The Spirited Actor - Chrishaunda Lee Perez

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transitioned to
a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Domez.
I auditioned every rapper from Biggie Smalls to Tupac, and

(00:24):
I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Yee from The
Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I
also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel

(00:45):
I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
that room. Now I know, I know actors want to
get the job. I get that, but being remembered by
a casting director that is powerful. And now it's time
for meditation of the day. It's better to look ahead

(01:09):
and prepare than look back and regret. Jackie Joiner Cursey
I want to talk about regret, because that's a big thing.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Regret is us saying to ourselves.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
We wish that that never happened, We wish that experience
never happened, We wish we never met those people.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
But when you look at your.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Life overall and you are where you are presently now,
everything happens for a reason. And regardless of how frustrated
or angry or challenge we are in situations, those situations
are happening for a reason. It's moving you out of

(01:57):
your comfort zone to grow, It's moving you out of
a place where you feel stuck and trust me through challenges,
through trauma, obstacles, and hurdles. There is light at the
end of the tunnel. Today, I will seek the light
at the end of the tunnel, knowing everything happens for

(02:20):
a good reason. Before we get started, I'd like to
remind everyone to look out for my new show, Inside
the Black Box. I'll be co hosting with the great
Joe Morton. We'll be on Crackle Network real soon. I'll
keep you posted. Welcome to the Spirited After Podcast with
me Tracy Moore. I always talk about when I bring

(02:43):
on my guests how much it is a treat.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
For you, and it is and it also is a
treat for me.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
But this next guest, Ladies and Gentlemen, literally changed my life.
And when I sit down and when I write my memoirs,
I got a.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Whole chapter for this one right here, a whole chapter
one of.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
The most talented and truly represents for me what a
spirited actor is and what a spirited actor embodies.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
Ladies and gentlemen, I want you guys.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
To stand up and I want you guys to put
your hands together for our guests who I am ecstatic
to have on the show, Ladies and Gentlemen, Kashanda Lee Parah.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Wow wow you thank you change my life. Thank you
and you changed mind. I mean you.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
I say something, Yes, I for one am just honored
moved to be in your presence today.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Tracy. You know I wouldn't be where I.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Said if it wasn't for you. You are definitely part
of my integral village who helped me to come out
of my shell when I was just a little puppy
living in New York, and you helped to give me
the wings. And not only did you help to give
me the wings, you help me learn how to use them.
So it was about, Okay, I'm going to help you

(04:19):
understand that you have the tools, and now I'm going
to help you get them out of the box and
actually utilize them so that you can make something more
of your experience.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Because I see this in you, and you were.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
One of the first people when I moved to New
York after I graduated from school to do that for me,
for me as a performer, for me as a creative,
and I will never forget and I will always be
indebted to you for that.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
I know there are a lot of people who.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
Have those sports to say, I add on to the list,
and I meet it from the bottom of my heart.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
So that's how I'd like to begin. I just would cry,
it's the truth. It's the truth.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
I feel the same so much about you on the
footage to prove it like and and you know, I
want to say this because your poster would never have
spoke that. When I first met you in Starbucks downstairs
from Deaft Jair on Sun Sin because Treyman introduced me

(05:16):
to you as a publicist, that's right, who desperately needed
a publicist because I had just written my first book
and we sat there and I was like, I.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Don't care what the price is. I don't care whatever.
I've work this one. That's for sure.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
You knew exactly and VI opated what you were talking
about work ethics, structure and when you talk about believing,
because I want to talk about from the beginning as
a as an actress, as a just a creative being,
because we're all multi hyphenated and just a creative being beautiful.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
Can we just say how wonderful it is that we
now do have to be defined by one thing and
it's okay. And people don't say I'm confused. You have
to be this or that, you get to be all
the things. So I just want to say thank you
for even saying that.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
Oh yes, and you're welcome.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Because one of the things I hated when I started
as a casting director people and I said, oh, you know,
I want to direct, and they say.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Oh, master some you know that cliche. Don't put that
on me. And why don't I.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
To be limited to this space for fifty years and
then get a gold watch and you know, retire. I
don't want to do that. So where did it start
for you? Because I have to say this, you guys,
as a writer. Let me tell you something because I
literally want to fight you. I read an article recently

(06:50):
how Viola Davis finding me cemented my relationship with my
memoirs on Audible. Right, I read this article that Kashanda wrote.
First of all, we don't limit, we don't use our words.
Kashanda uses her words and let me explain. I realized

(07:13):
after reading that article how basic and limited my vocabulary
is in some cases. Right, So not only I use
this as thesaurus, but the thesaurus since reading that article
has changed.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
I it's under my like no.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Because you are a wordsmith, the way you craft your words.
I'm telling you you guys need to read this article
like it was so powered. It just landed in my
soul and as a writer. In terms of your work,
the same goes for that. And we're going to talk
about some of your writing. But I want to start
where did it all start for you in terms of

(07:51):
being this creative, massive piece that you are?

