Join us on The Q-Chat as we sit down with the incredible Ursula O. Robinson, a powerhouse actress, director, and advocate for following your dreams! In this episode, Ursula shares her inspiring journey from her beginnings in theater to her breakout roles on the big screen, including her upcoming appearance in Tyler Perry's much talked about film, "Divorce in the Black." With her compelling insights on self-belief, resilience, and the courage it takes to pursue your passions, Ursula offers invaluable advice for anyone looking to break boundaries and chase after their dreams. Tune in to hear her story, her thoughts on representation in the arts, and her empowering message for women everywhere. You won't want to miss this conversation that will leave you feeling motivated to take on the world! Record Date: [Aug 5] Release Date: [Aug 29] www.geauxqueen.com Connect with Geaux Queen: https://linktr.ee/geauxqueen Check out our Magazine: https://publuu.com/flip-book/109160/5... Instagram: www.instagram.com/iam_geauxqueen TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@geaux_queen?_... LinkedIn: / shronda-ann-a-0a7683203 Facebook: / thegeauxqueenbrand #selfimprovement #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthawareness #blackwomenpodcasters #selfimprovement #selflovepodcast
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Grab your print or digital copy of Go Queen magazine today.
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Hey Queen, welcome to another episode of The Q Chat.
Today we're joined by the extraordinary Ursula O Robinson,
a creative force whose work spans theater, education and
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empowerment. You may know Ursula from the
jaw-dropping scene stealing performance and Tyler Perry's
new film Divorce in the Black. Her onscreen presence is nothing
short of captivating. As a professor, playwright, and
director, she has dedicated her life to inspiring others through
the arts. Her passion for storytelling and
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her commitment to using creativity as a tool for social
change make her a true visionary.
In this episode, we dive into her artistic journey, her
thoughts on the power of the arts and education, and her
mission to uplift and empower through her work.
She's. Been about a business working
hard on a mission. So thank you guys for joining
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another episode of The Key Chat today.
My very special guest is Miss Ursula Old Robinson.
And Miss Ursula is a professor of drama at the South Carolina
State University. She's also a playwright and an
actress, and I know you guys recognize her.
She's currently starring in Tyler Perry's Divorce and Black.
So of course, we're going to talk about that infamous funeral
scene. There's no way I'm going to let
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her leave without discussing that.
But we're also going to talk about her beginnings and her
roots and what made her have a love for acting and also
teaching and of course, our favorite topic.
So love. So how you doing today?
I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for this opportunity
to to be on here to talk about my journey.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
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I'm so happy for giving us your time.
Like I said, you got to rememberthe little people before you
blow up. But I want to, like I said,
we're definitely going to talk about that funeral theme.
But I want to start off this asking what your beginnings
because I know like you, like I said, you're a professor.
You've been doing this for a good time with acting and I know
you're teaching others and younger children with the love
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of acting. So I want to start off with your
beginnings. What made you decide to have
this acting bug and what was your upbringing like as well?
Well, it's amazing how I started.
I started accidentally, so to speak, but it was all in divine
purpose. Well, my mother is the oldest of
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like nine kids. And so my mother had me when she
was like 26, but she had youngersiblings that were like maybe 10
years older than us, right? So my youngest aunt had to
charge of babysitting all of us.My mother had five kids, my aunt
had three. So she had to babysit 8 kids who
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were really like 10 year difference right?
So one day she decided it would be a great idea if we all became
carolers so we could sing Christmas carols.
And we didn't agree to it, but my grandmother said it was a
good idea. So we all had to go and sing
Christmas carols. So we went around to the
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neighbor's house and we sang thesongs.
And then my other aunt decided, oh, it'd be a great idea.
We sang the songs in front of the family because every year at
Thanksgiving and Christmas, my entire family on my mother's
side would get together. And that means all of the kids,
the grandkids, the great grandkids every year.
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And so they decided a great ideafor us to sing the Christmas
carols at the Christmas gathering.
Then my other aunt decided that we should add in a nativity
scene. So we took them all my
grandmother's good linen and stuff that she put out for the
Christmas holidays. We just took them off the rack,
put them on our head and we did the nativity scene.
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And I don't know whose idea was that we should add talent.
So then we started adding talentto to the event.
And you know, the boys got together and they sang Silent
Night by the Temptations and thegirls didn't want to sing
anything. And I think it's when I started
writing some poetry and started doing different things and I
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fell in love with it. I was already in love with
writing. So I was already writing then.
I think. I can't remember the exact age,
I want to say 26, when I wrote my first poem.
It was real short, real simple, kind of like a haiku thing or
something. And my mother loved it.
And I remember getting up somewhere and saying this poem.
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So I've been acting really, or performing or doing
entertainment since I was a kid,since I was six, and, and I
loved it. And so it came out of what we
were doing for Christmas. And so Christmas every year, I'm
ready to perform. I still have that in me.
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I'm ready to perform. I work with the children at my
church and spiritual foundation ministries, and we do something
for Christmas. We do something for Black
History Month. You know, I also started doing
those things in the church too. In the church.
My grandfather was a pastor of two different churches.
He was also a Superintendent andthe Church of God of Christ.
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So I went a lot of times to church.
My mother was a minister of music, so I went with her to
church all the time and we wouldget involved in the things that
they would do with the kids, theplays, the Christmas plays and
dancing, doing liturgical dance.I did all of that growing up.
So I've been performing for a long time.
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And it to me, I feel like God gave me the gift that he gave me
so that it would save my life. And what do I mean by that?
I mean that as I went through the the toils and dramaticness
of being a teenager and being a plus size teenager and going
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through all that other stuff, I had my writing, I had my drama.
And to add to all of that, my sister and my aunt that made us
to go Christmas caroling, both of them were big fans of movies
and the soap operas and that kind of stuff.
And my sister being older than Iwas, I had to follow her rules,
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right? So my sister made me watch the
Tony's the award shows and, and at first I had to watch it
because she in charge of the TV.But then I wanted to watch it.
And I have this vision of me laying on the floor with my
hands like this, legs kicking upin the air, watching the Oscars
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and going, Oh my, I want to do that.
I want to be there. I want to be, I want to get an
award. And so I have had that in my
mind a long time. And I I tell people growing up
and into my young adulthood, I would say don't do that, Ursula,
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because you're going to be famous one day and the people
going to find out. So don't do that.
I just do it in another name, yes.
I love that. I'm just so many things.
First of all, I think just beingin church plays is a lot of
preparation. Like those church plays are
really serious. People don't realize that.
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So yes, family and everything. And we have to have a lot in
common. My mom is #7 out of 10 kids and
AD is number 9 out of nine. So that's just why I'm sorry.
So to have a big family and justalso being a kid and just being
exposed to the arts is such a great thing.
And I know like you teach children as you mentioned, but
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just being exposed to the arts is a plus.
And it is like, like, I know I have a child too.
Watching the Oscars is like, it's glamorous, you know, it's
called glamour. That's how I first learned about
Dorothy Dandridge. I was just learning history
about the whole the first black actress nominated.
And I'm like, wow, I just love the whole Hollywood aspect too.
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So I understand what that excitement.
So I want to ask you too, and this is, I love how you said
too, how God gave you that gift because it is a gift and just to
have something that you enjoy isa blessing.
And to be able to make a career out of something you love is
something not to take lightly because a lot of people don't
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get that opportunity if their dreams and to just do something
that they simply enjoy. It's just not something that
everybody can experience. So I think that's a great thing.
So I want to ask you, So what was the transition for?
Obviously you were exposed to acting and performing early on.
So as we mentioned, sometimes people they take that gift and
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they may make it a hobby and nottruly pursue it.
So what was the feel inside of you from being that 6 year old
watching TV and performing with your family to once you got
older and say, hey, I'm really am going to make a career out of
it? What was that type of transition
like? Well.
I knew early on that this is what I was going to do.
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I started taking drama classes in the public schools and I
started, you know, joining the drama club and those things.
I, I, I just can't remember wanting to do anything else.
And maybe I did. And I know I, I used to play
school and I was always the teacher because I was usually
bigger than other kids. So I was always the teacher.
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Sometimes I was a student, but Ilove teaching.
I love acting, I love performing.
I love doing all of those things.
And I just couldn't imagine doing anything else.
So I can't. I don't remember a time in my
life where I went, oh, I want tobe a cook.
Oh, oh, I want to be this. I like, no, no, I'm going to
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act. I didn't know how it would
manifest. I didn't know how I was going to
do it. But it has been on my mind for
forever and I tell people I couldn't do anything else.
I've had other jobs, I've had lots of jobs.
And at the jobs I use my acting skills.
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And in fact, I used to be a a long distance operator working
at night and when I was in college.
And one of the things that I wasalso a telemarketer too.
And one of the things that the the lady, one of the people who
do the training, listen to your phone calls and she was like,
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oh, Ursula, you an actress, act like the thing.
I was like, oh, don't, don't desecrate my gift by telling me
to act like something on these phone calls to get these surveys
done, honey. And I was, I was more offended
by that than anything else that happened.
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But I knew even then that what Ihad was meant to be seen by
people. My first dream really was
Broadway, because I didn't thinkthat television and film were
looking for women who look like me when I was growing up.
So if I could say anything that changed is my idea of going into
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television and film has changed.And I realize now that
television and film is about people, all kind of walks in
life and everything, and it's about people.
And they want people who look like people.
I have a very interesting face. They want interesting faces and
faces and people who can convey people and emotions.
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You know, when I was growing up,I just really thought television
and film was about pretty people, pretty skinny people,
people, not necessarily interesting faces, but people
who look pretty on television and film.
And that was my impression. And I, and I think at one point
in time the industry kind of wasthat way.
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And if there was something unique about you or something
that you could kind of get something going on.
So I went from stage to television and film.
Now that was a a bigger transition, I think then from
kid to being an actor, because I've always wanted to act.
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I've always wanted to be a playwright.
I have always wanted to be out in front of people.
I am that person who at the party, I'm going to be the
person that's going to do something.
That's just kind of who I am. I love it.
I just and you know, and I'm happy that and I know like just
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for women of color, women in general just breaking in any
industry, I think it's unfortunate that we have to
think about like how we look, you know, so do I.
It's aesthetic, you know, but unfortunately that's reality.
So I'm happy that you didn't letthat stop you and that you were,
like I said, anything to to still pursue your dream
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regardless. Because there's so many people
who same thing, they grew up watching things on TV and they
loved it, but something stopped them from pursuing that.
So I commend you for just being able to say, Hey, I'm still
going to pursue this in spite of, because there's a lot of
people that they can't get past it in spite of part.
Like they're, they're sitting ona dream, you know, instead of
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just going for it. So I wanted, like I said a lot,
I want to ask you, but let's getto it.
Let's talk about this infamous funeral scene.
I know when I watched it the dayit came out like the 1st 9
minutes I was like, Oh my God. And so I definitely have to ask
about that scene. Like what what was going to be
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on my like was this in the script that y'all outlet?
Like what was going on that thatscene like no, I mean about
this. Mr. Perry wrote that scene.
Tyler Perry wrote that scene. And when I read it, I was like,
Oh, my, OK, this is going to be very interesting.
But now as an actress, I was like, oh, yes, yummy.
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You know, every actor wants a scene that you can, I guess, to
say, exercise your acting skills.
Like, you could just put it to the test.
Go to the extreme. As an actor, I loved it.
When I got the script, I was like, yeah, of course I was a
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little nervous. I like, girl, you doing this for
Mr. Perry and you doing this? The whole world's about to see
this. Well, I didn't think the whole
world's about to see this. But I was like, you doing this
for Mr. Perry. But I didn't know that it will
be this big. I people told me.
And one of my sons, I still callhim my sons, one of my sons in
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the movies like mom and they call me Mama or some of them
call me Mom. It's like, Mom, you said it.
You said there has never been a scene like this in a movie.
This is going to be big. And, and I remember thinking
that. And I think over the time,
because we filmed it last year and over since that time, I've
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also done on TV series with Mr. Perry, and I've done some other
work since then. And he reminded me that I did
say this because tell me, have you ever seen the opening of a
movie like this? Never.
Never. And and I knew that that would
capture people's attention. Now, I didn't know I would be a
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meme. I didn't know that I would be
international. I just left the International
Black Theater Festival in Winston Salem, NC, and it was a
company out of Chicago. And when I walked into the
restaurant, I go, that's Miss Land.
Oh, that's Miss Land. And I'm thinking, wait, y'all in
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Chicago and these people from all all over the world have seen
this, but seen, seen this movie.It was #1 globally that took me
by storm. But now when I got the scene as
an actress, I was like, yeah, eat it up, eat it up.
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Yes, let's do this. Let's make this happen.
And I think my nervousness was making sure that I gave Mr.
Perry what he needed for that particular scene.
And if I could take you into thefilming of that scene, the where
it was an actual church, it wasn't a a set.
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It was an actual church that people were still worshipping
in. And there was no central air.
But Mr. Perry had AAC unit brought in, but you couldn't run
AC while you were filming. So in those moments with the
people hollering and screaming and doing all that and the heat,
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it was so real. It was so real.
And yeah, and I'm just telling you is the the atmosphere helped
push me as an actress. And he did a great job of
creating the right atmosphere toget the actors where they needed
to be. And that was so genius of him.
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But I think he's a genius. Anyway, That opening scene,
honey, it pulled you in and you wanted to know this story.
