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‘Greenleaf’s’ GregAlan Williams Releases Audiobook of His Novel ‘Heart of a Woman,’ Shares How He Identifies with Mac McCready (Interview With AUDIO)

Hello World,

Since we’re just two days away from the return of  OWN’s Greenleaf, I jumped at an opportunity to interview GregAlan Williams, who portrays the man we all love to hate – Robert “Mac” McCready – and who is also an accomplished writer! In fact, Williams just released the audio version of his novel Heart of a Woman, which he originally penned in 2009. Check out my interview with GregAlan Williams below! (The audio of the transcribed interview is below.)

1.You are well known as an actor with movie and television credits such Baywatch, The Game, NCIS: Los Angeles, Castle and many more and most recently Greenleaf. What prompted you to write a novel Heart of a Woman, and how did you find the time to write it?

Well, my first two books were non-fiction. I always wanted to write a novel, and I actually wrote Heart of a Woman in 2009. Well, actually, it took me four years. I started in 2005. It was published in 2009, and I just liked the long-form. I love screenplays, but I like the detail and the attention and the special skill that it takes to write in the novel form. And so I wanted to do that. I wanted to write a book for a target market or a constituency, in particular for women who remember the ‘60s and the ‘70s and that sort of thing, my peers. Because so much of African-American literature for women is sort of directed toward a younger group of women. I very much wanted to celebrate that time and women of that era and our shared memories.

2. According to the description of your novel, Heart of a Woman is about a woman who must “destroy her husband’s young mistress, enlist a murderer to catch a blackmailer, and in exchange for more than a million dollars, she must also seduce a slightly mad, man of God.” Not to mention that Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass are principal characters. How did you come up with this plot?

It really evolved around the protagonist, Jimi Stone. The book describes her as woman who has the ability to hear the hearts of strangers. As a polio victim, she had polio as a kid, there was a summer she was confined to her parents’ porch. Over the course of her life, she notices things. She sees things. She sees people, but perhaps most importantly, she hears them. And so all of her life, people would come to her and find themselves sharing their secrets with her.

Ultimately, as an adult, she finds herself working directly for Berry Gordy as his fixer, as his operative. And so the information that people have given her about themselves over the years, in particular, people in the entertainment industry, she’s retained all of that and so she uses that knowledge, that information, to fix things that have gone wrong. For example, in the book, a young, a young Motown star gets in trouble with the law and Berry Gordy dispatches her to fix it so as to preserve Motown’s good name. And she does, indeed, do that. She fixes it in a very complex way with a number of people, some good, some bad.

  Did you have a writing coach to help you?

Well, I’ve been writing all of my adult life. I was a journalist in the Marine Corps. As a very young man, I used to write for Black Teen magazine, Right On, Soul Teen. There’s a radio station in the book that is based on a very famous radio station in Los Angeles KJLH. I had the good fortune to be hired as a copywriter for KJLH in 1980. So I’ve been writing for a long time. So you know, we sit down and we say let’s try this on. We write commercials or we write copy, and we write for magazines and newspapers and we write non-fiction books and then we sit down and say, ‘I wonder if I can write the ‘Great American Novel.’  So I sat down to write it and I’m a history buff, and it is historical fiction so I spent a lot of time in Detroit doing research there and of course so much of the book is set in Los Angeles, and I know that territory well. And I’m an E.L. Doctorow fan so this whole notion of mixing fictional and historical characters has always been very exciting to me.

E.L. Doctorow is a very famous writer, and he did that a lot. One of his most famous books is Ragtime,  and I think Teddy Roosevelt was a character in the book. In fact, the movie version of the book was the movie that brought the late Howard Rollins to stardom. He starred on In the Heat of the Night for many years. So Ragtime was the first book of E.L. Doctorow’s that I read.

3. Heart of a Woman was originally released in 2009. What prompted you to revamp the novel with an audiobook?

I’ve wanted for years to sort of merge my skill as a writer with my skill as an actor and that was really the impetus. Let me now see if I can not only narrate the book, and that was the easy part, but let’s see if I can voice all of these characters in kind of a believable way.