Speaker 3 (07:55):
Wow? Well, you know, I was rooted in the church,
so I think that that's where. You know, just the
idea to use your mouth to orate started with my
grandmother and it was an outlet for me. You know,
I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. My mother was a
teenager when she had me and didn't have a lot

(08:16):
of the tools, many of the tools, but she had
a lot of love for me and and just believed
in me a lot as well. And you know, self
expression became my outlet.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
It was the one thing that I knew I could control.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
Couldn't control the surroundings, couldn't control where I lived, could
control you know, who was my friend or who wasn't
my friend, but I could control that piece. So creative
writing was a big deal for me. I always kept
a journal since I was a kid, and inspired by
my aunt to do that. And the idea of getting
on a stage somebody different was also very interesting to

(08:53):
me because I got a chance to escape some of
the things that I was experiencing at home. So you
all know as actors that that's part of the joy
of it. Some people get so involved as method actors
they don't want to leave.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
What they're learning. At the same time, it's you know,
it's a release.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
It was a release from me, and it's one of
those things that I'm just beyond grateful that I get
to do this and pursue this as a career, because I.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Would be doing it anyway.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
I would be you know, if I was stacking boxes
at ups, I'd be in the back going and the
box should be here. We're going to elevate the box
to put it on this shelf. To I mean, I
would still find ways to express what is in me.
So thank God that there was that God is merciful
that says, you know, I'm gonna help you make a
dollar from.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Doing this, So I'm gonna let you write essays.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
I'm gonna help you make a dollar from that, because
I would still be doing that, and it is it
really is my release.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
It really is my.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Church, right And for actors, because I think that one
of the gifts that you have in so that being
an actress is being a writer. How important is it
for actors today to create their own projects the forever?

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Try? For instance, the short film you wrote, you know
in your research, No let me tell you something.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Window was on Inside the Black Box with Joe Morton
and Tracy Moore on Cracker TV download for free.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
But Window was on, yes.

Speaker 1 (10:24):
And so yeah, Wendell Peers and he's on Broadway right now.
So how important is it for actors to just take
control of their own careers instead of relying on other entities.

Speaker 3 (10:35):
Well, you know, I used to say that it's all
about coming from my perspective as a black woman, because
I had not seen many of the layers that we
have as black women exhibited on screen, exhibited on stage.

Speaker 2 (10:49):
Probably more so on stage.

Speaker 3 (10:50):
You get those opportunities because you really don't have a
lot of you know, you can just get on a stage,
but to put it to the take it to the
level of putting it on screen, be a television or
the theater and movie screens if you will. I really
need I needed to see myself, and so as an actor,
I knew that I can either continue to audition for

(11:12):
things that didn't speak to me and or I can
create those roles myself and then do the due diligence
to create the work so that I can see those images,
you know, the Forever Tree.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Thank you for bringing that up, because that.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Was my very first you know, professional experience to write
a role, to be participatory in the team of writing
a role that speaks to women who are smart, who
are who are curious, and who are vulnerable and all
these different adjectives that I don't ever get to see
there was there's no stereotypes, if you will, and it

(11:50):
was so freeing. And so although I had aspirations and
I will always have aspirations to act, I mean, I
feel that for me, I will probably end up putting
myself in the roles that i'd like to see more
so than the worlds that I would earn, because we
still have so far to go. We've come so far,
but we still have so far to go. And so
in that regard, I would encourage all actors, not even

(12:13):
just actors of color, but because again it's still a
very narrow window when you look at television how it
was ten years ago and even five years ago, and
now it's changing, and I'm so grateful for that.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
It's so open.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
But we're getting an opportunity to get culture involved. And
it isn't just the white guy. Isn't just the white guy,
the white guy who happens to have the Swiss background,
And why does that? Why is that meaningful? Because of this,
it's not just the black girl who is you know,
the black girl, but she also is West Indian and
not just Jamaican. You know, we're dealing with black girls
who are West Indian, who are you know, coming from

(12:46):
the Bahamas? Are coming from you know, who are Bayesian?
I mean just the idea that there's so much of
us as people, there's never going to be too much
of storytelling and peeling away layers. And so for me
as a as a creative just in general, I just
continue to add to that tapestry.

Speaker 1 (13:06):
I see you, you know, just as a writer. You know,
sometimes people may specialize in horror this, but I see
you as a writer when you look at a film
like tim and think of our history here in America,
do you think about writing stories historical stories as well
about our history?

Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yes, well, you know, The Forever Tree is a film
that's magical realism, historical fiction. You know, it's it's it's
in alignment with the films that have come out that
I'm so proud of. For example, Barry Jenkins did The
Underground for Amazon, starring the incredible new Star Bright Star
in Our Light of actresses and actors Uh Throuss, who

(13:49):
was also in The Woman King, And you know, it's
it's a way of reimagining history. I don't necessarily feel
that I am called to write a story that is
dealt that's dealing with some of the elements of our
past as black people that include you know, enslavement. Some

(14:11):
people do that very well. I'm a big reader of
our history. I support and was just in awe of
twelve years a slave. The writer of that film happened
to be a Milwaukee native, where I'm from, John Ridley,
raise your hands for that. And so there are people
who are called to write those stories for me. The
history that I'd like to tell is in a different

(14:33):
way of triumph, a different kind of elevating, a different
way of breaking through barriers, a different way of doing that.
And so the Forever Tree, for example, you know, we're
including people like who are real people?

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Who are Madam C. J. Walker?

Speaker 3 (14:49):
We are including you know, real people, but we don't
We're giving them a new a new sort of I
don't want to give any spoilers because we are currently
developing the feature for that short, but we are. We
are giving them a new breath of life, and the
outcomes that they had aren't exactly what we know is truth,

(15:12):
but it's a new way of getting younger people to
be understanding of who these people are too. You know,
I just wrote the Black History play for my daughter's school,
and it's all about the inventors and and and it's
not you know, sort of like focusing on aero dynamics
and you those big words that you know, people would say, Oh,

(15:33):
black people, in order to be recognized, it has to
be extraordinary, you know. I listened to as an assident,
was listening to Chris Rock saying how when he was
living in Alpine, New Jersey, he lived next door to
people like Mary J. Blige, who happened to be the
best R and B singer in the world, but then
next to him, the white person who lived next to
him was just a dentist. So in order to live

(15:55):
in Alpine as a black person, you've got to be
the best, you know, extraordinary. I wanted to express how
inventors of everyday.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Things, so we're weaved in the fabric.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Historically speaking, there is so much of our contributions to
the country, to the world, to the planet that have
to do with everything like a light bulb, an elevator,
you know, a stoplight. It doesn't have to be super
extraordinary things that we use every single day. The super socer,
you know what I mean, was created by somebody who
looks like us, and so for me as a storyteller,

(16:29):
and when it comes to historical information and you know,
getting back to that, it's a different kind of triumph.
But it's all for the elevation, right.

