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Dawnn Lewis Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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Speaker 1: My next guest as an actress, award winning singer, songwriter,
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Speaker 1: Philanthroprius producer. Among her recent recurring roles include The c WS, Azombie,
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Speaker 1: NBC's This Is Us one of my favorite shows, and
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Speaker 1: T and T S Major Crimes, Animated work Force overwork
0:15
Speaker 1: includes video games and TV shows like Futurama and The Simpsons.
0:20
Speaker 1: Please welcome the first time on money making conversations, My girl,
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Speaker 1: Don Lewis, how are you doing today? Man? I listened
0:29
Speaker 1: to you say all that. It's like, yeah, I guess
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Speaker 1: I did do that. Yeah, I guess that grace of God.
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Speaker 1: You know, in its business and you know that it
0:40
Speaker 1: is the business. I you know, I've been fortunate. I
0:43
Speaker 1: started as a stand up commentate and I became a
0:46
Speaker 1: sitcom writer and started producing television, and I started managing talent.
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Speaker 1: It's being able to have multi levels of income, being
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Speaker 1: able to have multi hats. Talk about that whole process,
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Speaker 1: a little bit about being able to you know the words.
1:01
Speaker 1: You know, you can come in wanting to be an actor.
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Speaker 1: You can come and wanted to be a singer, but
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Speaker 1: you have to be ready for the opportunity. I agree
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Speaker 1: with you one. You have to be ready, but you
1:12
Speaker 1: have to be flexible because the business that we're in
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Speaker 1: the entertainment industry is completely subjective. There is no clear cut,
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Speaker 1: black and white lines on right or wrong, or or
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Speaker 1: left or or right. It really is when you walk
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Speaker 1: in the room, how does that producer feel today? How
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Speaker 1: does that casting director feel today? Did you, by chance
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Speaker 1: where the color they hate the most? Does your perfume
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Speaker 1: offend them? I mean, just all kinds of stuff before
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Speaker 1: they even get to whether or not you have the
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Speaker 1: talent that it takes to actually pull off this job. Um,
1:47
Speaker 1: your reputation, more often than not, walked into the room
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Speaker 1: before you do. If you are known as a troublemaker adza,
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Speaker 1: that's how people are going to think of you, and
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Speaker 1: no matter how talented you are, you may not get
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Speaker 1: that gig. So I to just the people, put your
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Speaker 1: attitudes and your egos in check, and go and do
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Speaker 1: the work and let the work speak for itself. When
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Speaker 1: I started out in the industry, I started out as
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Speaker 1: a singer. I've been singing since I was four. I
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Speaker 1: started dancing at seven, started acting at eleven. I'm born
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Speaker 1: and raised in Brooklyn, New York, so that's what I
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Speaker 1: was doing. I was doing theater off and on Broadway.
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Speaker 1: I went to the High School of Music and Art.
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Speaker 1: So I graduated high school at sixteen, immediately left and
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Speaker 1: went to college down at the University of Miami, where
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Speaker 1: I continued studying. They ended up developing a degree program
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Speaker 1: around me. The Musical theater degree program at the University
2:39
Speaker 1: of Miami was founded on me. I am its founder
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Speaker 1: and first graduate. Because I came into the school not
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Speaker 1: wanting to just sing or not wanting to act. I
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Speaker 1: wanted to do it all. I wanted to be a
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Speaker 1: complete package and have skill in it, not to be
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Speaker 1: young and cute and impulsive. And if I knew then
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Speaker 1: that I was still going to be young and cute
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Speaker 1: and impulsive at my age. Now, I may not have
3:01
Speaker 1: gone to college, but that's a whole other Stop. You're
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Speaker 1: not saying years. You did not waste years. Done, You
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Speaker 1: did not waste the years. Okay, So I would not
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Speaker 1: let you put that out of public. You're fantastic, Keep going,
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Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, thank you. So I wanted to
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Speaker 1: know how to recreate what I needed to recreate, take
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Speaker 1: after take, show after show, and that was what I
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Speaker 1: cultivated there in college. So when I tell people today,
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Speaker 1: what do I do to get ahead? And and what
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Speaker 1: how co can I get my big break? And said,
3:32
Speaker 1: first of all, you have to do your homework. You
3:34
Speaker 1: wouldn't allow someone to perform brain surgery on you who
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Speaker 1: hasn't studied how to do it and do it well.