4. I know that Greenleaf is filmed in Atlanta and the Greenleaf home is near New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and that you live in the Atlanta area as well. Why did you to leave Hollywood, move to Atlanta and create the Actor’s Breakthrough film actors training studio in the Atlanta area?

Yes, the Greenleaf mansion is right around the corner. Well, I had been on a television show for about 7 years, Baywatch. During that time, I had written a couple of non-fiction books and that had turned into a lot of speaking opportunities so I was doing a lot of speaking around the country. And I came to Georgia to speak at a fatherhood conference and I met some folks who were doing some very innovative work with fathers and families in middle Georgia.

So I decided to take a sabbatical for two years once I left the series in ’97. I went on sabbatical for two years and worked at a Headstart program in Macon, working with this fatherhood program so that’s what brought me to Georgia. So when that was done, and it was time to go back to L.A. and start acting again, I just decided to stay in Georgia and commute. There was no work in Georgia at that time so for years, I commuted out to L.A. and New York to work. And then as production began to soar here in Georgia, I was traveling a lot less and that gave me an opportunity to teach here in Atlanta. There’s not a whole heck of a lot of actors here who have my range of experience. There are some, but most, of course, are in L.A. and New York. And in particular, as it related to actors of color, it gave me an opportunity to mentor a number of actors and to help move them along in their careers.

          Have you taught any actors who are recognized?

Not any names yet but plenty of folks who work. In fact, four of my students were on Greenleaf, and I had nothing to do with it. Because they had secured their own agents and auditioned and booked. And we have dozens of actors on all kinds of shows from Atlanta to Sleepy Hollow. We just had an actor who finished a movie with “The Rock” so we’re very excited and very proud that we have started a number of actors in the business, training them. They studied very hard and now they’re working professionals. I teach at the studio six hours every Saturday. We have other instructors, but I teach at the master level from about noon to 5 p.m.

5. Robert “Mac” McCready is the ultimate villain, and you portray him masterfully. Is there any part of Mac that you identify with, and what is your inspiration for portraying him?

Well, in the second season, I identify with Mac’s loneliness. And I will tell you what I mean. Because Mac has been found out and he’s estranged from the family, he’s very lonely. Family, believe it or not, is very important to Mac. The church is very important to Mac. And so Mac is estranged from both the church and the family and because Mac is estranged, that means that I am also separated from my acting family – Lynn and Keith because in the second season, really the only actor that I get to work with is Merle and that is wonderful and then some of the wonderful guest stars that we have. But I don’t get to see and work with some of these other folk that I love so much like Lamman and Kim and Deborah Joy Winans and all of those folks. I hardly see them so Mac and I we’re both lonely in that regard.

One of the things I teach is that when we take on characters whose values we don’t share, we tend to want to make those characters very different from ourselves and think of those characters as being very different, but here’s the truth.  Mac is obsessed with his abusive behavior. He’s obsessed with 13, 14, 15-year-old girls, wholly inappropriate. So when you approach a character like Mac, I think the first thing you have to do is say, What do we have in common?  Well, you know what? I’m not obsessed with 13,14, and 15-year-old girls, but I’ve been obsessed and I know what obsession is. I’ve been obsessed with some grown women. And as a much younger man, you know sort of out there dating, partying, certainly, on occasion have been less than honest, less than forthcoming about what my intentions were, etcetera, etcetera. I’m not a perfect guy so I have to look at as much as I want to be 180 degrees different, we have some things in common.

Or I’ve had some things in common so when you approach a character, because you cannot portray a character you don’t understand and you can’t portray a character who you wholly dislike. It’s impossible to step into that character’s life unless that character is self-hating and Mac is not self-hating. Sometimes, he is but most of the time, he is not. So one has to come to understand that and but that doesn’t mean approve of, but to understand and to be able to identify the rationalizations that he uses in order to engage guilt free in his predatory behavior.

Mac is also funny, particularly when he called his age-appropriate beard girlfriend Lorraine  “bottom-shelf” & “off- brand.” Did you find that funny? I know it wasn’t supposed to be funny, but it was funny to me.   