You want to know who are these people?
What are these crazy people about to do?
If we went crazy at the beginning, where else are we
going to go on this wonderful ride?
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Wow, where was it film? Because it seems so Louisiana to
me. Like where was that film?
It was somewhere out OK. I know the exact location, but
we were in Savannah, GA and we were shipped from Savannah to
somewhere about an hour away or something like that.
I can't remember the exact location, but yeah, we, we went,
we're in Savannah. And then we went somewhere
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outside and, and it was in the in the woods, not completely in
the woods, but in the back of the house was the woods and
stuff. If you remember in the film,
they did the shot of the church that was an actual church with
their Parsonage house or the little fellowship house beside
it and everything. And it was in the woods and it
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was part of a particular community.
It was a perfect choice, I thinkfor setting for this particular
story. Yeah, it, I mean, it was very
realistic. I mean, I like I said, I was
thinking it was in Louisiana simply because I've been in
those old school churches where they certain amount of pews and
yeah, it's hot. They don't have, you know,
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central air. So that was, it was a straight
up old school Southern church for sure.
And like I told you, one thing like that we laughed about
before we started filming, whichlike I said, I don't know if
younger people are going to pickup on that, that you were
wearing a slip, you know, like discussed.
Like. Old school like you have to wear
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a slip under your dress for church.
Like there is no such thing as leaving the house without a
slip, you know? And then my mind.
Full. Up, you know that that that's
that's full slip, you know, so yes, and I saw that I was like,
wow, do they still sell slips? Because it just brought me to a
place. Because church a slip.
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It was just like, I don't know who thought of that part too,
like, but if that part was I waslike, OK, they did this is for
real, Like we're in the slip because I was like this.
It just, I was like, wow, this really brought me to just
sitting in a hot Southern church.
So that was very realistic to me.
Yeah, definitely was because it was it.
And now that all of that was designed and I just stepped in
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as an actor and and accepted it.They did a costume fitting with
me and they engineered the slip so that I didn't have like
everything spilling out of it and everything.
It was actually very modest. And I was like, people like, Oh,
my God, I never would have did. I said, honey, I had on more
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clothes than some of these people wear out here in the
streets. OK.
Hey, this my slip came past my knees and I had on a pair of
shorts and another shirt up under that slip.
So you you weren't seeing nothing but your imagination.
You go to some of these and not even to the beach.
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I was thinking like, oh, you know, people wear less when they
go to the beach. No, no, no, no.
People wear less when they goingout to the club, to the grocery
store, to the whatever, you know.
And so, and I've had some comments about that.
But yeah, I'm perfectly fine, perfectly OK with what I did
because I think that it wasn't needed.
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Tell me, would it be the same ifI had just taken off my jacket
and through the jacket? No, you got the point.
When I went down to my slip. That's a whole nother register
of rage and anger and pride. To make the story work, this
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particular character had to be so inflammatory and so big and,
and, and who she was so that youcould see where Dallas came
from. You could see why her son did
all these things because he was her.
Do boy remember? Now, if those of you who haven't
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seen it, this might be a spoileralert, but I had my son, as
Linda, do some things that were pretty, pretty, pretty awful.
And you had to realize this connection between us, where he
came from, because that was his foundation and it was part of
some good old fashioned storytelling.
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Mr. Perry told that story, laid the groundwork for it, and I am
so blessed that I was a part of it.
Now we get back to slips. I had to grow up wearing slips,
stockings, undergarments. And sometimes we had to wear two
slips because maybe the slip wasn't thick enough or whatever.
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We have 1/2 slip on a full slip pantyhose girdle.
Honey sweating in this 100° heat, going to church, making
sure that we modest honey. I'm glad that we don't have to
do all that stuff now. Right, right.
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I mean, and I, I like how you broke down the background, the
correlation between Dallas and the mom, because I don't think a
lot of people thought about thatpart.
So I'm happy that you mentioned that too.
So I want to ask you, because ofcourse, Tyler Perry, he sparks a
lot of conversation with his works and everything.
I wasn't working with him because obviously I know like so
far, I know you said it was a good experience, but give us
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some insight on how it is to work with him because I'm sure
it's an experience for sure. Oh yeah, he is a beautiful
person. I can't even say any, anything
other than wonderful. He is a wonderful person.
He's an artist, he's a humanitarian.
He's somebody who really cares for people.
And I don't think people I don'tknow, I think people do know
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that about him because, you know, he does a lot of
philanthropic, philanthropic, philanthropic things.
He loves a lot of good in the world.
He does a lot of good in the world.
And working with him, I was a little scared.
I was like, I worked. I walked on the sets and I'm
trying to read like he's saying that.
Tell me your name again. I was like, I'm Ursula.
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I'm playing Linda. Like Ursula the man cast you,
you know, he may not remember get your name to get over.
You know who I am now. So.
But that moment I was like, oh, Ursula, duh, duh.
And after that, honey, we've been just having a good time
enjoying ourselves. I love working with everybody,
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not just Mr. Perry, but everybody at Tyler Perry
Studios. Let me tell you, this is if you
want to work with some folks, these some folks to work with
because not only did they embrace me, they have been a
benefit to my students. They are offering to help me to
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do, you know, master classes with my students, to let me
videotape things so that I can share it with my students.
And it's to me that is bigger than just being a support to me
on the set, making sure that I give the character life, the
three-dimensional life. They care about who I am as a
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person. That to me was a step beyond
what they had to do, but they cared about Ursula.
What's Ursula doing even down tothe person who takes care of the
travel for Tyler Perry Studios. Very nice person, very wonderful
young lady and, and, and I just I have never had I haven't had a
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bad experience and working with them and it was great.
I love Tyler Perry Studios. I love Mr. Perry, I love every,
everything about all of my experiences.
And I'm still in in contact withcast members.
I'm still in contact with the guys young men play my sons and
I still in contact with Debbie Morgan, with Richard and, and
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all these are different people. So it was a great experience.
We became family over that time period and in telling that story
and, and it's, it's great. It is wonderful working with Mr.
Perry and I appreciated that he saw in me.
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Linda. Awesome.
That's great that you had such agood experience, because I know
like one common thing that people can say they want about
him, but one common thing that everyone says working with him
is how did he would they were treated fairly and especially
when you see like, Oh geez, that's work with him.
That's saying like they've neverbeen paid properly until they
(27:18):
work with him, which is sad and great.
You know, at the same time, you know, it's great that he's
paying in their work, but it's also sad because I mean, like
he's worked with some people that have been acting a long
time, you know, So like I said, I know like he sparks a lot of
conversation, but I do commend that every person that's worked
on his films, they have glowing things to say.
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They seem like they've been veryrespected and just seeing people
like yourself now we're being introduced to you and I think
that's a great thing. So I'm just very happy to hear
you know what it's doing with your career and everything too.
Now of course I want to ask you cuz I know you, like I said,
you've been teaching the kids and I also think that's great.
I can only imagine which is students were thinking that
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you're working on this production.
So I would think, you know, I'lljust think that's a great thing.
I want to ask you, of course, I want to get into your teaching.
There's a quote that I read thatyou said arts have the ability
to change people's lives for thebetter.
Yeah. That's such a beautiful
statement and what you're doing working with these young kids.
So I want to get some information just on, I know
(28:24):
you're teaching them, but what are they teaching you 'cause I'm
sure it has to be absolutely fulfilling to work with young
people that have the same love for this crap that you have had.
They are teaching me that there's always a new way to do
an old thing. I am a theater, what we call a
theater generalist, and we don'treally cultivate a theater
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generalist anymore. But as a theater generalist, I
can do everything. I know how to build sets.
I know how to write, I know how to act.
I know how to costume. I know how to light.
I can do all of the basics and everything to create a
theatrical production. I know how to do all those
(29:08):
things. It's what I really want to teach
my students, how to do all thosethose things too.
But with the advent of technology, there are new ways
and new avenues of accomplishingthose things.
With AI, now we have the opportunity to really create
something that we had to hire other people to do, and now we
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can create some of these things ourselves.
And no matter how you feel aboutAI, because it is a touchy
subject, we need to use this technology that is here.
It's not going anywhere. And in fact, it's going to get
bigger and bigger and more widely used.
And there are new regulations and things that new laws, new
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ways of trying to control AI so that it doesn't overtake the
things that an intellectual mindcan produce.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
So the students are teaching me new ways to make those things
happen, new ways to go out into the world.
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When I was their age, if you said you were going to be in
theater or in television and film, you had to move to New
York or you had to move to LA. And now and then later on it was
like, you can move to Atlanta. And then now there was like, you
know, you can move to Wilmington, NC because I have a
(30:35):
large studio there and everything.
But I haven't had to move. I haven't had to.
I'm still in a small Southern town in, in, in South Carolina.
I'm still in, you know, a biggertown, a bigger town in, in South
Carolina now. But the fact remains, you can
(30:57):
get to your dream from wherever you are.
And the students are showing me how I can do that.
But they're also showing me too,that there is a A level of
passion that you have to continually reignite.
(31:20):
And because I'm always trying toreignite it in them, life comes
at them hard. The young people today deal with
more things that we had to deal with.
I think just because the world around us has changed.
Their parents have a tendency tobe younger than our parents.
They have a tendency to have more bills, more things.
(31:41):
We didn't have a cell phone billbecause we had cell phones when
I was growing up. So they have a cell phone bill.
They have social media. They are influenced by so many
things outside of their neighborhood.
Where our neighborhood was our influence growing up, we didn't
even have when I grew up. Oh, this might be telling my
(32:02):
age. We didn't have call waiting.
You know, you can call somebody and you get to the beat.
Like, yeah, let me switch over. No, we didn't have a switch
over. When they came up with the
switch over, we like, oh, when they came up with three-way
calling, honey, we thought we were just oh man, we were Star
Wars, honey. We were way way is the
(32:22):
technology and everything, and we just thought it was something
so different. But what I'm getting from them
is those wonderful things, they are teaching me new ways to do
things. And they're also showing me that
you have to keep reigniting the flame because I keep reigniting
the flame for them, getting themto get focused.
Get focused. What do you want to do?
(32:43):
One thing I want everyone to know, and I'm pretty sure we'll
get to this, but while we're here, I'll just talk about it.
What I want everyone watching this to know is that it's never
too late for you to live your dream.
Look at me, I'm over 25 and I'm living my dream.
I've always wanted to work with Mr. Perry, so this is a great
(33:03):
opportunity and I work with Mr. Perry and honey, it was listen
well. How does it feel to live your
dream? When I walked on the set, I was
a little cookie. I'm like, I'm Ursula, I'm
playing Linda because I was like, I can't believe I'm on the
set with Tyler Perry. And the first scene that I shot
(33:26):
was with Megan Good. And I was like, wow.
And then they and, and then in that particular scene, I also
had to sing with Debbie Morgan, with Joseph Lee Anderson with,
with Richard, I'll call him KingRichard and Taylor.
And I was like, Oh my gosh. And, and, and it was, it was
(33:48):
like, Oh my gosh, Lord God, look, all of that.
And so it was really wonderful. Live your dream.
Don't listen to the naysayers, don't listen to what other
people have to say. If you feel like this is what
(34:08):
God has designed for you, then go after it.
But also to get the training, 'cause even though I have 3°,
even though I've been teaching acting and different things for
over 30 years, I still need the training.
I still needed coaching. And I know a lot of people I
used to feel this way too, that I didn't need coaching.
(34:30):
I don't need nobody telling me how to do it because I can act.
But I needed coaching, not to teach me the fundamentals of
acting, but to help me get used to this new medium because it's
a new medium. And to get over my own fears,
because I had to deal with my own fears of growing up and
(34:51):
being told that who I was physically didn't work for
television and film. So I had to get rid of all those
old tapes and get myself in a position.
And yeah, film loves me. I love it and I was and I was
actually going to ask you about following your dreams and you
said that perfectly. And I feel like we touched on
(35:12):
that just how the industry will make somebody think their
appearance isn't good enough for, you know, film or
television or whatever we're trying to pursue.
Sometimes people are trying to pursue things that's not even in
media, but their appearance is holding them back.
What were and I know like obviously you were able to
overcome that, but we're all a work in progress.
(35:33):
So like, what did you do to justhow do you work on your
confidence? Because I know I would think
being on film, being on camera, it could just, you know, it can
mess with your mind sometimes. And we live in a critical world.
And like you said, and you definitely told aids because I
definitely know like if you had call waiting when you pay for
three weeks and any of that stuff.
(35:55):
So I definitely, definitely aidsthose both.
But, you know, we live in a different time right now, you
know? So how do you just work with
having that confidence to just still pursue those dreams?
Because like I said, not having that confidence, having imposter
syndrome, people thinking that they're less than when they're
really prized, will hold back a person for pursuing a dream
(36:19):
that's meant just for them. So are you able to keep that
confidence going? And we all have good and bad
days, but how are you able to keep it going?
I'm just going to be really, really honest with you, a lot of
times on this journey, I gave up, but I didn't, I would say
(36:41):
quietly quitting and I quietly quit and I sat back and like,
oh, it's just too much. I had a lot of bumps and stuff
and, and trying to even just, you know, to get everything
together because I'm not just a professor.
I'm over the drama program. It's not going to State
University, but I also write a lot of the shows that we do and
(37:05):
I and I work and I'm on councilsand I'm on this.
