How was it playing Jacky Clark, someone from your hometown that you probably saw growing up?
Well, the movie came out a while ago now, but I still am so blown away by the response to it. Everybody loved it. Lifetime really did a good job of capturing their story. And people are so moved by being able to see a portrayal of them. So for me, as an actor, and a girl from Detroit, growing up in a Pentecostal church, this is one of those unbelievable dream-come-true roles. It just was mind-blowing. I felt so honored. I felt so blessed to be a part of the team of people that would tell this story and do the journey of the research.
Tell us about your role as Stella in Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas.
So this is definitely a shift from Jacky. This is a super fun thing because we get to see [ourselves], and we get to see Jesus, church, and gospel music be what Christmas is. I loved getting to really sing in this film. And even better, we got to do the classic music from Kirk Franklin’s iconic Christmas album that has the jams we know and love in the movie. And Miss Stella, who I play, gets to sing a lot of these. So you’ll get like the traditional like church choir moments. You’re gonna hear Kirk’s music in a little different way. I just want to tell everybody to get ready [because] you’re having Christmas but we’re going to have some church because it’s some real singing.
