Video interview with Aaria Charaman coming soon. Check back shortly to watch this exclusive conversation.
Aaria Charaman is a rising triple-threat talent whose commanding screen presence and emotional range have made her one to watch. With a BFA in Musical Theater, she brings technical skill and creative depth to her breakout role as Simone Love in Jonesing: When Love is a Habit, directed by Sixx King. As the successor to the classic film Love Jones, this new feature follows a young poet navigating the complexities of love after her parents’ divorce, capturing the emotional pulse of a generation caught between love, identity, and self-discovery.
What initially drew you to the character of Simone Love, and how did you prepare for this role?
Simone Love, I can identify with her in her strength, she’s very strong. In Jonesing, Simone definitely goes through a lot in her personal life, as well as in her family life, because her parents, who were the epitome of black love for her and her example of love, get a divorce. And so that kind of makes her question love, and question everything she thought she’s known. That on top of personal issues, as a young black woman, and in college, in her senior year of college, she goes through a lot, and she has to be vulnerable, but overall, she’s very strong. So that’s my connection definitely to her.
How did you connect with Simone’s experiences, and what aspects of her story resonated with you personally?
As a young black woman navigating love in this generation, it’s hard, I think for everybody it can be a challenge. Difficulties she faced, with how social media plays a role in relationships, because that’s a theme in the film as well. I’ve gone through some things in my personal love life where social media has impacted a relationship. It’s just very realistic, there were scenes in the film that I was like, oh, yeah this definitely, I’ve experienced something like this, in my relationship.
The film delves into the idea of jonesing for love. How do you interpret this concept and how did it influence your portrayal?
I was mainly inspired by Sixx King’s writing, and that really helped me, because I’ve had my own experiences, but I can’t say in real life I’ve had that yearning, that I’ve experienced jonesing, but I think I’ve been close to it, so I could draw from that. But his writing definitely was the motivation for that.
What was your experience like working with director Sixx King?
It’s definitely been a pleasure working with him. He’s obviously a great writer, but extremely professional. This being my sophomore film, I had a different experience previously, it was good still, but Sixx took it to another level for me. He pushed me, again, with his writing. There were some things in the film, as an actor, it pushed me to grow. I had some real tears in the film. I had to get into the zone, and work to get to that point, but I definitely feel like because of his writing, I’ve grown as an actor. So it’s been a great experience overall, and also I will say, he tapped in some relationships with seasoned actors that he had such as Khalil Kain, who is in Love Jones. Getting to work with Khalil was amazing, that also pushed me, and allowed me to grow, and I got some encouraging words from him, and advice, and as well as Malik Yoba, who is phenomenal as well.
Can you talk about the dynamic between Simone and the female characters, and how they contribute to her journey?
I definitely can’t say enough about the additional female characters. I have 2 best friends in the film, Layla and Mina, and they’re just extremely talented. It was an absolute pleasure working with them. I think another theme in this film that is touched on is beautiful sisterhood, and that’s what we have, which is now translated off screen as well. We had our most recent premiere in Detroit, which is my hometown, and a lot of women were coming back after the film saying, I love the depiction of sisterhood. Which I feel is something that’s missing in a lot of shows and films right now, you’re not really seeing that. It’s real, we have real conversations, and cry real tears together and laugh, and just there’s authenticity there.
How did your background in musical theater inform your approach to this dramatic role?
I had to be very disciplined, because I got my BFA musical theater. Going through that program was very rigorous, while I did a few film classes like acting for film classes, the discipline of studying my craft, throwing myself into characters that I did play previously in the musical theater world. Studying the material, and really just being able to become a character, that’s where that helped me.
Were there any particularly challenging scenes during filming?
Something that was new for me is, we had an intimate scene, and it’s tasteful, it’s classy, because I will say again, Sixx’s writing, there’s a level of class to it, and that’s what I love, because less is more. There’s a way to do things, but that scene definitely was a little challenging. It was new, people watching you be intimate. We were fully clothed, but since it was intimate, that was new. I just had to focus in, and be still, be in the moment with that.
What message do you hope audiences take away from Simone’s story?
I think that Simone’s journey just overall shows that vulnerability and feeling isn’t weakness and we all go through things. Whatever it may be in that, but I think there’s parts in the film that everybody can identify with. You’re gonna fill an array of emotions watching the film and watching my journey, but overall, it’s okay to fill those. Definitely, that’s a message there.
How do you see this role influencing your future career choices?
I’m definitely glad that I’ve experienced this role, again, I’ve grown from initially starting off as an actress. I love romantic comedies, so I do hope to do more of those as well, but I see myself doing some action films. I wanna do a little bit of that. I know I have that in me. Maybe like a thriller as well. A serious role.
What advice would you give aspiring actors and actresses looking up to you?
Invest in yourself first, have a goal, but know what you need to do to get there. And whether that’s some training or trying to secure an agent. First, invest in yourself to get you to where you need to be, and believe in yourself and know that whatever you want to do, you can do it. You know you definitely do have to put in some work. You can do anything you want to do.
Where can we watch Jonesing and follow your work?
You can find me on Instagram, and Tiktok @aariasings, those are my main platforms and I also have music out on apple music and all streaming platforms under Aaria. So stream my music as well.