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Speaker 1: So those of us in the industry who do what
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Speaker 1: what we do and who do it well, we make
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Speaker 1: it look easy, but please know it is hard work.
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Speaker 1: So if you want to be a singer, you got
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Speaker 1: to get the work in and get your vocal chops up.
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Speaker 1: And don't just trust your auntie and uncle when they say,
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Speaker 1: oh girl, we boy, you can say no. Can you
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Speaker 1: really think you know what I'm saying? A recording contract.
4:01
Speaker 1: Before I got on television, I thought I was going
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Speaker 1: to be a recording artist and singing and dancing on Broadway.
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Speaker 1: And uh, that was how I ended up writing the
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Speaker 1: theme song for a Different World because the music contractor
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Speaker 1: knew me as a singer songwriter, so he hired me
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Speaker 1: to work on the theme song. The people who cast
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Speaker 1: me to be in the show knew me as an
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Speaker 1: actor because I was doing a Broadway show for them
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Speaker 1: at at the time, the cap Dance Kids, so they
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Speaker 1: both hired me and did not know that I was
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Speaker 1: being hired by the two completely different departments until they
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Speaker 1: had hired me to do both jobs. And by the
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Speaker 1: grace of God, I have been able to set and
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Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying in along you say this
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Speaker 1: so normal, you know what I'm saying. You say this
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Speaker 1: so effortlessly. But but when you talk about you know,
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Speaker 1: I've been doing this as as four graduate my school
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Speaker 1: was sixteen, went down the University of Miami. You know,
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Speaker 1: I wanted to structure of my life. I didn't want
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Speaker 1: to just I wanted to I wanted to career. I
5:00
Speaker 1: want to do take to understand what to take men.
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Speaker 1: And then I was saying, getting these opportunities, Let's talk
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Speaker 1: about the opportunity because see, in your own since you
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Speaker 1: knew what you wanted, I always feel blessed when I
5:12
Speaker 1: talked to people who knew what they wanted in their life,
5:14
Speaker 1: you know, like I would when I was sixteen, look
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Speaker 1: at a girl. I was trying to figure out who
5:18
Speaker 1: was Sean McDonald? Was you? Let alone trying to find
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Speaker 1: out if I could date somebody? Okay, law knows I
5:25
Speaker 1: was two years away from graduating. Okay, and then when
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Speaker 1: I graduate, didn't know what It took me seven years
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Speaker 1: again out of college. Okay, so you look that the
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Speaker 1: guy was confused. Okay, and so I'm talking to somebody
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Speaker 1: at a very mature age that said this is what
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Speaker 1: I want to do. And then along the way it
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Speaker 1: doesn't always work out that way, you know, because people
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Speaker 1: like you said, you know, you're going forecasting opportunity. You
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Speaker 1: don't know what they want, you know, to be vibrant.
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Speaker 1: And that's that's really the frustrating part of entertainment. Correct, yes,
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Speaker 1: oh it is. It is. And not only do we
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Speaker 1: get that put us put on us from the outside,
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Speaker 1: but unfortunately we do it to ourselves. As entertainers were
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Speaker 1: were perpetually. As much as we want to create, as
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Speaker 1: much as we want to develop things that come from
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Speaker 1: the inside out, we're constantly criticizing ourselves. I'm not pretty enough,
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Speaker 1: I'm not spinning up, I'm not tall enough, I'm not
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Speaker 1: old enough, I'm too young. I mean, these all these
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Speaker 1: things that we put on ourselves to make ourselves insecure,
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Speaker 1: to make ourselves even as much hard work as we
6:28
Speaker 1: may put into what we do. Unfortunately, because the industry
6:33
Speaker 1: is so subjective, we put a lot on that on
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Speaker 1: ourselves as well. Quite frankly, when I walked into Be
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Speaker 1: a Different World audition, I was the only person in
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Speaker 1: the room. I didn't know. I saw models. I saw
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Speaker 1: after as I've seen on television. I saw people who
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Speaker 1: were assize too, with fair skin and green eyes and
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Speaker 1: long hair. And I'm like, I know everybody in here
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Speaker 1: except me. Okay, as you say that your character was
7:01
Speaker 1: a game changer for television for exactly, you know, because
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Speaker 1: you weren't a science too, you weren't light skinned. You
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Speaker 1: was like or somebody in the neighborhood that I went
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Speaker 1: to high school with, or somebody that I grew up
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Speaker 1: with looking like when you look at like my sister,
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Speaker 1: and and you are attractive, you as articularly, you have
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Speaker 1: a defined personality, and you are and you are you
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Speaker 1: are a professional and all those things. I feel that
7:23
Speaker 1: you know, you're a role model, and you're still a
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Speaker 1: role model today and so and I'd say that because
7:28
Speaker 1: I wanted to. I wanted I asked you project an
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Speaker 1: interview because I talk about your New Day Foundation because
7:33
Speaker 1: it kind of it has those traits of being able
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Speaker 1: to talk about empowerment and education for you and underserved communities.
