A conversation with CCH Pounder
CCH Pounder is currently in Guyana where she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Guyana. Stabroek News was fortunate enough to catch up with her last week for a short conversation on her career and contributions to the arts
She is well known as Dr Loretta Wade from “NCIS: New Orleans”; others familiar with her biodata, know she is renowned Guyanese-born, American actress Carol Christine Hilaria (CCH) Pounder.
Pounder has starred in several popular TV shows, including as defence attorney Carolyn Maddox in “Law & Order SVU” and “Sons of Anarchy”, but she also has a fascinating personal story that involves growing up on the West Bank Demerara in Guyana, attending a Catholic boarding school in England, and receiving little support from her parents to pursue her dream of becoming an actress.
Opening up about her upbringing during the interview, Pounder said, “I had a very interesting mother. Whether there were humble beginnings or not we didn’t notice. When they ran out of funds, it was just time to come back home. It’s time to do this. Moving on to the next thing. So I never got the feeling that I was from humble beginnings,” she said.
Added to this, even though she and her family were living in England they were seen as rich because they had migrated to England via America.
“So I was the American; you know, they have riches, according to how the world sees us. So I was in England. Even though I was from Guyana, I was that girl that’s from America. Big difference. And so I was treated very well as a foreign student. And I was with the elite of the African students abroad,” she explained.
Before migrating, Pounder lived at Versailles, at the time a sugar estate, where her father worked. It was while she was being educated at a Catholic boarding school in Sussex, England that she first realised the film industry was meant for her.
“I, up until 1975, had no idea that I was going into the film business. I was in the theatre. I was rocking it. I felt like I was doing really really well… [But then] I had a cricket ball accident. I got hit at the base of my skull,” she recalled. “I was in a boarding school run by nuns and the nuns thought, ‘Perhaps if we gave her poems she’ll repeat them and her memory will start to come back’. Well, that didn’t work. I became like a great rote memorised person. But what happened was, there were another two sitting making sure that I got it right, and then there was a nun or five or 10 that would come and just sit and be entertained by my repeating poems. I didn’t even realise that I was not just repeating but actually performing and I liked their reactions. So I was like, oh ‘I’ve got an audience’. I think that was my first introduction to the fact that voice and words could do something.”
Revealing that her parents initially disapproved of her decision to become an actress, Pounder spoke about the challenges she faced pursuing a career in the
arts. Still, she acknowledged that many Caribbean parents, like hers, often discourage their children from such careers, hoping instead that they will become doctors, lawyers, or other traditional professionals considered more stable. Over time, she said, her parents came around and eventually supported her and were rewarded by seeing her play the roles of all the professions they would have liked to see her take up.
But despite the lack of encouragement, Pounder persevered and followed her passion, becoming a successful artist who has been recognised for her work with several Emmy nominations. Yet, her success as an actress did not come without a price.
She shared that some of the roles she has played have affected her negatively. On this note she recalled one particular experience that changed her outlook on the film industry and eventually the parts she agreed to play. That followed her appearance in “Miami Vice”, playing the role of a crackhead who sold her baby for money.
“It was an acclaimed episode. When I was walking down the street; parent and child. The child recognised [me] and said, ‘Dad that’s that lady!’ And the father, it was very subtle, he said ‘Yes, they’re all like that’. It was the moment I realised the power of the industry. That what you see is what educates you. So if you’re constantly seeing drug addicts, murder, shooting, dead people, people with ill repute, if you’re getting fed a constant meal of this, things are happening here. There’s some assumptions that are being made,” Pounder said.
That made her decide to change the way in which she influenced the world and her people (blacks and women) for the better. She related that she approached her agent and told him she wanted strong characters who were people of authority and had good jobs.
Initially, her agent was reluctant to give her a chance, but a change of heart took place after an opportunity came for her to
play the role of a judge in “LA Law”. Against the misgivings and negativity that came from both her agent and those involved in bringing the show to light, Pounder produced a dossier of facts and reasons why she deserved the part. Needless to say, the naysayers were impressed as she read the script and she was given the role.
Pounder also put to rest the thoughts and questions of viewers, regarding the seemingly effortless way in which actors show emotion. According to her, what she does is tap into the bag of emotions which she possesses. These emotions, she said, come from years of different experiences like, loss or the death of a loved one.
“You actually have to tap in very quickly to some tragic moment…, So, I think, after a while, your body starts to react in the same way as that character that you’re playing. And sometimes it can stay with you for a really long time,” she noted.
In order not to have to carry her characters into her real life, Pounder does what she calls a cleaning of her brain, her heart, her organs. How does she do this? Well, having strong Guyanese roots has helped.
“I’m usually on location while filming. So it’s going home, going to your comfort place that you recognise, eating your foods that you know. And that’s where Guyana comes into play because I still, at this point, demand pepperpot, metem … curry… I have to have those sorts of comfort foods to get me back to a place where okay, this is back to the beginning. And then I can go off and do the next thing,” she explained.
Pounder went on to discuss the need for the film industry to develop in Guyana, pointing out that there is a wealth of talent waiting to be explored. Despite being an oil-rich country, the actress noted, Guyana’s real “gold” lies in the many talented people walking its streets, waiting to be recognised and given a chance to shine forth.