Speaker 1 (16:39):
And when you talk about elevation, I want to talk
about your book because ooh, you guys, we come as girls,
we leave as women. Everything starts in the home and
what you're taught in home and we emulate, right. And
so when I when I first heard about your book,

(17:01):
I was like, Kashanda is.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
Getting them early. She's getting them early, and that's when
you need to get them.

Speaker 1 (17:09):
Because just a quick story, I went to this beautiful
all women leadership church event in Marlborough, Mary and it
was five thousand girls ranging from the age of five
to twenty one. Five thousand and it was female ministers, everything.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
That you know. We went.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
We talked from hygiene to relationships, everything, right. So we
get into the church and the reverend she's preaching and
she says, all of you who don't have relationships or
know your dad, or have never met your dad, come
to the pulpit and we will pray for you. I

(17:56):
was sitting in the like third row in front, and
you know, I kind of just lean back, you know,
on a few on the.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Back and do you know that.

Speaker 1 (18:08):
There were maybe fifty women left in the audience as
these young women walked, And what really took me out
was to see like a seven year old holding hands
of a five year old and walking together to the pulpit.
And at that moment, I was like, my god, if

(18:28):
this is you know, we have to start here because
your dad's so your first love.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
Your dad's.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
Teach you how you should be treated as a princess.
So that's what resonated with me when I heard about
your book read your book, and also we all have
been traumatized and we don't deal with the two and
what we do is we keep it in our bodies,
you know.

Speaker 2 (18:55):
And that was a takeaway from me as well. So
can you can you tell our audience one, what inspired
you to write this ooh, this book? And what is
your goal your purpose through this? Because they're I think
what you're doing is brilliant. Thank you, and thank you

(19:18):
for saying that. It's very endearing.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
I just was looking listening to you and just looking
at the visual at the same time, and I'm going
that is the American way unfortunately, especially for people of color,
it was set up for us black girls to not
have all those opportunities with the fathers, just by way
of all the things that have happened to us as

(19:42):
people and all the things. And I'm grateful that there
is there is a turnaround to that Black Men Smile
and all these other organizations that are really trying to
encourage and uplift those who are being supportive in the household.
I'm grateful to have somebody who does that too and
my household. So they do exist, but it's we still

(20:03):
have work to do, and you know what I mean.
But the encouragement is showing of the people who are
actually doing it and then elevating it from there.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
We come as girls, we leave as women.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
You know that story is it comes from the same
intention that all the stories that I've been given, because
that's the way I feel that they're all kind of
in me. They're given to me. I don't create them.
Their a spark in my in my heart, and then
they go to my head and then they come out
onto the page. All about empathy every single thing that

(20:35):
I write, and that's the common thread. So when someone says,
but you can write a story forever tree, and then
you write a story about this intersure, story about that.
How what's the connection. It's all about empathy and connection
because when you were able to see somebody else's experience,
hear about them, understand where they're coming from, you understand
them better and you also end up understanding yourself better.

(20:57):
And then you end up connecting and being more open
to the variety of people we have in the world
and become as girls we leave as women. Is a
story that was born in me, you know, after I
was having my second child and I wanted to write
a story that spoke to teenage girls from around the world,

(21:18):
who are you know in one space. I chose a
boarding school because that's where I also attended, and to
see how they all could use that wonderful word of
empathy to get through. And it's a story just about
encouraging young people, in particular women, young girls, women to
be about no matter what it is that they are

(21:40):
going through, whether they have challenges from their fathers, whether
they don't have a father, whether they are having differences
with their mothers, or financial challenges or too much financial
wealth and resources.

Speaker 2 (21:54):
But not enough love.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
You're gonna be okay, because as long as you believe
in you, and you you surround yourself with those who
also believe in you, which you don't need many, you're
gonna be fine. And so these girls in this particular
story go through They go through a plethora of experiences.
This is not a story about they went to boarding
school and the teacher was this way, and you know,

(22:18):
it's not really about school. It's about self development. You know,
my intention for writing Become as Girls, We Leave as
Women was not about boys. It's not about drugs. You
think that when you're writing a story that's geared towards
the young audience, you're focusing on those things because that
seems to be the biggest hurdles that they have. I

(22:39):
wanted to get the girls before they were being inundated
with hey baby, you want to go lay in the bed,
or you want to try some weed, or you want
to try this other drug before they get to that
space after reading this book. And I've got a copy
here so you can see what the titles.

Speaker 2 (22:56):
Before you.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
When you finish that book, you know the intent was
to help arm a young woman, a girl with some
level of self esteem from the inside so by the
time they're being approached by things from the outside, they'll say,
I'm not today.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Right, Oh my god, I just like to see it.
So is that in production as well. Yes, we're working
on the screen. We're working on the you know, all
of the.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Works can be on the screen.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
I mean again, so the same energy that wrote this
book We come as Girls, they leave as women, is
the same energy that wrote this book Share the Dream Wow,
and I wrote that, but that would drop before We
Come as Girls. And that's a story about a woman
who has an animal sanctuary in Atlanta. She did it
all by herself. She's a one woman powerhouse like yourself, Tracy.

