1 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: I cannot believe that I'm getting to talk to you. Well, 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:11,399 Speaker 1: I cannot believe I'm going to answer these questions. Left 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,000 Speaker 1: the building. Don't worry, mind, let me tell you something. 4 00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: By all of we're not working with you anymore. Did 5 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: your brain fire you? My brain fires me. Every morning 6 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: I wake up and they're like, don't call it putting 7 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: on any clothes. You're not going anywhere, You're not doing anything. 8 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 1: Guess what. Hello, I'm Mini driver and welcome to the 9 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: first episode of many questions. Growing up, my family always 10 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,959 Speaker 1: had the radio want I loved the ritual of listening 11 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: to shows like Desert Island Discs on a Sunday morning 12 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: and hearing interesting people answer the same set of questions. Later, 13 00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: whenever I got my copy of Vanity fairback when you 14 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: actually bought hard copies of magazines, I would always turn 15 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: to the back page each first and read their version 16 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,360 Speaker 1: of Proust's questionnaire. I think it's the scientific method, really. 17 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 1: In asking different people the same set of questions, you 18 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: can make interesting observations about the way we're the same 19 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 1: and different. I love this discipline, and it made me wonder, 20 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: what if these questions were just the jumping off point 21 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: what greater depths would be revealed if I asked these 22 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: questions as conversation starters with thought leaders and trailblazers across 23 00:01:27,120 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: all these different disciplines. I think of this show as 24 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: a mini archive no pun intended, although it's sort of unavoidable, 25 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: where I invite you to observe how these trailblazers overlap 26 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: and also where they don't. So I took the format 27 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:43,680 Speaker 1: of Pruf's questionnaire and adapted what I think are seven 28 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: of the most important questions you could ever ask someone 29 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: They are When and where were you happiest? What is 30 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: the quality you like least about yourself? What relationship, real 31 00:01:56,080 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: or fictionalized, defines love for you? What quest in which 32 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: you most like answered, What person, place, or experience has 33 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: shaped you the most? What would be your last meal? 34 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: And can you tell me something in your life that 35 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:17,240 Speaker 1: has grown out of a personal disaster? And I've gathered 36 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:19,800 Speaker 1: a group of remarkable people that I am honored and 37 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: humbled to have had the chance to engage with. You 38 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: may not hear their answers to all seven of these questions. 39 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: We've selected the ones that felt closest to their experience 40 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: or were the most surprising or the ones that provided 41 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: the most fertile ground to connect. And we're starting with 42 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: Viola Davis, who, to me is one of the most passionate, thoughtful, 43 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: and compelling actors I've ever watched on screen. She's one Tony's, 44 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: Emmy's and Oscars, but sincerely all that hardware aside. She 45 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 1: is an extremely interesting person with a generosity of spirit 46 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 1: that makes me feel a bit star struck and frankly 47 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,960 Speaker 1: a bit tongue tied. I don't think that's a bad thing, 48 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: though it is humbling being around people you don't know 49 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: very well but admire greatly. I am thrilled I get 50 00:03:05,880 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 1: to talk to Viola today. It's really hard being an 51 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: actor and interviewing you, because all I really want to 52 00:03:14,919 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: be doing is like sitting in an empty theater asking 53 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:19,640 Speaker 1: you questions and then getting to go and sort of 54 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: do scenes and like, welcome stuff. I've watched your movie, 55 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: your your most recent beautiful, My Rainey's Black Bottom twice now, 56 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:33,120 Speaker 1: and I don't know where to start. I don't know 57 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: where to start about you, and I don't know where 58 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: to start about Chadwick Boseman. And that's not even talking 59 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 1: about the supporting character who are all in their own 60 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: movies that are exquisite as well. I'm telling you, I'm 61 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: going to get my baseball back