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Erika Alejandro She started as a teenager on “The Cosby Show” before taking on the breakout role of attorney Maxine Shaw on “Living Single.” But it is his last performance in “American fiction”, a satire that criticizes our culture’s obsession with stereotypes and that has put her in a conversation she has never been in before: that of an awards season contender.
Alexander plays Coraline, the love interest of Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a cantankerous author who challenges the industry’s perceptions of “black entertainment.” On December 5, a few hours before sitting down with VarietyAlexander found out that she had been nominated in the secondary category at the Independent Spirit Awards; She attended last year’s ceremony as a guest.
“They left me on the road and I walked, dodging the Porta-Potties,” he says, laughing happily to keep his emotions about the moment at bay. They leak anyway.
Although Alexander has given notable performances in “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” “Black Lightning,” “Run the World,” “Get Out” and has expanded her impact as a writer, producer, director and activist, in August, a A street in her hometown of Winslow, Arizona, was named “Erika Alexander Way”; This recognition represents a milestone in her career.
“It’s lovely that they talk about it like that,” he adds, reaching for a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. “I’ve been in business for 40 years and yet I’ve never talked about it in spaces like this. I think of that with great gratitude. “I trained my whole life for this moment.”
How did “American fiction” come to you?
I received a call that Cordon Jefferson He was interested in me playing the role in his new film. He is an accomplished writer; He knew of his work on “Watchmen,” so he had a certain expectation that he was going to be good. He explained his vision and my role in it. When someone tells you that they have imagined you in that space and invites you to play, without audition (like “I know who you are and I know what you are capable of”), you say yes.
Cord has said he was interested in you because you’re a legend and wondered why you hadn’t had more opportunities on the big screen after “Living Single.” What does it mean to hear him talk about you that way?
It’s a beautiful thing. But it’s also kind of frustrating because someone has assessed me as a risk. It has nothing to do with talent; “deserves” has nothing to do with it. No past work. Someone said it’s not worth the risk. It will not be sold; It is not appetizing. I’m not the only one who gets evaluated like this. And that can be very painful. It’s powerful when someone invests in you. I have been one of the lucky ones (believe it or not) if I have managed to last 40 years. That’s grace.
What interested you about Coraline?
Coraline is the silent storm. Every time Monk, played so beautifully by Jeffrey Wright, turns around, he finds himself in a completely different climate system and will not be able to maintain the silo around him that is his comfort zone.
She was attracted to him before she met him. He had an impact on her and attracted the possibility of a new relationship that could be healthy for him. But what I love about her is that he may be unhappy, but she isn’t. She doesn’t allow him to change the climate system around her. We are facing a mature relationship and a conversation about what it is to find a partner. Black women have been told time and time again that we want too much, and yet these characters are walking through the Everglades licking ice cream cones and tasting it.
“American Fiction” won the Popular Choice Award at TIFF, as well as audience awards at the Middleburg and Mill Valley film festivals, and has now reached the top of critics’ lists. Why do you think this film resonates the way it does?
Cord wrote a screenplay that was a beautifully articulated adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel “Erasure.” It was made for the moment. He then he had the stroke of genius to bring us all together. People might think: “They are all very independent and strong players, will they work together?” He understood that people who were used to being hammers in leadership positions would know, when they met as a whole, how not to overdo it. That’s the experience. Each of us knew how to play our role and also how to rise above any space, because we have had to do it our entire career: stand out in small places. And Jeffrey Wright is no joke; he is the Death Star that attracted us all.
Erika Alexander and Jeffrey Wright in “American Fiction.”
MGM
Tell me about working with this cast: Tracee Ellis Ross, Sterling K. Brown, Leslie Uggams, Issa Rae, John Ortiz, Keith David, Adam Brody, the list goes on.
I was able to share a dressing room with the great Leslie Uggams and listen to her stories. I sat at the foot of the greats (Cicely Tyson, Gloria Foster, Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg) and listened, I didn’t say a word. What will inform my next position will be having worked closely with Leslie Uggams, because she showed me a model of the future. I say I am the “ghost of Christmas future” for young people; She is mine and wow! The view from there is great!