So I had a lot of life that was lifing at the same time I was
trying to do these things and I had to make decisions about
where I was placing my engine, whatever is going on.
And sometimes I would be like, oh man, but what God did, Oh
man, I'm not going to cry. There were times when I couldn't
(37:35):
even make a complete step, but Imade a half a step and God
turned it into three. A lot of people go through
things in making it in this industry that I didn't have to
go through coming back through. And I tried doing this industry
(37:55):
when I was 18. My first commercial audition was
for a Biscuitville commercial. I just remember my Mama drive me
to the commercial. We don't know what we doing and
I just saw the commercial ad somewhere in the paper or
something. I don't know how to find out
about it. And I remember my mother driving
me as a high school student. I had to go to this audition and
it's a Biscuitville commercial is still out.
(38:18):
It's where all them in the elevator looking at their
watches and all this stuff. And I said my audition was just,
I was just a group of us in, in,we went in elevator, which is in
the square and they were like, OK, just be waiting.
Oh no, they were on the jewelry and they had a jewelry thing.
And so and I auditioned for thatand I was like, oh man, this is
(38:40):
big for me. For me, it was real big.
I was like, Oh my God, I was devastated.
I didn't get it. But I thought, hey, at least I
went through and made it through.
Now come to later on in life as I go to all dishes and I do
things. Now we're self taping and we're
not doing it in person. So that's an adjustment.
(39:00):
I feel like, or I felt I can kill a room, but can I kill a
self tape? I hope you don't mind me using
the word is somewhere we, we, some people use it that way,
which means that you are successful.
So now I had to deal with learning how to self tape and
(39:20):
that's an art form all its own. I've never been someone who
believed that I couldn't act because I will argue down.
Honey, sister girl can act and you, there's some you can never
take away from me. I know how to act.
I know how to take a script frompage to stage and, and it's not
(39:44):
being cocky, it's just what I know because I have perfected
this gift over time. I know how to harness what my
gift is, but I had to learn how to harness it for the self tape.
And so in learning how to do that, I met people along the way
who helped me and did that. And it was just like, I'll give
(40:06):
you a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
So you're like, well, Ursula, what do you mean?
During COVID, everyone stopped filming, right, because of
COVID. Well, Jack Kennedy with he's the
casting, one of the casting directors, part of the casting
director team for CSI. Well, they put out this audition
(40:30):
notice and they were like, listen, we want to meet new
actors. So people send in yourself tapes
and we're going to look at theseself tapes so we get to know new
actors. Something you can do during
COVID while we're down. And a lot of people were doing
it. And I was, I was like, man, I'm
(40:50):
tired of doing all these things.I ain't heard back from these
people. I don't know.
And my girlfriend, Danine Rochelle, she Danine said, OK,
Ursula, do this one. She's like, OK, forget all the
other ones, just do this one. OK, Like Miss Ursula, just do
this. When I was like, OK, so I did
it. I think I did it in April.
And I heard back and got an inbox from Jack Kennedy in like
(41:12):
August sometime. And he said, I am featuring
African American actors who are not represented.
And I want to know if you would like to be a part of that group
of actors. I said what?
Now here's audition that I wasn't about to do.
(41:36):
I was featured on his Instagram and I didn't have an agent.
And because I was featured, agents started in boxing me and
managers. So I ended up with an agent from
that particular audition. You see how I took that half
(41:57):
step and God turned it into three and after I got an agent,
then I booked Stars Hightow. I started doing different.
You get what I'm saying? So for me, some of the struggles
and people things that actors have gone through, I think that
developmentally I went through them earlier in my career so
(42:21):
that when I get to this place, God can move me forward.
Because some of the things, someof the lessons that you need to
master, I have already mastered them in other areas.
And maybe that's what it is. And I didn't ask God because I
didn't want to question what they say.
Don't, don't look a gift horse in the mouth or I wouldn't be
trying to question God about thegifts and the beautifulness of
(42:42):
this thing. I'm glad I didn't have to go
through all some of the inks that some of these younger
actors go through. But that door open and then a
lot of times doors open and people say to me, well, Ursula,
how did you get with Tyler Perry?
I auditioned. I didn't send him a text
message. I didn't find him in the grocery
store. And in fact, I actually work for
(43:05):
Mark Swindy, who who is also a writer and director there.
And I and I forgotten his official title, so forgive me.
And I did a pilot with him, and I did that.
And then I auditioned for this. I've auditioned for Mr. Perry
before and didn't get picked. And so this role was meant for
(43:27):
me. Wow, that's a word.
That's a testimony, Yes. And like you said a word because
like you said, sometimes I thinkwhat we don't understand, things
don't have to be perfect. You know, we going to have bad
days. It doesn't mean that don't have
faith. That doesn't mean that you don't
(43:48):
believe. But they is not promised to be
perfect. They're not supposed to be
perfect every single day. There's times you're going to
get tired and some days you going to want to quit.
But like you said, you took a half step and he he took three
steps. He took three steps.
But you know what I'm saying? All we have to the faith can
only be the only has to be the size of a mustard seed and it's
(44:12):
just a testimony of just believing in yourself, believing
in your dreams and believing that God will provide and what's
meant for you is for you and. That that is for you.
And don't let those nose get you.
Like you said, you've auditionedfor a talker before.
Yeah. This was meant for you.
So it's just, like I said, it's a true testimony and just
(44:32):
believing in yourself, just having confidence in yourself
and just not letting anything deter you from your dreams.
And like I said, it's OK to havesome days where it's like, I
don't want to do that, you know,long as you don't sit in it
because we're a human. If you go back and look at
people who've had like a this is, they'll be calling this my
(44:54):
breakout moment and then this mybreakout role.
And if you go back and you look at people when they have a
breakout role and, and, and everything, and you go back and
read and listen to them talk about it, they'll talk about it.
Yeah, I almost quit. Then I got this role or I almost
did this and then I got this role and everything.
And, and I had a friend that said, I don't believe it when
(45:16):
these actors say that because asactors, we quit every day as
actors, we going man, you know, because you have to make sure
that when you are moving forwardto anything that you define
success in such a way that you're not defeated by not
(45:37):
meeting that goal. So what is successful?
An actor in television and film,getting somebody to want you to
audition because they can send in your picture, your Asian can
send in your picture and your profile and try to get somebody,
hey, this would be perfect for this role.
And he'd be like, Nah, I'm good,right?
You don't know how many times that happens because you never
(45:58):
get that feedback. But what you do get is an
invitation to audition. An invitation to audition means
that out of these 50,100 thousand people now with Jack
Kennedy, he, I think he may havefeatured 50 or 100 actors.
I'm not even sure if it was thatmany, but I remember him saying
(46:20):
that they got at least 50,000 auditions.
So when you get an invitation toaudition, that means you have
crossed a hurdle, that's success.
And when you get an availabilitycheck, which means that you send
(46:41):
in your audition, they like whatthey see, and they're sending up
this small number of people up to the next level to the casting
directors. And then they, you know, you
have to go through several yesesin order to do that.
So whenever someone gets a role,there are at least four or five
levels of yes that you have to go through depending upon how
(47:03):
this production is run. But you're going to have to get
more than one yes right, especially and even with
independent films, you get the the writer and director who'll
say yes, then they'll put you, you know, look at you with one
of the other actors, see how they'all work together.
You might have to do what they call a chemistry read where you
put the two people together and see how they their chemistry is
(47:26):
on film. How do they look together?
Do they give whatever I'm tryingto say as a couple, as a mother,
daughter, as whatever, and all those things have to be taken
into consideration. So as you are quitting and doing
all this other stuff, if you define your success in a way
(47:46):
that enables you to keep moving and feeling successful and not
feeling like you're defeated, then that's going to solve half
of your quitting problems. And that's going to solve a lot
of your, your issues and concerns that you may have with
am I successful? Should I, should I keep doing
this? And these are things that I've
learned over time, and I've learned them as a coach and I've
(48:11):
learned them from my coaches. This is something that Christine
Horn, who was one of the first coaches that I had in television
and film acting. And this is something that she
says defining success, because your success is the audition
invitation. That's a yes.
You got a yes. Be excited that you got a yes.
(48:34):
And I'm also do a lot of mindsettraining now.
I'm doing a lot of mindset training and stuff as we can
determine how we look at things.And if you can change the
framework of how you see a situation, then you could take
what could be devastation and turn it into a step up.
(49:00):
Mindset is everything because it's how we look at things.
It sounds, it sounds cliche, butit's true.
It's how we look at things. Just like glass, half empty,
half full. It's how you look at things.
It can change your perspective and it can change your life.
Because if you always look at things in a negative, and then I
(49:21):
always talk about this a lot, rejection and the word no
rejection for some people is devastating.
The word no people is devastating.
Word rejection is redirection for others.
The word no means not right now for others.
So it really is how you look at things because like you
mentioned too, when you we've all seen it, we'll hear somebody
(49:43):
saying, oh, well, you know, thisis the biggest role in my life.
And they'll be at rock bottom previously, you know, like, oh,
I was about to get in. I almost took my life.
They'll tell you so many, Yeah, full sad things that was going
on before they receive that gift.
Sometimes that blessing is like,right around the corner.
And like I said, a lot of it sounds cliche, but it really is
(50:06):
true. And it's mindset, it's faith.
It takes a lot, but it all goes back to just don't give up
because things, things made me look crazy to you.
But it's all working for your good and your fat.
It is. And then like I said, we're all
human. So we don't wake up every day
like, okay, God, I'm having all these problems, but you know
(50:28):
what? I'm just going to go for it.
Like, no, we know. Some days we like, really like,
why is this happening to me? This cannot be really hard.
This is not right. You know, but just having that
mindset to shift your perspective, you know, like
it's, and that's the thing. I think sometimes we want to
knock people for just sometimes saying, hey, like I'm just
(50:49):
having a rough day, I'm having arough time.
This is not working. It's OK to feel like that.
But you know, if you just stop putting things in perspective,
it will shift your perspective and it'll.
So I wanted to actually of course, on our platform, we do
talk about self love. Self love really is the few to
pursue those dreams and to love yourself and also love yourself
(51:13):
in the uniform God has given us.You know what I'm saying right?
Fit these perfect aesthetics andwe still have to keep pushing.
So self love is just believing in yourself, loving yourself,
saying hey, I belong in these rooms.
So I want to ask you what role has self love played in your
life and how do you define self love as well?
(51:34):
Well, I think self love has become like a buzzword for
people. And so when people think about
self love, they think about it in different ways, just like you
said, in different ways. And so when I think about self
love, the first thing I think about is self love is making me
a priority, making sure that my desires are my priority as
(52:01):
opposed to doing some self abandonment, which means that in
the situation I will get rid of my desires, get rid of what I
want and just do what someone else wants.
There are times in your life where you make compromises or
you'll make decisions because even, even I've heard people say
(52:21):
that even saying the word compromise can be mind altering
in a negative way. But there come times in your
life where you may not have yourspecific desire, but by making a
different choice so that you andthis person can work together
and make something happen, it could create something better
(52:42):
than just your single desire. So I take those things into
account. But what about Ursula?
What about me? What's going to be the best for
me? How can I be my best?
How can I protect my peace? How can I keep my body going?
(53:03):
How can I do this thing in such a way that I'm fulfilled?
When I look at friendships, is this friendship taking care of
Ursula? Is this friendship bringing me
some joy or am I the crutch in the friendship?
Self love to me is putting Ursula first.
(53:25):
And it's not in a negative way because you can ask anybody.
I love people. I help people out all the time.
I do things for people. I consider people and doing
that, but not at the cost of me.And I used to do those things at
the cost of me because we are taught that loving people means
(53:48):
making these grand sacrifices. And loving people means
sometimes you show them. As my spiritual mother says.
Here's the brick wall. Hit it because you don't want to
accept the advice. We're so used to getting in
front of people that to let themhit us instead of the brick
(54:10):
wall. And what I have learned is that
there are times when people needa brick wall because they won't
turn around until they hit it. And if I'm constantly in front
of the brick wall, they'll neverget the lesson.
They'll never hit the place where they can turn around and
build a great lives for themselves.
So, and that to me is self love and self love to me also is
(54:34):
making sure that I'm showing up in places and spaces in a way
that I want to show up the way that I want to be perceived, the
way that this situation may callfor this.
But I'm would just a little hintabout who I am.
I'm that person who's going to wear that outfit that you go
(54:57):
wow, 'cause I like, I like beinga little flashy.
That's just part of who I am andI'm OK with that.
I'm OK showing up somewhere and not being like everybody else in
the room. That's been happening to me all
my life. I'm used to it.
So I show up. Hey, I may not be dressed like
everybody else. I may be a little over.
I like to overdress is what I like to do.
(55:18):
So I like to overdress and stuffand I'm very OK with that.
And people who know me are very OK with that.
I like and because I'm a theaterperson, maybe I like costumey
stuff. So that's to me is self love.
And I think that self love is also too about taking care of
your body and doing those thingslike that and that stuff.
(55:39):
Yeah. So the self love that I
demonstrated in all of this and making this film is that I made
a decision that this story was big enough for me to wear a
slip. That was so self love.
This story was bigger than to me.
(55:59):
It was bigger than a slip because a slip to me wasn't that
a big deal. But I know lots of people are
like, Oh my God. But if I had walked into church
with some pearls with that on and you thought it would, you
would have thought it was a dress.
