In addition to being a multifaceted entertainer, one of the defining characteristics of Neal is that she is not scared — meaning that she’s never been afraid to take chances with roles and opportunities she’s had. Her beauty obscures the fact that she has skin as thick and tough as buffalo hide. Among the dozens of movies and television shows she played in or guest starred in, Neal has played a hooker in the Spike Lee movie Malcolm X, starred alongside Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren in Love Ranch about the first legal brothel in America, and she’s also guest starred in the Kerry Washington-led runaway phenomenon “Scandal.” She’s also shown her sexy side in provocative pictorials for King magazine.
Now, playing in her seventh TV show, Neal is amazed at the level of success she’s had in Hollywood considering the fact that she never dreamed of being a movie star as she was coming up in her Memphis, Tenn., stomps.
“Absolutely not!” she exclaimed. “It’s kind of weird. When you’re raised in a small town, you wonder what you can do with your life. For me, it had nothing to do with Hollywood. I thought that dance would be my life. My end-all, be-all was to be the next Debbie Allen. And I kind of made that dream come true, in a way, by moving to New York and playing in musicals all over the world. And being blessed to play in commercials — I’ve done about 50 of them — and someone said ‘you should do speaking commercials.’ And I said ‘well, OK, I’ll take a class. And then moving on from there and taking acting classes and going on auditions and getting my first gig as an actor. But I definitely didn’t see it.”
It was through dance that she began growing the thick skin that has served her so well throughout her career. But the dance auditions also taught her how to avoid taking rejection personally and so seriously.
“I’ve had a musical theater past, so I’m not afraid of the stage. I’m not afraid of dramatic scenes because I’ve studied Shakespeare at the College of Arts in Philly. And I have done those plays on stages. I have a different path than others, so maybe that makes it a little easier for me. Same thing with Jamie Foxx. We know he’s silly but he has the experience of performing live with his singing, and music has served him well.”
Her worldwide dance and musical theater experience helped open her perspective dramatically.
“Traveling to so many countries changed me as an individual. I’m completely open to change. And I’m more adaptable to different people, different cultures, different experiences. I’m not so ‘judgy’ about people. I’ve seen some of the most beautiful monuments on Earth and met some beautiful people [in places like] Japan.”
Her world experience also conditioned Neal to being open to exploring other opportunities behind the screen and behind the camera. Acting is not Neal’s only hustle. Like we said earlier, the girl’s got game. She is a manager of a musical group and she has written a screenplay titled “Timeless” that she is currently shopping to movie studios now.
In the meantime, she is thoroughly enjoying her current high-profile project and all that it means. Best of all, Neal gets to perform on the set that is perhaps the most enjoyable of her career with “Belle’s.”
“I really, really enjoyed coming to work with everyone. I loved working on the set with everyone. Everyone on the set is silly. And I’m naturally silly and everyone on the set [is] hardworking [and] likes to play off the set as opposed to on the set. And that’s my personality. I like to work really hard, knock out all the scenes and then go to the club and then not tell anybody the next day what I did,” she said, breaking out in a hearty laugh. “And everyone on the set is the same way. And I just love being on the set and it’s just a great group of people.”
Obviously, Neal is in a good place in her life and career. For someone who never aspired to live in the City of Angels and make a great living playing characters, we can easily say that Neal has done quite well for herself — and then some.
“It’s exciting for me to be in my seventh television series. I’ve been doing this for quite some time and to know that I can still hang with the big dogs is exciting for me,” she says.
Images by DeWayne Rogers
