Speaker 1: short term success. You know, you can get in and whoa,
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  Speaker 1: I'm a star game. But you walked on that campus
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  Speaker 1: and basically became a student, and that's a blessing. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it was, and it was a it was a culture
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  Speaker 1: shot because all of a sudden, you know, well I
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  Speaker 1: had been working for so long and and going to
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  Speaker 1: school at the same time. But I had tutors, I
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  Speaker 1: had you know, I was in studio school, so all
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  Speaker 1: of a sudden, to be given a syllabus, I was like,
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  Speaker 1: I remember, I remember even when I wore like I
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  Speaker 1: had two types of clothes in my wardrobe. I had
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  Speaker 1: rehearsal clothes and athleisure wasn't a thing that you know,
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  Speaker 1: rehearsal clothes, and then I had like super fancy like
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  Speaker 1: show out so I even had to go and like
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  Speaker 1: go to the store with my mom when we first
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  Speaker 1: got you know, into Cambridge, and like just buy some jeans, right,
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  Speaker 1: did they have to style? I really I love the
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  Speaker 1: fact you said you had two outfits because basically, in
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  Speaker 1: the movie Vanished, you're playing two roles, and basically it's
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  Speaker 1: two outfits. There is one of this humble, you know,
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  Speaker 1: studious type person. That's why I love this thing because
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  Speaker 1: it kind of blends your life, you know, because you
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  Speaker 1: were just this this, this outrageous not since the outrage it,
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  Speaker 1: but you was this actor, this entertainer that was kind
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  Speaker 1: of like one twin sister. And then this this, this
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  Speaker 1: this Harvard student was the other sister. So basically I'm
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  Speaker 1: not saying, basically, you lived this life, but now you're
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  Speaker 1: living it to the extremes in a movie. What what
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  Speaker 1: attracted you to this project? I love the idea of well,
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  Speaker 1: it's it's actually based on a true story. So Um,
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  Speaker 1: a woman actually did do this. Her twin sister had disappeared.
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  Speaker 1: Her twin was an ex addict. She kind of had
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  Speaker 1: a harder life than than um than her sister stir
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  Speaker 1: and Um, but they were very, very close and her
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  Speaker 1: sister went missing and her her twin, the twin that remained,
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  Speaker 1: UM just would not allow her sister to not have
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  Speaker 1: justice or to not be found. And I loved that
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  Speaker 1: part of the story especially. You know, UM, black women
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  Speaker 1: disappear a lot. A lot of people have been talking
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  Speaker 1: about that, and you know, the efforts that are made
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  Speaker 1: to find them or to find out what happened to
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  Speaker 1: him sometimes just aren't there. And I think that was
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  Speaker 1: the case with this woman, and she just wouldn't stand
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  Speaker 1: for that. She made sure that her sister's life mattered,
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  Speaker 1: and I was really attracted to that. Also, was really
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  Speaker 1: attracted to just the challenge of playing these two totally
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  Speaker 1: different women who grew up in the same home but
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  Speaker 1: took completely different paths in life. UM. That was really
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  Speaker 1: exciting and also kind of scary because I've never I've
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  Speaker 1: never on anything like that before, and the sister who's
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  Speaker 1: an ex addict Kayla m. I very rarely get the
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to play UM women like that, and I really
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  Speaker 1: I loved her. I wish I could have played her
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  Speaker 1: more in the in the movie. Actually, well you know
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  Speaker 1: that I thought you gotta play You did a great
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  Speaker 1: job because you got to play both sides of it.
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  Speaker 1: And the thing about it that I enjoyed because I've
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  Speaker 1: been fortunate to, you know, do that twin role production wise,
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  Speaker 1: and I know, and you have to you have to
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  Speaker 1: do the lines and you have to do the other lines.
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  Speaker 1: You it's really it looks like it's easy, but it's
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  Speaker 1: really difficult. At what time did you you know, when
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  Speaker 1: you're dealing with that split personality and and and and
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  Speaker 1: laying it out, what challenges did you face and playing
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  Speaker 1: both roles, especially when you the characters were talking to
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  Speaker 1: each other. Yeah, there's, um, it's you know, a million
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  Speaker 1: challenges different. Do you know, the work that I would
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  Speaker 1: usually do going into a film, the character development that's
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  Speaker 1: all of that is times too, and then times three
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  Speaker 1: because I then am alone working on the relationship between
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  Speaker 1: the two sisters. Usually, you know, I might have my
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  Speaker 1: guests or my instincts and what a relationship is in
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  Speaker 1: a story, but I have another actor that I can
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  Speaker 1: uh you know, consult with and vibe off up and
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  Speaker 1: figure it out with. But with them, you know, it's
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  Speaker 1: just me creating this relationship. I worked with really great
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  Speaker 1: stand ins who, um, they were just excellent and just
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  Speaker 1: like with their with me on that um. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: the split screen work was that was a beast. And
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  Speaker 1: you know, we made this movie in three weeks, which
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  Speaker 1: is it's a truncated schedule to be plaiming two characters.