So except for my little strap showing in the back.
But that's self love for me, andI hope that that can help
(56:20):
someone else discover those things for yourself because my
definition of self love is always evolving.
It's always changing as I learn more about me and learn more
about the world around me. It is evolving, but right now it
is about making sure that my desires are my priority.
(56:43):
Do you know someone who spends all their time running, chasing,
doing for others? They look rundown, they look
like they're unhappy. And a lot of times those people
are doing those things because they have found their
fulfillment and making others happy because there's something
(57:04):
missing in them. So doing for others keeps you
from having to deal with yourself.
Don't fall into that dangerous trap because people will see it
and they will use you and they will abuse you because they know
that you're hurt and broken and that you're doing these things
because it makes you feel betterand you don't have to deal with
(57:26):
yourself. Stop all of that.
What about you? What about your desires?
What do you want? What is a priority for you?
And you got to put that thing out there and you got to draw
these lines and draw these boundaries and let people know
that this is not OK with me. I'm not telling you that you got
(57:47):
to take your dress off and put somebody out.
But what I am telling you is that you need to establish the
boundaries. Doing this or doing that or
having this relationship is not valuing me.
You said a lot and Oh my God, ifa broken person is literally
(58:11):
like a silent alarm, because if you don't have that healing and
if you're broken, you're navigating through a broken
lens. And it attracts the wrong
people. It attracts the wrong friends,
it attracts the wrong romantic partners.
It attracts wrong people even inbusiness relationships, work
relationships, even in your family.
Because that brokenness, it's anunhealed wound and an unhealed
(58:33):
wound, it seeps and people, there are leeches out there.
Unfortunately, there's emotionalvampires and it will bring the
wrong people. And like you said, you'll run
yourself ragged trying to pleaseeverybody else and thinking that
that's going to fulfill you whenall it is is draining and taking
more away from you. So that is so important, what
(58:55):
you said, that part of self loveis to not.
And like I said, we all have across the bear, but to just try
and just find that accountability for ourselves and
have no forgiveness for ourselves so that we're not
walking through life broken because that brokenness attracts
the wrong people and people aren't what we think they are.
(59:18):
They not looking at you like, oh, you know, this is a broken
little puppy. Let me, you know, help.
You know, they don't like, let me take some more from you.
And it's hey, but yeah, not everybody, of course.
But you have to really work on that healing through self love
because it will bring the wrong people.
So this is amazing. I'm sorry.
(59:38):
I just wanted to say this, one of the things that I found from
this film, it's because the the idea of self love and drawing
boundaries and all that stuff isreally expressed in all these
different relationships. If you look at the different
relationships and divorce in theblack and you'll see that this
movie, Ava is this girl who was so happy.
(59:59):
We thought she was well adjustedand we thought she was all
together, but then she picks this broken man and she ends up
trying to fix him. And we see that he is broken and
that he wants to pull on her because he can see the good
stuff in her and he is sucking out her stuff.
So she didn't have no self love going on in there.
(01:00:20):
And one of the things that has happened is that I have seen
responses from former students who talk about and even other
people are, oh, man, this young lady, I was at an event and this
young lady, she grabbed my handsand she was, I'd say I'm not
(01:00:41):
going to cry, but she was like, I watched the movie and she was
in a relationship with the mother-in-law was like Linda and
the husband was like Dallas. And but she's now remarried and
in a loving relationship, thought she was over everything.
(01:01:02):
But the movie brought everythingback.
And so now she has to deal with those things.
And I was like, yeah, because you can have a greater level of
love for the current husband whodoes none of those things.
It's not any of those things that her ex-husband was.
So now you can have a whole different kind of relationship
with him once you get that heal.And I've had students write
(01:01:25):
post, former students write postabout how they were triggered,
how these things happened. I was like, Oh my God, I never
knew you went through that. I never knew that they had those
kind of experiences. So it has really definitely
opened up my eyes to just continue to look at people
differently and to be open. Because you never know what a
(01:01:49):
person has gone through doesn't mean that I remove my
boundaries. It doesn't mean that I still
don't take care of me. But what I can do is offer you
love, guidance, bring you to someone who can help you
navigate this world even better,but mostly love on you and
(01:02:10):
support you and making the rightdecisions.
So anyone who watches this movieand I suggest you watch it
because it's a great movie. If you watch this movie and you
are triggered or something comesup for you, please get help.
Find you someone that you can talk to, deal with these
(01:02:32):
emotions and grow. At the premiere, Tyler Perry
said this and he's probably saidin some other interviews, and I
may be saying it not word perfect, but he said he wrote
this movie for people who love hard and don't know how to
leave. And that is exactly kind of what
(01:02:53):
this movie is. And he talked about having their
voice of Ava in his head. And so I'm telling all of the
Avas in the world and even the Dallas's of the world and even
the lenders of the world becauseI met some lenders too.
What I'm telling you now is thatif you see yourself and you know
that there's something that needs to be fixed and worked out
(01:03:16):
in you find the help is out there.
The help is out there. And the 1st place you can start,
if you particularly go, if you go to a church, you go to your
spiritual leader and there are mental health things that you
can go to therapists, social workers, those kind of people so
that you can find the help. And if you feel like you can't
(01:03:38):
go talk to anybody, get you a book, honey, and read that book
and start to do the things and stuff that are in that book.
Because if you don't take chargeof your own life, then you are
giving your life as a sacrifice to the person who abused you.
(01:04:00):
Now, do you want to give your life as a sacrificial offering
for someone that did something to you, that changed you and
made you different, made you hate people?
What you can do is you can take back the power from that
situation, love yourself, let itgo, let the wounds heal and be
(01:04:23):
the best you that you can be. It's time for you to stop
sacrificing yourself on the altar of hurt.
Wow. And you know, something about
like you mentioned how Ava didn't practice self love, but
like you mentioned a good point,that generational curse from
(01:04:44):
Linda to Dallas and through her kids.
So that's another thing too about that self hurt, not having
that self love, showing how it really will trickle down to
different generations and those different generations and
effects them everywhere in theirrelationships, how they deal
with people. So that's a very good example
(01:05:07):
that you mentioned does not evennot just able to like you said,
Dallas too obviously come on it.It showed the background of
dysfunction really like a dysfunctional family like this
is what will happen with dysfunctional relationship, this
dysfunctional parenting, dysfunctional relationship
(01:05:27):
between a mother and a son, this, you know, and no
accountability. This is what this is what could
possibly happen. So I'm happy that you did
mention that as well. But I want to ask you to like I
said, this has been an amazing conversation and we hit on some
deep points and we definitely talked about self love.
And I'm just happy how like you mentioned, like I said, there's
(01:05:49):
a lot of chat about this film, but I'm happy that you went
deep. And it is a portrait of what
being unhealed can do from everyperspective, from from Ava, from
Dallas, from the mother, from her sons and how her family was
living their lives. So I want to ask you, can you
(01:06:10):
give us an affirmation? Just an affirmation just to
maybe apply to your life and whether it's whether you could
choose the subject. But can you give us an
affirmation whether it's on the subject of healing or whether
it's the subject of following your dreams?
Just can you give us an affirmation to leave for with
this conversation? I think the best one I could
(01:06:33):
give you, as you said, that whatcame to me is I am worthy and I
am enough. I am worthy.
What are you worthy of? You're worthy of a healthy
relationship. You're worthy of being
respected. You're worthy of being treated
like you are somebody special because everybody is.
(01:06:56):
Everybody has something unique to offer and you are enough.
Stop trying to make yourself into something else, to be
something for someone else. When you are enough, that covers
everything. Worthy and enough.
You're worthy of a great life and you are enough to have it
(01:07:20):
executed. Be the person that you dream of.
One of my web coach, one of my one of my web coaches, right?
But my web coach said this, thatthere are two lives that we
lead, the one that we're living and the one that we dream about
on the inside. So Are you ready for that inside
(01:07:47):
life that you dream about because you are enough and
you're worthy of that life? What stands in your way?
Wow. And also, we got to remember it.
Like you said, we're worthy, we're valuable like you.
Deserve. Having that mindset of OK, I
(01:08:08):
deserve, like you said, we deserve the life that we dream
about. You don't have to continue to
dream and fantasize about certain things.
You can achieve them and become them and live that life.
So I love it. That is amazing.
So thank you, thank you, thank you for this conversation.
This is thank you blessing. But before we end everything,
(01:08:29):
tell us what's next? What can we expect in the
future? Where can we see you again?
So give us an insight on where where are we going to see that
face again? OK, coming up this fall, I don't
know the exact date, but I know it will be this year.
I did a television series with Tyler Perry called Beauty in
Black and I play a woman named Delinda and that's going to be
(01:08:52):
on Netflix. And also I am directing and
producing for the drama program at Southland State University.
Will be announcing our season soon.
I got to go through some some stuff before I can make the
official announcement and so look out for that.
If you want to follow me, you can follow me at at Ursula O
(01:09:16):
Robinson on Facebook and at Ursula Robinson on Instagram, at
Lady U Drama on TikTok, at on Twitter is at Ursula O Robinson
and on Excuse me X excuse me, Twitter's never come X on X is
Ursula O Robinson and on Snapchat I think I'm at Lady U
(01:09:37):
Drama. Awesome.
Thank you so much for this conversation.
Like I said, I just appreciate your time and I just like that
we didn't just have a conversation about a film.
We talked about just loving yourself, smiling.
We covered so many topics. This could be about 5 different
episodes, but we, you know, likeI said, this is a work in
(01:10:00):
progress. Everybody has a thorn and has a
thorn and everybody has a cross.There we all are work in
progress. We all have a dream.
That dream may not be idiot, butwhatever that dream is, you can
have that dream like it. Like I said, we don't have to
keep fantasizing and thinking, oh, you know, maybe if only I
(01:10:22):
can have that, you can have thateither about mindset, believing
in yourself, having that faith and what God placed in you, you,
you owe it to show him like I believe you.
I, I trust that that dream that you put in my mind, that gift is
for me. You gave it to me.
(01:10:43):
So let me look. I asked this question.
What if you decided not to do your podcast?
What if you say I'm not doing it, I'm not this And there is a
group of people who are waiting to see your podcast is all been
lined up for since the beginningof time that these people needed
(01:11:05):
to see the people on your podcast because it's going to
open a door that's going to set them free, that's going to send
them on the journey for them to be who they need to be so
somebody else can see it. So by not doing your dream when
using your gift, you are in essence stopping someone from
getting where they could be because you were the avenue or
(01:11:30):
you were the spark that they needed.
So if you would think about it in that way, you got to do it
right. You got to do it because while
you igniting other people, you're igniting your own self.
And I see you're not making me fry, but it's like.
I thank you for having me on here and I thank you for the
(01:11:54):
opportunity and I thank you for putting yourself out there and
letting your voice be used to further good in the world.
There's so many bad things happening and there's so much
else going on in the world. Honey, you're positive.
You're putting good vibes and good word out there into the
(01:12:16):
universe, and I thank you for that.
Thank you. I I can't.
I don't have any. I don't have any words.
I'm speechless. Thank you.
And I definitely needed that. And I appreciate you.
And I appreciate your humblenesstoo.
Like I said, don't forget about us When you, when you make more
films with Mr. Perry, don't forget about us because we do
(01:12:39):
need people like yourself that are like, hey, you can follow
that dream. You can pursue it.
You can believe in yourself. You can still be humble.
You can still be yourself. Yeah, to that dream.
So like I said, you people like you are needed as well because
this life is life. Life is hard so and a lot of
people like I said, they're sitting on dreams, they don't
(01:13:00):
know how to navigate it sometimes they really don't have
they really don't have a positive ear.
You know, they don't have a positive information.
So I hate you as well. So guys, please, please, please.
I know you already seen Divorce in Black, but we have talked
about a different perspective from the film too, because
sometimes you gotta go deep to really get us.
(01:13:22):
And when we watch films, that's a beautiful thing about black
media. We can watch these movies, we
can watch these TV shows and yeah, we can sit down and watch
A2 hour film, a 30 hour, a 30 minute TV show and just watch it
and go about our business and, you know, maybe tweet about it.
But when we watch these pieces of work and we really sit back
(01:13:45):
and try and get a perspective onit and try and be ourselves, we
can learn lessons and some of the works that you at least
expect has a big lesson in them.So again, guys, please go ahead,
follow Miss Ursula, go ahead andwatch the Boris in Black again.
And ladies, remember there was atime when we did where it slips.
(01:14:07):
Putting that in there too because that definitely brought
me back. But again, this has been an
amazing conversation. It says bless me.
And guys, if you want to get some more positive content, you
can catch this episode and more www.goclean.com.
And again, this platform was created because there's a lot of
negativity in this world. And I just wanted to create
(01:14:30):
something where we can TuneIn and get some positivity, whether
it's 30 minutes of positivity, those 30 minutes may make a big
difference in the next person's life.
And know this is not been easy having this platform, but it
really does mean something to methat you guys can have some
content that is positive. That's some knowledge and I hope
(01:14:50):
that it really does help people.So thank you again for that
encouragement, Miss Robinson. I really needed it.
And thank you guys again for tuning in and be safe and make
sure you go love yourself. Yes, she's acquaint about a
business working hard on a mission.
Head hyper driven, crown on, never tilted.
(01:15:12):
Go queen, go queen.