I think it was funny in its audacity. I mean, what you could do but laugh because it was so horrible. I have to say this, you see, this is why I love writers. Now when I first got the script, I looked at it, and I said, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t say this. This is horrible!’ See, left to me, the actor, if the writers had said to me, ‘Okay, GregAlan, here’s a moment when you need to put this woman in her place.’ I would have come up with some mundane curse words and this and that and the other. But this writer is so brilliant that they totally sidestepped the nasty language and came up with something so horrible. Bottom–shelf! Off-brand! When I first read it, I said, ‘I can’t say this.’ I said to my lady, ‘Girl, read this.’ (Laughter) She said, ‘You can’t say this.’ I said, ‘I know. I know.’ But you know that’s why I love writers – so innovative. I don’t think, maybe, you heard Mac curse once. I don’t think Mac curses. He is a good Christian, you see. So he would say something like that. That what makes him even all the more creepy because he’s a rapist. He’s an abuser. But yet he finds cursing perhaps to be a little beyond him. Isn’t that some madness?

6. I call Mac, “Mac the Molester.” How does one research being a “respectable” child molester?

Well, this speaks to the courage of the producers because people can’t molest children, most of the time, unless they are respectable. Ninety percent of child molesters are very respectable. That’s how they are able to do it. Sometimes, I ask my acting students, ‘How is it that a serial killer is able to kill serially?’ And they come up with all kinds of things. But the truth is it’s because he doesn’t seem to be a serial killer. In other words, he’s not just snatching people or banging people on the head. Oprah said that she wanted to show the audience that abusers are seducers, and that is what she has done and by extension, that is what the producers and writers have done.

So that is the truth, and that should forewarn viewers not to see the bogeyman under every bush but to understand that sometimes, the people we entrust our children to, those folk have positioned themselves in those respectable places in order to be able to hurt children.

7. What’s going to happen next Tuesday and Wednesday? Is Mac dead? Will he ever admit to molesting Faith? Did Mac see his sister Lady Mae molested by their father? If you can’t answer these questions, what can “Greenleafers” expect in this second half of Season 2? 

Well, remember, in the first half of season 2, in episode 8, he did admit as he was choking Grace, he said, ‘They wanted it. I didn’t do anything they didn’t want me to do.’ So he did admit to essentially all of his crimes. As to whether he will live or die, I will say this to you: every goodbye ain’t gone.

 

 

 

For more information about Heart of a Woman, go to heartofawomanbook.com.

Double Emmy Award-Winning Actor, Critically Acclaimed Author, Respected Educator, Prolific Speaker, Master Storyteller… these are just a few characteristics to describe the creative genius of Gregory Alan Williams! Widely known for his role (of seven seasons) as beach cop Garner Ellerbee on the most watched television show in the world, Baywatch, GregAlan is most recently recognized for his portrayal as prime-time television’s most hated villain,  Robert “Mac” McCready, on OWN’s hit drama series,   Greenleaf .

His 30-year Hollywood career began as a founding member of the world-renowned Penumbra Theater in St. Paul, MN. From there he went on to do stage work with Pulitzer Prize Winner, August Wilson, as well as the Chicago Shakespeare Repertory Theater,Chicago Theater Company, Mixed Blood Theater Company and Chicago’s Goodman Theater. To date, his broad list of acting credits include recurring roles on the ABC Network’s  Secrets and Lies, BET’s  The Game and HBO’s  The Sopranos. His 250 prime-time appearances include  The West Wing, NCIS: Los Angeles and  Castle, just to name a few.

What’s more, his film career boasts 42 feature films, including celebrated classics such as Remember the Titans (Denzel Washington), In the Line of Fire (Clint Eastwood) and Old School (Will Ferrell). His recent film credits include, Terminator Genysis (Arnold Schwarzenegger ),Misconduct (Al Pacino), The Accountant (Ben Affleck), Hidden Figures (Taraji P. Henson) and so much more! In 2017, audiences will enjoy GregAlan in the upcomingBill Duke film, Created Equal as well as the highly anticipated faith-based films, A Question of Faith (Kim Fields and Richard T. Jones) and All Saints opposite John Corbett. GregAlan also founder and Dean of the  Actor’s Breakthrough film actors training studio in Atlanta.