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  Speaker 1: And so there were many days where I was um
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  Speaker 1: both Kayla and Jada on the same day, and I
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  Speaker 1: really relied on makeup and hair and and the costumers
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  Speaker 1: who are incredible to just I love to make of
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  Speaker 1: an hero room. That's like my safe space. When I
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: would switch from one to the other, they were just
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  Speaker 1: they were I had the most beautiful souls to work
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  Speaker 1: with and help me through that. We will be right
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: back with more money making conversation with Rushan McDonald. Now,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: let's return to money making conversation with Rashan McDonald. If
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: anybody is ever questioning the athleticism of Ali not in
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  Speaker 1: this Once you watch this particular movie, this young lady
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: jumps over a head. I mean I felt out, you know,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: I played it back. I played the back. I laughed,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: So I said, well, this is this is awesome. You
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: jumped over that book. You know. The thing about it
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: is I loved it because that's how as you, as
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: you say, a black woman acts when they see their
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  Speaker 1: babies in danger. You did like a black woman, like
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  Speaker 1: my momble like my son. See somebody out there messing
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  Speaker 1: with their kids. Jim, you got out there. Now, let's
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: talk about was that? Was that just? Uh? Because it
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: was it in the way? Could you have went around
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: that scene? It was amazing, it was It was great, Diana.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not even telling it was amazing that you did it.
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  Speaker 1: It felt so real, It felt like you were in
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: the moment and its soul that scene. It's funny that
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: you bring that up, because when we were shooting it,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: I remember the director going, you know, he was, he
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: was like, we got this. He's like, I want you
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: to come out the door, and I just want you
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: to make a beeline. I don't want you to go
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: to the sidewalks. It seems too far. What do you think?
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: But this hedge is in the way, and maybe we
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: could just have them cut it down or something so
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: you could run through it. I was like, do you
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  Speaker 1: know what I would do? Because you know, I'm a
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  Speaker 1: mom and even before I was mom, I had a
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: puppy who ended up on the outside of offense. Luckily,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: my children have never been in this kind of dangerous situation.
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  Speaker 1: So I haven't had that experience yet, for you know,
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  Speaker 1: hopefully I pray that I won't. But I had a
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  Speaker 1: puppy who was outside a much taller offense and the
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: traffic was rushing back and forth, and I jumped over that,
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: I mean sense it was about four ft tall, and
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: got my puppy and then was locked out of my house,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Like how did I do that? I can't get back
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: in because your adrenaline is rushing and and all that.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And so I'm glad, I'm glad. I'm I'm telling you something.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I'm talking to Aid the Athletic, the Olympic, you know,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: the hurdler, the hurdler, the hurdler, you know, talking about
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: her new movie Lifetime, which premier is Saturday, January twenty second,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: van ished searching for my sister. I tell you something,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: what I I watched a lot of movie, read a
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: lot of books. I I always get a kick out
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  Speaker 1: of moments like this where they seemed you know, all
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: of it, just saying is this You were so natural
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: when you did that moment? If it sold me. Not
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: only I was bought in, I bought into the movie,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: but that moment showed me a level of commitment because
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: you know, you could just see some people when they
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: try to do something they're not used to doing. When
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: you did that, I went wow, I didn't expect that.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: But guess what, her children were in danger. And then
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: you had some great, great, great other people starting is
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: but girl, jas mcguy and Tretch and all everybody nature
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: frame that for me right there? Boy? You know, like
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: I said, let's let's talk about acting with them. I
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: know you have a history with them. You we've seen
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: them all on TV and movies over the years and
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: watching performing on stage in the case of Tretch. Talk
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: about bringing that all together because it really did sell
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: a CD community versus the world that you lived in
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and allowed you to understand. And also I felt dangerful you.
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I felt that you you were stepping too far out,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: young lady. You need to shut it down. You need
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: to shut it that. Do you know who you at?
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: So talk about that those experiences allowing them to build
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: that real culture of credibility to you walk in both worlds.
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: I I just absolutely loved this cast. Every every single body,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I mean every single person. Um Tretch, who is you know?
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: I think the first time I met him, I was
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: like fifteen or sixteen. Um, and he is just the kindest,
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  Speaker 1: He's so lovely and he there's actually a scene in
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the club where he sort of, you know, grips up
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: my character against the wall. And he's such a good actor.