Grab your print or digital copy of Go Queen magazine today.
Stay inspired by the incredible stories and features inside.
Visit our website to grab your copy now.
Hey Queen, welcome to another episode of The Q Chat.
Today we're joined by the extraordinary Ursula O Robinson,
a creative force whose work spans theater, education and
(00:22):
empowerment. You may know Ursula from the
jaw-dropping scene stealing performance and Tyler Perry's
new film Divorce in the Black. Her onscreen presence is nothing
short of captivating. As a professor, playwright, and
director, she has dedicated her life to inspiring others through
the arts. Her passion for storytelling and
(00:43):
her commitment to using creativity as a tool for social
change make her a true visionary.
In this episode, we dive into her artistic journey, her
thoughts on the power of the arts and education, and her
mission to uplift and empower through her work.
She's. Been about a business working
hard on a mission. So thank you guys for joining
(01:25):
another episode of The Key Chat today.
My very special guest is Miss Ursula Old Robinson.
And Miss Ursula is a professor of drama at the South Carolina
State University. She's also a playwright and an
actress, and I know you guys recognize her.
She's currently starring in Tyler Perry's Divorce and Black.
So of course, we're going to talk about that infamous funeral
scene. There's no way I'm going to let
(01:46):
her leave without discussing that.
But we're also going to talk about her beginnings and her
roots and what made her have a love for acting and also
teaching and of course, our favorite topic.
So love. So how you doing today?
I'm doing fantastic. Thank you for this opportunity
to to be on here to talk about my journey.
I appreciate it. Thank you.
(02:07):
I'm so happy for giving us your time.
Like I said, you got to rememberthe little people before you
blow up. But I want to, like I said,
we're definitely going to talk about that funeral theme.
But I want to start off this asking what your beginnings
because I know like you, like I said, you're a professor.
You've been doing this for a good time with acting and I know
you're teaching others and younger children with the love
(02:29):
of acting. So I want to start off with your
beginnings. What made you decide to have
this acting bug and what was your upbringing like as well?
Well, it's amazing how I started.
I started accidentally, so to speak, but it was all in divine
purpose. Well, my mother is the oldest of
(02:52):
like nine kids. And so my mother had me when she
was like 26, but she had youngersiblings that were like maybe 10
years older than us, right? So my youngest aunt had to
charge of babysitting all of us.My mother had five kids, my aunt
had three. So she had to babysit 8 kids who
(03:14):
were really like 10 year difference right?
So one day she decided it would be a great idea if we all became
carolers so we could sing Christmas carols.
And we didn't agree to it, but my grandmother said it was a
good idea. So we all had to go and sing
Christmas carols. So we went around to the
(03:35):
neighbor's house and we sang thesongs.
And then my other aunt decided, oh, it'd be a great idea.
We sang the songs in front of the family because every year at
Thanksgiving and Christmas, my entire family on my mother's
side would get together. And that means all of the kids,
the grandkids, the great grandkids every year.
(03:58):
And so they decided a great ideafor us to sing the Christmas
carols at the Christmas gathering.
Then my other aunt decided that we should add in a nativity
scene. So we took them all my
grandmother's good linen and stuff that she put out for the
Christmas holidays. We just took them off the rack,
put them on our head and we did the nativity scene.
(04:19):
And I don't know whose idea was that we should add talent.
So then we started adding talentto to the event.
And you know, the boys got together and they sang Silent
Night by the Temptations and thegirls didn't want to sing
anything. And I think it's when I started
writing some poetry and started doing different things and I
(04:40):
fell in love with it. I was already in love with
writing. So I was already writing then.
I think. I can't remember the exact age,
I want to say 26, when I wrote my first poem.
It was real short, real simple, kind of like a haiku thing or
something. And my mother loved it.
And I remember getting up somewhere and saying this poem.
(05:01):
So I've been acting really, or performing or doing
entertainment since I was a kid,since I was six, and, and I
loved it. And so it came out of what we
were doing for Christmas. And so Christmas every year, I'm
ready to perform. I still have that in me.
(05:21):
I'm ready to perform. I work with the children at my
church and spiritual foundation ministries, and we do something
for Christmas. We do something for Black
History Month. You know, I also started doing
those things in the church too. In the church.
My grandfather was a pastor of two different churches.
He was also a Superintendent andthe Church of God of Christ.
(05:43):
So I went a lot of times to church.
My mother was a minister of music, so I went with her to
church all the time and we wouldget involved in the things that
they would do with the kids, theplays, the Christmas plays and
dancing, doing liturgical dance.I did all of that growing up.
So I've been performing for a long time.
(06:05):
And it to me, I feel like God gave me the gift that he gave me
so that it would save my life. And what do I mean by that?
I mean that as I went through the the toils and dramaticness
of being a teenager and being a plus size teenager and going
(06:26):
through all that other stuff, I had my writing, I had my drama.
And to add to all of that, my sister and my aunt that made us
to go Christmas caroling, both of them were big fans of movies
and the soap operas and that kind of stuff.
And my sister being older than Iwas, I had to follow her rules,
(06:47):
right? So my sister made me watch the
Tony's the award shows and, and at first I had to watch it
because she in charge of the TV.But then I wanted to watch it.
And I have this vision of me laying on the floor with my
hands like this, legs kicking upin the air, watching the Oscars
(07:13):
and going, Oh my, I want to do that.
I want to be there. I want to be, I want to get an
award. And so I have had that in my
mind a long time. And I I tell people growing up
and into my young adulthood, I would say don't do that, Ursula,
(07:35):
because you're going to be famous one day and the people
going to find out. So don't do that.
I just do it in another name, yes.
I love that. I'm just so many things.
First of all, I think just beingin church plays is a lot of
preparation. Like those church plays are
really serious. People don't realize that.
(07:57):
So yes, family and everything. And we have to have a lot in
common. My mom is #7 out of 10 kids and
AD is number 9 out of nine. So that's just why I'm sorry.
So to have a big family and justalso being a kid and just being
exposed to the arts is such a great thing.
And I know like you teach children as you mentioned, but
(08:19):
just being exposed to the arts is a plus.
And it is like, like, I know I have a child too.
Watching the Oscars is like, it's glamorous, you know, it's
called glamour. That's how I first learned about
Dorothy Dandridge. I was just learning history
about the whole the first black actress nominated.
And I'm like, wow, I just love the whole Hollywood aspect too.
(08:40):
So I understand what that excitement.
So I want to ask you too, and this is, I love how you said
too, how God gave you that gift because it is a gift and just to
have something that you enjoy isa blessing.
And to be able to make a career out of something you love is
something not to take lightly because a lot of people don't
(09:02):
get that opportunity if their dreams and to just do something
that they simply enjoy. It's just not something that
everybody can experience. So I think that's a great thing.
So I want to ask you, So what was the transition for?
Obviously you were exposed to acting and performing early on.
So as we mentioned, sometimes people they take that gift and
(09:22):
they may make it a hobby and nottruly pursue it.
So what was the feel inside of you from being that 6 year old
watching TV and performing with your family to once you got
older and say, hey, I'm really am going to make a career out of
it? What was that type of transition
like? Well.
I knew early on that this is what I was going to do.
(09:42):
I started taking drama classes in the public schools and I
started, you know, joining the drama club and those things.
I, I, I just can't remember wanting to do anything else.
And maybe I did. And I know I, I used to play
school and I was always the teacher because I was usually
bigger than other kids. So I was always the teacher.
(10:04):
Sometimes I was a student, but Ilove teaching.
I love acting, I love performing.
I love doing all of those things.
And I just couldn't imagine doing anything else.
So I can't. I don't remember a time in my
life where I went, oh, I want tobe a cook.
Oh, oh, I want to be this. I like, no, no, I'm going to
(10:25):
act. I didn't know how it would
manifest. I didn't know how I was going to
do it. But it has been on my mind for
forever and I tell people I couldn't do anything else.
I've had other jobs, I've had lots of jobs.
And at the jobs I use my acting skills.
(10:48):
And in fact, I used to be a a long distance operator working
at night and when I was in college.
And one of the things that I wasalso a telemarketer too.
And one of the things that the the lady, one of the people who
do the training, listen to your phone calls and she was like,
(11:08):
oh, Ursula, you an actress, act like the thing.
I was like, oh, don't, don't desecrate my gift by telling me
to act like something on these phone calls to get these surveys
done, honey. And I was, I was more offended
by that than anything else that happened.
(11:28):
But I knew even then that what Ihad was meant to be seen by
people. My first dream really was
Broadway, because I didn't thinkthat television and film were
looking for women who look like me when I was growing up.
So if I could say anything that changed is my idea of going into
(11:50):
television and film has changed.And I realize now that
television and film is about people, all kind of walks in
life and everything, and it's about people.
And they want people who look like people.
I have a very interesting face. They want interesting faces and
faces and people who can convey people and emotions.
(12:14):
You know, when I was growing up,I just really thought television
and film was about pretty people, pretty skinny people,
people, not necessarily interesting faces, but people
who look pretty on television and film.
And that was my impression. And I, and I think at one point
in time the industry kind of wasthat way.
(12:35):
And if there was something unique about you or something
that you could kind of get something going on.
So I went from stage to television and film.
Now that was a a bigger transition, I think then from
kid to being an actor, because I've always wanted to act.
(12:56):
I've always wanted to be a playwright.
I have always wanted to be out in front of people.
I am that person who at the party, I'm going to be the
person that's going to do something.
That's just kind of who I am. I love it.
I just and you know, and I'm happy that and I know like just
(13:17):
for women of color, women in general just breaking in any
industry, I think it's unfortunate that we have to
think about like how we look, you know, so do I.
It's aesthetic, you know, but unfortunately that's reality.
So I'm happy that you didn't letthat stop you and that you were,
like I said, anything to to still pursue your dream
(13:38):
regardless. Because there's so many people
who same thing, they grew up watching things on TV and they
loved it, but something stopped them from pursuing that.
So I commend you for just being able to say, Hey, I'm still
going to pursue this in spite of, because there's a lot of
people that they can't get past it in spite of part.
Like they're, they're sitting ona dream, you know, instead of
(13:59):
just going for it. So I wanted, like I said a lot,
I want to ask you, but let's getto it.
Let's talk about this infamous funeral scene.
I know when I watched it the dayit came out like the 1st 9
minutes I was like, Oh my God. And so I definitely have to ask
about that scene. Like what what was going to be
(14:21):
on my like was this in the script that y'all outlet?
Like what was going on that thatscene like no, I mean about
this. Mr. Perry wrote that scene.
Tyler Perry wrote that scene. And when I read it, I was like,
Oh, my, OK, this is going to be very interesting.
But now as an actress, I was like, oh, yes, yummy.
(14:44):
You know, every actor wants a scene that you can, I guess, to
say, exercise your acting skills.
Like, you could just put it to the test.
Go to the extreme. As an actor, I loved it.
When I got the script, I was like, yeah, of course I was a
(15:06):
little nervous. I like, girl, you doing this for
Mr. Perry and you doing this? The whole world's about to see
this. Well, I didn't think the whole
world's about to see this. But I was like, you doing this
for Mr. Perry. But I didn't know that it will
be this big. I people told me.
And one of my sons, I still callhim my sons, one of my sons in
(15:29):
the movies like mom and they call me Mama or some of them
call me Mom. It's like, Mom, you said it.
You said there has never been a scene like this in a movie.
This is going to be big. And, and I remember thinking
that. And I think over the time,
because we filmed it last year and over since that time, I've
(15:51):
also done on TV series with Mr. Perry, and I've done some other
work since then. And he reminded me that I did
say this because tell me, have you ever seen the opening of a
movie like this? Never.
Never. And and I knew that that would
capture people's attention. Now, I didn't know I would be a
(16:13):
meme. I didn't know that I would be
international. I just left the International
Black Theater Festival in Winston Salem, NC, and it was a
company out of Chicago. And when I walked into the
restaurant, I go, that's Miss Land.
Oh, that's Miss Land. And I'm thinking, wait, y'all in
(16:37):
Chicago and these people from all all over the world have seen
this, but seen, seen this movie.It was #1 globally that took me
by storm. But now when I got the scene as
an actress, I was like, yeah, eat it up, eat it up.
(16:57):
Yes, let's do this. Let's make this happen.
And I think my nervousness was making sure that I gave Mr.
Perry what he needed for that particular scene.
And if I could take you into thefilming of that scene, the where
it was an actual church, it wasn't a a set.
(17:18):
It was an actual church that people were still worshipping
in. And there was no central air.
But Mr. Perry had AAC unit brought in, but you couldn't run
AC while you were filming. So in those moments with the
people hollering and screaming and doing all that and the heat,
(17:40):
it was so real. It was so real.
And yeah, and I'm just telling you is the the atmosphere helped
push me as an actress. And he did a great job of
creating the right atmosphere toget the actors where they needed
to be. And that was so genius of him.
(18:01):
But I think he's a genius. Anyway, That opening scene,
honey, it pulled you in and you wanted to know this story.
You want to know who are these people?
What are these crazy people about to do?
If we went crazy at the beginning, where else are we
going to go on this wonderful ride?
(18:25):
Wow, where was it film? Because it seems so Louisiana to
me. Like where was that film?
It was somewhere out OK. I know the exact location, but
we were in Savannah, GA and we were shipped from Savannah to
somewhere about an hour away or something like that.
