Interviews

Evocative Martha’s Vineyard Panel Sheds Light on Diversity with ‘Changing the Script: Media, Culture, & Black Lives (2015)

In 2015 actor/producer Danny Glover; star of HBO’s Insecure, actress Issa Rae; and Black Lives Matter movement co- founder, Patrice Cullors, participated in a dynamic panel in Martha’s Vineyard titled, Changing the Script: Media, Culture, And Black Lives. The panel, moderated by Alan Jenkins, provided an invaluable platform to discuss culture makers, activists, and their utilization of media and creative strategies to tell stories about black Americans.

Issa Rae expressed her desire to “talk about reclaiming the narrative of African Americans in the media, television and film,” as motivation for joining the panel. When asked about her own writing, Rae said she hopes to provide “an alternative depiction, a real depiction, showing that [African Americans] are capable of doing anything and being anything.”

Social Activist Patrice Cullors said of the event, “I think it’s always important to talk about the way we’re treated; the narrative of blacks, how it’s being told and how we’re intervening.” Adding, “I wanted to hear from my co-panelists, as well as the audience, about what they’ve seen in the last couple years around the impact of The Black Lives Matter movement on exposing racist media images of black people or helping shift to a new narrative.”

Tell me about The Opportunity Agenda and the inspiration behind organizing this panel:

Jenkins: My organization — The Opportunity Agenda — is a social justice communication lab. We use communication and culture to build public support for greater or more equal opportunity. We’ve been around for about ten years. One of the things that we do at The Opportunity Agenda is study media and culture and how issues of race and identity and opportunity are depicted in different communities.

Four years ago we did a study of media depictions of black men and boys. What we found is that there were some really persistent and harmful trends that depict a very warped picture of black folks in the media.

We are, in the media, overly associated with criminality, with poverty, with intractable problems. The idea [of this panel] is to look at different perspectives, at the new era we’re in; an era of activism — Black Lives Matter — criminal justice reform, and many other issues of race and equality.

There is an absence of diversity in creative decision makers, as it relates to the entertainment industry. Do you think increasing diversity behind the camera will result in the telling of more diverse stories?

Increasing diversity on both sides of the camera is vital. It’s necessary, but not sufficient. We could have diversity there and still not have diversity of storytelling and things that reflect the breadth of the black experience.

We can have better storytelling and still be grossly underrepresented. So we need to work towards both. It’s certainly the case that when you have diversity of storytellers, you’re much more likely to get a fuller and more accurate depiction of the lives of black folks and our place in the broader American society and world.

What motivated your decision to include Danny Glover and Issa Rae as panelists?

Danny Glover has been, in many ways, fortunate — he’s tremendously talented — but there are a lot of talented people of color who don’t get to play the diverse and rich roles that he has gotten to play. Issa Rae has used the medium of YouTube and the Internet to get her story out: that’s a real change.

This is the first moment in human history, in which almost all of us have the ability to speak and tell stories to millions of people and hear back from them without mainstream media and gate keepers. Issa Rae, like Danny Glover, is a very talented storyteller. She’s been innovative in finding new ways to tell her story; in the way she wants to tell it, through a medium that literally didn’t exist a decade ago. So, that was the idea behind bringing together this diverse panel, which of course includes Patrice Cullors who has used Twitter to [support] activism and concern about police killings of unarmed black men.

Social media has played a pivotal role in the development of social justice movements, particularly Black Lives Matter. Can you talk about some of the ways technology has impacted activism and differences between today’s black activism and the civil rights movement?

Social media is an organizing tool. So, people [from] far reaches of the country and the globe now know they have allies with whom they can connect. Imagine if Martin Luther King Jr. had access to Twitter — the movement he would have been able to create. Today activists are able to tell their story, organize, and bring people together to demand action; that’s transformative. There are certainly differences between 20^th and 21^st century movements. 21^st century movements tend to be more decentralized, but there are fewer recognizable national leaders. But I think when we look back a decade or two, at the Black Lives Matter movement, we’ll see that there were a cadre of leaders, just as there were in the previous civil rights movement. We’ll see that there were people who exerted tremendous personal courage and leadership, and were the glue that held these movements together.