7:40
Speaker 1: Let's talk about that a little bit well. To be
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Speaker 1: honest with you, the New Day Foundation, thank you for
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Speaker 1: that again. I don't want that to go by without
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Speaker 1: me not acknowledging that. It's really humbling to know that
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Speaker 1: that was the end result of me wanting to do
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Speaker 1: my job and me standing for myself and saying, in
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Speaker 1: spite of what I mean think of myself in this
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Speaker 1: room that I think I'm the smallest person here. God
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Speaker 1: was able to use me to take myself to a
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Speaker 1: different level and being example for others who want to
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Speaker 1: take themselves to a different level. So I am really
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Speaker 1: humbled and uh honored to have been a part of
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Speaker 1: a project like that that put me in a position
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Speaker 1: to do that and be that and continue to be that.
8:22
Speaker 1: That's thirty two years now and people are still watching
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Speaker 1: that show and coming up to me saying, I wanted
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Speaker 1: to go to school because of you little kids who
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Speaker 1: are ten and eleven, the little kids in the show
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Speaker 1: I'm doing now the seen a turn of musical on Broadfast.
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Speaker 1: I watch your show all the time, Missed Dawn. I'm
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Speaker 1: now miss Dawn. Most Jesus, when did that happen? When
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Speaker 1: did I become an older person. But going back to
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Speaker 1: the foundation, the A New Day Foundation, I formalized that
8:50
Speaker 1: about three years ago now basically to put under a
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Speaker 1: formal five or one three seed nonprofit umbrella the work
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Speaker 1: I've been doing for more than forty years. Um ever,
9:03
Speaker 1: since I was in elementary school, I was a person who,
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Speaker 1: like I said, who was inspired, who was supported by
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Speaker 1: my teachers, who from different parts of my family, was
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Speaker 1: completely misunderstood. Growing up in a very traditionally reliligious family. UH,
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Speaker 1: the entertainment industry was Satan's playground, and UH, I was
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Speaker 1: being encouraged by my my mom and my tea teachers
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Speaker 1: to basically live in that playground. So I was getting
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Speaker 1: really mixed mess messages. By one hand, I was being
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Speaker 1: told that the gifts that I had were a gift
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Speaker 1: from God and I couldn't do it without God's blessing.
9:38
Speaker 1: And on the other hand, I was being told that
9:41
Speaker 1: I'm going to be sent straight to Hell if I
9:42
Speaker 1: keep entertaining the singing and dancing. It was. It was
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Speaker 1: very confusing, it was very difficult and emotionally stressful. Know
9:52
Speaker 1: this was when I was eighty, This is when I
9:55
Speaker 1: was eight, when all of this first started manifesting itself.
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Speaker 1: So my elementary school teachers, particularly Karen Fogler and Barbara Ames,
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Speaker 1: who actually also happened to be lin Manuel Miranda's chie teachers,
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Speaker 1: and he credits them also with inspiring him and guiding
10:12
Speaker 1: him to be the amazing creative genius that he is today.
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Speaker 1: So I just want to give a shout out to
10:17
Speaker 1: public school teachers. Thank you for investing in your kids.