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Grace Greenleaf is Battered & Bloody But Alive In Latest Trailer for OWN’s ‘Greenleaf’ To Return on Aug. 15 & 16! (VIDEO)

Hello World,

Now that July will be over in just two days, we can start counting down the days until the second half of Season 2 of OWN’s “Greenleaf” returns (and my recaps) on Aug. 15 and 16 at 10 p.m. ET. LOTS will be going down according to the latest trailer for Season 2. Grace emerges battered and bloody and possibly the victor after her she scraps with her Uncle Mac on the floor of his apartment in the Mid-Season Finale in May. If you missed that episode, check out my recap – Greenleaf Mid-Season Finale Recap, Season 2 Episode 8: And the Sparks Fly Upward…So she is clearly alive. And that is good. Although it looks like she could be getting arrested!!! I don’t recall seeing Mac the molester in the trailer although I do hear his voice at the end of the trailer though. Where he at? He is too evil to be dead.

Other interesting tidbits from the video: So Basie Skanks is bloody too! Who did he scrap with?! Lady Mae and her sister Mavis look like they’re about to square off too – but in a ladylike fashion with a lot of words and neck rolling.  No blood and gore there. I saw LeToya Luckett, one of the original members of Destiny’s Child, in the trailer! What the Beyoncé and her twins is going on? And did you see Kerissa slap her daughter Zoe like she stole something?! And it’s going down with two new couples: Charity Greenleaf and Jabari & Kevin Satterlee and Aaron…

Check out the trailer below!!!


OWN’s “Greenleaf” and my recaps are ’bout to be turnt!

See y’all on Aug. 15 and 16!

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‘Love Jones’ Actress Bernadette Speakes Shares About the Movie’s 20th Anniversary, Being a Christian in Hollywood & More…

Hello World,

If  you came of age in the ’90s, you know it was the golden age of black cinema…Let me hit you with just a few — “House Party” (1990) “Boyz in the Hood” (1991), “New Jack City” (1991), “Juice” (1992), “Menace to Society” (1993),”Jason’s Lyric” (1993) “Friday” (1995), “Above the Rim” (1995), “Waiting to Exhale” (1995), “Love Jones” (1997) and “The Best Man” in 1999…One of those films “Love Jones” is being celebrated for reaching its 2oth anniversary as of this March with much fanfare, and I’m here for it, particularly as one of my Delta Sigma Theta sorority sisters, who also pledged the sorority at the University of Georgia, co-starred in the film! The movie captured a time period in my life just after college when I fancied myself a budding poet (the great poet Nikki Giovanni, also a Delta, even critiqued one of my poems!) and traveled to poetry readings around town with friends. So when I discovered that Bernadette Clarke now Bernadette Speakes, on top of acting in one of my favorite movies of all time and being a Delta, is also a Christian, I knew I had to interview here on After the Altar Call about her journey, particularly as it is the 20th anniversary of the release of “Love Jones.”

Below is my interview with her (which I edited for for the sake of brevity):

1.You were born in New York, raised in Chicago and received a bachelor’s degree in Theater from the University of Georgia in Athens. How did you get from Athens to being cast as Sheila Downes in what has become a classic film “Love Jones?”

After I graduated, I moved back to Chicago, and I began pursuing my career. I ended up meeting Ted (writer and director of ‘Love Jones’) during a master’s thesis film we were doing for someone. He was doing sound. I was one of the actors on the film. And that’s how we first met. And it was very interesting because everybody that was on that shoot, especially one gentleman in particular, kept bragging and kind of boasting about all of these projects and things he had coming up. And Ted really didn’t say anything, he was just kind of joking around and just kind of laid back. We got along really, really well. Next thing I know, like, I think it was less than a year later, I get called on an audition for a film. I walk into the audition room, and it’s Ted. And he’s like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ And I said, ‘Oh my gosh, is this yours?’ He goes, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘Did you have this in the works when we were working together?’ He said, ‘Yeah, it was kind of coming together, but I didn’t want to say anything.’ And that’s how I got cast.

On what set Bernadette apart from other actresses auditioning for the role…

I think Ted could answer that question better than I can, but I will say this about my last audition. I don’t know if you remember in the movie, I do this African dance. So when he wrote that, it was kind of like everybody had been drinking. My character who hadn’t been written yet does this thing, and it’s really simple. And when I auditioned, my agent said you need to come in there with an African dance. And I was like, ‘What?’ And that was my 4th call back. And I said, ‘Is that it? Is that all I have to do?’ And she was like, ‘Yes, they want to see a two-minute African dance.’ I said, ‘Okay.’