and I'll come and 62 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: start swinging it around. If you don't really ask her, 63 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: I'm good either way. I'm not going to interview you 64 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: because you've done have plenty of that. I'm going to 65 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:04,360 Speaker 1: stick to these questions. First question, what relationship, real or fictionalized, 66 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: defined love for you? Now, Lord of Mercy, Oh, I 67 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:18,280 Speaker 1: know shadow Lands, that film is about redemption and the 68 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,239 Speaker 1: idea that love it's not the absence of pain, and 69 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:26,320 Speaker 1: we're so we're so conditioned to believe that that it's 70 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: supposed to be the absence of pain, that it's meant 71 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: to be joy and happiness, and this it redeems love, 72 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:35,919 Speaker 1: redeems it does redeem, and it's not based in mystery. 73 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: A friend of mine at her wedding, she said something 74 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 1: absolutely beautiful with her vows. She told her husband. Then 75 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: she said, I promised to love you exactly as God 76 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: made you. And I think that that's powerful. I mean, 77 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: I watched my mom sit by my dad's David when 78 00:04:55,560 --> 00:05:00,240 Speaker 1: he was dying of pancreatic cancer, and he would he 79 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 1: would just scream her name every two seconds, may Alice, malice, malice, 80 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: and she would say damn, damn, I'm right here, and 81 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: he say oh oh, and then she would hold him. 82 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,720 Speaker 1: And for me that that's it. You know, I've been 83 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 1: with my husband twenty one years and all those things 84 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:27,720 Speaker 1: that probably are not in the sexy romantic comedies are 85 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: all the things that I value. Someone who's gonna be 86 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: there when you're sick, someone who literally, you know it's 87 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 1: gonna hold your hand when you're going, someone who, like 88 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: I said, just simply loves you. I mean, my mom 89 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:51,680 Speaker 1: and dad were together for forty eight years, and at 90 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:55,359 Speaker 1: the end of his life it became about her telling 91 00:05:55,440 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 1: him to go. And there is something m for me 92 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,039 Speaker 1: in terms of the kind of love I have now 93 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 1: for my husband. It's not about concealer and tight abs, 94 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 1: and you deserve it. What question would you most like answered? Oh, man, 95 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: I'll tell you that right now. Why are we so 96 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: cruel to each other? Ah? Please answer that question to me? 97 00:06:29,960 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: Why are we so vicious? If you were to ask 98 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:36,840 Speaker 1: anyone what's the most vicious animal in the world, I mean, 99 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: they probably would say the black mamba or you know, 100 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,080 Speaker 1: a female lion. I mean, I don't know, but the 101 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: two legged variety, the depth to which we are cruel. 102 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,159 Speaker 1: And here's the thing, the thing that is really really 103 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:57,480 Speaker 1: really interesting is we're cruel and we know how hard 104 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:02,240 Speaker 1: life is. We know the road, and even after knowing 105 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:06,320 Speaker 1: the road, we go back, and the level of judgment, 106 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 1: how we sort of don't protect each other, how we 107 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:15,520 Speaker 1: think that killing someone will make us feel better. I mean, 108 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: I don't know. There's no measure of cruelty, men towards women, 109 00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:22,840 Speaker 1: black towards white, and I think there's a human answer 110 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: to it. I genuinely don't. The closest I ever came 111 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: to understanding it was this extraordinary geneticist called Lord Michael Winstone, 112 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: who was part of the team who isolated the genome initially. 113 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,520 Speaker 1: And we were saying backstage going on a English talk show. 114 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: It was years ago, the Iraq War was happening, and 115 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 1: I was talking about just the share loss of innocent life. 116 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: And he said, he's a Christian, a devout Christian, and 117 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:55,920 Speaker 1: he is also you know, this extraordinary scientist. And he said, 118 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: I've always felt the nexus of my spirituality and science 119 00:08:00,760 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: comes in truly understanding that you in the universe energetically, scientifically, 120 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: you literally cannot have one without the other. Each thing 121 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: has its counterpart. It has to night and day, good 122 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: and evil. And he said, however simplistic it sounds, it 123 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: is part of this, this order. We experience it so harshly. 