A Quote by Mickalene Thomas

All of my experiences modeling, acting, doing theater, it's all in the work now. And the work freed me to transform myself. — © Mickalene Thomas
All of my experiences modeling, acting, doing theater, it's all in the work now. And the work freed me to transform myself.
Chicago theater vs. New York theater. There's just nothing to say about it really. If you've seen Chicago theater, you know that the work is true to what is there on the page. It's not trying to present itself with some sort of flashy, concept-based thing. It's about the work, and it's about the acting you're about to watch. So acting-based theater feels like it was born there to me.
I used to be a bit obsessed by acting but not anymore. I do enjoy acting but I probably enjoy it more now because it's easier. I can't work in the theater because to me it's too serious. It's like being in prison for me. I admire people that can do that but I can't do it. I'd rather live my life and do a bit of acting in between.
I'm going from doing all of the work to having to delegate the work - which is almost harder for me than doing the work myself. I'm a lousy delegator, but I'm learning.
I have to entertain myself. An easy way to explain it is I worked in NY since I was five-years-old doing modeling and commercials, and that's a completely different world than in California where I think there's different dreams and aspirations of maybe being a so-called 'star' and so forth. Here you do your work, whether it's theater or commercials.
When I was younger, I did work with coach. I went to this place called Actors Space in the Valley. I was pretty young, and we were doing acting and improvisation. But no, no I didn't go to RADA, I didn't do that. But I do now work with an acting coach, primarily for the initial intellectual connection to the material.
I don't do so much acting work now, as there aren't the parts except for 'Tango'. So if I didn't have the cabaret work, I don't know what I would be doing.
I'm at the point in my career now, where I can take a bit of time to find exactly what roles are that I want to do and not work myself into a corner. I love acting and I love who I'm becoming, as I evolve as a human being. My work is an important part of me, which may or may not be healthy, so I need to do things that I love. I want to tell interesting stories, discover things about myself, and other people. The only way to do that is to not take jobs that feel repetitive or boring to me because then you're stuck doing that job instead of finding the thing that speaks to you.
My work is nice, natural, it's never "been there done that," my work remains very interesting without losing my soul - because it's really me, and I am always honest with myself. I don't care what's in or out, I just listen to myself. And it's very nice to able to work like that. At the beginning people might have wondered what I was doing, but now they know my line, my evolution, I'm respected for that and that's a wonderful feeling.
I wouldn't call myself a feminist. I am just me. I like boxing and acting and doing my charity work.
I love acting. Modeling is fun, too, but I feel like there is more room to stretch yourself and open yourself up to new experiences with acting. That's why I got into acting in the first place.
Having my brain doing different work is helping me a lot in terms of retro-feeding from the other experiences. It makes me feel inspired, looking forward to the projects and wanting to work harder.
I did some background work for a movie called 'Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius' in Atlanta and got bit by the bug. That was it. I saved a few thousand dollars and packed up my car. I had hoped that I would start working just doing some modeling stuff or something while I studied acting. I thought I could support myself that way.
Marrying the right girl is even more imperative today than it was when I was 23 years old because it's so much harder to get on as an imaginative writer like me now. You need to have somebody who believes in what you're doing and who never is skeptical about what you're doing. My wife thought it was a great thing for me to be a writer because in practical terms it freed her to do what she wanted to do, which was work.
I consider myself a writer. I always wanted to act, and as a teen, I studied acting devotedly. Eventually, I got writing work, but very little acting work.
After I went on 'Drag Race,' I was allowed to do so many things. I was allowed to do theater, commercial work, television work, modeling, fashion design, and it was great. But the thing with reality television fame is that it's got a pretty quick expiration date.
I feel like you have to pull from some personal experiences [to acting]. At least that's how I work sometimes. It's just easier that way. And I try it as best as I can and kind of dissolve myself and become a character, not me, or just blur the lines.
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