Edwina Findley Dickerson is an award-winning film, television, and theatre actress praised by critics as “a marvel to watch.” She made her prime-time debut as ‘Tosha Mitchell’ on HBO’s hit TV series The Wire, followed by roles in such popular shows as Fear The Walking Dead, Veep, Black Lightning, If Loving You Is Wrong, Chicago Med, HBO’s Treme, and Shots Fired, from The Woman King directors Gina Prince Bythewood and Reggie Bythewood.
Edwina can now be seen opposite Oscar-nominee Toni Collette in Amazon’s global thriller, The Power, and is currently filming Shonda Rhimes’ highly-anticipated Netflix series The Residence, set in the White House. We were able to dive deeper into her faith, how she juggles life, and the most fulfilling role she has ever played.
How has The Residence been?
“Yes, it has been a dream! My grandmother worked in the White House, and I have always been passionate about telling stories that reflect the actual culture of Washington that exists outside the 2-mile radius of the White House and the monuments. There are real people who live and work in D.C., and I was one of them. I was developing my own show called ‘Chocolate City’ that is based in D.C., and suddenly I got the script for The Residence, and what really drew me to it was it was not reflecting the politicians but those who served in the house. It showed the lives of the maids, the butlers, the housekeepers, the cooks; people who were living real lives. I felt like I knew Sheila, I heard her voice, her accent, her delivery, and I suddenly had a vision, and I felt it was valuable to embody her and bring her to the forefront.”
Tell us about your book. Where was the inspiration with that?
“It’s interesting. Growing up in Washington D.C., there are so many different people who come from different backgrounds and walks of life who may or may not understand that they have a real calling on their lives. They have something that the world needs and deserves. Sometimes we don’t have the confidence to step out on faith and know that there is a world out there waiting on our gifts and talent. This book is really my love letter to dreamers, a call for anyone who feels in their spirit that there is more life to manifest and more gifts to give. Anyone ready to go to the next level, both practically and spiritually, to manifest the God dream that’s already been made for them, this book is that journey. This book will hold your hand and go step by step with you and share with you a lot of behind-the-scenes wisdom from heavy hitters in the industry, such as Tyler Perry, Oprah Winfrey, and Viola Davis.”
What does faith look like to you?
“A lot of us are familiar with the scripture ‘Faith is the substance of the things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.’ To me, that means faith is the rock. Some people say, I’ll believe it when I see it, but I say I see it, therefore, I believe it. I know that it is possible because I see it in my spirit first. Sometimes I have stepped into places and said to myself, why does this place seem so familiar to me? On 9/9/11, I stepped into the OWN Network, I walked into the lobby, and suddenly had this spiritual experience, so I asked someone to take my picture in front of the OWN sign. She took the picture, I posted it to Facebook with the scripture Joshua 1:3, which was an act of faith. Three years later I find myself in that exact network, in that exact spot where I took that picture but this time I had a makeup artist a hair stylist and a wardorbe stylist with a mic in my hand and it all has to do with press for our new show If Loving You Is Wrong.”
How are you able to juggle work and your personal life?
“As far as juggling the different aspects of life, I talk about this in the book because there is a chapter called This Time Next Year. It starts with professing over your future, but then also moves to planning it out. With me, I like to identify 5 top things, and with that, you craft out a percentage of time. We all only have 24 hours a day, so what I like to do is rank what’s most important to you, and that should be a reflection of how you spend or invest your time.”
Toughest role you have had to play?
“The toughest role I had to play to date is a movie I did called ‘Free Indeed’. It started as a small independent film based on a true story. The mother was desperately trying to find healing for her son, and the journey she went on ended up being incredibly difficult, and nothing was easy. She has a lot of hope with a lot of obstacles. I filmed that role while my mother was dying. I fought that realization because neither my mother nor I believed that she was dying, and I think the hope and faith that we had really did extend her life much longer than the doctor said. There were personal crises that I was experiencing, and the character was experiencing a crisis as well. So as an actor to step into a role like that, I had to pray beforehand. That role ended up getting a nomination, the movie got the best film at a film festival in Italy, and it ended up all over the world.”
“God can dream a bigger dream for you than you can dream for yourself, and your role on Earth is to attach yourself to that divine force and let yourself be released to it.”
— Oprah Winfrey
Photo Credit: Sarah Krick
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