God puts things in divine order. I was already dancing with a West African troupe, and I went to one of my friends. We choreographed a routine. I walked into that audition very raw I would say because a very close friend of mine, I didn’t know if he was going to live or die that day because he had AIDS. So I wasn’t even going to go to this audition when I would found out that that he may not make it. I had said I’m not going. And my agent was really mad because I said I was going to visit my friend instead. Well, he found out that I wasn’t going to go to the audition. So he called me, and he swore up and down, he promised me that he would hold on and he said I needed to go do this. He told me he wouldn’t see if I didn’t go do it. So I called my agent and said I was going to go, but I went in there raw. And I guess I put all of that energy into the routine. I went in there with no shoes on, no make up on, these African pants and a leotard. I did my thing, and I was ready to bounce.

And Ted was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait.’ I said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. What’s up?’ He said, ‘I actually wrote something for you that I want you to read on camera.’ I was like, ‘Really? I have no makeup on.’ He said, ‘Naw, it’s all good. I just want to hear how you do it.’ I said, ‘Do you have a note that you want to give me before I read it?’ because it was a cold read. And he said, ‘Yeah. You know those girls who go to Whitney Young? You’re one of those girls.’ And that’s a note that only you being from Chicago (where the film was shot) would understand. Whitney Young (former First Lady Michelle Obama is a graduate) is a predominantly black high school, and it’s like a prep high school. It’s kind of bougie. And my sister went to Whitney Young so I totally knew what he meant when he gave me that note. So that is exactly what I did, and he said, ‘That’s it.’ And when I was finished, I said, ‘Gotta go. Peace out.’

And I think just being authentic and real in that moment is what got me the role. Not to say no one else was, but that is who Sheila is. She is very authentic and real, calls it like she sees it, very loyal to her friends, not fake. So I think the way that whole day kind of evolved brought all of that into place.  I ended up being a co-star in the film which was huge for my first film!

 

2.Twenty years ago, “Love Jones” debuted on March 14. Did you have any idea that it would be a hit movie that continues to resonate with audiences even today?

No, I didn’t.  I don’t know if any of us did. We knew we were doing something unique because nothing had been done in regards to the Chicago scene, the poetry scene or anything like that up until that point. And also, nothing had been done in a real positive, eclectic way of looking at African-American life in this type of setting so we all kind of knew that, but we didn’t know that it would burst. The irony is that it didn’t do well financially. It didn’t cost a lot to make, but it wasn’t in the theaters for a really long time. But it became this pop culture film, and once it went to video and television and online streaming and all of that stuff, it started to reach the masses in different geographical settings. My daughter, she is a millennial, and all of her friends know about the movie. People in my parents’ age group, they know about the movie so it became this really iconic film. And we had no idea that is what we were doing.

And for me, it wasn’t just about the movie. It was about the soundtrack too. Even today, you can listen to the soundtrack, and it’s still good.

And I really credit all of that to Ted. Ted is an amazing visionary artist. He’s a photographer. He’s a connoisseur of music, jazz, classical, R&B, blues. Like he loves it all. And he put all of that in the film.

3.I read that last month the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hosted the event “In the Mood for ‘Love Jones’ – The Academy Celebrates the Film’s 20th Anniversary,” which included a screening of the film at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. What was it like to reunite with the entire cast, and was this your first time reuniting with everyone since the movie debuted?

No, in February, we all saw each other at the ABFF (American Black Film Festival) Awards which was awesome! It was amazing to see all of us older. When we first did the film, none of us were married.  Well, actually, Isaiah was married, and I was the only one who had a child. And we were all like in our early 20s. So when we see each other 20 years later, we’re all married. We all have kids. We’re older, wise, a lot more debonair. (laughter) And then it was really great to see each other again (at the academy event). And everyone is doing well in their lives. I had seen Bill Bellamy and Nia in passing at different events, but we all didn’t keep in touch. Well, I personally didn’t. I think some of them are closer in relationships than I am with them, but it was really beautiful for all of us to be together again.