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Speaker 1: We hear you, we receive you, and you continue to
10:23
Speaker 1: make a difference in our lives because of them. I
10:26
Speaker 1: would go like into junior high school and come back
10:29
Speaker 1: to my elementary school and visit them, and while I
10:32
Speaker 1: was there, talked to the kids in the class and say,
10:34
Speaker 1: this is what junior high school is like I used
10:36
Speaker 1: to be in this class. You have to listen to
10:38
Speaker 1: your teachers. Don't be afraid of bullies. Tell somebody I
10:42
Speaker 1: used to get bullied as as a kid, just for
10:45
Speaker 1: having good grades, just for wanting to do something with
10:48
Speaker 1: my life. People would just beat you up and jack
10:51
Speaker 1: you for your lunch money, etcetera, all kinds of things.
10:55
Speaker 1: So gratefully I listened to the positive voices more than
10:58
Speaker 1: I listened to the negative rasis. So while things may
11:02
Speaker 1: sound like they just roll off my tongue and come
11:04
Speaker 1: easily to me, or have come easily, that is that
11:08
Speaker 1: couldn't be further from the truth. And then when I
11:11
Speaker 1: went to high school, I'm sorry. And that's the basis
11:13
Speaker 1: of the of the of the foundation, right to the
11:16
Speaker 1: foundation is to be empowering to those kids and to
11:20
Speaker 1: those communities where you don't see yourself succeeding, where you
11:24
Speaker 1: don't feel you have the resources, where you don't feel
11:26
Speaker 1: you have the support or the encouragement. Trust me as
11:30
Speaker 1: a person who has been able to come through and
11:32
Speaker 1: continues to come through on the other side of maysayers
11:37
Speaker 1: of the people who are supposed to be the closest
11:39
Speaker 1: to you encouraging you, and they don't. You've got to
11:42
Speaker 1: find a way to encourage yourself and you can't let
11:44
Speaker 1: that continue to be your story. Well, if so and
11:47
Speaker 1: so help me, I would have been able to do this,
11:49
Speaker 1: and if so and so did this. But at some
11:51
Speaker 1: point you have to take responsibility for what happens in
11:54
Speaker 1: your life. And being a New Day Foundation does what
11:57
Speaker 1: what we can through creative and cultural experiences, um and
12:02
Speaker 1: career experiences that a lot of these young people across
12:06
Speaker 1: the country are not exposed to. We do programs for
12:09
Speaker 1: young boys called mentors which stands for men talking of
12:12
Speaker 1: Relevant sid situations and SIS Sisters hang Out which is
12:16
Speaker 1: for teenage girls. Mentors as teenage boys, Sisters hang Out
12:20
Speaker 1: as teen teenage girls. We do similar programs for them
12:23
Speaker 1: and take them on outings. UH. Then we do our
12:26
Speaker 1: annual Focused and Fit f I T which stands for
12:29
Speaker 1: Financially and Technologically Informed once a year on college campuses.
12:35
Speaker 1: We do it for high school juniors and seniors and
12:37
Speaker 1: their parents so that we can give them information so
12:40
Speaker 1: that whole household goes home informed on how they can
12:44
Speaker 1: get to and through higher education and careers. And we
12:48
Speaker 1: also opened that conference up to college freshmen and sophomores
12:52
Speaker 1: so that we can help them answer the questions. It's like, okay,
12:54
Speaker 1: I got into college. Now what now I'm like a
12:59
Speaker 1: thousand dollar donation to your man. Thank you, thank you,
13:04
Speaker 1: thank you, because we turned around and give that money.
13:08
Speaker 1: That's why I gotta stop you. You can't keep telling
13:10
Speaker 1: what you're doing. And I'm just sitting up. They're going
13:12
Speaker 1: to coop. You keep going, girl, you go, you go,
13:16
Speaker 1: you make it and you go get We give out
13:20
Speaker 1: eight scholarships of two thousand dollars each to qualify it
13:25
Speaker 1: twos well as a new computer. It's two thousand dollars.
13:29
Speaker 1: Then the scholarship is two Okay, that's what I'm doing.
13:32
Speaker 1: I'm donating two thousand dollars. Man, and we can give
13:35
Speaker 1: it in your name. How about that, girl? You give whoever? Okay,
13:39
Speaker 1: give it. What I'm saying, consider this a scholarship. Donat you?