124 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: We also experienced joy so profoundly as human beings, but 125 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: are cruelty to each other. I don't. I don't think 126 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: we can understand it or measure it in human terms, 127 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: because I think it's it's an energetic it's sort of 128 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,680 Speaker 1: energy that was set in motion by God, source energy, 129 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,840 Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it, and and so it is, 130 00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:49,280 Speaker 1: and so there are always two halves to everything. I mean, 131 00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 1: that's the only way I could ever. That was the 132 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: closest I got my head to getting around it. Being 133 00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: a theater geek. I remember the one thing I was 134 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: taught that stayed in my it was the divine rights 135 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:06,160 Speaker 1: of kings, the hierarchy to which people feel like they're born. 136 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:12,079 Speaker 1: And the whole idea is to be in a position 137 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,360 Speaker 1: in terms of status as high as possible, because then 138 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: the only one you're answering to is God. You're basically 139 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: dancing with with God and everyone else is beneath you. 140 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,640 Speaker 1: When man makes sense of their own existence, there is 141 00:09:29,679 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: something about status. I always say. The bumper sticker in 142 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: the eighties it was on the back of everyone's car 143 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: that said, he who dies with the most toys wins. 144 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: So is the ego? Is that? What is that? What 145 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: it is? Ego? It's I don't know who I am 146 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: unless I have my foot on someone else's neck. Status 147 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: is your social standing above another person that gives you 148 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:00,079 Speaker 1: meaning and value. It's powerful. It's a cast system. M 149 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:04,679 Speaker 1: But I agree with you. I think it defies understanding. 150 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: I always say, I wonder what the caveman thought. That 151 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:13,320 Speaker 1: caveman who didn't have a computer, couldn't speak, didn't have 152 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: any clothes. He's standing there, he's looking at the ocean, 153 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: he's looking at the sky. What is he thinking? How 154 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: is he making thinking about food or sex or where 155 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: he's going to sleep, or how fast you can run 156 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: away from the sabots? How I got that's what he's thinking. 157 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:45,440 Speaker 1: That's it total instinct. Where and when in your life 158 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: were you happiest? You know what I'm going to have 159 00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: to say. At When I went to Africa for the 160 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:57,240 Speaker 1: first time, I went to the Gambia, West Africa for 161 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:01,560 Speaker 1: two weeks and I was at Williard. Juilliard gave me 162 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: a scholarship dollars because I guilted them into it. It's 163 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: very eurocentric training at Juilliard, and I said, it was 164 00:11:10,960 --> 00:11:14,360 Speaker 1: suppressing me so much. It was tethering me so much 165 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:18,800 Speaker 1: that I no longer knew what my voice was. I 166 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: sort of had lost my identity in trying to make 167 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: me and my blackness disappear in George Bernard Shaw and 168 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:32,400 Speaker 1: Stringberg and check Off and Shakespeare. I just didn't know 169 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: what kind of artists I was supposed to be if 170 00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: I couldn't use myself and my voice. So they gave 171 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,920 Speaker 1: me a scholarship and I went to Africa when I 172 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: was twenty five to study the dance and music folklore 173 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: four different tribes. And it changed my life. It just 174 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:54,560 Speaker 1: changed my life. And maybe it was because also I 175 00:11:54,559 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 1: had broken up with a boyfriend right before and and 176 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: so I was stated, you know, oh my god, it 177 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: was like a Greek tragedy. You know. I look back 178 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 1: on that now and said, by, oh, why don't you 179 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 1: just go to McDonald's or something, or just have a drink. No, 180 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: go to Gambia. Yeah, no, I got to Gambia. I'm 181 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,880 Speaker 1: gonna geographical. I got at this heartbreak. I went to 182 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: the Gambia and it was transformational, like that radical shifting 183 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: that takes place in your life that just takes you 184 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: by