4.In addition to “Love Jones,” you were featured along side Oscar Award-Winning Actor Sidney Poitier in “To Sir with Love II.” You’ve appeared in several TV shows such as Parenthood, Monk and Boston Legal. And you have acted in several theater productions in addition to being CEO of Dreams Take a Minute Productions in Los Angeles. Have you had a strategy in advancing in your acting career or do you have a principle that has guided you as you’ve made moves in your career?

I think the main thing that I do, I think most people would say, you should focus on one thing, Represent yourself well in that one thing and then move on to the next thing. And I’m more of an eclectic person. I can’t just focus on one thing. And also, I’m a stay-at-home mom taking care of my kids. So it was like what can I do to stay creative but not jeopardize or sacrifice this time in my children’s lives. And that fueled my decision making.

I feel like the industry isn’t going anywhere. It’s always going to evolve and grow, but it’s not going anywhere. So for me, I didn’t want to miss the legacy of my family and missing moments of when my kids grow up and taking steps toward their mark in the world for the sake of my dreams. I would rather still stay productive in my career, watch them grow, get them to a point where they can jump off the cliff so to speak into their dreams and then usher in mine. I don’t regret making that decision. I know I’m not where I could have been. I have not accomplished half of what my colleagues have, and I’m so happy for and proud of them. But for me, my family is my pride and joy. I look at my kids and how they are today, and I’m so glad  I put them first. And my marriage is solid. My husband and I have been together 18 years. I think marriage is hard regardless of whether you’re in the Hollywood scene or not, two people trying to live together with flaws and all. But I think definitely my husband and I have cultivated something that is amazing. We’re each other’s biggest fan.

And now we’re at a point in our lives where are our kids are going, ‘Go do you thing.’ They want to see us soar, especially me. My kids definitely realize what I’ve given up in a sense and now they’re like , ‘Go soar Mom’ and that feels so good.

5.In addition to your acting career, I also admire that you are a Christian. How and when did you find your way to Christianity? Tell me about that journey. What is it like to be a Christian in Hollywood?

It was a journey within itself. My mom’s family are Baptists, and my dad’s are Catholics so I was always around some type of faith-based environment. But it didn’t really appeal to me honestly because I saw a lot of hypocrisy so I wasn’t interested. But then when I got to college, I felt lost. And I felt like I wanted to be a better version of me, but I didn’t really know what that meant. But I chose to become a Muslim. When I went back to Chicago, there is a very large population of Muslims where I lived which was Hyde Park, so I studied with an imam under Sunni Muslims. But I still felt like my soul was crying out for something.

There’s a reputable theatre in Chicago called the Steppenwolf Theatre, and I ended up being cast in two shows that same year with that theatre company, and God put Christians in both shows. It was the first time that I saw Christians not only own their imperfections but were authentic. Like they weren’t ‘judgy’ or judgmental or religious like a Pharisee or legalistic. And they were extremely talented women in the arts whom I highly respected. And all of that kind of piqued my interest and made me think, ‘Well maybe I have this whole Christianity thing wrong.’

So these women studied the Bible with me, and I asked 50 million questions because I had a lot of bitterness in my heart. They helped me sort through a lot of it. So I fell in love with Jesus. He was this masterful storyteller, the very thing that I am, he is the epitome of. I fell in love with the Bible. It became a no brainer for me to follow Him.

On how her faith helped Bernadette to transition to Hollywood…

So I was converted in Chicago, and when I moved to California, the church that I was a part of in Chicago, had a sister church in California, and they just actually moved me here. I moved here with nothing. It was literally my child, my clothes and my car. And the ministry in California gave me a household with roommates and a community that I’ve been with for almost 22 years. My church is called Turning Point LA. We changed our name. It used to be AMS, which stands for Arts Media Sports in the Los Angeles Church of Christ.