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Speaker 1: I know, don Look, look girl, you're beautiful. Are we
13:48
Speaker 1: gonna come back to the next break? I just had
13:50
Speaker 1: to stop you and let you know. You know it's
13:52
Speaker 1: not gonna come on money, make conversations. All the great
13:55
Speaker 1: stuff you're doing in the community. I'm just going to
13:56
Speaker 1: sit over the girl. You go, girl, we gonna be
14:00
Speaker 1: back with my girl dog Little talk about a Broadway show.
14:03
Speaker 1: She's on that doing Mama Mama Cool and a lot
14:08
Speaker 1: of other things. Verona Kamal is a lot of great
14:10
Speaker 1: things happening right back with more. Don Lewis, Oh, she's
14:13
Speaker 1: back on the air with me. She's the War winning actress, songwriter, filanthroprist, producer.
14:18
Speaker 1: We just go talking about her New Day foundation or
14:21
Speaker 1: she gives out eight two tho dollar scholarships to students,
14:24
Speaker 1: and I've just told her that I am going to
14:27
Speaker 1: be a contributor to one of those scholarships for eighteen
14:31
Speaker 1: and U you're gonna provide the paperwork to me. Samath
14:34
Speaker 1: is gonna reach out to you, and we're gonna change
14:36
Speaker 1: your kid's life for your foundation said, all right, you
14:39
Speaker 1: know you're walking on money main conversation. That's what happens done.
14:43
Speaker 1: You know, UH, God has blessed me. My wife is
14:46
Speaker 1: a she's a fantastic person too, and uh we try
14:50
Speaker 1: to uh distribute information to uh through our through our success.
14:55
Speaker 1: And then you you're doing something that I cannot do. Well,
14:58
Speaker 1: I can't write a check, and that's what I'm doing
15:00
Speaker 1: your organization. Okay, but I appreciate that, but please don't
15:04
Speaker 1: sell yourself short. The fact that you use this platform,
15:07
Speaker 1: you use your voice, you use the people who tune
15:10
Speaker 1: into you to bring them information that can help benefit
15:13
Speaker 1: their lives. Yes, yes, you are doing some something my
15:16
Speaker 1: brother and is greatly appreciated. Well, thank you really appreciate.
15:19
Speaker 1: We talked about that, We talked about your past, we
15:22
Speaker 1: talked about your foundation. Now you own a new Broadway
15:26
Speaker 1: musical called Tina about the legendary team to turn herself.
15:30
Speaker 1: And you played the role of Zelma, Mrs turn but
15:34
Speaker 1: Mrs Turner's mother. Yes, I played my mama, Tina Turner's mama.
15:39
Speaker 1: When when Zelma refers to Tina, she always refers to
15:43
Speaker 1: her as anim animal Bullock, which is her given name,
15:47
Speaker 1: and which is something that is true for far too
15:51
Speaker 1: many of us. They did not have a great, loving, hugging,
15:55
Speaker 1: warm mother's daughter relationship. It was very complicated. It was
15:59
Speaker 1: very strange, uh, right up until there was no more
16:03
Speaker 1: relationship when when Mrs Bullock passed away, Um and unfortunate.
16:08
Speaker 1: That is a hard thing to play in this show.
16:11
Speaker 1: It is a musical. Of course you're going to hear
16:13
Speaker 1: the music of the legend and the performances of the
16:16
Speaker 1: lead legend. We have an amazing cast, but make no mistake,
16:20
Speaker 1: we get to the heart of a lot of issues,
16:23
Speaker 1: and some of them are different and challenging to watch.
16:26
Speaker 1: But that's what makes Miss Turner's journey so amazing and
16:30
Speaker 1: so victorious in what she was able to overcome. And
16:34
Speaker 1: one of the reasons, and people ask me, well, you know,
16:37
Speaker 1: I know you do you do theater, et cetera. But
16:39
Speaker 1: this is a long commitment. I'll be here for Justice
16:41
Speaker 1: about a year and we just opened. Uh So people
16:44
Speaker 1: are saying, well, what about the television shows, what about
16:47
Speaker 1: the movie? All of that is still happening, and you
16:49
Speaker 1: mentioned some of them, even the Veronica Mars show that
16:53
Speaker 1: just launched this a couple of months ago. I'm I'm
16:56
Speaker 1: a regular on that show, and we'll be seeing starring
17:00
Speaker 1: in the Amazon series The Boys starting at the top
17:03
Speaker 1: of the year in their second season. I'm really about that.
