Photo Courtesy Of Numa Perrier
WHERE ARE YOUR RIGHT NOW AND HAVE YOU ALWAYS LIVED THERE?
I’m in bed next to my six year old daughter in downtown Los Angeles. It’s 5.30 in the morning. She’s sound asleep and I’m able to answer emails or just rest quietly. We’ve lived in this loft space for over a year now.
WHERE WERE YOU BORN AND RAISED?
I was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and raised in small town USA. Very small towns including a farm in Skamokawa WA, population 300 at the time.
WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR CITY OR HOMETOWN?
I love Los Angeles. I can get lost in this city or stand out - it’s whatever I want it to be.
WHAT WERE YOUR INFANT ASPIRATIONS?
To be loved.
WHY THESPIAN AND THE CREATIVE FIELD?
I can’t explain why. I’ve always been drawn to imagining and creating and expressing feelings and experiences. I’ve always loved drama and humor and costumes and stages. Then I fell in love with cameras and I think they loved me back. To me cameras are not inanimate, they are some form of almost human. So movies and what cameras can do with emotions and moments became a rich relationship for me both in front and behind the lens. That tied with my love for language and writing created the actor/filmmaker hybrid that I am.
WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND TRAINING?
I trained with Milton Katselas in my early 20s before he passed away. He really took me under his wing and I still refer to his teachings in all aspects of life, but he gave me a strong training in acting and living life as an artist. A big theme of his was do it now. Follow your impulses and don’t flinch. I also trained with Polina Klimovitskaya who does kinetic work and animal work which gave me another valuable layer. I became a rhinoceros in her class which was hilarious and strange but also a very good analogy for me. She has an experimental theatre company. She’s like the Pina Bausch of theatre. For voice, I trained with David Farkas who developed a method that’s deeply about the body and taught me to know the difference between my real/honest voice and the one that’s hiding who I am. He was intense. Anyone who trained there knows exactly what I mean. My voice is much richer for it though. Now I study and work with Jocelyn Jones who was a student of Milton’s for decades. She is the balance of all these teachers and has a great studio in L.A. where I can work on both acting and directing.
WHAT OR WHO HAS HAD THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON YOU?
I was adopted at an early age and this has been the greatest influence on my life. It was the first disruption, the first shift that lead me to where I am now.
WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?
I’m very visual and sometimes psychic/clairvoyant. I will see a flash of something in my mind that triggers a strong feeling that I don’t have a word for. From there I know there’s something I want to create or say. I’ll write it down or just let myself feel it a little more - become excited by it. Then logic kicks in towards making it happen. Sometimes it all happens swiftly and other times it’s slow or choppy. I do my best to arrive at an end point though and share the work.
WHAT THEMES DO YOU SEEK TO EVOKE IN YOUR WORK?
I want to impinge. I’d like my work to enter others dream states. I often work on projects that are focused on women and rituals. Mundane rituals particularly fascinate me such as the rhythm of putting on a bra. Relationships and intimacy are important for me to keep exploring. Lust. Unconventional family dynamics. Memory. Also the life of inanimate things. The politics of pleasure.
HOW DOES YOUR AESTHETIC TRANSLATE ELSEWHERE?
I consider most things I do to be a form of my art. My home is minimal yet cluttered. I love big windows where the sun can come in yet prefer candles or dim lights. These opposites are part of my aesthetic. My personal style also swings from dramatic statement pieces to very minimal or muted monochrome garments. I like the idea of occupying two ends of a spectrum and that presents itself in most things including my lifestyle and work.
HOW DO YOU SPEND A DAY OFF?
Most creatives/artists recognize we have these intense bouts of work and then a potentially dangerous down time where everything seems to be at risk. Emotions, Finances, etc. Days off are deliberate. Mine looks like a day alone; no child, no lover, no friends over. Just me not doing much except maybe ordering in sushi and binge watching something from the 00’s.
HOW DO YOU UNWIND?
Good rum on ice always does the trick. Shared with good company, even better.
WHERE ARE YOUR RIGHT NOW AND HAVE YOU ALWAYS LIVED THERE?