Being a Christian in Hollywood, I feel like it’s the fire that fuels me. And not because I’m trying to go out here with fire and brimstone. I’ve always been rebellious in my nature. Like I was the first to get tattoos in my family, the first to get piercings in my family, I had a baby out of wedlock. But now I get to be rebellious in a whole different way. When you look at Hollywood, you can say there are innovators absolutely, but I want to be defiant in a different way. So it definitely fuels me where I feel like I don’t have to compromise or give up anything just because I’m a Christian. What’s mine is still going to be mine and what isn’t isn’t. And I’m not going to apologize for who I am because I’m an actor and a storyteller. It doesn’t hinder me at all.

6.I know that you had a bout with illness. How did your faith sustain you during what I’m sure was a difficult time in your life?

It was 2014, and I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. It was cancer of my bone marrow. It was stage 4, and it was aggressive. I had a tumor in my back that cracked my vertebrae. I had been sick for six months before I found out that I even had cancer. It was a progressive cancer to say the least. And it caused excruciating pain that wasn’t helped by morphine or Percocet. And I was hallucinating with the dosages they gave me to so I didn’t want the dosages because I didn’t have a clear mind when I was using them. I had the choice to do medical marijuana which I prayed a lot about, and I chose not to do that either. It was a time when I felt like the physical pain, the emotional anguish and the spiritual suffering that Jesus went through when He went to the cross, this is an opportunity for me to experience that intimacy, even on a small scale, with Christ.

On choosing to focus on joy and gratitude during illness…

I think when you go through suffering, it can either be a burden or it can be a joy. And joy doesn’t mean happiness. Joy means I think your perspective and your gratitude. For me, I chose a joyful, grateful perspective going into it and that is what sustained me. I was sick for just over a year. When you have Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, there is only one combination that is curable. The combination that I had which is stage 4 aggressive was a curable combination for the type of chemo prescribed for me. I’m in remission now. I’m technically not cured until the 3 to 5 year mark.

7.Obviously, outside of acting, you have other interests. You are now a Rodan + Fields sales consultant. Why?

The women who created these skincare products are amazing women. They are very smart. They are doctors. They are graduates of Stanford. They teach at Stanford. They are moms. They are wives. They came up with a product called Proactiv. I used Proactiv, and I liked the results. My daughter used it and liked the results. Their customer service was awesome. I always felt taken care of. So I had respect for these women long before I became a consultant. But what pushed me over the edge is I was looking for something. I’m 50. Black does not crack, but we do sag. So I’m like I’m not going to do the whole Botox thing so I did some research on Rodan+Fields. It’s a part time opportunity, and the stream of income allows me to have freedom. The products are not cheap, but the average woman can purchase them.

Is there anything else you want to add?

I’m not done yet. I may have not been on the scene for a while, but trust me when I tell you, I’m not done yet.

Bernadette Speakes recently completed two films, and is about to step into another in mid-February. She has been adventurous on stage in 2014, stepping into her first COMEDY…Elephant Theatre’s West Coast Premiere of “North Plan,” directed by David Fofi. During the 2013 Fringe Festival, she portrayed Tituba, in “The Crucible.” She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from the University of Georgia; and presently continues to hone her craft at various acting studios around the Los Angeles area.

Bernadette was a part of the Producing Queens of The Trunk Show… which brings its own uniqueness in the world of storytelling. She is also the creator and producer of “Get Up Stand Up…Clean Comedy 4 A Change,” a comedy showcase that bridges the gap of laughter and charity together. Bernadette has also appeared in several acclaimed shows, such as The Elephant Theater’s “In Arabia We’d Be Kings,” and The Fountain Theater’s West Coast Production of Direct from Death Row…”The Scottsboro Boys.” She’s performed at the Steppenwolf Theater, Goodman, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, and the Matrix’s LA Premier of An Evening with Shakespeare featuring Charles S. Dutton.

Awards include an Emmy Nomination for “A Stage of Our Own,” with James Earl Jones, The LA Drama Critic’s Circle, and the LA Weekly. Other Film & TV Credits include…”The Soloist,” “Heroes,” “Parenthood,”” To Sir with Love II” with Mr. Sidney Poitier, and the 1997 Sundance Festival Winner, “Love Jones,” which was honored this year, the 20th anniversary of its release, at the 2017 ABFF AWARDS for its contribution as a cinematic classic in African-American films!

Bernadette is also a Rodan + Fields sales consultant. For more information, please click HERE.

Any thoughts?