Page 35 - April 18 Issue

ACTRESS: NICKI MICHEAUX CULTURE

I N T E R V I E W E D B Y J E S S I C A L A U
Changing the Culture One Role at a Time

When I met Nicki Micheaux, she had a strong yet humble presence. Nicki Micheaux was great to
work with, and she’s a natural on camera, the obvious reason being that she’s on camera pretty

much 24/7. She wore a beautiful blue dress and called it “casual wear,” which surprised me. We
initiated the conversation with the story about her origins as an aspiring actress. Nicki studied
acting in college, where there were few roles held by African-Americans back in the day. Despite
that factor, she persisted to get leading roles every single time, which I truly admired.

Her ongoing perseverance and fearlessness eventually led her to the fame and stardom that she
holds now as an actress in many big name films and television shows, including Lincoln Heights
and Lowlife. We discussed some of her prominent roles, such as the character Crystal from

Lowlife.

Nicki said it was fun and interesting to play that character in that she can be as wild as she

wants with no regrets! When asked if there were any challenges to playing drastically different
roles, Nicki replied that there are no obstacles and she always went all out on every character
she played

From a cultural viewpoint, she feels that the film industry is still dominated by white privilege.

Sexism is strongly present in the field as well, as females still do not have as many leading roles
as their male counterparts. Her suggestion to people who are marginalized in the industry or

35| TNE MAGAZINE | APR2018