Actress Keke Palmer has had quite the year thus far. First, she became the youngest TV host in history — now she’s the first black Cinderella to hit Broadway.
“It’s honestly one of those things that I can’t believe is really happening,” Palmer told ABC by phone Friday from her Los Angeles home. “I’m very excited. Very excited and nervous as well — a bunch of feelings all at once.”
We first saw singer, Brandy Norwood as Cinderella on TV, with Whitney Houston serving as her fairy godmother. “I feel like the reason I’m able to do this is definitely because Brandy did it on TV,” Palmer said. “In me doing this, it shows everybody that everything is possible.”
Palmer, who will be making her professional stage debut, will rely on a host of skills she’s developed from film — including Barbershop 2: Back in Business and Akeelah and the Bee — her BET talk show, “Just Keke,” and on TV in Showtime’s “Masters of Sex.” Her albums include the 2007 CD So Uncool and a self-titled 2012 EP.
She has played Chili in “CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story” on VH1 and starred in Nickelodeon’s “True Jackson, VP.” Palmer also appeared opposite Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams in Lifetime’s “A Trip to Bountiful,” which was nominated for an Emmy Award.
“Theater offers so much more that I haven’t been able to access doing film and TV and everything like that,” she said. “I’m very excited to learn all that it has to offer — that focus and that dedication to perform at a certain level every night.”
Congrats, Keke!