The event was held at the Harbor View Hotel, Edgartown Room, 131 North Water Street, in scenic Martha’s Vineyard. To learn more about The Opportunity Agenda visit www.opportunityagenda.org.

Written by Rebecca Nichloson. Originally appeared on BlackEnterprise.com

ABC Black-ish Creator, Kenya Barris, Leaves His Mark on Hollywood (2015)

The Kenya Barris mark on Hollywood extends well beyond the creation of his hit series Black-ish on ABC, or his writing for America’s Next Top Model. The producer/writer will pen the film adaptation of the 1970s African American sitcom Good Times for Sony Entertainment, along with veteran producers Scott Rudin and Eli Bush.

Barris is also collaborating with Tracy Oliver for a female-driven ‘Girls Trip Project‘ for Universal Studios, and was recently signed by New Line Cinemato write the screenplay for the new Shaft remake. Although many of Barris’ projects have been comedies, he describes his Good Times adaptation as a dramaedy — the best of both worlds.

What attracted you to Good Times? What do you see as the tone for the movie?

Barris: Good Times was so iconic, in terms of that family and the struggles they were going through were so honest and real. [The writers] didn’t ignore that this was a ‘slice of life’ that a huge amount of Americans were living. The chance to have a voice and to say something as a writer is the ultimate blessing. To have something to say that affects people and makes people want to change their life or be inspired — to hear words come alive — for me that’s the ultimate blessing.

When you think of Good times as an actual show, as much as it was a comedy there was some serious stuff going on. So, I feel like [the film will be] more of dramaedy, to do it any other way would be a disservice to the poverty. The movie is actually a look back. Michael has grown up. He’s in politics and he’s looking back on his life, at something in his life that has affected him and the decision he’s making currently. I was not going to do a spoof of Good times, I felt like it was too important of a [show] to support that.

Tell me about your friendship with Tyra, your upbringing and its impact on your writing.

Tyra Banks is one of my best friends. We grew up together. Watching her—when I was in high school and college — watching her career take off was a big inspiration for me, to know that [success] was possible, coming from where we came from. I feel like that’s what put me in a different place, where if I wanted to make people laugh there was a way to do it and it wasn’t necessarily just a dream scenario. It was something that could actually happen, that I had seen happen. I’m from Inglewood. We were broke growing up, [but] you didn’t know you were broke because everyone else around you was broke. My father got into a chemical accident at General Motors, where he was employed, when I was ten or eleven. We got a big settlement and moved from, basically, ‘ashy to classy.’ We moved out of the hood and I started at a different school. I remember realizing for the first time, ‘Oh. We were broke.’

My mom worked really hard, got me through school and college and when I had my kids I looked around and the world they were growing up in was a completely different world than the one I remember growing up in. That was the inspiration for [Black-ish]. We’re taught that you want to give your kids more than you had, but in doing that I started wondering — with the added things in their life — what were the things that were being subtracted.

Many of the popular shows on television today with lead African American characters don’t deal explicitly with race. For instance, Scandal and How To Get Away with Murder. What motivated you to write a show that, thematically, openly discusses race and black culture?

For all the amazing things that I felt from The Cosby Show growing up, the one thing I looked at was that they sort of [looked over the fact that they were black]. I felt like every day as an African American; as a black person, you’re never not aware of [race]. It’s part of who you are. It’s part of the people who deal with you. So why would you do a show in a time when we have a black president and choose to ignore [race]?

That doesn’t mean it has to be a black show, but it is about a black family. It’s not done in an ostracizing way. To me, the idea of talking about it makes it more inclusive. Conversation is part of what makes America work at its best, and that’s what we were trying to do: start the conversation.

