00:00I'm capable of great things in terms of drama, which is what I wanted to do.
00:04So, I'm hoping I can get a part where it's all drama under my belt.
00:09And you guys will say, oh, she fierce.
00:11I used to hate myself.
00:12The fact that I was just doing a part, I didn't know it was going to last this long.
00:15I was just doing a part to keep the part.
00:18You know, I never thought I'd make it this long.
00:21I was going to go back to New York and get back into what I was doing.
00:24Plays, theater, nice men I was seeing.
00:27I had a great life.
00:27I came to Hollywood and never got back.
00:29I had down-to-earth dreams, not being, you know, a character.
00:35I don't want to get too deep about it because I've come to grips with it.
00:38I was sad for a good five years straight.
00:41Like, I can't think I can't act.
00:43You know, you hear it.
00:44Essie Payton-Marcus, and she took me aside.
00:46She said, Jackie, you're very important.
00:48You make us laugh, and you're fierce.
00:50And she alone talked with me because I told her I felt so bad.
00:53It's like, I can't act.
00:54She jacked me up against the wall, letting me know.
00:57And it helped, and it helped me thinking in a different way, so I feel better.
01:02But it took some doing.
01:03All right.
01:07Look at God.
01:09Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen, her novel.
01:12I saw the original.
01:13I've seen it many times, and I love it.
01:16And I knew the part, Mrs. Bennett, which is what I play the mother of the girls.
01:20Five daughters who I want to get married, and married to very wealthy, you know, rich men.
01:24And I want them to be happy, especially my oldest, Lizzie, who was played by Tiffany Hines, who I absolutely adore.
01:30And she was brilliant in the film.
01:32And we really worked really hard, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
01:37It didn't seem like a black project.
01:39I hadn't seen it.
01:40I'd seen clips.
01:41Yeah.
01:41I don't watch myself.
01:42I'm too...
01:42But I'm proud.
01:44So now I'm overwhelmed.
01:46Yeah.
01:46You see what I'm saying?
01:47But I think that was a process.
01:48You have to do the thing first before you claim that it's all that.
01:52I used to watch myself on soap operas, but I watched myself to refine my acting for television, and I do it for film.
01:59But now I don't.
02:00Now that I know the difference, you know, I don't have to.
02:02I watch to make sure that I'm doing the right moves and not too much, not too big.
02:06Now, you know you're acting.
02:08You know you're good, but then you'd be like, how many chins?
02:11Didn't they see?
02:12Didn't somebody come over there and give me some makeup to hide?
02:15Oh, why did I do that?
02:16Why did I...
02:16So stuff like that.
02:18And you begin to check yourself.
02:20You don't want to do that.
02:20That's the reason I don't watch.
02:22Well, I feel that Lifetime is doing more black films, and that's the reason we're doing it.
02:29It's a plus.
02:31So I feel great, and they'll continue doing it.
02:34We have to have great quality to continue to keep doing these projects, you know, to keep the discussion going,
02:41so that you can have stuff to look at.
02:42I just think that we've got to do our best.
02:45I believe we've got to be like Jackie Robinson, the late, great Jackie Robinson.
02:48We've got to play first base, second base, third base, outfield, infield, catcher.
02:52We have to do it, what?
02:54Number one.
02:55We do movies, we do TV, but we've got to do it at a high level.
02:58Yeah.
02:58No mediocre.
02:59We can't do mediocre.
03:01Mediocre meaning don't let us look at it and go, I don't want to see this.
03:04But I don't take no stuff.
03:08I really don't, and it bothers me sometimes that I'm that way.
03:11But now I try to not harm people's character or make them feel less than.
03:17That is my mission, especially young women.
03:19I want them to have self-esteem and be who they are, be it bad or good.
03:23But you have a voice, and if you have it, use it.
03:25If you don't, think.
03:28Have a thought.
03:29Have a thought.
03:31Contribute something.
03:32Don't just sit around and do nothing.
03:34I'll just leave it at this.
03:36Wanda Sykes told me, and she gave me some great advice.
03:38When you have a thought, write it down and put it in a basket.
03:43So that's what I say.
03:45I'm going to pay that forward.
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