Subscribe to Mstars News!
Sign up for our weekly news updates by entering your email:
Recently, Mstars News exclusively spoke to Empire's Serayah McNeill who talked about her role as Tiana Brown on the Fox's hit show. The star clears up if her character is Rihanna, Teayana Taylor and/or Beyonce, which cast member she's close with and what she likes to do on her down time.
MStars News: How has your life changed since appearing on Empire?
Serayah McNeill: It's changed a lot. I'm a lot more busy now and I get to do a lot more activities as far as singing and I have a lot of auditions now. It's just really, really busy and it's fun thought. I have a lot of fun doing it.
MN: As you play your character, do you ever find similarities between you and your character?
SM: Yes. As far as us doing music and performing and things like that and wanting to be a performer, I definitely connect with her in that aspect. But that's about it. Her personality's a lot different than mine.
MN: The infamous lesbian kissing scene! What was your parent's reaction to it?
SM: They knew before they saw it, so they kind of dealt with it before everyone else did. They just understood where the artistry was coming from as far as acting, and that's about it. They were okay with it; I think she's dramatic.
MN: I'm a fan of the show. When I saw your character "Tiana" reminded me of Rihanna. I'm like okay this is clever, Tiana Brown- a mix of Rihanna and Chris Brown. Then Teyana Taylor recently said that your character's based off of her. Can you clear up who you're really based off of, or if it's multiple artists?
SM: There was a lot of inspiration, but as far as singing or my sound, that's me, but I guess the look that they were going for was really Beyoncé and Rihanna, so those comparisons I can understand because that's what we actually talked about for the character. But yeah, those are about it that I talked to the directors about, they gave me those names because obviously they're one of the two biggest women singers right now today, so those are the comparisons they gave me.
A video posted by @ambitiousmereb on Apr 2, 2015 at 12:09pm PDT
MN: So when you were casted, you said Lee Daniels loved you. What did he love about you, what did you do differently during the auditions?
SM: Yeah, I'm not really sure. They just said that he loved the rawness of my audition tape. He loved me, my singing, and my look most importantly. I guess it was the look that sold him for the character. So he wanted to keep my hair poufy and curly the way I wore it in the audition and that's basically how she came about.
MN: What's your relationship with the cast? Is there anyone that you've built a relationship with and you're close to?
SM: I think we're all pretty close. I think a lot of us do hang out outside of work, but I wouldn't say, I don't know. I don't know, we all kind of hang out together so I'm not sure who's closer to who.
MN: How has your life been with the newfound fame? Is there anything that you hate about being a celebrity?
SM: Well, I don't think so. I just think that I know on a bigger scale you wouldn't have any privacy, but I'm starting to get used to that aspect of it, or trying to wrap my mind around that aspect of it. It's kind of hard, but I think that would probably be the only thing I wouldn't like about being a celebrity, but everything comes with its perks.
MN: With your new fame, how's your relationship with your friends and your dating life?
SM: With friends, I kept a small circle before this, so I mean everyone's still my friend and hasn't changed in any way. But as far as dating, that doesn't exist right now, I don't date and I don't have a boyfriend. I don't know how that's going to go, how that's going to play out. Right now, no. And it does get kind of weird because you don't know why people are hitting you up or why, it's gets kind of, it's a touchy subject.
MN: After your first season, you saw yourself on TV, and now you're picked up for a second season. Is there anything that you've been critiqued about that you want to change, or that you've critiqued yourself about that you want to improve on?
SM: Yeah, I mean definitely. I think as a performer I'm always critiquing myself, watching myself over and over to be like okay don't make that face or certain things, acting, just to push myself more. I think I started to get it as far as Tiana, but there's a big, a lot of things to learn in the acting world so I definitely, definitely critique myself and want to do better and do more things.
MN: As a person of color in Hollywood, what do you think of the amazing success of Empire, which features a mainly all-black cast?
SM: I think this show has definitely set a mark for a lot of, and paved the way for a lot of ethnic and African-American shows or actresses or actors to come up and really be able to be on top. With Empire being number one and it being mainly ethnic based is amazing and we don't see a lot of that. I always talk about Scandal as well because it's just amazing to have a lot of our African-American women and men to be able to have such powerful roles and to be number one. So I think it's a great, great thing that it's happened now and a lot of other shows are going to come about now from it. So I think it's good, it's awesome, it's time.
A video posted by Serayah (@serayah) on Jan 31, 2015 at 3:24pm PST
MN: Being so young, do you ever feel like you have to prove yourself when it comes to your acting? Do you ever feel like you have to prove yourself?
SM: I feel probably some people just don't get me, or they don't get my story maybe. People think I just woke up and just ran into a wall and ended up on TV, but I actually have been wanting this my whole life, like how they did, but I just never had the connection, or I never had the opportunity to work with big names and to be singed or to have a start, a big start that people would've had just growing up. So for me to be here now, it's kind of like a finally for me and it's a starting point for me, but a lot of people look at it like what, where did she come from? Some people may not get it, but I feel like I've been working and watching them, so I've been working my whole life as well.
MN: What do you like to do on your "normal person" time?
SM: I like watching Scandal and I like watching Atlanta Housewives. They're funny. And I like Love and Hip Hop: Los Angeles or Hollywood, whatever one it is. And I also, I just like; I work out and meditate, or go to church or go to the movies. I do a lot of stuff with friends and the beach and stuff that's normal and that I've always done.
© 2024 Mstars News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
