Madam Secretary

Season 4 M-Net (*101) 20:00 Drama

Running a press room is difficult at the best of times and “a million times more unpredictable when you throw politics into the mix,” explains Patina Miller. She plays press co-ordinator Daisy Grant in Washington-set drama Madam Secretary (2014-current) and admits that being involved with how a country works “is scarier than the thought of childbirth without an epidural”.

Patina is more afraid of heights 1

than anything and almost passed on the lead role in theatre play Pippin in December 2012 because she had to be on a trapeze above the stage. She used calming meds to get through it.

She also knows what she’s talking 2

about when it comes to childbirth – her 2017 pregnancy was written into the show and Patina gave birth, without epidural painkiller, to her daughter Emerson with venture capitalist hubby David in August 2017.

The 33-year-old took up acting in 3

high school because it let her live her dreams of being a stage singer. “I’d been in the gospel choir all my life and acting was the natural progression,” she says. “I didn’t expect to love it so much. It’s second in my life only to my family.”

Patina was almost cast as singer 4

Effie White in 2005 biographical drama but lost to Jennifer Hudson in the last round of auditions. Jennifer won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the role.

And while she enjoys office work 5

for her Madam Secretary role, she isn’t shy about her dream role: “I want to be in a Marvel superhero movie with a strong black female. I got a taste of action as Commander Paylor in dystopian thriller movies The Hunger Games [2014 and 2015] – now I want more!”