TRACEE ELLIS ROSS
One of the talented Ross clan, Tracee excels in TV series Black-ish
AWARD WINNER Tracee (44) recently landed a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Dr Rainbow Johnson, a biracial anaesthesiologist in the award-winning sitcom Black-ish.
In the show Rainbow’s hubby, Andre (Anthony Anderson), struggles to keep his middle-class family in touch with their black cultural identity.
The actress says the show explores “weighty, sticky, sharp topics” in a funny way – and without making fun of the topic. “The show is genius,” she says. “It’s not about us being black, it’s about us being a family. That’s groundbreaking – on TV black characters either happen to be black or they’re the ‘black character’ where everything they say is about being black.”
FAMOUSLY NORMAL FAMILY Although being the daughter of music icon Diana Ross (73) came with some unique experiences – such as having the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, as a close family friend, regular visits to the White House (former president Barack Obama is a fan of Black-ish) and lots of international travel – Tracee says her family life was pretty normal.
“My mom woke us up for school every morning and was there at dinner or would call at bedtime. She never left for longer than a week. She recorded while we were sleeping. I never heard my mom say, ‘Not now; I’m busy’.”
Tracee’s dad was Diana’s first husband, music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein. “He’s personable and charming. I get my sense of humour from him,” Tracee says. She has four siblings, actress Rhonda Ross Kendrick (45), TV producer Chudney Ross (41), film producer Ross Naess (29) and actor Evan Ross (28).
MODEL START As a teen Tracee wanted nothing more than to be a supermodel, so her well-connected mom arranged for her to walk the runway for designer Thierry Mugler alongside her supermodel idols Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington. The fashion show happened to fall on her 18th birthday. “Everything has been downhill from there,” Tracee jokes. “I peaked at 18!” She went on to carve out a successful modelling career but feels she was always more of an actress. “It would drive the photographers crazy because I’d giggle and tell jokes. I was gregarious and, looking back, I realise I had a captive audience. One of the photographers was like, ‘Can you stop talking and try to look sexy for a minute?’ ”
REAL-LIFE SINGLETON She fell in love with acting after taking a class at university and landed her first movie role at the age of 24. Her big TV break came with the series Girlfriends, which critics dubbed the black Sex & The City. Tracee played Joan Clayton, a successful lawyer looking for love. “Rainbow, my character in Black-ish, is an evolution of Joan to a certain extent, in that everybody wanted Joan to get married and have kids.”
But in real life Tracee’s more Joan than Rainbow – she’s still enjoying the single life.
ON-SCREEN LOVE “The thing I think is really interesting about Rainbow is she actually loves her husband and he loves her. The comedy doesn’t come from them hating each other – which is what TV couples are usually based on. Also, she’s not simply a reflection of her husband. She’s her own whole self. She has a full life.”