I can't remember the exact location, but yeah, we, we went,
we're in Savannah. And then we went somewhere
(18:48):
outside and, and it was in the in the woods, not completely in
the woods, but in the back of the house was the woods and
stuff. If you remember in the film,
they did the shot of the church that was an actual church with
their Parsonage house or the little fellowship house beside
it and everything. And it was in the woods and it
(19:09):
was part of a particular community.
It was a perfect choice, I thinkfor setting for this particular
story. Yeah, it, I mean, it was very
realistic. I mean, I like I said, I was
thinking it was in Louisiana simply because I've been in
those old school churches where they certain amount of pews and
yeah, it's hot. They don't have, you know,
(19:29):
central air. So that was, it was a straight
up old school Southern church for sure.
And like I told you, one thing like that we laughed about
before we started filming, whichlike I said, I don't know if
younger people are going to pickup on that, that you were
wearing a slip, you know, like discussed.
Like. Old school like you have to wear
(19:50):
a slip under your dress for church.
Like there is no such thing as leaving the house without a
slip, you know? And then my mind.
Full. Up, you know that that that's
that's full slip, you know, so yes, and I saw that I was like,
wow, do they still sell slips? Because it just brought me to a
place. Because church a slip.
(20:11):
It was just like, I don't know who thought of that part too,
like, but if that part was I waslike, OK, they did this is for
real, Like we're in the slip because I was like this.
It just, I was like, wow, this really brought me to just
sitting in a hot Southern church.
So that was very realistic to me.
Yeah, definitely was because it was it.
And now that all of that was designed and I just stepped in
(20:34):
as an actor and and accepted it.They did a costume fitting with
me and they engineered the slip so that I didn't have like
everything spilling out of it and everything.
It was actually very modest. And I was like, people like, Oh,
my God, I never would have did. I said, honey, I had on more
(20:55):
clothes than some of these people wear out here in the
streets. OK.
Hey, this my slip came past my knees and I had on a pair of
shorts and another shirt up under that slip.
So you you weren't seeing nothing but your imagination.
You go to some of these and not even to the beach.
(21:15):
I was thinking like, oh, you know, people wear less when they
go to the beach. No, no, no, no.
People wear less when they goingout to the club, to the grocery
store, to the whatever, you know.
And so, and I've had some comments about that.
But yeah, I'm perfectly fine, perfectly OK with what I did
because I think that it wasn't needed.
(21:40):
Tell me, would it be the same ifI had just taken off my jacket
and through the jacket? No, you got the point.
When I went down to my slip. That's a whole nother register
of rage and anger and pride. To make the story work, this
(22:06):
particular character had to be so inflammatory and so big and,
and, and who she was so that youcould see where Dallas came
from. You could see why her son did
all these things because he was her.
Do boy remember? Now, if those of you who haven't
(22:30):
seen it, this might be a spoileralert, but I had my son, as
Linda, do some things that were pretty, pretty, pretty awful.
And you had to realize this connection between us, where he
came from, because that was his foundation and it was part of
some good old fashioned storytelling.
(22:52):
Mr. Perry told that story, laid the groundwork for it, and I am
so blessed that I was a part of it.
Now we get back to slips. I had to grow up wearing slips,
stockings, undergarments. And sometimes we had to wear two
slips because maybe the slip wasn't thick enough or whatever.
(23:14):
We have 1/2 slip on a full slip pantyhose girdle.
Honey sweating in this 100° heat, going to church, making
sure that we modest honey. I'm glad that we don't have to
do all that stuff now. Right, right.
(23:36):
I mean, and I, I like how you broke down the background, the
correlation between Dallas and the mom, because I don't think a
lot of people thought about thatpart.
So I'm happy that you mentioned that too.
So I want to ask you, because ofcourse, Tyler Perry, he sparks a
lot of conversation with his works and everything.
I wasn't working with him because obviously I know like so
far, I know you said it was a good experience, but give us
(23:56):
some insight on how it is to work with him because I'm sure
it's an experience for sure. Oh yeah, he is a beautiful
person. I can't even say any, anything
other than wonderful. He is a wonderful person.
He's an artist, he's a humanitarian.
He's somebody who really cares for people.
And I don't think people I don'tknow, I think people do know
(24:19):
that about him because, you know, he does a lot of
philanthropic, philanthropic, philanthropic things.
He loves a lot of good in the world.
He does a lot of good in the world.
And working with him, I was a little scared.
I was like, I worked. I walked on the sets and I'm
trying to read like he's saying that.
Tell me your name again. I was like, I'm Ursula.
(24:43):
I'm playing Linda. Like Ursula the man cast you,
you know, he may not remember get your name to get over.
You know who I am now. So.
But that moment I was like, oh, Ursula, duh, duh.
And after that, honey, we've been just having a good time
enjoying ourselves. I love working with everybody,
(25:05):
not just Mr. Perry, but everybody at Tyler Perry
Studios. Let me tell you, this is if you
want to work with some folks, these some folks to work with
because not only did they embrace me, they have been a
benefit to my students. They are offering to help me to
(25:27):
do, you know, master classes with my students, to let me
videotape things so that I can share it with my students.
And it's to me that is bigger than just being a support to me
on the set, making sure that I give the character life, the
three-dimensional life. They care about who I am as a
(25:50):
person. That to me was a step beyond
what they had to do, but they cared about Ursula.
What's Ursula doing even down tothe person who takes care of the
travel for Tyler Perry Studios. Very nice person, very wonderful
young lady and, and, and I just I have never had I haven't had a
(26:10):
bad experience and working with them and it was great.
I love Tyler Perry Studios. I love Mr. Perry, I love every,
everything about all of my experiences.
And I'm still in in contact withcast members.
I'm still in contact with the guys young men play my sons and
I still in contact with Debbie Morgan, with Richard and, and
(26:33):
all these are different people. So it was a great experience.
We became family over that time period and in telling that story
and, and it's, it's great. It is wonderful working with Mr.
Perry and I appreciated that he saw in me.
(26:55):
Linda. Awesome.
That's great that you had such agood experience, because I know
like one common thing that people can say they want about
him, but one common thing that everyone says working with him
is how did he would they were treated fairly and especially
when you see like, Oh geez, that's work with him.
That's saying like they've neverbeen paid properly until they
(27:18):
work with him, which is sad and great.
You know, at the same time, you know, it's great that he's
paying in their work, but it's also sad because I mean, like
he's worked with some people that have been acting a long
time, you know, So like I said, I know like he sparks a lot of
conversation, but I do commend that every person that's worked
on his films, they have glowing things to say.
(27:39):
They seem like they've been veryrespected and just seeing people
like yourself now we're being introduced to you and I think
that's a great thing. So I'm just very happy to hear
you know what it's doing with your career and everything too.
Now of course I want to ask you cuz I know you, like I said,
you've been teaching the kids and I also think that's great.
I can only imagine which is students were thinking that
(28:01):
you're working on this production.
So I would think, you know, I'lljust think that's a great thing.
I want to ask you, of course, I want to get into your teaching.
There's a quote that I read thatyou said arts have the ability
to change people's lives for thebetter.
Yeah. That's such a beautiful
statement and what you're doing working with these young kids.
So I want to get some information just on, I know
(28:24):
you're teaching them, but what are they teaching you 'cause I'm
sure it has to be absolutely fulfilling to work with young
people that have the same love for this crap that you have had.
They are teaching me that there's always a new way to do
an old thing. I am a theater, what we call a
theater generalist, and we don'treally cultivate a theater
(28:48):
generalist anymore. But as a theater generalist, I
can do everything. I know how to build sets.
I know how to write, I know how to act.
I know how to costume. I know how to light.
I can do all of the basics and everything to create a
theatrical production. I know how to do all those
(29:08):
things. It's what I really want to teach
my students, how to do all thosethose things too.
But with the advent of technology, there are new ways
and new avenues of accomplishingthose things.
With AI, now we have the opportunity to really create
something that we had to hire other people to do, and now we
(29:30):
can create some of these things ourselves.
And no matter how you feel aboutAI, because it is a touchy
subject, we need to use this technology that is here.
It's not going anywhere. And in fact, it's going to get
bigger and bigger and more widely used.
And there are new regulations and things that new laws, new
(29:51):
ways of trying to control AI so that it doesn't overtake the
things that an intellectual mindcan produce.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
So the students are teaching me new ways to make those things
happen, new ways to go out into the world.
(30:14):
When I was their age, if you said you were going to be in
theater or in television and film, you had to move to New
York or you had to move to LA. And now and then later on it was
like, you can move to Atlanta. And then now there was like, you
know, you can move to Wilmington, NC because I have a
(30:35):
large studio there and everything.
But I haven't had to move. I haven't had to.
I'm still in a small Southern town in, in, in South Carolina.
I'm still in, you know, a biggertown, a bigger town in, in South
Carolina now. But the fact remains, you can
(30:57):
get to your dream from wherever you are.
And the students are showing me how I can do that.
But they're also showing me too,that there is a A level of
passion that you have to continually reignite.
(31:20):
And because I'm always trying toreignite it in them, life comes
at them hard. The young people today deal with
more things that we had to deal with.
I think just because the world around us has changed.
Their parents have a tendency tobe younger than our parents.
They have a tendency to have more bills, more things.
(31:41):
We didn't have a cell phone billbecause we had cell phones when
I was growing up. So they have a cell phone bill.
They have social media. They are influenced by so many
things outside of their neighborhood.
Where our neighborhood was our influence growing up, we didn't
even have when I grew up. Oh, this might be telling my
(32:02):
age. We didn't have call waiting.
You know, you can call somebody and you get to the beat.
Like, yeah, let me switch over. No, we didn't have a switch
over. When they came up with the
switch over, we like, oh, when they came up with three-way
calling, honey, we thought we were just oh man, we were Star
Wars, honey. We were way way is the
(32:22):
technology and everything, and we just thought it was something
so different. But what I'm getting from them
is those wonderful things, they are teaching me new ways to do
things. And they're also showing me that
you have to keep reigniting the flame because I keep reigniting
the flame for them, getting themto get focused.
Get focused. What do you want to do?
(32:43):
One thing I want everyone to know, and I'm pretty sure we'll
get to this, but while we're here, I'll just talk about it.
What I want everyone watching this to know is that it's never
too late for you to live your dream.
Look at me, I'm over 25 and I'm living my dream.
I've always wanted to work with Mr. Perry, so this is a great
(33:03):
opportunity and I work with Mr. Perry and honey, it was listen
well. How does it feel to live your
dream? When I walked on the set, I was
a little cookie. I'm like, I'm Ursula, I'm
playing Linda because I was like, I can't believe I'm on the
set with Tyler Perry. And the first scene that I shot
(33:26):
was with Megan Good. And I was like, wow.
And then they and, and then in that particular scene, I also
had to sing with Debbie Morgan, with Joseph Lee Anderson with,
with Richard, I'll call him KingRichard and Taylor.
And I was like, Oh my gosh. And, and, and it was, it was
(33:48):
like, Oh my gosh, Lord God, look, all of that.
And so it was really wonderful. Live your dream.
Don't listen to the naysayers, don't listen to what other
people have to say. If you feel like this is what
(34:08):
God has designed for you, then go after it.
But also to get the training, 'cause even though I have 3°,
even though I've been teaching acting and different things for
over 30 years, I still need the training.
I still needed coaching. And I know a lot of people I
used to feel this way too, that I didn't need coaching.
(34:30):
I don't need nobody telling me how to do it because I can act.
But I needed coaching, not to teach me the fundamentals of
acting, but to help me get used to this new medium because it's
a new medium. And to get over my own fears,
because I had to deal with my own fears of growing up and
(34:51):
being told that who I was physically didn't work for
television and film. So I had to get rid of all those
old tapes and get myself in a position.
And yeah, film loves me. I love it and I was and I was
actually going to ask you about following your dreams and you
said that perfectly. And I feel like we touched on
(35:12):
that just how the industry will make somebody think their
appearance isn't good enough for, you know, film or
television or whatever we're trying to pursue.
Sometimes people are trying to pursue things that's not even in
media, but their appearance is holding them back.
What were and I know like obviously you were able to
overcome that, but we're all a work in progress.
(35:33):
So like, what did you do to justhow do you work on your
confidence? Because I know I would think
being on film, being on camera, it could just, you know, it can
mess with your mind sometimes. And we live in a critical world.
And like you said, and you definitely told aids because I
definitely know like if you had call waiting when you pay for
three weeks and any of that stuff.
(35:55):
So I definitely, definitely aidsthose both.
But, you know, we live in a different time right now, you
know? So how do you just work with
having that confidence to just still pursue those dreams?
Because like I said, not having that confidence, having imposter
syndrome, people thinking that they're less than when they're
really prized, will hold back a person for pursuing a dream
(36:19):
that's meant just for them. So are you able to keep that
confidence going? And we all have good and bad
days, but how are you able to keep it going?
I'm just going to be really, really honest with you, a lot of
times on this journey, I gave up, but I didn't, I would say
(36:41):
quietly quitting and I quietly quit and I sat back and like,
oh, it's just too much. I had a lot of bumps and stuff
and, and trying to even just, you know, to get everything
together because I'm not just a professor.
I'm over the drama program. It's not going to State
University, but I also write a lot of the shows that we do and
(37:05):
I and I work and I'm on councilsand I'm on this.
