Anika Noni Rose realised in high school that acting was the flame that lit her passion.
“It was a little late compared to most people in my profession. I did a musical at school and we had a guest director come in, and when we finished the first show I realised that nothing else I did in my life felt like that.”
The US stage and TV star comes from a background of achievers and managed a lot of extracurricular activities during her school days.
“I played all the sports, ran track, and was in band. But acting was the thing that really, really moved me.”
Rose has never limited herself when it comes to her career. From her movie role in Dreamgirls to voicing the first black princess, Tiana, in The Princess and the Frog and to the evil Jukebox she plays in the hit series Power, Rose consciously makes sure she doesn’t play the same character over again.
“I’m always trying to find something different to bring so I can challenge and better myself. I can’t stretch my craft if I am staying in the same lane. I’m always fighting the box. I often turn things down, not because they aren’t going to pay me but because I’ve walked that role before; I’ve spoken in that voice; I’ve said those words.”
The 45-year-old says Black Panther is a film she would love to have been part of.
Her groundbreaking role as Princess Tiana already paved the way for young black children to open themselves up to being represented in the world of make-belief and fantasy.
“That’s where kids function. So if you are the child who is getting ready to do your school play and someone says you have to be the tree because there are no brown fairies, it’s up to us to change that.
“And I find it amazing that there is a landscape in which there are movies where rocks talk, trees walk, dogs fly but black folks don’t live How does that work?”
Rose says pushing the black narrative is essential because so much of what has become a cultural phenomenon starts at the front doors of black communities.
“It’s taken away and turned into something else and re-appropriated, and pretended that we had no part of it.
“That’s not acceptable. Young children have to understand their importance in the landscape of creation, otherwise they will grow up to feel they are not part of the things that are fantasy-fantastic; grow up to feel like they don’t matter when it comes to magic. And we have every right to feel as magical and beautiful and special and star-dusted as everyone else.”
For Rose, it is much more important to be creatively satisfied than to take home a cheque. When she takes on a character, she wants to be able to hear the character’s voice in her head and take her audience on a journey.
“When I’m reading a script I can hear the voice in my head if it is right; if it is for me. If I don’t hear it, the script doesn’t sing for me.”
Rose was in the country to promote the BET (Black Entertainment Television) series The Quad, in which she has the starring role as Dr Eva Fletcher.
Now in its second season, the show centres on an HBCU (historically black college and university) and takes on vital issues faced in society today, including rape on campus, police violence and mental health.
BET’s stated mission is to project and protect the black narrative through the use of strong and complex characters in its shows.
Rose also appreciates the value of her late thirties character, a professional woman who can embrace her sensuality.
The Tony Award-winning actress has been recognised for her work across all platforms, but she finds the most fulfilment in theatre work.
With the Time’s Up movement now in full effect, Rose says it’s still difficult for people of colour to speak out.
“We still don’t know if we will be supported in that landscape. Black Hollywood and the people who we have to work with and want to work with is a much smaller world. If people start to tell their stories and they are not supported, where will they work? So, as with the history of black women in the world, it is the fear of not being supported.”
After all is said and done, Rose wants to be remembered as someone who has integrity, who is a humanist and who cares beyond their own sphere.
The Quad plays on Monday at 9.30pm CAT on BET (DStv channel 129).