(23:51):
Fifteen hundred animals and two hundred and fifty acres she
prayed into existence and is saving really the planet and
the world, just doing the thing that she loves the most.
And again, she's an ordinary woman. She doesn't have the
regal trappings. She did marry a prince.

Speaker 2 (24:09):
She is a.

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Woman walking the earth and you know, just has a belief.
Belief rules everything and it starts here. So if you
have that, other people feel that you believe in you,
and then they go. She really believes in herself. I'm
gonna believe in that too. I can tell you firsthand
that that is how I believe Spirited Actor became as

(24:31):
big as it has become, and how your career and
how your energy has just you know, continuously, because you
haven't stopped. You're just been a steady climb in the industry,
so well respected. But it came why I was so
attracted to you was because I knew you believed in you.
I knew you believed in you. And as a publicist

(24:51):
coming in, you know, really afraid to go on the front.
That was in part why I chose publicity, because I
wanted to help other people, but I couldn't do for myself,
and it took me time. It took someone like you
to say, you know, I think you need to get
on stage two. I know you got something in YouTube,
but for a while I really wasn't deared to and
committed to helping people who I knew had something to

(25:14):
help raise them up and help them ascend. And for you,
you could feel it. You could feel the self belief,
You can feel the spirit in you, and that attracts people.
So all the works that I'm doing, that's the bottom line.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
It's the empathy piece.

Speaker 3 (25:28):
It's a self belief piece, and the self belief attracts
more people. And when you have more people who are
in your orbit who see what that does, they then say,
I wonder if I believe in myself, what will happen?
And then it just becomes this continual, beautiful unfolding of
just joy and community. And so I've watched you do it.

(25:51):
I'm a part of that community. I graduated from the
Spirited Actor. I came through that portal, and I'm watching
other people do it. I see how on you know
the black box are You're continuing to do it and
just doing it in a different way. But you know,
it's all. We're all connected. I don't know what else
to say except for that's what fuels everything. And when

(26:12):
right when I feel like I'm not fully creative and
I put my pen down, I go, I don't think
I have another thing to say.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
You know, here comes something else, may not something else comes.
That's right, somebody says, I love that.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Because I just wanted to say to you that I
was sent a time in my life where there was
it was transitional for me because I wanted to get
off the road, because I had spoken to someone in
Los Angeles and I said, you know, I want to direct.
I continue here to direct theater. That's my love, right
And they said, well, why don't you just direct? And

(26:52):
I was like, uh, it's like that right.

Speaker 4 (26:57):
The man.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
And again this is Mars. I told you that I
wanted to direct, and you gave me a play that
you wrote, and you won the Little Samuel o'mills Award
for it was.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
You. You gave me that play.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
And as soon as the wheels touched the ground, because
I flew to La to do the pilot for Eve Show,
we had SkyTel's back.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
Then I was silver, oh my gosh, you take me
back when they did that pilot.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
That's right, clip.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
That Skytelle and I was like, I'm directing this as
soon as I get back.

Speaker 2 (27:42):
As the young people would say, you bodied it.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
But you you talk about believing in people. You didn't say, Chasey,
let me see her real what if you directed? You
were just like, Okay, you're gonna direct. You want to direct, Okay,
here here's something to direct. And that was, aside from Miles,
Radiance and Soraya, the best in my whole life ever.

Speaker 2 (28:07):
M that whole experience and I would have to agree
with you. That's top five for me. For sure. It's
top five for me because that.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
Whole thing, I mean, man, I mean it was in road,
it was in roads beyond. I mean, this is when
you were who said to me, I was sitting in
your apartment. And I'm not going to name drop, but
it just shows how far back it goes.

Speaker 1 (28:29):
She goes, because I, yall and I were talking the
other day about you, right, and I am the person
she's going to name drop.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
This was me because he came to all of our rehearsals.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
We rehearsed at her house, at her apartment, right, So
you know what.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
I'm going to say.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
It came in the house.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
And I'm like, I haven't seen him since wherever. I mean,
I still I keep I'm so old school. All my
numbers so the same. I'm sure the number has changed.

Speaker 2 (28:54):
But there was a time I used to be really
cool with.

Speaker 3 (28:58):
It was Elba and he happened to come by to
my apartment when we were rehearsing. Uh this play, this
one act play that I wrote in college. That yes,
I was so beyond getting that honor of the Samuel O'Neill,
the Little O'Neill Award and presenting that to Tracy baited

(29:18):
breath to see what she thought. She returned with a
pow and we were rehearsing that in my little apartment
and then put that on off off Broadway.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
It is one of the It is the single most
it is.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
It is a one of one though, although it's top five,
it's a one of one because all that went into
it and all the people we were all babies.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
Babies, Oh we were babies.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
I mean, I'm thinking, like, you know when he comes. Okay,
So back to the indrit story. I vaguely remember somebody
told me and I was like he did, and they
were like.

Speaker 1 (29:49):
Girl, every day, you guys won't but I everget what
he did on your couch.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Right, Yeah, he was sitting there and just watch it along. Hey, mate.

Speaker 3 (30:02):
One day and I looked, so he was big drifts
and he was a DJ and he was to come
to the public, so the he would come to do
Beverly Bond. Set my dear friend there and he was
big drifts to two.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
Oh my god, you guys.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
Nobody knew his name and he was One day he
sat on the couch and Ayana was producing right, And
I said this guy, yes, this is all I has.