surprise, because it's the power of myth and rituals 185 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,440 Speaker 1: that worked for me. It was the getting in the 186 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: car every single day and singing their songs and the 187 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: dances and the rituals that were about finding one's value 188 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: or becoming a woman or a baby surviving after seven days. 189 00:12:50,960 --> 00:12:55,280 Speaker 1: When I saw those Kenylla women and the Mandinka tribe 190 00:12:55,280 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: in Africa, they were infertile women, women who could not 191 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:05,480 Speaker 1: have children, and they dressed as clowns, oversized clothes and 192 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: makeup on their faces, and they went into these compounds screaming, 193 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: shouting with the jim Bay drums. Everybody would scream and 194 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,080 Speaker 1: shout with them, dozens of people, like a mob scene. 195 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:21,960 Speaker 1: And then they passed a calabash around with food and 196 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:25,320 Speaker 1: then they sang this song and it translates to I 197 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: did not come here for food. My stomach is full. 198 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: I did not come here for food. I came for 199 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:35,480 Speaker 1: much more. And the whole ritual was about parting the 200 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: clouds of heaven, making so much noise that God would 201 00:13:40,160 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: hear the deepest pain of not being able to have 202 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: a child and somehow poured down the blessing. It's like 203 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: those types of rituals that I took part in that 204 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,839 Speaker 1: made me believe that there was something in the abstract 205 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:58,960 Speaker 1: world that I could I don't know that I could 206 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:04,199 Speaker 1: cling to to find in myself. I'm extremely moved by 207 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:08,120 Speaker 1: that amazing image, and I wish that we had more 208 00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: ritual around the hard things in the West, the way 209 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:16,120 Speaker 1: that we live around death, around infertility, around loss, around 210 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:20,920 Speaker 1: getting old. Did you feel that the ritual itself or 211 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:26,080 Speaker 1: the community performing the ritual created the scaffold upon which 212 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,000 Speaker 1: you could actually have something to tell yourself to that 213 00:14:29,040 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 1: when you came back you would still be connected. I 214 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: love that question. I know exactly what you're saying, and 215 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: I think that's a great question. It was more of 216 00:14:37,360 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: the community and the connection. It was more of being seen. 217 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: I mean, m a dark skinned woman. From the moment 218 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:49,400 Speaker 1: you come out of the womb and you step forth 219 00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: into the world, you get all the values associated with 220 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: being dark skin and then being at Juilliard with a 221 00:14:57,720 --> 00:15:01,280 Speaker 1: deep voice, dark skinned, wide, no big lips. It's like 222 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: you're basically nothing. The invisibility. So a notion of invisibility. Yes, okay, 223 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,600 Speaker 1: it's so fascinating because I can only empathize with a 224 00:15:14,680 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: feeling of growing up invisible and then going to a place. 225 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: And what you just said of what a community does 226 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: is a community sees they see the howling sadness of 227 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: these women, and they wrap around it and honor it, 228 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 1: literally to make God listen. So you becoming an actor 229 00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: and the bizarre oxymoron of the invisibility that there is 230 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,000 Speaker 1: supposed to be you know that was saying, Oh she 231 00:15:41,160 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: disappeared into a role. Oh he really disappeared into the character. 232 00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 1: It was extraordinary. There must be a very particular attention 233 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 1: for you with that idea of what is it to 234 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 1: disappear into a character or is it rather to know yourself, 235 00:15:56,680 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: to see yourself and to gather them into what you 236 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 1: already are? But you you've got to know what that 237 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 1: is in the first place. You do have to know 238 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: what that is in the first place. I don't know 239 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: if I did not know that, or if I just 240 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:13,600 Speaker 1: didn't trust it at the time, if I just didn't 241 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: value it at the time, because as you move through life, 242 00:16:17,800 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: people tell you who you should be or who you 243 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:25,560 Speaker 1: should not be, and that's what was happening. I don't 244 00:16:25,600 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: mean the blast Juilliard at all. I compared to Musin X. 245 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,640 Speaker 1: Like I said, Musin X tastes bad, but it works. 