17:07
Speaker 1: That's excited, right, But that's the one that las Alonzo
17:10
Speaker 1: on that right, Alonzo, it was so cool working with
17:16
Speaker 1: them in Canada. But getting back to Tina, one of
17:20
Speaker 1: the big reasons why I really wanted to do this
17:23
Speaker 1: like that, How you gonna do me like that? You're
17:25
Speaker 1: gonna take me over to the boys, and then you're gon,
17:28
Speaker 1: we got time. Now this is your show. Now we
17:30
Speaker 1: talked about Now. Now, that's an exciting series to be
17:32
Speaker 1: a part of because because they sigh fire effects of
17:36
Speaker 1: the super it's kind of like an anti superhero movie.
17:40
Speaker 1: It's like superhero like superheroes on the dark side, right,
17:44
Speaker 1: different things. They're they're good guys who do not such
17:47
Speaker 1: good things all the time, and you kind of don't
17:51
Speaker 1: know whether you're supposed to love them, hate them, be
17:53
Speaker 1: mad at him, check them, or just cheer them on.
17:56
Speaker 1: And the cast itself is just they are off the
18:00
Speaker 1: It's that side. That's the side of the series where
18:04
Speaker 1: you know, you know, you look at superheroes, you go, Okay,
18:07
Speaker 1: they know they're famous, they know they're superhumans. They know
18:09
Speaker 1: they can day and they body, they know they can
18:12
Speaker 1: Actually they want money, they can go get get a
18:14
Speaker 1: diamond out of the ground. Because they superhero they just
18:20
Speaker 1: they can just start all they can just go find ore,
18:22
Speaker 1: you know. And that's what these characters are. They are
18:24
Speaker 1: very much aware that they're superheroes. Now, before we digress,
18:30
Speaker 1: Jack Quaid, who's one of the stars of The Boys,
18:34
Speaker 1: also starts with me in the CBS animated series Star
18:38
Speaker 1: Trek lower Deck, and that's gonna be primiary at the
18:41
Speaker 1: beginning of the year as well. She's so much, she's
18:44
Speaker 1: so she's so busy, she's so busy. I don't know
18:47
Speaker 1: how you know God's good because of the fact that
18:51
Speaker 1: you know, first of all, I've been trying to get
18:52
Speaker 1: you on the show. I see why I can't get
18:53
Speaker 1: you on the show. What she's doing, What she's doing,
18:58
Speaker 1: what's she doing? Not know? I'm sorry. I apologize for
19:01
Speaker 1: talking aboud to my staff. You know I'm saying, you know,
19:04
Speaker 1: talking about to my staff, you know, because she said,
19:07
Speaker 1: you know, she said, like taking over the show. Now
19:09
Speaker 1: you know she's promoting her stuff. I'm my little pizza
19:12
Speaker 1: paper all over the place. Now you're talking about that
19:16
Speaker 1: right now. Don come on now, let's now, let's going
19:18
Speaker 1: back to Tina. Let's get your bast go back to Tina.
19:22
Speaker 1: To Tina. You will be there for a year now.
19:24
Speaker 1: Now talk about what is that like? You have a
19:26
Speaker 1: dark day of one day a week is usually dark, right,
19:31
Speaker 1: and the rest of the days you're performing correct, Talk
19:33
Speaker 1: about that you have talk about the whole set up, well,
19:36
Speaker 1: that whole schedule that we are on. When we were
19:39
Speaker 1: in previews, we officially opened on November seventh. Prior to that,
19:43
Speaker 1: we were in what it's called previews for about three
19:45
Speaker 1: and a half weeks, and that is our creative team's
19:49
Speaker 1: last opportunity to make any changes or restructuring to the
19:53
Speaker 1: show before we get in front of the official run audience.
19:58
Speaker 1: So we do the show at night, the same three
20:00
Speaker 1: hours at night for an audience, but during the day,
20:05
Speaker 1: the producers and the directors and the creative team come
20:08
Speaker 1: to us and say, Okay, this work last night, this
20:11
Speaker 1: didn't work. We're gonna change this dance number. We're gonna
20:14
Speaker 1: cut this song and replace it with that song. So
20:17
Speaker 1: we're rehearsing still all day long, take a dinner break,
20:21
Speaker 1: and come back and perform all the stuff that we
20:23
Speaker 1: just changed for the next audience that night. So we
20:27
Speaker 1: can do that all the way up until we officially open.