Speaker 2 (30:27):
To do, Like, here's nothing else to do but off
the wire. Remember they were working on the wire.

Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yes, But I love the fact because you know, when
I ran into him, I was like, yo, I love
the fact that you came to our rehearsal like you, like.

Speaker 2 (30:45):
You didn't have to, so that I love you. Guys.
The time has zoomed by our are already. Man though,
that was a good nugget. So so just just.

Speaker 3 (30:56):
To show you, guys, the type of things that happened
when you choose to be creative and you choose to
be open. I was saying to my husband last night,
how I have met so many people have been blessed me,
so many people in this business where ether whether it
be musicians or writers or actors or what have you.
And I've learned so much from people who have been
in the game way longer than I have. And I've

(31:18):
been in dear to and proud to be able to
share wisdom with those who are coming in the one
thing that I you didn't even ask me to do this,
but I'm just going to say it because it's on
my heart to do the one thing that I would
that I would give for advice unsolicited is don't be
afraid of who you are. Just don't Because one thing

(31:41):
that I have learned, what has been the thing that
I believe has stopped some of my dear ones from progressing.
Some people that I don't associate with anymore and I've
watched them kind of plateau and kind of fall off,
is because they have lost the sense of being okay
with who they are.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Because if you're just okay with who you are, you're.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
Opening yourself to the opportunity and the possibility of being
the best of that self. Then nobody can do better
than you. So if you try to emulate someone else,
somebody else's journey, somebody else's road, you're bound to fail
because you can't create that for yourself. You can't contrive
that for yourself. You have to have them and whatever
that looks like, you're gonna have some failures learning experiences.

(32:29):
My husband, where's this teacher that says he believes in
lessons never losses or something of that nature. So all
of those things, and that's all on the line with
Tracy Moore. I mean, all that talk is all Tracy
Moore's doctrine. But being yourself is the best gift that
you can give yourself as an actor. Who are you
as a person? If you understand who you are, you

(32:52):
can portray anybody. As a writer, if you are clear
with where you sit, any story will not be challenging
for you to tell.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
People ask me, you're so prolific.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
You have content. I've never run out of material. Why
because it's coming from a real space. So if I
was trying to create something that ooh, this looks hot
because this is a show that's doing well, let me
try to do that. I really work like this. I've
never worked like this. I've always been like this, and
it serves me. Doesn't mean that I don't know what's

(33:24):
going on around me. I'm very aware, been blessed to
have a level of consciousness, but I do this. So
if I have any advice, it would be just don't
be afraid of who you are. Live in that truth.
You are going to be the best to you. Whatever
that comes out to being. You don't even know. But
one thing you will know is that you will be

(33:45):
actually satisfied. That's what I have to say. And you
won't know that satisfaction may be an oscar. Satisfaction may
be a fellowship. Satisfaction may be a book being published.
Satisfaction may only be, or not only will be you
being an amazing mentor to your children.

Speaker 2 (34:06):
That may satisfy you. You don't know.

Speaker 3 (34:09):
You will never know if you do not give yourself
the blessing of being who you are. That's all I got,
what I tell you in the beginning, blessing.

Speaker 1 (34:19):
You don't understand, you don't understand. I am so grateful, blessed.
I pray in seconds now. So no, yes, that's too
where we're at, and I am beyond.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
I'm doing backflips when I get up. Well, I'm gonna
try to do some backtors, some leggs. Sh down. You
know how I feel. It's hard earned, Tracy, you know
it's hard and earn.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
You know this is coming from that yearning, that that
young black girl trying so hard. I spent so many years,
Oh my gosh, just not okay, just wanting to why
can't I in the yearning and the pleasing and the.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Pleasing and the pleasing. Oh oh no, forty seven I am, oh, yes,
forty I have been.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
Yes, that's cold to look like bringing on, but I'm
not going to not spend another day trying to do
it for anybody but me and my God.

Speaker 2 (35:09):
That's it. Everybody else is going to have to be like,
all right, you.

Speaker 1 (35:15):
Just healed some people today. I just want you to
know you just healed some people. My spirit just told
me that. And see and for me, the other part
of my life that I enjoyed so much is that
I get to share the world with you. I get
to share the world with you, and today you guys
so blessed.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
Thank you God. I'm so grateful. You guys. Stand up.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Just like I said before, Now you understand why to
stand up. Put your hands together. You guys talk about
the best, excuse me, talk.

Speaker 3 (35:47):
Some of the best that's you included. That is the
only reason why I sit where I am. I've been
taught by some of the best. I'm starmning man.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
Listen, I got my pads on. Come on, come on, hey, Okay,
in it together. Yes we are, my soul sister, Yes
we are.

Speaker 1 (36:06):
And once again, you guys, ladies and gentlemen, we are
going to be blessed because Kashanda is going to stay
with us for class and session. And I'm so excited
for the actors to get this opportunity. So when we
come back on the Spirited Actor Podcast, we're gonna have
some questions for Kashandra that I'm sure these actors have
been waiting and dying to ask. Okay, we'll be right

(36:27):
back on the spirit Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore.
Welcome back to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore.
My gift today, my gift to you and myself. So
blessed ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna ask you once again
and put your hands together writere extraordinaire producer extraordinaire Wordsmith's
extraordinary actress extraordinaire. I could go on not brilliant, ladies

(36:52):
and gentlemen. Thank you, Steven for putting your hands together.
For the there ends. I'm gonna learn how she says.
So I like.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
I did. It was like I was like, yes.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
So, Elsa Lathan, you guys refer refer to her as
superwoman because she does all and everything factories because we
we like the word standards, right, Elsa standards?

