A Familiar face? Why Tasha Smith’s Making Waves in Hollywood

She’s at a point in her career when her name and face may seem familiar to many, even if they’re not sure precisely why, but the reason’s in her eclectic resume which includes dynamic roles in various entertainment genres. An award-winning stand-up comedian, motivational speaker and renowned acting instructor, Smith has been quietly amassing an impressive body of work for several years with movie roles in “Daddy’s Little Girls,” “ATL,” “The Good Mother” and “The Whole Ten Yards” and television sitcoms “Girlfriends,” “All of Us” and the HBO Emmy Award-winning mini-series “The Corner.” With a pivotal role in the upcoming drama “Why Did I Get Married?” Smith’s likely to do away with that anonymity once and for all.

SOP: Your breakthrough role is considered to be “Daddy’s Little Girls,” but most us familiar with your work know you have been acting for quite a while. At what point did you decide you wanted to become an actress?
TS: I always wanted to be an actress since I was a child, but I just didn’t know how it was going to happen as I was in Camden, New Jersey and it seemed that it was going to be difficult to be able to pursue it. Then things happened and I was able to get into the flow of that dream.

SOP: Is it fair to say that director Tyler Perry was so impressed with your work in his previous movie [“Daddy’s Little Girls”] that he gave a bigger role in this one?
TS: That sounds good, but on top of that I had to beg him. He is wonderful and is so cool and I know what he likes and he knows that I am going to do what he needs done and I am grateful that I got the opportunity to work with him again.

SOP: In this movie you play an outspoken and brass business woman called Angela – what similarities do you share with the character?
TS: I think there is a little bit of me in her. I think I am that friend that is going to tell the truth and I think Angela is that kind of friend you either want to be or want to have.

SOP: Did you have to audition for the role or was it a given seeing that you had worked with Tyler previously?
TS: It was one of those situations that happened. I don’t think he had me in mind for the role at first and another friend had mentioned to him that I might be really good at Angela and he was like I just worked with Tasha and we should give someone else a shot because that is how he really is. He always wants to give other people a shot and so they twisted his arm a little bit and he gave me the script. That particular night we were going to dinner and we went to this wonderful restaurant that serves the most amazing lobster you have ever had and literally I brought the script into the restaurant and whilst I am eating my lobster I was giving him lines from the movie and saying now come on Tyler Perry, who else could say this line like that? I had him laughing so hard and it ended up working out.

SOP: This movie is adapted from one of his plays by the same name – did you see the play?
TS: I saw the video, but I never had a chance to see the play when it was on tour.

(L-R) Tasha Smith, Janet Jackson, Sharon Leal. Photo credit: Alfeo Dixon, courtesy of Lionsgate.

SOP: What would you like audiences to take away from this movie?
TS: Hope in marriage and hope in reconciliation and restoration in marriages and hope in knowing that if it is going to be over, that starting over is okay and that you have a right to dream for that better half because it is possible.

SOP: With nearly half of the marriages in the United States ending in divorce – what do you think are some of the components for a successful marriage?
TS: Forgiveness. I really think forgiveness.

SOP: But how easy is it to forgive a cheating spouse?
TS: It’s not easy, but when you understand your needs of love you will allow yourself to forgive because you can’t get your love when you have a lot of un-forgiveness in your heart.

SOP: Do you think the idea of marriage is becoming obsolete?
TS: I hope not. I hope that we are starting to value it even more. There are a lot of people that are married. I don’t think so and I’ve been divorced and I am still inspired about marriage and respect it and honor it and love and want it.

SOP: Why do you enjoy acting so much?
TS: I just feel like it’s a ministry within itself. We get a chance to show humanity and I get a chance to show you a human soul on the screen and hopefully there are parts of humanity we all identify with.

SOP: You’re in an industry where roles for strong female characters, black or white are really hard to come. How do you deal with it especially with the industry being so fickle?
TS: Honestly, I think at the end of the day you just have to stay faithful and hopeful and instead of looking at it as a negative I try to inspire the writers that I know because I have an acting school called Tasha Smith Actors Workshop (www.tsaw.com). If all of us were individually doing everything we can to collectively make it better for all of us, I think it will help us a notch instead of just sitting around thinking of how bad and hard it is. While I am waiting and trying to create my next opportunity I am teaching at TSAW and it keeps me focused, grounded, positive and encouraged. It’s the industry we are in and it’s not like it’s a new story for we knew what we were getting into when we got in it.

SOP: Hollywood suffers from what I’ve coined the three strikes issue: ageism, sexism and racism for a lot of actress’s claim that at age 40 acting roles tends to dry up for them. Is that a concern for you and do you worry about that as you get older?
TS: That hasn’t been a thought for me because at the end of the day I am going to still be in this industry and if I don’t have a job that I am acting in I am going to be creating a job for someone else to act in or teaching an actor to act in a job that’s available for them.

SOP: Are there any limitations to the type of roles you would play? Would you consider a role where full nudity is required?
TS: I would not do full frontal nudity and that is only because I speak to a lot of children and young adults and I feel like my passion within my community helps me draw the line. I don’t want to go to a college and speak to group of young people and they have my breasts on pause the next day. There are some people that see it differently and have a different passion and that’s okay but for me that’s where it stops.

SOP: So when you are considering a script, what sort of criteria do you use to gauge if it’s a worthwhile project?
TS: I read the script once and then I read it again with me in mind and if I feel like I have wonderful interesting things I could fit in this story and be honest about this story and can bring some humanity to it then I consider it.

SOP: What would be that dream role for you?
TS: I would love to do an action movie beside Clive Owen and a dramatic role next to Denzel Washington.

SOP: Few people are aware that you also have an identical twin – is she an actress?
TS: No she’s a producer, director and writer and yes we are completely identical. She’s been living in Africa because she was there producing and now she’s here writing scripts and we are just doing so many wonderful things together.

SOP: Is she part of the new film that you are going to be working on called “Red Soil?” I understand it’s being directed by an African director.
TS: No she’s not involved in that.

SOP: What can you tell us about that upcoming project and the character you play?
TS: I can’t talk about it yet because it’s something that we are hopefully going to start filming in October/November. They have been pushing the dates back a lot. It’s a film about coco beans I can tell you that, but they have gone back and forth with the roles and I am just going to wait till we finish the new script to see which role I respond to the best.

Top photo credit: Bobby-Quillard.