When you look up the definition of multifaceted, you will find a perfectly well lit headshot of Tiffany Blackness. This woman of many hats, mentored by women of many crowns, and is now in the acting, directing, and coaching seat. From her role in Not My Story: The Monique Smith Story, to coaching SZA through One Of Them Days, Tiffany is flying through her filmography! We discussed dream collaboration, current dreams accomplished, and the time between her last Sheen feature and NOW!
TB: I wrote a feature in the pandemic that I’m working on, producing and getting made. Of course, I’ve just like, dove deeper into my acting. So now I teach acting through Tasha Smith active workshop, and as a result, I’ve worked with so many people I only mentioned who has mentioned that I work with them because I don’t want to, like, you know, out the artist. But of course, SZA has announced that I coached her on her movie, her first movie. I’m so excited for her One Of Them Days. And that was so great. Was so well received. So it’s been a lot in the last five years.
BM: when it comes to the acting coach part and and what that looks like in tandem with everything that you already do, how do you create the space to teach while you’re on this journey? Because in order for you to be mentally equipped to teach on such a high level, that means that you’re performing on an even higher level.
TB: I love that framing. That’s not even something that I considered. And I think, honestly, that’s why I said no to teaching in the beginning, because I was like, Tasha [Smith], I’m still learning. She was like, ‘girl, you got it. It’s cool. You’re going to do this because you’re going to direct’. She actually recruited me to start teaching because she saw that I was experimenting with directing. I was just doing that for fun. She’s like, ‘No, no, if you did that, you’re going to direct. And I don’t know how long it’s going to take you to get there, but I want you to have years of working with actors and understanding that language by the time you get to the point to where you’re the one orchestrating the entire set’. So I took her advice, because you don’t say no to Tasha, she knows what she’s talking about. And it started off as just me having, like, my weekly class, which I still have. I teach for Wednesdays. And at first, I used to be very nervous about it, but I just, like, changed the framework, and I see my students very much as peers. We’re just in different places on our timeline, and I know I’m going to see them on set, because they’re so talented.
BM: You’ve touched on SZA, but OMG, Solana?? How do you go from your daily routine to couching SZA?
TB: I feel like more teaching has made me a better actor, so it’s actually making me even more confident, because it’s the focus is not on me. I’m pouring so much of myself into someone else, and by the time I get to working with somebody like SZA, that’s just a match made in heaven; our personalities are very, very similar. Like, literally from the first time we saw each other, it was like, oh, clock it. I know who you are. I know what you do. I know what you like, and we have a good time. I blow my own mind when it comes to coaching actors, it’s not something that was on my bingo card, but it’s absolutely the highlight of my week.
BM: I love that so much. And of course, you know, we have to talk about Not My Family:The Monique Smith Story. You can play any role under the sun, but seeing you with a the chip on the shoulder is astounding. How do you do that, because that’s not even anywhere near the wheelhouse of what your personality exhibits. What did you do to dig into that role so beautifully. How was it doing that role?
TB: Listen! Thank you one for acknowledging that I’m not Elizabeth, because people confuse personality for talent, and they confuse, you know, how you appear on screen, because people think that acting is just walking and talking. So they’re confused over who you really are. And of course, there’s elements of Tiffany, because I only have this voice, I only have this face, I only have this instrument to work with. But that woman is not me, and I’m not a mother, and I’m not beating and yelling on kids. There’s a lot that I disagree with Elizabeth on. However, you can’t judge a character and play it. So what I decided to do was try to imagine the circumstances that somebody would have to be under to justify this behavior. What pressure was this woman under that made this Friday night game of spades with her family, so coveted, so looked forward to that any distraction from it is an immediate high level of irritation, to the point where I would hit my own child? Yeah, right, you know what I mean. So I try to get into like, what is her day to day? What happened to her? Because her people hurt people. So she didn’t just, you don’t just wake up and become that person. Something happened with you. And I try to give Elizabeth that empathy and that consideration so that by the time it makes it to screen that we’re looking at like a full, rounded person and not just somebody that we saw in their darkest moments.
BM: Tiffany, you’re an influencer, whether you like it or not. We need you to spill! Beauty tips: STAT!
TB; Okay, so I love that you said I’m an influencer, whether I want to be or not. I have a beauty influencer page called Fly Like Tiffany. That’s where I’m doing hair, I’m talking skin, we’re getting into this makeup, we’re getting into this body, we’re getting into this canvas. My must haves? Okay, so imma start hair first. Okay? And for me, quiet as is kept, and maybe not quiet as is kept. I genuinely adore Vivica Fox’s Hair collection. Let me just go ahead and say it; she knows what she’s doing. She knows what she’s doing. And I think I might have a more personal connection, because I feel like all of my hair styles are different characters, and obviously the hairline brought to us by an actress. I also really love this. I love Pattern. I love their leave in moisturizing conditioner. I just got back from a trip, and we had to stop to Sephora real quick because I forgot to pack it. And I was like, I cant be walking around crunchy. I’m a 4c and I need my hair needs moisture, and it’s a different climate. And I feel like depending on where you are, like, you know, it can be very dry. We were in DC, and it’s a little bit more moisture in the air. So I just, I needed to, like, add that into my hair. So I really love Pattern, particularly their leave in conditioner. Really been enjoying Too Faced lip injector. It gives me, like, a nice little tingle.
Check Tiffany Blackness out on IG: @tiffanyblackness and at Substack below!
https://tiffanyblackwrites.substack.com/?r=2ncar5&utm_campaign=pub-share-checklist
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Tiffany Blackness
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