Olivier Award Winner (Best Actress in a Musical), Amber Riley graces the Knockturnal’s eighth digital cover for an exclusive one-on-one about the making of her first feature film, Nobody’s Fool.
Despite it being her last interview of the day, she filled the empty room with as much joy and enthusiasm as the first.
“I got up maybe like five in the morning,” she tells me, “and I took a bath so I could get relaxed and get back in bed. And then I got back in bed and opened my eyes like, I’m in a movie.” Her eyes widened and she repeated, “Like I’m in the movie. I’m in it! Like for real.”
We took the next few moments to celebrate her first feature film, which she says was a different experience for her mentally than working on a TV series or live performance.
“I wasn’t always in the center I guess you could say. Or I didn’t have an ark. Whereas [in the film] I am carrying and living this character every single day. And when I show up, I gotta remember what happened in the beginning of the movie. It’s not like we’re shooting the film in sequence–it all has to make sense,” she said.
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Amber Riley, from left, Tiffany Haddish and Tika Sumpter in a scene from “Nobody’s Fool.” (Chip Bergmann/Paramount Pictures via AP)
In the film, Tanya (Tiffany Haddish) is released from jail and reunites with her sister, Danica (Tika Sumpter). While Danica battles with the true discovery of her online prince charming and a local coffee shop owner, Callie, played by Amber Riley, acts as sort of a third sibling and confidant to Tanya and Danica, and offers heartfelt advice on navigating relationships.
Though the film was shot in just ten days, Amber was an agent in building chemistry with her scene partners Tiffany Haddish and Tika Sumpter, which she described them both as “cool, down to earth chicks.”
“You know we only had ten days! So either we were going to show up to the set and like each other, or we were going to show up to set and fake it real, real good,” she said while laughing. “Me and Tika have met a couple of times before and so has me and Tiffany throughout the years. And me and Tiffany are both from LA–she’s from South Central, I’m from Compton,” says Amber.
The involvement in the film might be a bit of a full circle moment for Amber. She says, “I grew up in California so I didn’t have the theater atmosphere that the UK has or New York [has]. So most of the stuff I watched was on PBS and those were all old musicals like Cats. So my first introduction to a musical in that way was Madea’s Family Reunion,” which she deems as her favorite Tyler Perry production outside of Nobody’s Fool, of course!
She recalls watching it on a bootleg VHS tape and says, “I told [Tyler] I’d pay for it. Give him his little twenty dollars,” and laughs at how her mom would pass around the same, one tape for all of her friends to record.
The Tyler Perry classic was impactful for Amber. She explained how drawn she was to the music and Tyler’s incomparable history in entertainment as she remembers anticipating his next and newest production.
I asked Amber what it was like working with him: “I didn’t actually know what to expect,” she says, “it was that commanding presence. Like a regal presence on set. This fatherly presence where I could tell the whole crew wanted to make a good impression and do a good job for him.”
Amber is no stranger to hard work and bringing her A-game, proven in both her title win of season 17 of Dancing With the Stars, and performance in Dreamgirls on The West End.
I commended Amber for her stellar performance as Effie and vividly recall tears falling down my face and everyone else’s at the Savoy Theatre while watching her perform I Am Changing. It is here where Effie proves to herself and everyone who will listen that she is worthy –despite the limits everyone has placed on her, she rises to stardom and begins to come into her own.
I am worthy and it’s OK for me to say so. I’m worthy, and I deserve to be in the room if I’m in the room!
There’s no doubt that Amber’s journey and experience in the industry is what helps her inspire others who relate. Since the early stages of filming Nobody’s Fool, Amber has learned something valuable that I believe each of us can learn, too.
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“I am worthy,” she says, “and it’s OK for me to say so. I’m not being conceited or anything like that but within myself and who I am, not based on anyone else, I’m worthy, and I deserve to be in the room if I’m in the room!” This is something Amber just recently learned, she claims, at 32 years old, in the beginning of the year when deciding to take on this new Tyler Perry production.
“You gotta know it because nobody is going to tell you. And if they do, you’re not going to believe them if you don’t believe it yourself,” she says.
I asked Amber what progress for women in Hollywood she believes to have made either in her present role as Callie, or in other roles: “I’m a plus size, brown skin, black woman in Hollywood and I got a role based on who I am and my acting ability and I am a champion for seeing more women that look like me playing roles where they get to look good and be sexy and fine, you know! So if someone can see me in this movie and they see themselves, as with any role that I play, I feel like I did my job and did my part. If it can inspire you to go after your dreams just doing something that I love, I think that’s pretty incredible,” she says.
For that reason, one thing that I wished the film would have shared, which was absent, would be Callie’s love story. Amber says, “I think Callie is a player. I see Callie as the kind of girl who probably came from a rough place and she’s just satisfied with doing what it is that she’s doing. She’s gonna go ahead and let Danica climb those mountains and fight those monsters and she’s gonna help her do it, but you know, I’m cool with my desk job. You know, I get my check every week! I feel like she’s that, so I would imagine in dating she’s kind of just like, I get it when I want it and when I don’t, I don’t wanna deal with it. Which is probably just me. You know what I’m saying?” She says and follows up with a smile.
We then had to know a bit of Amber’s personal take on dating especially as a women who has been in the Hollywood spotlight for over 10 years.
I am a champion for seeing more women that look like me playing roles where they get to look good and be sexy!
“I think it’s just important for everyone to know themselves. Like, know thyself,” she says. “That is just something I feel everyone should get tattooed on their forehead so when they look in the mirror and get up in the morning, they don’t go out the door acting stupid. Know yourself. I’m 32 years old and by now, for most people, I should be married and already have kids. You know when we were younger we said ‘when I turn 24 I want to be married and have children.’ We’ve always said that but we live in a different time. We don’t live in a time where women are just staying home and being mothers, which that’s also a hard job and an incredible decision to make. But we live in a time now where we have more opportunities and we want more! We want equity in this world. So I feel like people just need to make sure that they know themselves and do not rush into a relationship because you want to be with somebody.”
And whether dating, filming, or recording, Amber always makes time for what’s important. She has a special holiday tradition that she looks forward to each year with her relatives and loved ones. “The cool thing is that sometimes my mom’s birthday falls on Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving is really my favorite holiday because of that,” Amber says. “And also because I love my family so much. It’s a time where we all can just come together and have dance-offs, have cook-offs, sometimes we break the piano out and all of us will sing, sometimes we watch movies and not really watch the movie because we’re talking through the whole entire thing and everybody’s arguing and everybody’s mad and then they go home, and we still love each other [laughter]. Thanksgiving is a big thing for me and my family.”
We look forward to the many platforms this wise and talented performer will use in the future to showcase her gifts, including future projects with Amber at the forefront all through producing, directing, and working on scripts. She’s currently back in the audition room, after having a continuous flow of work since Glee. “This was my first year getting back to auditioning. So it’s a whole new ball game. The self-tapping, you know all of those things are new. I’m auditioning for film and for television,” she says and is in the studio working on an album where she’d love to have her friend, recording artist, Jazmine Sullivan featured.
Stay tuned for more and check out Amber Riley’s newest film, Nobody’s Fool in theaters now.
