Rose, 44, was recently at the Sundance Film Festival, promoting a new BET series, \u201cThe Quad,\u201d which premieres Feb. 1. Rose plays Eva Fletcher, president of a fictitious historically black university, who is tasked with saving the school from bankruptcy in between navigating personal struggles. The show explores the rich history of black colleges in the U. S. and the battles that many are facing now. While en route to the airport, Rose talked about the role and her desire for more opportunities as a black actress in Hollywood.
I got a call from [director] Rob Hardy asking me to read the script and telling me that they really wanted me to be part of this. I read it and I was pleased with what they had put on the page. I thought it was something interesting and different. We just went from there.
I would guess that as a student, I wasn\u2019t so concerned with those issues, but certainly they were around. Our school was never in peril while I was there, so that\u2019s a great thing. But we know that the government has been trying to defund HBCUs since [President] Reagan was in office, so it was always something that we were aware of every year. If your school is a state school, you don\u2019t know what programs are going to stay, what programs are going to be cut, and whether or not it will be dealt with as respectably as your counterpart schools.
I think anybody who went to college at all can relate to the show. There are things that are specific to that experience, but I think even within that specificity is something that people who went to college can deal with. Anybody who was a scholarship child knows what it is like to possibly lose that scholarship and be worried about how are they going to continue paying for school. That situation is not relegated to HBCUs. People being away from home and dealing with grown-up issues for the first time. Anybody who\u2019s ever been a fish out of water, I think can connect to that watching this show.
That\u2019s interesting. I like all three. I don\u2019t like to get stuck in one or the other. I really like to and I\u2019m thankful to be able to bounce back and forth. I love film because it allows me to travel and take in new cultures, and that\u2019s thrilling and exciting to me and fun. It\u2019s finite, which is great. Theater is the thing that I\u2019m always going to go back to. I feel like it\u2019s the thing that makes you sharper and stronger and better, and so I\u2019ll always do that. And I\u2019m doing TV now, so we\u2019ll see. This is only the second time I\u2019ve done series work, so it will be an interesting adventure.
No, it\u2019s not my intention, it\u2019s Hollywood. I think that with some things, of course, I chose because they spoke to me and I do happen to be a black woman. But in Hollywood, people aren\u2019t running up to black women about scripts that aren\u2019t talking about blackness. I think that whenever I have the opportunity to be doing something that isn\u2019t centered around my ethnicity, it would be very, very exciting to do. Unfortunately, I work in a field where it\u2019s rare that you find people who are expanded enough to look past what they think your skin is and what that means about who you are.
Oh, my God, I\u2019d love to do a romantic comedy. I\u2019d love to do just a plain old comedy that isn\u2019t centered around who I am or what the world thinks my skin means. I\u2019d love to be in an action film, like a superhero fantasy-type thing. That\u2019s the type of stuff I love. It\u2019s just very rare that I get the opportunity to be in that conversation \u2014 absolutely, that\u2019s would I would love to do. Foreign film is on my mind. If I could have to learn a language to do something, that would just thrill me to no end.
I couldn\u2019t say that. I think sometimes we have a couple steps forward and we have five steps backward. Sometimes we have a couple steps forward, and everyone\u2019s like \u201call right, great, we\u2019ve done that this year.\u201d And then people aren\u2019t thinking about it. I think it would be lovely if it wasn\u2019t something that we had to actively make a choice to do. That if they just cast somebody because of their work and because they\u2019re really good at what they do. I would love to be able to step into that state. I hope so, but time will tell.
I think I draw inspiration from people. When I\u2019m in New York and I\u2019m walking down the street, everybody I see is some sort of inspiration for what I do. And they fill me. They allow me to create. I\u2019m very thankful for each person that I run into, whether we have a one-on-one connection or they never even notice me looking at them, I\u2019m thankful for all that humanity gives me daily.
So-called sanctuary cities were once places of refuge. A surge in media mergers is expected under Trump\u2019s pro-business agenda. Chinese New Year begins tomorrow. Grocery store tomatoes are often tasteless but researchers at the University of Florida have discovered a game-changer.
A Cal State Northridge study identified up to 40 locations used for illegal sex that could be safeguarded by the addition of street lamps or the trimming of trees.
Thirteen custom cars will compete for the \u201cAmerica’s Most Beautiful Roadster\u201d award, vying for a 9-foot-tall trophy and $10,000 in prize money. (Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)
Mayor Eric Garcetti speaks about the City Council’s vote on Los Angeles‘ bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. (Video by Jeff Amlotte \/ Los Angeles Times)
Mary Tyler Moore was a beloved TV icon who symbolized the independent career woman. Does widespread voter fraud really happen? President Trump has signed two executive orders on immigration. The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 20,000 for the first time Wednesday.
Mary Tyler Moore was a beloved TV icon who symbolized the independent career woman. Does widespread voter fraud really happen? President Trump has signed two executive orders on immigration. The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 20,000 for the first time Wednesday.<\/p>\n