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (37:24):
Okay, So Elsa, can.

Speaker 1 (37:25):
You introduce our actress who are going to ask questions?

Speaker 5 (37:30):
Yes? Of course. First, welcome Cassandra. That interview was like
just full of gym.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
So thank you, thank you.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
So today we have Stephen Strickland and massielg uh. I
just messed up your last name, didn't I okay, I'll
let you say it arm and got So first up
will be a question from Stephen for with Sonda.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Hello, Krishanda.

Speaker 6 (38:03):
I appreciate everything that you've done.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
And said today.

Speaker 6 (38:06):
I've learned, you know, it's great to learn so much
about you. Just want to throw in the fact that
you know, since you have all those things, those projects
coming up from your books, I would like to throw
Tracy Moore's hat in the ring for casting director. I'm
just saying, so my question, my question to you, I
had to I had to figure out which one was
I guess more pertinent. So I guess I'll go with

(38:28):
what was or is do you find your biggest struggle
or hurdle to be throughout your career or even right
now in life.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
I don't struggle with it nearly as much as I did,
but I guess from time to time I do just
the courage to say what I really want to say.
You know, there's a way to say pretty much anything,
you know, my cousin, my one of my older cousins,

(39:05):
we call her sister. Her name is Alice, and she
would always say, just be a just be diplomatic, you know.
She would tell me, if someone said something to me
that I didn't appreciate, you don't have to combat them.
You can just say you validate them by saying, you know,
there may be some truth in that, and.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
You say, okay, even if they're.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Saying you know, there may be some truth in that.
So having the courage to just say what it is
you really want to say and finding a way to
say that is you know, will probably always be something
that keeps me on my toes.

Speaker 7 (39:41):
You know.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
The Great Maya Angelou said it takes a lot of energy,
a lot of work, a lot of time to make
things look simple, to make things read simple. And because
she has such a wide audience, it was only because
she was able to resonate with so many people, But
it took a lot of time. I'm encouraged for her
to figure out how to be authentic and be able

(40:04):
to resonate with people who are black, white, and all
the other things in between, and not just narrow herself
to one lens or one group of people who look
just like her. You end up offending people sometimes if
you're saying your truth. You sometimes alienate people sometimes when
you're saying your truth and it's all in the way
you say it. So as a writer, I've learned how

(40:27):
to write, and I learn every day how to write better.
There are essays that I cannot wait to put out.
I have focus groups or the essays on my website
that I put out, but I have people read them
first to see how it makes them feel, because sometimes
I may say the things that I want to say,
but I don't know if it's necessarily going to how
is it making this person feel versus this.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
Person over there.

Speaker 3 (40:49):
My intention is for everybody to get that single message
or whatever it is I'm trying to put out, So
that is probably the one thing, because I would love
for as many people to be able.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
To feel that in tension.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
I'm writing for people who look like me, of course,
but I really am writing for everyone because they're all thematic.
And you know, I'm black, but I understand what it
means to be afraid. White people know what it means
to be afraid. Men know what it means to be afraid,
and so I have to figure out a way to
say those things that will allow for everyone and as

(41:22):
many people as possible, more importantly, to get those feelings.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
So I hope that answers your question.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yes, I did.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
Thank you very much. Of course, are we jumping in
right to me? Yeah?

Speaker 8 (41:36):
Awesome, Hi Chrishanda. Thank you so much for your time
and this space you guys have created. I think it's
funny because Tracy's always encouraging us to, you know, look
at the signs, how to manifest, how to speak, all
that good stuff with spirited actors. And I was supposed
to attend another one of the podcast shows and unfortunately

(41:59):
it didn't work out because of like some emails service issues,
and I feel very appreciative of that now because I
feel like this is the one that I was supposed
to attend, and so thank you so much for all
your gems. I'm very much sitting here like she is
talking to me. It's like, you know, my struggle, So
thank you, thank you, thank you made me very emotional.

(42:20):
Actually I'm trying to control that. So my question to
you is very much for me. I'm sorry I made
it very personal. I try to make it broad, but
I was like, I'm going to take advantage of this.
She is a writer, so it can also extend to
acting because I am an actor first, but I do write,
and I'm trying my best to get out of this

(42:42):
space that I'm in with my writing. It has been
like about two or three years now. So my question is,
have you ever been in a space full of such
incredible talent that it became more intimidating than inspiring and
then that kind of developed into major writer's block? And
if so, what are the tools that you use to

(43:02):
kind of slowly chip away at that wall?

Speaker 2 (43:06):
You said it chip away. You know, I'm all about
micro leading.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
Into Macro's a there's a businessman, a business person who's
got this incredible outfit in the industry today who is
literally a superman for us all who look like this.
His name is Charles King, and he's got a company
called Macro. The hashtag is always stay Macro, and we're

(43:33):
always leading to that big thing. He knows more than anybody,
starting as an intern at w and me down at
the bottom, that it was all about the micro that
led to the Macro. So you can have a really
big idea, you know, you can say golly, if I
could just write this trilogy. I've got an idea for

(43:54):
a trilogy. You just go, okay, you know when people
have to I've got it's gonna be epic.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
We're gonna have.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
Star Wars meets you know, Indiana Jones meets the Color
Purple be. I mean, all that's fine, but that can
overwhelm the heck out of you. And you're trying to
figure out what to do with such a big idea,
chipping away micro micro so you then you begin to
put it on paper. My best thing, because I'm a

(44:20):
writer so and I'm so old school, I still write
everything down. I'm not a I'm a typer, that's right, Tracy.
I write every single thing. This what's happening today, it's
on the page whatever, and it's like ten am be
with Tracy.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
That's what I know.