I’m in bed next to my six year old daughter in downtown Los Angeles. It’s 5.30 in the morning. She’s sound asleep and I’m able to answer emails or just rest quietly. We’ve lived in this loft space for over a year now.
WHERE WERE YOU BORN AND RAISED?
I was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and raised in small town USA. Very small towns including a farm in Skamokawa WA, population 300 at the time.
WHAT'S THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR CITY OR HOMETOWN?
I love Los Angeles. I can get lost in this city or stand out - it’s whatever I want it to be.
WHAT WERE YOUR INFANT ASPIRATIONS?
To be loved.
WHY THESPIAN AND THE CREATIVE FIELD?
I can’t explain why. I’ve always been drawn to imagining and creating and expressing feelings and experiences. I’ve always loved drama and humor and costumes and stages. Then I fell in love with cameras and I think they loved me back. To me cameras are not inanimate, they are some form of almost human. So movies and what cameras can do with emotions and moments became a rich relationship for me both in front and behind the lens. That tied with my love for language and writing created the actor/filmmaker hybrid that I am.
WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND TRAINING?
I trained with Milton Katselas in my early 20s before he passed away. He really took me under his wing and I still refer to his teachings in all aspects of life, but he gave me a strong training in acting and living life as an artist. A big theme of his was do it now. Follow your impulses and don’t flinch. I also trained with Polina Klimovitskaya who does kinetic work and animal work which gave me another valuable layer. I became a rhinoceros in her class which was hilarious and strange but also a very good analogy for me. She has an experimental theatre company. She’s like the Pina Bausch of theatre. For voice, I trained with David Farkas who developed a method that’s deeply about the body and taught me to know the difference between my real/honest voice and the one that’s hiding who I am. He was intense. Anyone who trained there knows exactly what I mean. My voice is much richer for it though. Now I study and work with Jocelyn Jones who was a student of Milton’s for decades. She is the balance of all these teachers and has a great studio in L.A. where I can work on both acting and directing.
WHAT OR WHO HAS HAD THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON YOU?
I was adopted at an early age and this has been the greatest influence on my life. It was the first disruption, the first shift that lead me to where I am now.
WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?
I’m very visual and sometimes psychic/clairvoyant. I will see a flash of something in my mind that triggers a strong feeling that I don’t have a word for. From there I know there’s something I want to create or say. I’ll write it down or just let myself feel it a little more - become excited by it. Then logic kicks in towards making it happen. Sometimes it all happens swiftly and other times it’s slow or choppy. I do my best to arrive at an end point though and share the work.
WHAT THEMES DO YOU SEEK TO EVOKE IN YOUR WORK?
I want to impinge. I’d like my work to enter others dream states. I often work on projects that are focused on women and rituals. Mundane rituals particularly fascinate me such as the rhythm of putting on a bra. Relationships and intimacy are important for me to keep exploring. Lust. Unconventional family dynamics. Memory. Also the life of inanimate things. The politics of pleasure.
HOW DOES YOUR AESTHETIC TRANSLATE ELSEWHERE?
I consider most things I do to be a form of my art. My home is minimal yet cluttered. I love big windows where the sun can come in yet prefer candles or dim lights. These opposites are part of my aesthetic. My personal style also swings from dramatic statement pieces to very minimal or muted monochrome garments. I like the idea of occupying two ends of a spectrum and that presents itself in most things including my lifestyle and work.
HOW DO YOU SPEND A DAY OFF?
Most creatives/artists recognize we have these intense bouts of work and then a potentially dangerous down time where everything seems to be at risk. Emotions, Finances, etc. Days off are deliberate. Mine looks like a day alone; no child, no lover, no friends over. Just me not doing much except maybe ordering in sushi and binge watching something from the 00’s.
HOW DO YOU UNWIND?
Good rum on ice always does the trick. Shared with good company, even better.
Enjoyed this interview as much as I enjoy her creative process on Black and Sexy TV releases. Beverly Hill Playhouse students always doing something great, especially those from early on. And shout out to rum and ice, yes yes! - Filmmaker Dean
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