What did you learn from those conversations?
What those stories told me is that (in this race) not only can you survive, but there is still a lot of joy. He had his own television show on CBS. (“The Leslie Uggams Show” aired in 1969 and was the second variety show to feature an African-American entertainer) and he wasn’t asked to do things. She had done well over time because she moved on to voice-over; she had to adapt and she was very happy to have him. There wasn’t any emptiness, like, “Oh, they don’t want me.”
Since you’re talking about the greats, your production company Color Farm Media is making a documentary about Diahann Carroll, with Venus and Serena Williams as executive producers. How did that project come about?
Diahann Carroll, one of the first and best to do so, has never had a documentary about her, nor has John Lewis. (Alexander and his Color Farm Media co-founder Ben Arnon produced the Emmy and NAACP Image Award-winning documentary “John Lewis: Good Trouble” in 2020.) So, we partnered with her daughter Suzanne Kay and Susanne Rostock, who will direct.
Suzanne Kay found a hidden diary that her mother had left her, and the things she couldn’t talk about are in this diary. There are love letters from Sidney Poitier to her and there are pictures in the basement of parties at her house and you realize what a big movie star she is. We’re glad the Williams sisters are coming too. They understand what it is to be “the first” and they put their family through that. We are looking forward to seeing a great film about her, but also to start a tsunami, a wave of narratives around these great masters who have not had her day.
How do you evaluate the impact of the roles you have played? Maxine Shaw is credited with inspiring many young black women to become lawyers, including Stacey Abrams. How is that?
That’s why we need to think about value. We needed Yvette Lee Bowser to create that show, to create that character based on something she wanted to be, and then cast me to style her. I got that hairstyle because I worked with Whoopi Goldberg (in 1990’s “The Long Walk Home”) and was inspired by “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” I worked with Phylicia Rashad, who played the lawyer on “The Cosby Show,” and then with the great Cicely Tyson, who has gone ungodly stronger. These people invaded me and I would use those experiences to inform Maxine Shaw.
Erika Alexander, Queen Latifah, Kim Fields and Kim Coles in “Living Single”
©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
And there’s young Stacey Abrams, looking at her natural hair and dark skin, saying “Hmm.” She had it in her all the time, but Maxine is a model, a template. She tells him that she exists and that it’s important that she exists, and then she goes on to help save our world. That’s a one-to-one (comparison), all in the same generation. It’s unreal. And all I can say is thank you.
I think of all the kids in Wakanda, the Letitia Wrights, who see themselves in STEM (because of the “Black Panther” movies). That is why it is very important that you can endure the trip. Think about it: how many times did Harriet Tubman come back for us? I haven’t earned the right to be tired. The right to stop. We won’t win it in our lifetimes. It’s just our turn to carry the baton.
“Living Single” just celebrated its 30th anniversary. What’s the latest on a revival?
I was the person who was most hesitant about it. I’m very associated with that character, more than the others, frankly. I put that wig on and it becomes something. I wanted to transcend it, expand and grow. I thought, “Will I be able to do it?” Now I’m rethinking it because I realize that I can transcend anything. I can resurrect that character inside me because he has never been outside of me. I can grow within it as long as the audience is willing for me to grow. So, we’ll see.
What do you want to do next?
I would like to be the female “Pink Panther,” use my physical comedy skills and play a new type of detective who is fallible and yet finds the answer anyway. I would love to make movies like Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, where they have a certain age and use it to tell these great noir stories. Maybe I’ll do comedy sketches, why not?
I have done a lot to make sure that none of this time when I felt like I was “not working” was wasted. I became bigger than the scope of my opportunity. That didn’t mean I didn’t want to be the actress I thought I could be, but I would like to make sure I fulfill some of the promises of having a gift that I don’t think has been taken advantage of. at full capacity, still.