So I had a lot of life that was lifing at the same time I was
trying to do these things and I had to make decisions about
where I was placing my engine, whatever is going on.
And sometimes I would be like, oh man, but what God did, Oh
man, I'm not going to cry. There were times when I couldn't
(37:35):
even make a complete step, but Imade a half a step and God
turned it into three. A lot of people go through
things in making it in this industry that I didn't have to
go through coming back through. And I tried doing this industry
(37:55):
when I was 18. My first commercial audition was
for a Biscuitville commercial. I just remember my Mama drive me
to the commercial. We don't know what we doing and
I just saw the commercial ad somewhere in the paper or
something. I don't know how to find out
about it. And I remember my mother driving
me as a high school student. I had to go to this audition and
it's a Biscuitville commercial is still out.
(38:18):
It's where all them in the elevator looking at their
watches and all this stuff. And I said my audition was just,
I was just a group of us in, in,we went in elevator, which is in
the square and they were like, OK, just be waiting.
Oh no, they were on the jewelry and they had a jewelry thing.
And so and I auditioned for thatand I was like, oh man, this is
(38:40):
big for me. For me, it was real big.
I was like, Oh my God, I was devastated.
I didn't get it. But I thought, hey, at least I
went through and made it through.
Now come to later on in life as I go to all dishes and I do
things. Now we're self taping and we're
not doing it in person. So that's an adjustment.
(39:00):
I feel like, or I felt I can kill a room, but can I kill a
self tape? I hope you don't mind me using
the word is somewhere we, we, some people use it that way,
which means that you are successful.
So now I had to deal with learning how to self tape and
(39:20):
that's an art form all its own. I've never been someone who
believed that I couldn't act because I will argue down.
Honey, sister girl can act and you, there's some you can never
take away from me. I know how to act.
I know how to take a script frompage to stage and, and it's not
(39:44):
being cocky, it's just what I know because I have perfected
this gift over time. I know how to harness what my
gift is, but I had to learn how to harness it for the self tape.
And so in learning how to do that, I met people along the way
who helped me and did that. And it was just like, I'll give
(40:06):
you a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
So you're like, well, Ursula, what do you mean?
During COVID, everyone stopped filming, right, because of
COVID. Well, Jack Kennedy with he's the
casting, one of the casting directors, part of the casting
director team for CSI. Well, they put out this audition
(40:30):
notice and they were like, listen, we want to meet new
actors. So people send in yourself tapes
and we're going to look at theseself tapes so we get to know new
actors. Something you can do during
COVID while we're down. And a lot of people were doing
it. And I was, I was like, man, I'm
(40:50):
tired of doing all these things.I ain't heard back from these
people. I don't know.
And my girlfriend, Danine Rochelle, she Danine said, OK,
Ursula, do this one. She's like, OK, forget all the
other ones, just do this one. OK, Like Miss Ursula, just do
this. When I was like, OK, so I did
it. I think I did it in April.
And I heard back and got an inbox from Jack Kennedy in like
(41:12):
August sometime. And he said, I am featuring
African American actors who are not represented.
And I want to know if you would like to be a part of that group
of actors. I said what?
Now here's audition that I wasn't about to do.
(41:36):
I was featured on his Instagram and I didn't have an agent.
And because I was featured, agents started in boxing me and
managers. So I ended up with an agent from
that particular audition. You see how I took that half
(41:57):
step and God turned it into three and after I got an agent,
then I booked Stars Hightow. I started doing different.
You get what I'm saying? So for me, some of the struggles
and people things that actors have gone through, I think that
developmentally I went through them earlier in my career so
(42:21):
that when I get to this place, God can move me forward.
Because some of the things, someof the lessons that you need to
master, I have already mastered them in other areas.
And maybe that's what it is. And I didn't ask God because I
didn't want to question what they say.
Don't, don't look a gift horse in the mouth or I wouldn't be
trying to question God about thegifts and the beautifulness of
(42:42):
this thing. I'm glad I didn't have to go
through all some of the inks that some of these younger
actors go through. But that door open and then a
lot of times doors open and people say to me, well, Ursula,
how did you get with Tyler Perry?
I auditioned. I didn't send him a text
message. I didn't find him in the grocery
store. And in fact, I actually work for
(43:05):
Mark Swindy, who who is also a writer and director there.
And I and I forgotten his official title, so forgive me.
And I did a pilot with him, and I did that.
And then I auditioned for this. I've auditioned for Mr. Perry
before and didn't get picked. And so this role was meant for
(43:27):
me. Wow, that's a word.
That's a testimony, Yes. And like you said a word because
like you said, sometimes I thinkwhat we don't understand, things
don't have to be perfect. You know, we going to have bad
days. It doesn't mean that don't have
faith. That doesn't mean that you don't
(43:48):
believe. But they is not promised to be
perfect. They're not supposed to be
perfect every single day. There's times you're going to
get tired and some days you going to want to quit.
But like you said, you took a half step and he he took three
steps. He took three steps.
But you know what I'm saying? All we have to the faith can
only be the only has to be the size of a mustard seed and it's
(44:12):
just a testimony of just believing in yourself, believing
in your dreams and believing that God will provide and what's
meant for you is for you and. That that is for you.
And don't let those nose get you.
Like you said, you've auditionedfor a talker before.
Yeah. This was meant for you.
So it's just, like I said, it's a true testimony and just
(44:32):
believing in yourself, just having confidence in yourself
and just not letting anything deter you from your dreams.
And like I said, it's OK to havesome days where it's like, I
don't want to do that, you know,long as you don't sit in it
because we're a human. If you go back and look at
people who've had like a this is, they'll be calling this my
(44:54):
breakout moment and then this mybreakout role.
And if you go back and you look at people when they have a
breakout role and, and, and everything, and you go back and
read and listen to them talk about it, they'll talk about it.
Yeah, I almost quit. Then I got this role or I almost
did this and then I got this role and everything.
And, and I had a friend that said, I don't believe it when
(45:16):
these actors say that because asactors, we quit every day as
actors, we going man, you know, because you have to make sure
that when you are moving forwardto anything that you define
success in such a way that you're not defeated by not
(45:37):
meeting that goal. So what is successful?
An actor in television and film,getting somebody to want you to
audition because they can send in your picture, your Asian can
send in your picture and your profile and try to get somebody,
hey, this would be perfect for this role.
And he'd be like, Nah, I'm good,right?
You don't know how many times that happens because you never
(45:58):
get that feedback. But what you do get is an
invitation to audition. An invitation to audition means
that out of these 50,100 thousand people now with Jack
Kennedy, he, I think he may havefeatured 50 or 100 actors.
I'm not even sure if it was thatmany, but I remember him saying
(46:20):
that they got at least 50,000 auditions.
So when you get an invitation toaudition, that means you have
crossed a hurdle, that's success.
And when you get an availabilitycheck, which means that you send
(46:41):
in your audition, they like whatthey see, and they're sending up
this small number of people up to the next level to the casting
directors. And then they, you know, you
have to go through several yesesin order to do that.
So whenever someone gets a role,there are at least four or five
levels of yes that you have to go through depending upon how
(47:03):
this production is run. But you're going to have to get
more than one yes right, especially and even with
independent films, you get the the writer and director who'll
say yes, then they'll put you, you know, look at you with one
of the other actors, see how they'all work together.
You might have to do what they call a chemistry read where you
put the two people together and see how they their chemistry is
(47:26):
on film. How do they look together?
Do they give whatever I'm tryingto say as a couple, as a mother,
daughter, as whatever, and all those things have to be taken
into consideration. So as you are quitting and doing
all this other stuff, if you define your success in a way
(47:46):
that enables you to keep moving and feeling successful and not
feeling like you're defeated, then that's going to solve half
of your quitting problems. And that's going to solve a lot
of your, your issues and concerns that you may have with
am I successful? Should I, should I keep doing
this? And these are things that I've
learned over time, and I've learned them as a coach and I've
(48:11):
learned them from my coaches. This is something that Christine
Horn, who was one of the first coaches that I had in television
and film acting. And this is something that she
says defining success, because your success is the audition
invitation. That's a yes.
You got a yes. Be excited that you got a yes.
(48:34):
And I'm also do a lot of mindsettraining now.
I'm doing a lot of mindset training and stuff as we can
determine how we look at things.And if you can change the
framework of how you see a situation, then you could take
what could be devastation and turn it into a step up.
(49:00):
Mindset is everything because it's how we look at things.
It sounds, it sounds cliche, butit's true.
It's how we look at things. Just like glass, half empty,
half full. It's how you look at things.
It can change your perspective and it can change your life.
Because if you always look at things in a negative, and then I
(49:21):
always talk about this a lot, rejection and the word no
rejection for some people is devastating.
The word no people is devastating.
Word rejection is redirection for others.
The word no means not right now for others.
So it really is how you look at things because like you
mentioned too, when you we've all seen it, we'll hear somebody
(49:43):
saying, oh, well, you know, thisis the biggest role in my life.
And they'll be at rock bottom previously, you know, like, oh,
I was about to get in. I almost took my life.
They'll tell you so many, Yeah, full sad things that was going
on before they receive that gift.
Sometimes that blessing is like,right around the corner.
And like I said, a lot of it sounds cliche, but it really is
(50:06):
true. And it's mindset, it's faith.
It takes a lot, but it all goes back to just don't give up
because things, things made me look crazy to you.
But it's all working for your good and your fat.
It is. And then like I said, we're all
human. So we don't wake up every day
like, okay, God, I'm having all these problems, but you know
(50:28):
what? I'm just going to go for it.
Like, no, we know. Some days we like, really like,
why is this happening to me? This cannot be really hard.
This is not right. You know, but just having that
mindset to shift your perspective, you know, like
it's, and that's the thing. I think sometimes we want to
knock people for just sometimes saying, hey, like I'm just
(50:49):
having a rough day, I'm having arough time.
This is not working. It's OK to feel like that.
But you know, if you just stop putting things in perspective,
it will shift your perspective and it'll.
So I wanted to actually of course, on our platform, we do
talk about self love. Self love really is the few to
pursue those dreams and to love yourself and also love yourself
(51:13):
in the uniform God has given us.You know what I'm saying right?
Fit these perfect aesthetics andwe still have to keep pushing.
So self love is just believing in yourself, loving yourself,
saying hey, I belong in these rooms.
So I want to ask you what role has self love played in your
life and how do you define self love as well?
(51:34):
Well, I think self love has become like a buzzword for
people. And so when people think about
self love, they think about it in different ways, just like you
said, in different ways. And so when I think about self
love, the first thing I think about is self love is making me
a priority, making sure that my desires are my priority as
(52:01):
opposed to doing some self abandonment, which means that in
the situation I will get rid of my desires, get rid of what I
want and just do what someone else wants.
There are times in your life where you make compromises or
you'll make decisions because even, even I've heard people say
(52:21):
that even saying the word compromise can be mind altering
in a negative way. But there come times in your
life where you may not have yourspecific desire, but by making a
different choice so that you andthis person can work together
and make something happen, it could create something better
(52:42):
than just your single desire. So I take those things into
account. But what about Ursula?
What about me? What's going to be the best for
me? How can I be my best?
How can I protect my peace? How can I keep my body going?
(53:03):
How can I do this thing in such a way that I'm fulfilled?
When I look at friendships, is this friendship taking care of
Ursula? Is this friendship bringing me
some joy or am I the crutch in the friendship?
Self love to me is putting Ursula first.
(53:25):
And it's not in a negative way because you can ask anybody.
I love people. I help people out all the time.
I do things for people. I consider people and doing
that, but not at the cost of me.And I used to do those things at
the cost of me because we are taught that loving people means
(53:48):
making these grand sacrifices. And loving people means
sometimes you show them. As my spiritual mother says.
Here's the brick wall. Hit it because you don't want to
accept the advice. We're so used to getting in
front of people that to let themhit us instead of the brick
(54:10):
wall. And what I have learned is that
there are times when people needa brick wall because they won't
turn around until they hit it. And if I'm constantly in front
of the brick wall, they'll neverget the lesson.
They'll never hit the place where they can turn around and
build a great lives for themselves.
So, and that to me is self love and self love to me also is
(54:34):
making sure that I'm showing up in places and spaces in a way
that I want to show up the way that I want to be perceived, the
way that this situation may callfor this.
But I'm would just a little hintabout who I am.
I'm that person who's going to wear that outfit that you go
(54:57):
wow, 'cause I like, I like beinga little flashy.
That's just part of who I am andI'm OK with that.
I'm OK showing up somewhere and not being like everybody else in
the room. That's been happening to me all
my life. I'm used to it.
So I show up. Hey, I may not be dressed like
everybody else. I may be a little over.
I like to overdress is what I like to do.
(55:18):
So I like to overdress and stuffand I'm very OK with that.
And people who know me are very OK with that.
I like and because I'm a theaterperson, maybe I like costumey
stuff. So that's to me is self love.
And I think that self love is also too about taking care of
your body and doing those thingslike that and that stuff.
(55:39):
Yeah. So the self love that I
demonstrated in all of this and making this film is that I made
a decision that this story was big enough for me to wear a
slip. That was so self love.
This story was bigger than to me.
(55:59):
It was bigger than a slip because a slip to me wasn't that
a big deal. But I know lots of people are
like, Oh my God. But if I had walked into church
with some pearls with that on and you thought it would, you
would have thought it was a dress.