Written by Rebecca Nichloson. Originally appeared on BlackEnterprise.com

The ‘Heart Throb’ Will See You Now: Actor Blair Underwood Says Creatives Need to Make their Own Opportunities (2015)

African American heartthrob, thespian, director and author, Blair Underwood, has long been a staple in black cinema, television and the arts, maintaining a successful professional career for three decades. The two-time Golden Globe nominee made his film acting debut at the tender age of 21 in Michael Schultz’s Krush Groove (1985) and has given emotionally compelling performances in movies such as Murder in Mississippi(1990), Heat Wave (1990), and Mama Flora’s Family (1998), where he shared the screen with acting force of nature, Cicely Tyson.

Currently, Underwood stars in ABC’s hit drama, Quantico (as of 2017), and is director of the independent film, Silent Voice. He returned to his theatrical roots in the world-premiere of Dominic Morrisseau’s Paradise Blue, a play based in Detroit’s Blackbottom neighborhood, at The Williamstown Theatre Festival, July 22 through August 2, 2015.

What advice do you have for young, aspiring African American actors, or those hoping to pursue a creative passion, in terms of career success and longevity?

Blair Underwood: Be creative in how you plan your future. Young people understand that, I think, better than my generation — that the world is constantly spinning, turning, changing, and evolving. As a creative person, you have to find the stories you want to tell, create the characters you want to play. Whatever you’re creating, be true to yourself. You have to watch the market, the patterns and all of that, but you have to be true to yourself. Create what you love. Do what you love, that’s the main thing I would say. Also, decide what kind of creative person you want to be. I have to say that, first and foremost. Do you want to be successful within this industry?

If you want to be successful in a certain industry, you’re going to have to comply with the rules of that industry. If you just want to act, you can act in your backyard and that’s fine. Do you want to be famous or do you want to be great at your craft? Two different paths. Two antithetical paths. If you’re going after fame, you can do a YouTube video and a reality show. [But if] you want to be a great artist, that’s a different path.

There are a number of students graduating from M.F.A. programs in theatre, film, and creative writing with tremendous amounts of loan debt — upwards of $100,000 for some. What advice do you have for these students, in terms of finding a balance between creative pursuits and economic realities? What has been your experience?

I have my own experience, and I have my experience as a parent of an 18-year-old son who’s going to college in September. I’m sure in four years we’re going to accrue a lot of debt. It’s a very good question. When you look at that quandary, if you will, then you have to make some very real decisions about what path you’re going to take, because you have to contemplate making money.

You have to contemplate providing for yourself and eventually others: wives, husbands, children or whatever that may be. Those are your responsibilities [and] that costs money. It’s a very, I think, noble but challenging path in life — the path I took — to be a creative person. We all need to survive. You’re constantly riding that fine line of keeping your integrity but also knowing you have to pay the bills.

What are your thoughts on blacks in Hollywood, particularly the need for stories that expand the African American narrative?

I believe that there’s always room for more, but I also say ‘if you want more, then create more.’ In other words, it’s not enough to stand on the sidelines. You can create your product and distribute your product by yourself on the Internet, on YouTube. There are more avenues today than ever before: Hulu, Amazon.com, Netflix. There’s more than just the traditional route of networks, or even studios for that matter, for movies.

You can make a film for much cheaper today because of the technology. You can make a film with your iPhone. It can be high quality, have a good story and, if it’s good enough, get you attention. Not always, but that’s life. There’s so much that happens to be in the hands of the creator, [now more] than ever before. It’s not enough to say ‘nobody’s allowing me to do anything.’ Go do it yourself.

There’s not enough diversity, but there’s more than there has been in a long time – Scandal, How to Get Away With Murder, Empire. Because of that there are many more opportunities for African American actors in this coming season of new shows.

Written by Rebecca Nichloson for BlackEnterprise.com.

Playwright Dominique Morisseau on Writing, the Theater, and the Unique History of Detroit (2015)

In 2013, theater critic Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review of Dominique Morisseau’s Sunset Baby, described the playwright as a writer “who knows the code for getting under our skins . . .” Perhaps this is what has actor Blair Underwood, two-time Golden-Globe nominee, so excited about playing the role of Blue in her latest work, Paradise Blue. In a BE Exclusive, Underwood referred to the role as “powerful,” but Morisseau, story editor on Showtime’s Shameless, is no stranger to this kind of description.