20:30
Speaker 1: So now the show is what what they call locked.
20:33
Speaker 1: They can't make any more changes. Okay, but we normally
20:37
Speaker 1: get one day off a week because of this particular week,
20:41
Speaker 1: the Thanksgiving holiday. We don't have a show on Thanksgiving,
20:45
Speaker 1: do you think. Okay, but we normally do eight shows.
20:48
Speaker 1: This week, we'll only do seven. No such luck. They
20:50
Speaker 1: moved Thursday show to tonight. So at the end of
20:54
Speaker 1: this week, which ends after the evening show on Wednesday,
20:57
Speaker 1: we will have done twelve straight shows. We will have
21:00
Speaker 1: worked every day straight since last week. Two days. Okay,
21:04
Speaker 1: we're not we're not complaining, right, We're not going to complain,
21:08
Speaker 1: but I just need y'all to understand eight shows a
21:11
Speaker 1: week is no singing and dancing and jumping around for
21:15
Speaker 1: three hours at the highest level of adrenaline. You can
21:22
Speaker 1: you playing you want to come? You're playing come, You're
21:27
Speaker 1: not jumping around to talk to me about doing twelve.
21:32
Speaker 1: I love this interview. I love this interview. So so
21:36
Speaker 1: so let's let's talk about this because I gotta come
21:38
Speaker 1: and see you. I gotta come up there and see yes, please,
21:41
Speaker 1: so I know, probably probably gonna be to January. You know,
21:44
Speaker 1: I love that time. We will still be there, grace
21:47
Speaker 1: for God. The audiences have been loving the show, on
21:49
Speaker 1: their feet, singing and dancing with us. Some of y'all
21:52
Speaker 1: need to calm down because you're singing a little louder this.
21:55
Speaker 1: And I understand you bought a ticket, but hello, hello, Hello. Okay.
22:02
Speaker 1: You see, if you're having a lot of fun with
22:04
Speaker 1: your life, the fact that you have the charity, the
22:07
Speaker 1: fact you have your own production company, that means the
22:09
Speaker 1: creative side. And now you're locked into a year long production.
22:13
Speaker 1: And we know as as as entertain as we know
22:15
Speaker 1: as people who get out there, that that regular check
22:18
Speaker 1: means something. Okay, we can kind of like calm down
22:21
Speaker 1: our lives and to be able to focus things and
22:24
Speaker 1: buy things that we want to do. And then when
22:26
Speaker 1: you always tell people when you're working, and that's when
22:29
Speaker 1: you can get another job. When you're working, exactly now
22:33
Speaker 1: is the time to position yourself for the next thing.
22:35
Speaker 1: While you're in this in this industry, while you're hot,
22:39
Speaker 1: while folks have eyes on you, you do what you
22:42
Speaker 1: can to present yourself in a way that positions you
22:45
Speaker 1: for whatever comes next. Because in this industry is much
22:48
Speaker 1: A year sounds like that's nothing. Some people have been
22:51
Speaker 1: in the same job for ten years, twenty years, so
22:55
Speaker 1: they look at you and say a year, that's no
22:57
Speaker 1: big deal, And it's like, but yeah, in this industry
23:00
Speaker 1: is because jobs come and they go, they last a month.
23:04
Speaker 1: You could be in a hit show or what you
23:06
Speaker 1: think is a hit show. Come to work and there's
23:08
Speaker 1: a sign on the signing door that says we are
23:11
Speaker 1: about to close in two weeks. Because you learn no
23:14
Speaker 1: one else has bought a ticket beyond a certain date.
23:17
Speaker 1: I mean the shows we shoot these TV shows, trust me,
23:20
Speaker 1: there's only eight ten episodes. Now, that means what do
23:24
Speaker 1: you do for the other nine months in the year.
23:27
Speaker 1: But you still got to You still gotta pay your rent,
23:30
Speaker 1: you gotta eat, pay your insurance, all of those things.
23:33
Speaker 1: So it really does behoove you to just keep things moving.