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  Speaker 1: I you know, after they yelled cut, I had to
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: take some time because he really hear me. Um, he
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: really did. He was just he was so so incredible
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: and not just on set, but the way it reads
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: on camera. Um, um, even when you watch it, he's
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: he can be terrifying. He's a very good actor and
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: he's not like that. It's all in your life, Jasmine.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: This was my This is the third time I've got
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: a chance to work with her, but definitely the most
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: intimately that I've worked with her before. And it's hard
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: sometimes to not like fan fan out on somebody even before,
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: but you know, I'm in these intense scenes with her
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: and I'm thinking about, like, um, Harlem Knights. She's this
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: this phenomenal like powerhouse actor and actually that role was
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: meant for a man initially, that's how it was written. Um.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: And they didn't change anything. They just brought her into
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: it and she she kills it. She killed it. I
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: loved I loved working with her. So any that's the thing,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: is like any kind of difficulty or whatever that I
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: was having, um or or the challenge that I was
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: having playing the two characters. Once I got to set
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: and I just worked with all of these incredible actors
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: that are in it, um yeah you could, I could
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: just play. We know. The interesting thing about the whole
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: reason I bring up the other whether it's traps and
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: other people were performing in this particularly this wonderful movie,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: is that I felt your frustration. Okay, it had credibility.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I felt that when you felt they don't they weren't
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: doing enough. I felt you had crossed the line many times.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: But if you crossed the line many times, and so
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: that that that tells me good acting, good directing, good
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: good character development. And overall the projects sold me on
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the fact that you just wanted justice for your sister
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: and and also for her daughter, also for your daughter,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: and there was a love story. I I felt it
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: was a love story wrapped into this in a sea line,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: a sea level storyline that that in the end it
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: placed itself out. And uh talk about that because I
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: felt that, you know, we kind of miss when you
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: get into these stories are a type of violence. But
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: it was a love story to me. In your relationship
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: with your ex, Yeah, that was an interesting, um part
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: of this. My the main character, Jada, her ex husband.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: You know, they have a very strange relationship. They certainly
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: they have a they still have a love for each other,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: but their relationship didn't work out. And um, over over
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the course of the story. You know, at first, he's
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: an antagonist to what she's trying to do. He's like,
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: you are not being a mother right now, and you're
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: spiraling yes, And I think at one well I won't
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: tell that part, but um, they end up, you know,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: he ends up really coming through. I think in a
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: way that that was probably missing in their relationship before.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: And I I just I like that part of the story,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: that sort of family part of the story, not with
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: her husband, with her daughter, with her niece Justice. You know,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: I don't know, like the way we love. I like
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: seeing that black love black. I enjoyed seeing that. I
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: enjoy he's a handsome guy. You're a very beautiful young
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: lady playing a role that that that the child who
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: plays your daughter is incredibly beautiful. It was just really
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: that's what I love about what I enjoyed seeing television nowadays.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: You know, there's the diversity and the commercials and they
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: acting and their roles that I knew black people wouldn't
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: be having five years ago and now being cast in
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: and I can enjoy myself watching these love stories. They're
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: not They're not one off. They're not doing Black History
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: on or not doing June doing June Team celebration. I
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: can watch them anytime. This is this is a problem
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the most part I've ever had on the Christmas break
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: because I saw so many wonderful cast black lead casting
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: roles by blacks who were just being themselves. And then
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the see you are wonderful talent, and that's what that's
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: a Black excellence. I really teach and talk about to
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: my my listeners. Who are HBCU campuses and fortunate to
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: broadcast on eighteen HBCU campuses sixty nine stations nationwide, but
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: therese eighteen HBCU campus from from Howard to Clark Atlantic University,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: spell Month to Texas Southern to Boone Cookman fam You
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: so I have such a wonderful reach. What are your
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: thoughts when you talk about black excellence? As we close
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: out this interview. Tatiana You you you you you started
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: as a young person. You you know, your your your wife, you,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: your mother. You're incredible actors who have made this transition.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: You're educated, you got a degree. What is black excellence?
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Black excellence to me is having the courage to be
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: being courageous enough two um to dream your your most
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: outlandish dreams and then not only dream them, put to
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: set out and manifest them and make them real. And
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: you know, oftentimes the really outlandish dreams are the ones
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: that affect your community, affect the world, um, also affect
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: your family. They're not just your own good fortune. When
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: you materialize them, when you're able to make them come true,
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: they they bubble over and they, um, you know, change
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: the world around you. My goodness, she's a track star,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: she's a singer, she's an actress. She was a hurdle.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you something. Well, y'all see that moment. Put
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: put it on pause, playing back. It is actually her
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: top thing on the leete brilliantly acting didn't what you
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: didn't see was was was was the hotel I needed? After?
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Oh don't don't, don't leta understand that, because I'm telling
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: something when she leaped that John Hage, I'm telling it's
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: not a low hedge, just a hedge. I just went.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you something. It was one of the great
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: moments of me watching television and films to watch a
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: brilliant actress just just do what she has to do
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: to just sell her character. And uh. She plays two
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: characters in this series, Jada and Kayla in the wonderfully
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Lifetime original movie Vanished Searching for My Sister, which premier
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: is January twenty two pm seven Central. Thank you tot
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Down for taking the time to talk to my fan
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: base talk to me. What a great interview. I really
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: appreciate you. Thank you so much. I appreciate you too,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: and much love to everybody out there. But stay safe
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: and keep your head up doing all this. You know
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: you got a home out here. I Rushan McDonald money
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: may come. Say any project you do with this charity, solo, whatever,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: bringet over to the home over here, okay, and I
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: appreciate Yes, yes, absolutely, thank you. Bye bye, We talk soon.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: Bye bye.