The University of Michigan graduate has won a monsoon of awards and fellowships, writing plays such as Detroit ’67 (Public Theater; Classical Theatre of Harlem/NBT; Northlight Theatre), Sunset Baby(Labyrinth Theater Co – NYC; Gate Theater- London), and Follow Me To Nellie’s (O’Neill; Premiere Stages). Paradise Blue, directed by Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson, is based in Detroit and centers on an African American trumpeter struggling with whether or not to sell his beloved jazz club.

Tell me about The Williamstown Theater Festival, Paradise Blue, and what inspired you to write it?

Morisseau: I’m from Detroit. My play, Paradise Blue, is part of a three-play cycle about my city. The cycle is called The Detroit Project. The first play was called Detroit ‘67 and that was about the 1967 riots in the city, kind of like what we’re seeing in Ferguson, New York, and all over the country.

The second play in my cycle is Paradise Blue and that’s looking at 1949 during the Jazz era of the city when Detroit had its own little Harlem renaissance, if you will, a thriving black community called Blackbottom, and a black business strip called Paradise Blue where they had automobile shops, lots of bars and nightclubs, and jazz spots. A lot of the great jazz legends used to come through Detroit and play in Paradise Valley. In 1949, a housing act got passed that would eventually lead to the wiping out of Blackbottom and the building of the 75 Chrysler Freeway. Blair Underwood plays the owner of the jazz spot, and [the piece centers on] what happens when the city gets ready to start its Urban Renewal Campaign and get rid of the black folk. [It’s about] who’s on board and who’s not.

Williamstown Theatre Festival produces works that are in practice, transitioning to another city, or getting incubated for the first time with the hope of transferring to another city. So, this is a safe space for things to get on their feet, get in front of audiences,  get tried out and get the chance to move to New York or transfer somewhere throughout the region. It’s also a really special place because it was started by a guy named Nikos Pappas, a Greek man who believed in theater and creating a safe haven and artistic space for theatre makers. The tradition has been going on for several decades now and has new leadership, Mandy Greenfield, who has just taken over as artistic director.

As you know, Black Enterprise believes in African American personal and professional empowerment. What advice do you have for creatives looking to enter the entertainment industry, along those lines?

I definitely think artists of color need to think about how to tell our own stories and make space for ourselves in our respective industries — be that theatre, film, or television. We need to think about not just participating in the telling of other people’s stories, but how to bring the stories from our experiences into the spotlight. It takes more and more storytellers to push their stories forward to create balance in our industry.

I think in order for us to be able to tell our stories and tell them the way that we want to, we really have to tap into our entrepreneurial side and figure out how we’re going to be the leader of our narrative, how we’re going to run our own shows or create our own films, find capital to make our films, and create distribution companies for ourselves. Invest in the opportunities in your community. Build a community around you of like-minded artists that you can create a support system for.

The reason why I was able to transition into television writing is not because I just woke up one day and got lucky, it’s because I built myself — ten years in New York City — a strong community of supporters who, eventually, became my biggest audience and my biggest fans.

A few years ago, I had a premiere of one of my plays in London. I started an Indiegogo campaign to be able to afford housing in London so I could be around to help give shape to my work. We really have to lean on each other and think about where we’re circulating our investments and our support, so that we’re getting it back. Where you put your energy is where you’re going to get it back. Build a foundation—that starts with relationships and community.

There was a New York Times article, “Last Stop on the L Train: Detroit,” about the growing number of artists leaving New York for other, more artist-friendly, cities. Detroit is one of those cities.  How do you think this new influx of, largely non-minority artists, will impact the cultural landscape there?

I was actually just talking about this with some friends last night; some of the actors in my cast. All cities need new blood, mixed with old blood, to keep the city reviving itself. However, what happens with this exodus of people leaving their cities and going to Detroit is that they’re not integrating with the culture that exists in Detroit. I’m not saying all of these [people] are doing this.