Speaker 3 (44:36):
So if I didn't do that from my day, with
all the things that go on in the day, I
may miss things. I may be overwhelming things. I may
be I may say, oh my god, I totally forgot.
So sometimes it's good to just keep a real old
school and just do the micro and focus on it,
and that macro won't go away. We have evidence in
the great outfit that's out in the world called Macro.

(44:58):
It will never go away, but you do have to
start from somewhere. I would keep it small and before
you know it, all those little pieces will form together.
And I tell my kids all the time, it forms
like Voltron.

Speaker 2 (45:13):
They're like, what is that. I'm like, let's just watch
an episode.

Speaker 5 (45:17):
All the little.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
Cars they come together and they make a big guy and
blah blah blah. But it all comes together. But it
has to start from.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Somewhere, for sure.

Speaker 8 (45:26):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
Take a deep breath and take a deep breath after
you finish, give yourself the you know, the appreciat love moment,
as Tracy Moore would say, that you completed that step
and then you do the next step and you give
yourself those breaths and before you know you're like, oh
my god, I had actually written this five hour movie. Yes,

(45:49):
somebody's got the right one, maybe you.

Speaker 2 (45:52):
But I'm just saying it all.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
Has to start from somewhere, keep it small and build up.

Speaker 5 (45:56):
We'll do.

Speaker 2 (45:57):
Thank you. Wow, that's a great questions you guys. Thank
you so much for that.

Speaker 1 (46:01):
So we're going to move into our final moments we're
going to do class and session.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
Elsa is going to introduce all the actors.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
They're going to do a scene for you and then
once the scene is over, whatever you want to give them,
it's all on. So oh ude okay, el say you
wanted to do so everybody can say hi.

Speaker 5 (46:23):
Yes. So today in classroom session, we have I think
all of these are O G classroom session actors. We
have of course Miss ter Lisa Capri, Hi.

Speaker 7 (46:37):
Thank you so much for all this you share. There's
a pleasure meeting you. I really need to receive, so
thank you.

Speaker 5 (46:46):
And we have miss Raina S. Daniel, Hi, how are you?
And we have mister Alfon domtos.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Oh, good to see you guys.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Okay, so Elsa, we'll be reading the narrative and you
guys ready.

Speaker 2 (47:05):
Yes okay on.

Speaker 5 (47:07):
Act Timing written by Lea na Motto Exterior. Brooklyn bar Night, Yet,
heading down the street to meet her girls for a drink,
freezes when she notices a familiar orange beanie from the
man ahead of her. She freezes and jumps back for
a moment, but it's too late. He's noticed her. She

(47:29):
smiles and walks closer.

Speaker 7 (47:31):
A Hi, I'm surprised to see you. What are you
doing here?

Speaker 4 (47:40):
Hokat wola. I didn expect to see you. I'm just
getting to the town to visit.

Speaker 5 (47:48):
What he sees her, looking at his watch.

Speaker 7 (47:52):
You're still wearing the lotch.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
Yeah, I never take it off.

Speaker 5 (48:00):
I'm silent.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah, be right in.

Speaker 4 (48:06):
I just read into a friend.

Speaker 7 (48:09):
H Oh, you're with somebody.

Speaker 4 (48:16):
Wow, listen, I just matter recently, but it's just a time,
you think, Okay, nothing else can Yeah.

Speaker 7 (48:28):
Yeah, h I mean all this time I was waiting,
I mean, maybe even hopeful, you know, I I would
have really, but look at you. You're visiting someone else.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
You know. I was going through a live Yeah.

Speaker 7 (48:51):
I mean I wish I knew more.

Speaker 4 (48:53):
I wish I wish I would have checked on you, like, but.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
I wanted to.

Speaker 7 (48:57):
I just, I just I wanted to give you.

Speaker 5 (49:02):
It wasn't you trust me.

Speaker 4 (49:04):
It wasn't you.

Speaker 5 (49:06):
You did everything right.

Speaker 4 (49:08):
It's this timey thing, you know, That's all it is.

Speaker 5 (49:12):
Yeah, this gulfriend comes back out anxious, baby, it's our song.
Come on, I just gotta go.

Speaker 7 (49:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (49:32):
He leans in and kisses her on the cheek and
heads into the bar. Cat left standing there.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
See see all right throwing it to you, mister race.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
Well, that was that was a spicy scene. I was
I didn't know what to expect it to. Wow, that's wild.
Well done everybody, First of all, give your selves a
round of applause and the audience that is here. I mean,
that's that was lovely. I know this story pretty well.

(50:11):
I've experienced something like this, so I know that I
come from a familiar lens. Your name in the red
shee Lisa, she Lisa. Your name, gentlemen, Alfansa, Alfonso and
you in.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
The is that black? Yes? Okay, Alfons, Rena.

Speaker 1 (50:37):
I'm saying Raina because a lot of people don't pronounce
it the way it is.

Speaker 2 (50:41):
It is it is. I'm not Hispanic.

Speaker 8 (50:44):
I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
My puppy at first, sixteen and a half years was Rena,
and she was, this is fabulous. I think you all
did a fantastic job. I actually wish I could see
it shot some plates.

Speaker 2 (50:59):
I would.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
My only critique would be, if I had one, Do
I give a critique, Tracy?