23:38
Speaker 1: Our resumes change weekly. People have the same resume they've
23:43
Speaker 1: been using for a few years. The the I would say,
23:48
Speaker 1: the nine to five working persons, they have the same
23:51
Speaker 1: resume they've used for years. Our resume gets updated almost
23:55
Speaker 1: every week, at least every month of whatever new job.
23:58
Speaker 1: Of you out there husky and trying to maintain your
24:02
Speaker 1: marketability and try to convince somebody why you should hire
24:06
Speaker 1: me over over the thousand other possible actresses that are
24:11
Speaker 1: out there, And that's that's that's it's a lot of work.
24:15
Speaker 1: It's a lot of work, and are really powerful. Before
24:16
Speaker 1: we go, I want to just talk about your being
24:19
Speaker 1: able to have a major role in the animation Vossover world.
24:24
Speaker 1: Talk to us a little bit about that. Talk to
24:25
Speaker 1: my my listeners how that, How are you able to
24:27
Speaker 1: break that that wall from acting to animation Vossover resson.
24:32
Speaker 1: Before we move away, This one thing I really want
24:33
Speaker 1: to say really quickly, and I will talk about that
24:36
Speaker 1: is one of the biggest reasons why I wanted to do, Tina,
24:38
Speaker 1: And this is for anyone who was out there. Tina's
24:41
Speaker 1: story is amazing, it is victorious. It is about a
24:44
Speaker 1: woman who not only survived domestic violence and all kinds
24:48
Speaker 1: of hurdles and she tried her best to be her
24:50
Speaker 1: best self. But she is victorious, she is thriving and
24:54
Speaker 1: who she is now. So that's my story as well.
24:57
Speaker 1: I was raised in the home of domestic violence. I
25:00
Speaker 1: was raised in an environment where I was, like I
25:02
Speaker 1: mentioned before, bullied all kinds of things. But my mom,
25:06
Speaker 1: like Tina's mom, had to step away, and then Tina
25:10
Speaker 1: had to deal with issues of abandonment. My mom had
25:13
Speaker 1: to leave myself from my three brothers for almost a
25:15
Speaker 1: year and a half to get out of the situation
25:18
Speaker 1: she was in to position herself in a way where
25:21
Speaker 1: she was able to come back and get a and
25:23
Speaker 1: do her best to raise me and my three brothers.
25:26
Speaker 1: And I give all shout outs to moms, even to
25:29
Speaker 1: men who are suffering from domestic violence, because some women
25:32
Speaker 1: can be very violent as well. All that to say,
25:35
Speaker 1: do not quit on yourself. Believe that you deserve to
25:38
Speaker 1: be loved, Believe that you deserve to be in a
25:40
Speaker 1: safe and healthy environment. And if you are not, please
25:44
Speaker 1: get help, Please get yourself out, because you cannot be
25:47
Speaker 1: good for your children if they are witnessing you being
25:51
Speaker 1: abused and attacked. You want to break that cycle of violence.
25:55
Speaker 1: You want to promote a cycle of healing and healthy living. Okay,
26:00
Speaker 1: tell us how to get tickets. No, no, because because
26:02
Speaker 1: I gotta go to the tickets of the show. Okay.
26:06
Speaker 1: We are at the lunch Fontane Theater in New York City,
26:09
Speaker 1: So go to Broadway dot com. Tina the Musical we
26:13
Speaker 1: are running. We are looking forward to seeing you. Please
26:16
Speaker 1: come check us out, Please please please, Well, my friend,
26:19
Speaker 1: the cat is amazing. My friend, you're an amazing person.
26:22
Speaker 1: You've got me into your foundation again. Samatha will reach
26:25
Speaker 1: out to you. I will see you in January. Dawn
26:29
Speaker 1: Rushan mcdonal is a friend of your family. Okay, I
26:31
Speaker 1: know that I am a fair much. Thank you for
26:33
Speaker 1: supporting Tina Be a New Day Foundation, my animation work,
26:37
Speaker 1: film work, my company, The Morning Morning jewel Ink. We
26:40
Speaker 1: didn't get to talk about you know, you know you
26:42
Speaker 1: gotta come back on the show. You know that you
26:43
Speaker 1: know that I'll be back. Okay, I'll be back