246 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: The permission, that's what I want to say. Permission. That's 247 00:16:37,600 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 1: what I got when I was in Africa. It was 248 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: literally a weekend to that trip that I sat down 249 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:46,920 Speaker 1: at one point and it was the one time in 250 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:52,160 Speaker 1: my life that I had absolutely no anxiety, like none, 251 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:59,040 Speaker 1: like floating on air. So I think that what I 252 00:16:59,080 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: was looking for was permission that God made me right 253 00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:09,960 Speaker 1: because I didn't have that permission throughout my entire childhood 254 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:15,920 Speaker 1: and throughout Juilliard. And that's really overly simplifying it. It's 255 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:18,919 Speaker 1: like Renee Brown says, when you start with the foundation 256 00:17:18,960 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: of worth and value, then you can live better when 257 00:17:23,600 --> 00:17:27,720 Speaker 1: you start with that foundation. When you came back and 258 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:31,400 Speaker 1: you're back into the check off from the Stromberg, you're 259 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,119 Speaker 1: taking a look at Masha, did you feel that the 260 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,399 Speaker 1: distance had been lessened or do you always feel that 261 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: there is a scrim in between the plethora of white 262 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:45,359 Speaker 1: playwrights and you as a black woman. Yes, I did. 263 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,560 Speaker 1: I did. I didn't feel like I was being whipped 264 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,399 Speaker 1: for doing everything wrong. But it was only until maybe 265 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 1: twentysomething years later that I can literally sit here with 266 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: you and say that I reject act everything that I've 267 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:06,360 Speaker 1: been taught. I reject people telling me that I'm not 268 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 1: smart if I don't read the classics? So does Tony Morrison? 269 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: Does that qualify as a classic? What does that mean? 270 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,600 Speaker 1: Who wrote those rules? Who told me that I wasn't beautiful? 271 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 1: Who told me that if I did not fit into 272 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:26,800 Speaker 1: any character in George Bernard Shaw, then somehow I'm really 273 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: crappy at what I do. What if George Bernard Shaw 274 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: doesn't speak to me? What if he doesn't does that 275 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: make me what? I think that the keepers of the 276 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:45,880 Speaker 1: structure of the way things should be have been extraordinarily flawed. 277 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:50,399 Speaker 1: I'm coming from a country that's built on a science, 278 00:18:50,920 --> 00:18:55,679 Speaker 1: basically a bunk science to explain why I, as a 279 00:18:55,720 --> 00:19:00,680 Speaker 1: black woman, is less than science is a beauty sciences 280 00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: of intelligent science of sexuality that told us that you're 281 00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 1: never gonna be as pretty, your brains are smaller, So 282 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: You're never gonna be as smart. Black women could take 283 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,920 Speaker 1: as much pain as possible because you don't feel any pain. 284 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: You're strong, you're almost masculine. You could cut them open 285 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:24,520 Speaker 1: without any anesthesia. You can rape them with impunity. That's 286 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:30,760 Speaker 1: where I'm coming from. So now at fifty five, I 287 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: could say the foundation in which you explained my existence 288 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 1: and who I am, I rejected the fact that you 289 00:19:42,359 --> 00:19:45,800 Speaker 1: are telling the stories that you tell now, given that 290 00:19:45,920 --> 00:20:02,920 Speaker 1: you felt voiceless and invisible, is truly inspiring. M What 291 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: is the quot to see you like least about yourself? 292 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: The quality about myself that I like the least is 293 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: my esteem issues. Although I will say that I am 294 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:22,000 Speaker 1: a lot better than I was like by nine something present, 295 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,119 Speaker 1: but I don't even like feeling one vestige of it 296 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:30,239 Speaker 1: where all of a sudden you're in a situation and 297 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,440 Speaker 1: then you're right back to where you've started. And if 298 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,440 Speaker 1: I were to track any situation that brings that out 299 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: of me, that feeling of not feeling worthy, it's when 300 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: people try to attack my worth. It could be anything. 