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Okay? If I have a critique, it would be for formal,
beautiful girlfriend who you are so camp ready already.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
I'm just like God, you're so gorgeous. All of you
guys are just so great looking too. I would say
that when you're coming from that space of you didn't
expect him to be there, and so.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
It's a shock that you're even there.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
I would pull back the emotion just a tad, just
bring it just down a little bit, because you don't
the emotion that gets that gets raised sort of from
zero to like thirty. You may want to bring it
down to like seventeen. But the energy of I was
waiting for you, you know, all of that very natural

(51:51):
and it felt very heartfelt. I thought that your volley
served back to your former love was appropriate.

Speaker 2 (52:00):
It a little bit.

Speaker 3 (52:02):
More compassion for her, because again you're both in shocking
this moment, but you do you. I'm just thinking like
you would sort of be returned back to.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
That moment you looked at that watch.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
Was that watch and that you know would naturally bring
you back to you and her, right, So there's a
little bit more compassion, a little bit less rushed. There
could even be a space and time. I mean, we'd
say in television three seconds of dead space is like
the worst ever, but not to me, because sometimes people

(52:35):
need time to process and if you have emotion that's
filling that space, the audience can feel that.

Speaker 2 (52:42):
So don't feel like you have to go back and
forth because.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Sometimes, I mean, you guys haven't seen each other in
forever and all you had watch and she shows up,
so you clearly manifested that moment and here you are.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
And so I would just take all of it down,
like maybe eleven percent and.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Give yourselves time to process because who knows that this
is the last time you see each other again in
this way. As for new girlfriends, I thought she was
hot on you're coming out of like you know, maybe
you can even maybe if I had a note for you,
maybe you can even take a minute. But we were

(53:24):
listening and watching on but you could even take a
minute and survey the moments, survey what you're seeing, and
then pop out them.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Okay, because I'm kind of clueless, right, I'm just like,
he's talking to somebody.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
So I'm just like, yeah, and you can play that.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
You can play that if that's where you feel like
her motivation is coming from. But to spice it up
a little bit, I almost want her to be aware
because she this is this is her partner.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
Yeah, you're aware of him, and you you're aware.

Speaker 3 (53:51):
I mean I know if I were to see my
boyfriend standing with the woman and I would I would
there's going I mean instantly you know there's something a
little more than what is me in the eyes?

Speaker 2 (54:00):
You can you know, just so give yourself a men.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
To address that situation, and then that's when you get
your as I say, the Viola Davis moment, well, when
we had three minutes on screen and she was given
an Oscar nomination for doubt, you got three minutes on screen,
but she took those three minutes and then we have
the Viola cry. Now from that of her bad experience,

(54:24):
he has a signature cry. So if all you're given
is this moment of whatever you say, baby it's our
song or something like that, girl, that's all you have,
you better make it the best.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
It's our song baby that nobody will forget. You see
how she walked out.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
Did you hear the way she said it's our song?
I mean there was she almost clicked her to after
she said. I mean, there's something that's going to make
it so you're as memorable as the two who are
dominating the stage.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Okay, all I got, Thank you y'all, I got a lesson.
That's what you guys got a lesson.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Okay, we went behind beyond constructive criticism feedback.

Speaker 2 (55:05):
You guys, please put your hands together. This was.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Awesome interview, dang, life, experience, future project, love, everything, it.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Was everything.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
Death.

Speaker 2 (55:22):
I'm so happy.

Speaker 1 (55:23):
You don't even know how happen and see your face
and to have the compilation.

Speaker 3 (55:28):
That the group is back to yad, ladies, we're bad
cracy to be enveloped in this way, you know, you know,
I love work.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
I really don't have anything to say about it.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
It's all a feeling, you know. It's it's all in
me too. I mean, I'm on the West Coast, so
I'm kind of starting.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
My day in a sense.

Speaker 3 (55:49):
Yeah, And to be enveloped in this way, it's just
it's everything.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
I thank you all. I'm so humble and I'm so grateful.
Ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (55:58):
I just want you to put your hands together again
for our multi hyphenated creative being, actress, writer, producer, just
a great human being all around. Kashandra we Paulish and
now it's time to give love. One of my favorite
stories and I have a lot of them, and one day,

(56:22):
I will sit back in my rocking chair and dictate
the story to my granddaughter Sriah and make her write.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Well, I just sit back in memory.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
But one of my favorite stories about regret is with
my dad before he transitioned into the spiritual world, and
my dad asked me, he said, Tracy, before he passed,
he said, Tracy, do you have any regrets? And I
looked at my dad and I said, you know what, No.

(56:53):
Instead of me sitting here laundry listening to things that
I wish like, I wish he had come to New
York and see my life. I wish that he had.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Met some of my friends here in New York and
just experience my whole New York life. But I realized
there's nothing in my life that I regret.

Speaker 1 (57:11):
Nothing, And as challenging as it was going through some
of the trauma that I've had, I don't regret it.
It made me into the person that I am today.
We have to stop regretting things. We have to stop

(57:31):
being in anger of things and people and let stuff go.
Time is quickly moving and continues to move without our approval.
Without it consistently does what time does and what we

(57:53):
need to do is stop wasting it. We need to
cherish times, we need to cherish moments, and we need
to understand that in regret, we are saying no to
experiences that have brought us to where we are today.
Live in the present, live in joy, live in gratitude,

(58:15):
don't forget to look out for us on our new show,
Inside the Black Box. My co host will be Joe
the Legend Morton. It's going to be The Spirited Actor
Podcast on Steroids. We'll be streaming on the Crackle network.
I'll keep you posted. Thank you for joining us on
the Spirited Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore. I look

(58:37):
forward to our next Spirited Podcast.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
Thank you,