So except for my little strap showing in the back.
But that's self love for me, andI hope that that can help
(56:20):
someone else discover those things for yourself because my
definition of self love is always evolving.
It's always changing as I learn more about me and learn more
about the world around me. It is evolving, but right now it
is about making sure that my desires are my priority.
(56:43):
Do you know someone who spends all their time running, chasing,
doing for others? They look rundown, they look
like they're unhappy. And a lot of times those people
are doing those things because they have found their
fulfillment and making others happy because there's something
(57:04):
missing in them. So doing for others keeps you
from having to deal with yourself.
Don't fall into that dangerous trap because people will see it
and they will use you and they will abuse you because they know
that you're hurt and broken and that you're doing these things
because it makes you feel betterand you don't have to deal with
(57:26):
yourself. Stop all of that.
What about you? What about your desires?
What do you want? What is a priority for you?
And you got to put that thing out there and you got to draw
these lines and draw these boundaries and let people know
that this is not OK with me. I'm not telling you that you got
(57:47):
to take your dress off and put somebody out.
But what I am telling you is that you need to establish the
boundaries. Doing this or doing that or
having this relationship is not valuing me.
You said a lot and Oh my God, ifa broken person is literally
(58:11):
like a silent alarm, because if you don't have that healing and
if you're broken, you're navigating through a broken
lens. And it attracts the wrong
people. It attracts the wrong friends,
it attracts the wrong romantic partners.
It attracts wrong people even inbusiness relationships, work
relationships, even in your family.
Because that brokenness, it's anunhealed wound and an unhealed
(58:33):
wound, it seeps and people, there are leeches out there.
Unfortunately, there's emotionalvampires and it will bring the
wrong people. And like you said, you'll run
yourself ragged trying to pleaseeverybody else and thinking that
that's going to fulfill you whenall it is is draining and taking
more away from you. So that is so important, what
(58:55):
you said, that part of self loveis to not.
And like I said, we all have across the bear, but to just try
and just find that accountability for ourselves and
have no forgiveness for ourselves so that we're not
walking through life broken because that brokenness attracts
the wrong people and people aren't what we think they are.
(59:18):
They not looking at you like, oh, you know, this is a broken
little puppy. Let me, you know, help.
You know, they don't like, let me take some more from you.
And it's hey, but yeah, not everybody, of course.
But you have to really work on that healing through self love
because it will bring the wrong people.
So this is amazing. I'm sorry.
(59:38):
I just wanted to say this, one of the things that I found from
this film, it's because the the idea of self love and drawing
boundaries and all that stuff isreally expressed in all these
different relationships. If you look at the different
relationships and divorce in theblack and you'll see that this
movie, Ava is this girl who was so happy.
(59:59):
We thought she was well adjustedand we thought she was all
together, but then she picks this broken man and she ends up
trying to fix him. And we see that he is broken and
that he wants to pull on her because he can see the good
stuff in her and he is sucking out her stuff.
So she didn't have no self love going on in there.
(01:00:20):
And one of the things that has happened is that I have seen
responses from former students who talk about and even other
people are, oh, man, this young lady, I was at an event and this
young lady, she grabbed my handsand she was, I'd say I'm not
(01:00:41):
going to cry, but she was like, I watched the movie and she was
in a relationship with the mother-in-law was like Linda and
the husband was like Dallas. And but she's now remarried and
in a loving relationship, thought she was over everything.
(01:01:02):
But the movie brought everythingback.
And so now she has to deal with those things.
And I was like, yeah, because you can have a greater level of
love for the current husband whodoes none of those things.
It's not any of those things that her ex-husband was.
So now you can have a whole different kind of relationship
with him once you get that heal.And I've had students write
(01:01:25):
post, former students write postabout how they were triggered,
how these things happened. I was like, Oh my God, I never
knew you went through that. I never knew that they had those
kind of experiences. So it has really definitely
opened up my eyes to just continue to look at people
differently and to be open. Because you never know what a
(01:01:49):
person has gone through doesn't mean that I remove my
boundaries. It doesn't mean that I still
don't take care of me. But what I can do is offer you
love, guidance, bring you to someone who can help you
navigate this world even better,but mostly love on you and
(01:02:10):
support you and making the rightdecisions.
So anyone who watches this movieand I suggest you watch it
because it's a great movie. If you watch this movie and you
are triggered or something comesup for you, please get help.
Find you someone that you can talk to, deal with these
(01:02:32):
emotions and grow. At the premiere, Tyler Perry
said this and he's probably saidin some other interviews, and I
may be saying it not word perfect, but he said he wrote
this movie for people who love hard and don't know how to
leave. And that is exactly kind of what
(01:02:53):
this movie is. And he talked about having their
voice of Ava in his head. And so I'm telling all of the
Avas in the world and even the Dallas's of the world and even
the lenders of the world becauseI met some lenders too.
What I'm telling you now is thatif you see yourself and you know
that there's something that needs to be fixed and worked out
(01:03:16):
in you find the help is out there.
The help is out there. And the 1st place you can start,
if you particularly go, if you go to a church, you go to your
spiritual leader and there are mental health things that you
can go to therapists, social workers, those kind of people so
that you can find the help. And if you feel like you can't
(01:03:38):
go talk to anybody, get you a book, honey, and read that book
and start to do the things and stuff that are in that book.
Because if you don't take chargeof your own life, then you are
giving your life as a sacrifice to the person who abused you.
(01:04:00):
Now, do you want to give your life as a sacrificial offering
for someone that did something to you, that changed you and
made you different, made you hate people?
What you can do is you can take back the power from that
situation, love yourself, let itgo, let the wounds heal and be
(01:04:23):
the best you that you can be. It's time for you to stop
sacrificing yourself on the altar of hurt.
Wow. And you know, something about
like you mentioned how Ava didn't practice self love, but
like you mentioned a good point,that generational curse from
(01:04:44):
Linda to Dallas and through her kids.
So that's another thing too about that self hurt, not having
that self love, showing how it really will trickle down to
different generations and those different generations and
effects them everywhere in theirrelationships, how they deal
with people. So that's a very good example
(01:05:07):
that you mentioned does not evennot just able to like you said,
Dallas too obviously come on it.It showed the background of
dysfunction really like a dysfunctional family like this
is what will happen with dysfunctional relationship, this
dysfunctional parenting, dysfunctional relationship
(01:05:27):
between a mother and a son, this, you know, and no
accountability. This is what this is what could
possibly happen. So I'm happy that you did
mention that as well. But I want to ask you to like I
said, this has been an amazing conversation and we hit on some
deep points and we definitely talked about self love.
And I'm just happy how like you mentioned, like I said, there's
(01:05:49):
a lot of chat about this film, but I'm happy that you went
deep. And it is a portrait of what
being unhealed can do from everyperspective, from from Ava, from
Dallas, from the mother, from her sons and how her family was
living their lives. So I want to ask you, can you
(01:06:10):
give us an affirmation? Just an affirmation just to
maybe apply to your life and whether it's whether you could
choose the subject. But can you give us an
affirmation whether it's on the subject of healing or whether
it's the subject of following your dreams?
Just can you give us an affirmation to leave for with
this conversation? I think the best one I could
(01:06:33):
give you, as you said, that whatcame to me is I am worthy and I
am enough. I am worthy.
What are you worthy of? You're worthy of a healthy
relationship. You're worthy of being
respected. You're worthy of being treated
like you are somebody special because everybody is.
(01:06:56):
Everybody has something unique to offer and you are enough.
Stop trying to make yourself into something else, to be
something for someone else. When you are enough, that covers
everything. Worthy and enough.
You're worthy of a great life and you are enough to have it
(01:07:20):
executed. Be the person that you dream of.
One of my web coach, one of my one of my web coaches, right?
But my web coach said this, thatthere are two lives that we
lead, the one that we're living and the one that we dream about
on the inside. So Are you ready for that inside
(01:07:47):
life that you dream about because you are enough and
you're worthy of that life? What stands in your way?
Wow. And also, we got to remember it.
Like you said, we're worthy, we're valuable like you.
Deserve. Having that mindset of OK, I
(01:08:08):
deserve, like you said, we deserve the life that we dream
about. You don't have to continue to
dream and fantasize about certain things.
You can achieve them and become them and live that life.
So I love it. That is amazing.
So thank you, thank you, thank you for this conversation.
This is thank you blessing. But before we end everything,
(01:08:29):
tell us what's next? What can we expect in the
future? Where can we see you again?
So give us an insight on where where are we going to see that
face again? OK, coming up this fall, I don't
know the exact date, but I know it will be this year.
I did a television series with Tyler Perry called Beauty in
Black and I play a woman named Delinda and that's going to be
(01:08:52):
on Netflix. And also I am directing and
producing for the drama program at Southland State University.
Will be announcing our season soon.
I got to go through some some stuff before I can make the
official announcement and so look out for that.
If you want to follow me, you can follow me at at Ursula O
(01:09:16):
Robinson on Facebook and at Ursula Robinson on Instagram, at
Lady U Drama on TikTok, at on Twitter is at Ursula O Robinson
and on Excuse me X excuse me, Twitter's never come X on X is
Ursula O Robinson and on Snapchat I think I'm at Lady U
(01:09:37):
Drama. Awesome.
Thank you so much for this conversation.
Like I said, I just appreciate your time and I just like that
we didn't just have a conversation about a film.
We talked about just loving yourself, smiling.
We covered so many topics. This could be about 5 different
episodes, but we, you know, likeI said, this is a work in
(01:10:00):
progress. Everybody has a thorn and has a
thorn and everybody has a cross.There we all are work in
progress. We all have a dream.
That dream may not be idiot, butwhatever that dream is, you can
have that dream like it. Like I said, we don't have to
keep fantasizing and thinking, oh, you know, maybe if only I
(01:10:22):
can have that, you can have thateither about mindset, believing
in yourself, having that faith and what God placed in you, you,
you owe it to show him like I believe you.
I, I trust that that dream that you put in my mind, that gift is
for me. You gave it to me.
(01:10:43):
So let me look. I asked this question.
What if you decided not to do your podcast?
What if you say I'm not doing it, I'm not this And there is a
group of people who are waiting to see your podcast is all been
lined up for since the beginningof time that these people needed
(01:11:05):
to see the people on your podcast because it's going to
open a door that's going to set them free, that's going to send
them on the journey for them to be who they need to be so
somebody else can see it. So by not doing your dream when
using your gift, you are in essence stopping someone from
getting where they could be because you were the avenue or
(01:11:30):
you were the spark that they needed.
So if you would think about it in that way, you got to do it
right. You got to do it because while
you igniting other people, you're igniting your own self.
And I see you're not making me fry, but it's like.
I thank you for having me on here and I thank you for the
(01:11:54):
opportunity and I thank you for putting yourself out there and
letting your voice be used to further good in the world.
There's so many bad things happening and there's so much
else going on in the world. Honey, you're positive.
You're putting good vibes and good word out there into the
(01:12:16):
universe, and I thank you for that.
Thank you. I I can't.
I don't have any. I don't have any words.
I'm speechless. Thank you.
And I definitely needed that. And I appreciate you.
And I appreciate your humblenesstoo.
Like I said, don't forget about us When you, when you make more
films with Mr. Perry, don't forget about us because we do
(01:12:39):
need people like yourself that are like, hey, you can follow
that dream. You can pursue it.
You can believe in yourself. You can still be humble.
You can still be yourself. Yeah, to that dream.
So like I said, you people like you are needed as well because
this life is life. Life is hard so and a lot of
people like I said, they're sitting on dreams, they don't
(01:13:00):
know how to navigate it sometimes they really don't have
they really don't have a positive ear.
You know, they don't have a positive information.
So I hate you as well. So guys, please, please, please.
I know you already seen Divorce in Black, but we have talked
about a different perspective from the film too, because
sometimes you gotta go deep to really get us.
(01:13:22):
And when we watch films, that's a beautiful thing about black
media. We can watch these movies, we
can watch these TV shows and yeah, we can sit down and watch
A2 hour film, a 30 hour, a 30 minute TV show and just watch it
and go about our business and, you know, maybe tweet about it.
But when we watch these pieces of work and we really sit back
(01:13:45):
and try and get a perspective onit and try and be ourselves, we
can learn lessons and some of the works that you at least
expect has a big lesson in them.So again, guys, please go ahead,
follow Miss Ursula, go ahead andwatch the Boris in Black again.
And ladies, remember there was atime when we did where it slips.
(01:14:07):
Putting that in there too because that definitely brought
me back. But again, this has been an
amazing conversation. It says bless me.
And guys, if you want to get some more positive content, you
can catch this episode and more www.goclean.com.
And again, this platform was created because there's a lot of
negativity in this world. And I just wanted to create
(01:14:30):
something where we can TuneIn and get some positivity, whether
it's 30 minutes of positivity, those 30 minutes may make a big
difference in the next person's life.
And know this is not been easy having this platform, but it
really does mean something to methat you guys can have some
content that is positive. That's some knowledge and I hope
(01:14:50):
that it really does help people.So thank you again for that
encouragement, Miss Robinson. I really needed it.
And thank you guys again for tuning in and be safe and make
sure you go love yourself. Yes, she's acquaint about a
business working hard on a mission.
Head hyper driven, crown on, never tilted.
(01:15:12):
Go queen, go queen.
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