301 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:48,160 Speaker 1: It could be the mommy skills, it could be anything 302 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,400 Speaker 1: with acting, with your work, with your skill set. As 303 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:55,439 Speaker 1: soon as I feel like I'm under attack. I feel it, 304 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,159 Speaker 1: it costs me something. Do you have any ritual to 305 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: heal that in those moments? Well, there's two things that 306 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:10,119 Speaker 1: I do. I'm a believer in connection and finding people 307 00:21:10,119 --> 00:21:13,879 Speaker 1: in your life that love you. You know, a therapist 308 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:17,160 Speaker 1: told me that once find someone who loves you, Viola, 309 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:21,960 Speaker 1: that roots for you, just sweats for you, just has 310 00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:25,399 Speaker 1: your back. I mean, I grew up in really abject 311 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:28,280 Speaker 1: poverty and people always ask me, how did you get 312 00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:34,440 Speaker 1: from that to this? And I always say, those supernatural allies, 313 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:39,360 Speaker 1: those people who come out of nowhere, who say, let 314 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:42,000 Speaker 1: me tell you, this is what you have to do. Okay, 315 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,439 Speaker 1: let's suit up and me and you will fight this 316 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:49,879 Speaker 1: battle together. Okay. But they're supernatural, which means that you know, 317 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,359 Speaker 1: they come out of nowhere and they're not always the 318 00:21:53,440 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: people that you think they're going to be. But the 319 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:00,200 Speaker 1: other thing that I do, and it's really working for me, 320 00:22:01,119 --> 00:22:04,280 Speaker 1: I go to Viola, the little girl, the eight year old. 321 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,920 Speaker 1: I literally talked to her, and I'm not kidding you. 322 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: At first, I would always try to heal her because 323 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:16,400 Speaker 1: I said, you grew up with an alcoholic father and abuse. 324 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: So I'm gonna heal this little girl, you know, who 325 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: was always fighting, rough and tumble little girl, and then 326 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: someone made me realize that she was a survivor. You 327 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:33,000 Speaker 1: have to allow her to be excited at the year 328 00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 1: old she's gonna become. Usually gotta let her squeal in delight. 329 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:44,320 Speaker 1: And so now I'm just gonna say this. If it 330 00:22:44,359 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: were up to me, I would put all the trophies 331 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 1: in a box in a garage. I don't like watching myself. 332 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:58,199 Speaker 1: I have a tendency to not celebrate my victories. I 333 00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 1: have its tendency to some time aims just sort of 334 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: twisted and turning around actually and almost let it destroy me. 335 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:14,560 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's a weird dichotomy there when I tap into 336 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 1: that eight year old girl and say, Viola, guess what 337 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:23,359 Speaker 1: we're gonna eat some French fries today? We are Viola, 338 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 1: guess what We're gonna get dressed up today in acute dress. 339 00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:30,360 Speaker 1: I hate getting dressed up because I hate heels. We're 340 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 1: gonna dress up today in some heels and we're gonna 341 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:36,840 Speaker 1: go to an awards show. Oh my god. Then I 342 00:23:36,960 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: have an appreciation for my life that is the equivalent 343 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: of a child's joy. That's helping me a lot. It's 344 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:51,359 Speaker 1: helped me sleep at night. It helps me enjoy every 345 00:23:51,359 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 1: single moment. What person, place, or experience most alter to 346 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,480 Speaker 1: you in life. My dad dying was a big one. 347 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,960 Speaker 1: That's a hard one because I was there. I wish 348 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:13,800 Speaker 1: I were more brave during that time in what way. 349 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: It was after he died that I went on the 350 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:21,119 Speaker 1: hospice page and they had a whole section that talked 351 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: about how to help someone die. That they will have 352 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,360 Speaker 1: dementia and they will see people that had passed before them. 353 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: They would literally call out their names, and you have 354 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,679 Speaker 1: to validate them. You can't just say it's delusional, because 355 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:41,679 Speaker 1: what that is is once again it's the word permission. 356 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: They're asking for permission to cross over. I didn't want 357 00:24:46,000 --> 00:24:48,840 Speaker 1: to look at that. They just want you to hold 358 00:24:48,840 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: their hand. I didn't want to look at that. They 359 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: just want their lips to stay moist. I want to 360 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:02,960 Speaker 1: know that no one tells you about death, No one 361 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,720 Speaker 1: talks about it. So to literally see a parent take 362 00:25:06,840 --> 00:25:09,959 Speaker 1: the last breath and they have to sit there and go, Daddy, 363 00:25:10,320 --> 00:25:13,960 Speaker 1: it's okay to go. And then at his funeral, I 364 00:25:14,040 --> 00:25:17,240 Speaker 1: remember when we closed the casket and my nieces and 365 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:19,960 Speaker 1: nephews had all these pictures they put in the casket 366 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: with him. Was beautiful. And I looked in the casket 367 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 1: and he didn't have any shoes on, and I was pissed. 