You chose to get out of bed this morning. You chose to start your day and return those emails and slay the day like the boss ass individual that you are. As many choices as we make every day, one thing we can't always choose is where we're planted. But Regina King wants you to know that no matter how dry and barren the soil around you may be, it's nothing a little fertilizer can't fix.
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Last month, Regina reminded us that comfort zones are where dreams go to die and, recently, the 48-year-old actress snatched all of her edges on the December cover of ESSENCE, where she opened up about harvest time, growth, and saying no to sh*t that doesn't serve her higher purpose.
While now, Regina spends much of her time being the ass-kicking, Bible-toting Blacktion hero we didn't know we needed, she's spent the past few years building up her resume and creating a legacy that's impossible to ignore and credits her success to the power of planting seeds:
"I've planted my seeds, and I've been toiling and fertilizing them and surrounding myself with the right people. Now it's all blooming. And I'm grateful for it."
Her critically acclaimed role on The Watchmen is only one of Regina's diverse roles that we've had the opportunity to watch the actress, who got her start in acting alongside Jackee Harry in 227 over three decades ago, evolve into. From Riley and Huey Freeman on The Boondocks to her Academy-Award winning role as Latrice Butler on Seven Seconds, Regina was clear about the fact that she doesn't take on any project she feels doesn't serve a higher purpose:
"It was a gift to have something else that I was passionate about, because at the end of the day, it comes down to the work and the art. I still needed to go run my lines, you know?"
Discernment is a superpower, one that this actress doesn't take lightly. Regina had this simple yet potent advice about learning how to differentiate the opportunities that you're passionate about from the ones that just pass the time:
"I would say that I've tried to listen to the voice inside. Luckily, from a very early age, I was able to understand that when things don't feel quite right, that was probably not the role for me."
To read Regina's full interview, click here!
Featured image by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for dcp
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While speaking to xoNecole, Eva shares that she’s a lot like the beloved 1994 character in many ways. “Lyric is so me. She's the odd flower. A flower nonetheless, but definitely not a peony,” she tells us.
“She's not the average flower you see presented, and so she reminds me of myself. I'm a sunflower, beautiful, but different. And what I loved about her character then, and even more so now, is that she was very sure of herself.
"Sure of what she wanted in life and okay to sacrifice her moments right now, to get what she knew she deserved later. And that is me. I'm not an instant gratification kind of a person. I am a long game. I'm not a sprinter, I'm a marathon.
America first fell in love with Eva when she graced our screens on cycle 3 of America’s Next Top Model in 2004, which she emerged as the winner. Since then, she's ventured into different avenues, from acting on various TV series like House of Payne to starring on Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Je-Caryous Johnson Entertainment
Eva praises her castmates and the play’s producer, Je’Caryous for her positive experience. “You know what? Je’Caryous fuels my audacity car daily, ‘cause I consider myself an extremely audacious woman, and I believe in what I know, even if no one else knows it, because God gave it to me. So I know what I know. That is who Je’Caryous is.”
But the mom of three isn’t the only one in the family who enjoys acting. Eva reveals her daughter Marley has also caught the acting bug.
“It is the most adorable thing you can ever see. She’s got a part in her school play. She's in her chorus, and she loves it,” she says. “I don't know if she loves it, because it's like, mommy does it, so maybe I should do it, but there is something about her.”
Overall, Eva hopes that her contribution to the role and the play as a whole serves as motivation for others to reach for the stars.
“I want them to walk out with hope. I want them to re-vision their dreams. Whatever they were. Whatever they are. To re-see them and then have that thing inside of them say, ‘You know what? I'm going to do that. Whatever dream you put on the back burner, go pick it up.
"Whatever dream you've accomplished, make a new dream, but continue to reach for the stars. Continue to reach for what is beyond what people say we can do, especially as [a] Black collective but especially as Black women. When it comes to us and who we are and what we accept and what we're worth, it's not about having seen it before. It's about knowing that I deserve it.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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Feature image by Leon Bennett/WireImage
