Tell us about your new music.
My producers were like it’s time to put some music out, and that’s exactly what we did. I recorded the song at home. I thought it wasn’t time to put it out lyrically, but they kept telling me, “you are an inspiration to people, you’re speaking life, you’re speaking things into existence.” It’s called “Ambitious” [because] there was no way I was coming off of a show [titled] “Ambitions” that didn’t get picked up for a second season and not continue to be ambitious. I had to make that connection with the TV and the music.
How do you immerse yourself in a character?
I can experience 1,000 different situations in my one life being an actress. That means I lend myself completely to whatever situation this character is going through. I’m unashamed, and I don’t quit. Jamie Foxx told me once that “when you kick fear in the a– is when you’re gonna blow up.” The more fearless I become, his words ring true.
What’s your strategy for learning lines?
Repetition. You have to have a tribe. Everyone in my household — mom, dad, cousin, brother, whoever you are — if you’re around, you’re gonna work. Everybody’s involved in creating a star. It takes a village to raise a star. I study. I create. I give backstory to my characters if they don’t have a life. When I prepared for that one line in Just Wright, I treated it like it was gonna be an Oscar Award-winning moment.
What five actresses would you like to work alongside?
Meryl Streep, Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, Sherri Shepherd and Angela Bassett.
Ten years from now, what do you hope you will have accomplished?
I hope that I have duplicated myself time and time and time over. I hosted an acting class, and I speak to the students in such a fashion that I’m trying to dump everything that I’ve ever learned into them in life and in acting. I feel like if I can help somebody along the way, then I’ve duplicated myself on the Earth. I’m a candle shining bright, but if I light somebody else’s candle, I’ll shine even brighter. So, 10 years from now, I hope for there to be cities that are lit by Brely.
Story by Porsha Monique and Cassidy Sparks
Photos provided by Brely Evans