368 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:30,480 Speaker 1: I was like, we paid you all this money in 369 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:33,600 Speaker 1: my brain because I was about to custom out, and 370 00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:36,400 Speaker 1: you didn't put any shoes on. My daddy looks greatly. 371 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,239 Speaker 1: He didn't put shoes, and the next thought was he 372 00:25:39,280 --> 00:25:45,920 Speaker 1: didn't need shoes. That encapsulates life. It does, don't care 373 00:25:45,960 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: what anyone says it does. After he died, you're not 374 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: thinking about how he pissed you off. You're not thinking 375 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: about that he was an alcoholic. You're just thinking about 376 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:59,439 Speaker 1: the fact that I loved him. He was my father 377 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:06,880 Speaker 1: and he's gone. And then you're thinking about forgiveness. You're 378 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: thinking about mercy. You think about all those things that 379 00:26:10,359 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: nobody teaches you about in life. There's no other way 380 00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: to measure life. It whittles life down to absolutely the 381 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:24,000 Speaker 1: essentials of really what makes a life and what makes joy. 382 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: I would say that would be it. It It leveled me. 383 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,919 Speaker 1: Do you find that after these big moments in your life, 384 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: you can take them with you into the evolution of 385 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: who you are after them. Are you aware of practicing 386 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:45,040 Speaker 1: those things that you've observed? Yeah, I do, But then 387 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,280 Speaker 1: I have to move through life and someone comes along 388 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: and knocks my ass down. Yeah knowing now, I mean 389 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: it's a war of attrition a lot of the time. Yeah, absolutely, 390 00:26:52,680 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: it's it's difficult, but I do, and I'll tell you 391 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,760 Speaker 1: when I do. People notice when I came back from Africa, 392 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 1: everyone noticed the ship it so I know I bring 393 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:06,200 Speaker 1: it back. But then I got to navigate through life. 394 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: You know what my dad used to say, He said, 395 00:27:08,480 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: I don't know why you keep aiming for of everything, 396 00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:13,760 Speaker 1: he said, this is the biggest miss name where we 397 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: should be aiming for, like like fifty eight percent. If 398 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,679 Speaker 1: that's let that be your because it's never you're always 399 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: going to be disappointed. You're never going to get it right. 400 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: And he was like, it doesn't have lower standards. It's 401 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,919 Speaker 1: just appreciate that there is a certain percentage of life 402 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 1: that is mostly circumstance or lock or whatever you want 403 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,120 Speaker 1: to call it. This is not going to go your way, 404 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,680 Speaker 1: and in order to not be buffeted by that, constantly 405 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,399 Speaker 1: sort of hold true to the smaller amount that you 406 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,439 Speaker 1: are sure of oh yeah, oh, and where I began. 407 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,960 Speaker 1: It is a rare privilege talking to you, It really is. Um. 408 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: I feel like I learned something every time I hear 409 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:01,880 Speaker 1: you interviewed, but even also when I watch you work 410 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: and like as an actor, that's amazing. It's back at 411 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:12,600 Speaker 1: your girl. I appreciate you, and I appreciate your time honestly, 412 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,600 Speaker 1: all my love and thanks to you, Oh love, back 413 00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:21,199 Speaker 1: to you. Please watch Viola's extraordinary performance in mar Rainey's 414 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:24,440 Speaker 1: Black Bottom, but also go back and find that scene 415 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:26,840 Speaker 1: in the movie Doubt where she and Meryl Streep go 416 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:29,479 Speaker 1: head to head by the basketball court. It is an 417 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:36,760 Speaker 1: acting masterclass. Many Questions is hosted and written by Me 418 00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:44,400 Speaker 1: Mini Driver, supervising producer Aaron Kaufman, Producer Morgan Lavoy, Research 419 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:50,280 Speaker 1: assistant Marissa Brown. Original music Sorry Baby by Mini Driver, 420 00:28:51,600 --> 00:28:55,840 Speaker 1: Additional music by Aaron Kaufman. Executive produced by Me and 421 00:28:55,920 --> 00:29:01,440 Speaker 1: man gesh Hetty God Special thanks to Jim Nikolay, Will Pearson, 422 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 1: Addison O Day, Lisa Castella and Annick Oppenheim at w kPr, 423 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: de La Pescadore, Kate Driver and Jason Weinberg, and for 424 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: constantly solicited Tex support Henry driver,