A lot of times they just see an abandoned building and they just go and they buy it. But are [they] talking to the people in that community to see what the relationship between that building and the community that surrounds that building is? How can you come in and offer something to that community? You can’t offer something to a community, that it needs, if you haven’t figured out what it needs. Therefore, you’re not actually building with people, you’re building on top of them or you’re displacing them. Detroit has a gifted artist community that already lives there. There are legendary poets, legendary writers living in Detroit, that are from Detroit, that have been building there and can’t get grants from the state of Michigan for the art they’re doing because of these new people coming in. The state is more interested in the new than the old, and that’s the problem across the board.

The people that are coming in have to learn how to bring an idea and offer something to the community that the community needs. You can’t do that if you’re not talking to the community and getting to know them. Many of the artists moving there — not all of them— but many of them are well-intentioned. They’re energized by the idea of the city. They’re interested in trying to shift something. But we, collectively, have to figure out a way for that to happen without making the people who are already there feel like they’re unwanted in their own city.

Reporting by Rebecca Nichloson. Written for BlackEnterprise.com

The Editor’s Role in Cultural Integrity (2015)

In the latest edition of The Best in American Poetry, a widely known anthology of poems, a dynamic poem titled, “The Bees, the Flowers, Jesus, Ancient Tigers, Poseidon, Adam and Eve,” was published; supposedly written by an Asian American poet named Yi-Fen Chou, according to The New Yorker. Except the poet in question is not Asian American at all, he’s a middle-aged Caucasian man by the name of Michael Derrick Hudson, a former teacher in Illinois masquerading as a fictional Chinese American writer.

Hudson cited multiple rejections of poems written under his own name as motivation for developing the borderline offensive, if not entirely offensive, persona. Upon using the name “Yi-Fen Chou,” Hudson’s poetry submissions gained more favorable responses from publishers, with the aforementioned poem appearing in a well-respected anthology.

As news of this case of purposefully mistaken identity spread, criticism has been directed towards Sherman Alexie, editor of the 2015 Best in American Poetry series, for his decision to allow the poem (which he says was published prior to knowing the author’s true identity) to remain in the anthology. On a blog for the series, Mr. Alexie makes an attempt to explain his reasons for keeping Hudson’s poem, stating that it was Mr. Hudson’s “Chinese name,” and his own desire to expand the literary canon to include more women and poets of color, that motivated him to give the poem deeper consideration.

“When I first read it, I’d briefly wondered about the life story of a Chinese American poet who would be compelled to write a poem with such overt and affectionate European classical and Christian imagery,” Alexie told The New Yorker. Adding, “I marveled at how interesting many of us are in our cross-cultural lives, and then I tossed the poem on the ‘maybe’ pile that eventually became a ‘yes’ pile.”

Hudson’s decision to use an ‘Asian-sounding’ pen name, for the sole purpose of getting published, and Alexie (a Native American editor with a desire to publish works by women and minorities) raises it’s own questions concerning culture, race, and the kinds of literature supported by publishing firms. However, it also gives rise to questions about the responsibilities of editors in this ever-changing industry.

Many of the arguments against Alexie’s decision to keep the poem in the anthology, lay in the fact that there are numerous Asian and Asian American poets writing, sincerely, about their cultural experiences in this country and beyond, who are not simply assuming supposedly ‘ethnic-sounding’ names for personal gain. The decision to publish work by an author such as Hudson devalues; not only Asian American poets, but the other writers in the anthology who earned their place in the publication without resorting to dishonesty.

Still the question remains: what is the role of the editor when it comes to ensuring cultural and artistic integrity of written works. In today’s publishing arena, both publishers and writers are faced with unique challenges, and although self-publishing options have decreased the number of gate keepers, most writers still look to publishing companies and editors to bring their poems, novels, and nonfiction to the reading public.

The ‘editor,’ is then faced with the daunting task of reading hundreds of pages of literature written by creative hopefuls — many of them toiling away in adjunct positions, working as bartenders and waitresses, or making a living by other, arguably, uninspired means — all with the knowledge that only a select few will be chosen for publication, and even then the road ahead is arduous at best.

