Did knowing people who act like Bianca make it a little easier getting into the role?
“Yes, and also too just kind of going from myself… Like for instance, there’s a few similarities with Bianca that I have. They’re pretty basic. I drive a Hybrid, but the reasons I drive a Hybrid might be different from the reasons why she drives a Hybrid. I do Yoga and the reasons why I do Yoga are different from why she would do Yoga. I’m a vegetarian. The reasons why I’m that are far different from her reasons. I live in Hollywood. I’m an actress and I’m trying to be better and get roles and do all these things and succeed and everything, and she wants to do the same thing but with different motivations.
So then I was like, ‘Wow, we’re similar in so many things, what makes us different?’ It’s just the motivation and your method of achieving your goals. Some people do that in a positive way and some people are a bit more cutthroat and negative about it. It reflects what’s inside of them, what makes them behave that way.”
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is about the importance of family and the importance of returning home and staying grounded. Do you find that in your own life it’s necessary to step away from what you’re doing and get back in touch with family and friends?
“It’s always great. I came from the fashion business and now I’m in Hollywood, and it’s really easy to allow the hype to get to your head. It’s really easy to allow people to blow smoke up your ass and you believe it. It helps to be grounded and have people surrounding you - friends, family - to sort of ground you, to keep your head from floating away. Keep it from getting way too big and floating away up into the sky. Sometimes when you see people who are having a difficult time dealing, sometimes they don’t really have friends or people behind them that love them enough and support them enough to really tell them, ‘Listen, you trippin’, you need to calm down.’ It’s important to not be surrounded by yes people, or people who just want to perpetuate that hype. You need some reality.”
Martin Lawrence’s character believes in the ‘Team of Me’ philosophy in the film. Do you have a philosophy you live by?
“The closest thing that comes to that, I guess, would be just the things that my grandmother taught me. My grandmother raised me and the things that she taught me helped me to get to where I’m at today. My path to Hollywood is not like… I wasn’t in the drama department in school or whatever, so it just sort of came about that way through various steps. One of the things she said was, ‘You’re no better than anyone else and no one’s better than you,’ and that keeps you grounded. Also, growing up where I grew up, she always said, ‘Just because you’re a poor black child from the Bronx doesn’t mean you can’t achieve whatever it is you want to achieve in this life.’ There’s a few other things, but those are the two things that definitely I keep in mind.”
Did this whet your appetite for doing another comedy?
“Definitely. I think it’s just great to be able to do many different things. I just want to continue to do many different things and, for me, it’s really at the end of the day what speaks to me and what’s a great piece of material and great people to work with, and that I can push myself and challenge myself and be supported and feel grounded. But I definitely would love to do another comedy.”
