From her dance roots to leading roles, the actress shares how discipline, purpose, and community shape everything she does.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00So I was also reading that you have a background in dance and physical therapy.
00:04I wanted to ask you, when did the transition into acting come about,
00:07and when did you know that that's what you wanted to do with your life?
00:11Oh, wow. Thank you for asking me that. Yes, I was a dancer my entire life. I started at three
00:17years old, and I went on to be a dance major with the physical therapy element as a minor. And I
00:24felt that I had reached a physical cap. I think in college I grew more as an artist, but I had
00:37reached my maximum physically as a dancer. And as you know, dancers, we have to do crazy things with
00:43our body. We're like athletes. We're honestly like football players without the padding, right?
00:48And so it doesn't last forever. And, you know, that, mixed with the hard truths of finances
00:58and trying to support, my parents trying to support my college education, I think it was
01:05just time for me to step away. So I actually didn't finish college. Fun fact, I am a college
01:12dropout. And I knew that as I developed as an artist, I knew that I loved performing.
01:20And I've always been in tune with my body, and I love being a performer. And it was just a matter
01:26of figuring out how I could perform for the rest of my life. I knew that dance wasn't forever
01:32physically. I knew that, you know, most oftentimes after you're done with the physical, you become
01:37a dance teacher or, you know, a choreographer. And I love all of the teachers and the choreographers
01:45that I've come to know over the years, but I knew that that wasn't my, that wasn't my path.
01:49I wanted to still perform. And with acting, we have an incredible opportunity to perform forever
01:56until our final days. And so that is what encouraged the shift into it. I think I had
02:04family members who as a child was like, you need to be in acting, you need to do acting. And I did
02:09a little bit of theater throughout, you know, being in elementary school, but I was fearful
02:13to speak on stage. I knew how to move on stage, but I didn't want to talk. And so just, you know,
02:20finding my own way, developing as a young adult during college and getting the courage to try
02:27something new and to completely pivot. And so I went to school in Philly. At the time I was
02:33majoring in dance when I was living in Philadelphia. And when I dropped out, I went
02:38back home to Baltimore. I worked for my aunt in her hair salon. I did hair and I saved up to move
02:45myself and put myself in acting school in New York. And so I did a year of acting at New York
02:53Film Academy, actually. I'm very proud to say I went there and, you know, tried my hand in New
02:59York after I graduated. Didn't go so well. I have some interesting stories about me trying to make
03:04it in New York as a film and TV actor and found my way in Los Angeles because friends convinced me
03:13I should try it and I had nothing else to lose. And so I moved to LA and everything quickly
03:20changed for me when I arrived here. And I've been grateful to have been working professionally in
03:26front of the camera as an actor ever since I moved.