As our society grows more culturally diverse, how we read and what we read will change, and when that occurs the demand for diverse artists and writers with the ability to look at facets of life from more than a westernized lens, will continue to grow and evolve. What’s deserving of, perhaps, more examination with regard to Hudson’s deception, isn’t just that he wrote a poem under a faux name — which some are calling an example of “yellowface” — but that his poem was still published, even after the fact. In other words, Hudson achieved what he set out to do.

What precedence does this set for other non-writers of color? Will other writers also take on faux personas, names they deem African American, Hispanic, Middle Eastern or Asian, under the assumption that doing so will increase their chances of getting published? Only time will tell. But let’s hope that, in end, truthfulness of expression reigns; not just displays of truth.

SimonSays Entertainment CEO, Ron Simons: From Software Engineer to Creative Producer (2015)

Ron Simons, founder and CEO of SimonSays Entertainment, is a force to be reckoned with in the world of film and theater. His critically-acclaimed roster of produced films include Night Catches Us; starring Kerry Washington and Anthony Mackie, Gun Hill Road, Blue Caprice, and Mother of George; all of which premiered at The Sundance Festival. He’s produced numerous successful Broadway productions, such as the Tony-award winning revival of Porgy and Bess, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, which won the Tony award for Best New Play.

In addition to producing, Simons is also an actor, having performed in theatrical works, film, and television. The multi-talented creative and businessman started his career as a software engineer at companies like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Microsoft, and holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and an M.F.A. in acting from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program.

BlackEnterprise.com caught up with Ron Simons to discuss SimonSays Entertainment and producing, his corporate background, and his education.

SimonSays Entertainment values artistic integrity, as well as commercial viability. Can you talk a little about that?

Simons: My first project, Night Catches Us, was a film about two former Black Panthers who reunite in 1970s Philadelphia. It was a period piece. I’m very proud of that film. It was a labor of love for everyone. But there are some things that I might have been able to do differently, had I been more savvy and in the industry longer, that could have made that film commercially viable. All of my projects have, so far, creative integrity, but they haven’t all been commercially viable. I’ve learned a lot of lessons between my first film and my more recent film.

What motivated you to get an M.B.A. in addition to an M.F.A. in Acting?

Before I got my M.B.A., I was in corporate America as a software engineer. I developed knowledge-based systems, or artificial intelligence systems, for fortune 500 companies. I was encouraged by my current employer to get a Ph.D. in computer science, which they would pay for, and then come back to work for the company because it was a small AI company and most of the staff there had Ph.D.’s from Stanford. So I reached a crossroad where I had to decide if I wanted to go deeper into the technology side or more into the business side. I decided that business would be more in tune with my goals of leadership, so I ended up going to Columbia Business School. When I graduated from Columbia I started working at Microsoft and was there for a number of years. Then I reached a crossroads in my career when I was offered a promotion with the company. This little voice in my head had been quietly murmuring –- I refer to it as the dream deferred –- about acting. So, I thought that was a good time to get my head out of the sand and decide that leadership and entrepreneurship was going to be my goal or whether I wanted to move into the arts.

How has your corporate experience impacted your role as a producer?

SimonSays Entertainment, as a producing entity, is the nexus where all the paths of my life meet; where I can leverage my storytelling skills as an actor, my business skills as a business man, everything I’ve ever learned in corporate America and my analytical studies in computer science. In my job as a producer, I have to touch upon so many different areas. I’m a creative producer, so for me it’s all about story. My acting has helped me tremendously in that regard. A lot of producers don’t know story because not all producers come from the arts, in terms of writing or acting or directing. So they have the technical side perhaps, but maybe don’t have the artistic side. Also, there’s times when it’s important for me to understand the technology. When I deliver a film, it has to be in various formats and these formats are fairly technical. Producing uses all that I’ve ever learned, ever done in my life.

There has been a decline in moviegoing, along with what some are calling the Golden Age of television. Has the audience shift from film to television influenced your business?

