Palmer is learning her place in life and in her career. Since her breakthrough role in Akeelah, she’s worked steadily in Hollywood; she’s done everything from comedy to drama — from musicals to animation voice-overs. Now, she tackles one of her most high-profile roles as she steps into the baggy jeans of one of the most beloved groups of all time. Palmer will portray Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas in the upcoming VH1 biopic “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story.”
“It was a dream come true,” she says. “I never would’ve imagined that I would be doing something like that. Being a kid growing up and loving TLC and then doing the movie and playing my favorite member? It was overwhelming.”
Palmer says that she had no apprehension initially about starring in the film, but that she did develop a little anxiety after the intense fan reaction to the casting and to the project itself. “Afterward, when I saw other people’s reactions to it, there was a little bit of added pressure,” she admits. “Typically when I approach a project, I always have pressure on myself because I want to surpass my last project. But realizing even much more so how big of a deal this was going to be for fans, I realized ‘omigod, I really have to nail this!’ ”
And when doing a biopic, it can be a bit of a challenge because the public has a strong view of the celebrity that you are portraying. “It is a little bit harder because you want to get it right,” she explains. “But at the end of the day, [the fans] don’t know what Chilli’s life was like at home. They only knew her through interviews and her performances. But they didn’t know how she was with her mom, or how she was with her sister or how she was at home.”