From a percentage standpoint, the answer is yes. I’m not abandoning film. I’m developing content for film, as well as television, as well as the web. I’m a content provider. My goal is to create content for the variety of platforms that are emerging. I have developed content for film. I’m now developing content for television [and] for the web. I’m developing educational content that is going to be delivered through CDs. I’m expanding and highly diversifying my content. One of the things you learn in business school is that if you diversify you lower your risk.

To learn more, visit www.simonsaysentertainment.com.

This article was written by Rebecca Nichloson

ABC’s Black-ish Star, Anthony Anderson, Shares his Love for Food and Family (2015)

Anthony Anderson, Emmy-nominated actor, comedian, and star of ABC’s hit comedy series, Black-ish, recently stepped into the kitchen to try his hand at cooking. The star teamed up with renowned chef instructor Jeffrey Jimenez, of Le Cordon Bleu in Los Angeles, California, to mix and match flavors, recipes, and learn tips for creating his own culinary wonders with farmers market finds.

Dabbling in the world of cooking and ‘chef-hood’ is familiar territory for the entertainer. Anderson hosts the popular Food Network series, Eating America With Anthony Anderson, where he visits food festivals across the country to help master chefs cook up regional culinary delights. Past episodes documented trips to the Eight Flags Shrimp Festival in Amelia Island, Florida, the Texas Crab Festival in Crystal Beach, and the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience in Louisiana, where he sampled dishes from more than 70 NOLA-loved restaurants before joining the competition for the coveted title: ‘King of Louisiana Seafood.’ Additionally, Anderson served as a judge and competitor on Iron Chef, and competed on the popular Chopped (alongside actress Teri Hatcher, Antonio Sabato Jr., and Dawn Wells, for its Celebrity Holiday Bash).

BlackEnterprise.com spoke with Anthony Anderson to discuss his passion for cooking and its ties to his family and loved ones.

The art of cooking, particularly in African American culture, often has strong correlations with family, relationships, and tradition. Is this also true for you?

Anderson: I come from a medium-sized family–three brothers and sisters and a mother and a father. Cooking was our time to come together growing up, especially with me being involved with the High School of the Performing Arts, theater, other productions on the weekend and after hours, and my brothers playing sports. Dinner was the one time when we all would come together and catch up about what was going on at work with my father, at work with my mother, what play I was doing, or what audition I was having.

What sparked your interest in cooking?

I learned how to cook out of necessity. One day my mother decided she wasn’t going to cook anymore. She got addicted to a game called bingo; she still plays it 35 years later. But she just left one day and said, ‘I’m going to play Bingo. You’re gonna have to cook tonight. You’re daddy’s going to be hungry when he gets home from work so you’d better have something ready.’ And that was it.

Were there any chefs in particular who inspired you early on?

I grew up watching The Garvin Gourmet and Julia Child. So, that afternoon I watched Julia Child roast a chicken and I was like, ‘Alright. I guess that’s what I’m gonna do tonight.’ There’s was chicken in the refrigerator that was supposed to be cooked, my mother was gonna fry it – she didn’t – and it was a whole chicken. We had citrus trees in the back yard and a couple of avocado trees, so I went out and grabbed some lemons and some oranges. I remembered what Julia Child did. I put some butter between the skin and the meat. I put some onions, some fresh herbs with the lemon and the oranges, and made some boxed potatoes and canned corn. My father came home from work and said, ‘You’re mama put her ‘foot’ in this tonight.’ I was like, ‘actually I cooked that.’ He looked at me like, ‘You cooked this?’ I said ‘yea’ and he said, ‘Well, what we eating tomorrow?’ So that’s how it came full circle for me; that’s what cooking is about for me. My first real meal that I cooked was met with so much appreciation. I loved watching my father eat and enjoy it. I loved watching my brother and my sister–she was just a baby at the time –I loved just watching my brothers eat and enjoy it, that brought me joy. That’s why I love doing what I do in the kitchen now.

Watch Black-ish at abc.go.com. Written by Rebecca Nichloson