Phylicia Rashad discusses dreams

Actor on following one’s dreams and realizing her own

PHYLICIA Rashad never thought she was beautiful. At age 11, she was so skinny that “if I walked down the street and someone was laughing, I knew they were laughing at me.”

“My legs were sticks with two knots in them for knees,” she recalls.

But that year she was chosen as the mistress of ceremonies in a citywide talent contest.

“I stood in a spotlight for the first time and couldn’t see anything but the light. In one hand was the manuscript of what I was supposed to say, but I had it memorized,” she says. “I just talked into the light for the longest time, even when the mothers came to collect their children.

“I heard one of them say, ‘There is a little girl up there who speaks so beautifully. Isn’t she beautiful?’

“Manna from heaven! At that moment, I said ‘I know what I want to do with my life.’

“‘I’ll play in the light and be beautiful,’ ” the beloved stage and screen actor says.

At age 72, the Emmy and Tony winner voices the mother of the main character in the Oscar-nominated animated film “Soul.” Rashad also has a key role as Randal Pearson’s now live-in mother-in-law on the NBC hit “This Is Us.”

What is your idea of the perfect Sunday?

Phylicia Rashad: A long walk, a good book, a cuddle with my cats and a nice, juicy peach cobbler.

How have you coped with the pandemic?

It’s so weird, but weird is the new normal. Who would have known you could do so much work from home? As for the bigger picture, here is how I make sense of it: I believe life is a continuum. I always tried to teach my children that to understand life is to embody a kind of fearlessness and at the same time an acceptance.

Who do you trust when times are tough?

If women are lucky they have an amazing community of friends. I have a wonderful community of Black women who are my go-to ladies. First, there is my sister, Debbie, and then my friend Jenna, and my other good friend Michelle. Everyone needs a sisterhood.

Your role on “This Is Us” has been considerably amped up this season now that you’ve moved in with Randal and Beth. What was the appeal of the show for you.

I love that she’s a very strong woman with a definite point of view. She also reminds me of some teachers I knew in high school who were like this lady. She looks at you and says about half of what she’s thinking. It’s on you to figure out the rest. In the end, she wants to help. She’s quite disciplined and strong because she knows that’s what will see you through in the end.

You’ve said that you didn’t think you were beautiful as a young girl. Describe your childhood.

I was all about climbing trees and throwing mud pies. We had a lot of fun. There were hard times, too. My parents divorced when I was 6. As a child, you don’t understand all of what that is, but that word resonates in your mind. I am most grateful that my parents had the good sense and common decency to allow us to love them both. It makes all the difference in a young person’s life if the family splits.

What was your first break?

I was 19 and spent the summer in New York City to work with the Negro Ensemble Company. It was the bee’s knees. We did plays on Monday nights. There were all these fabulous actors there, and we went deep. That was my beginning. It was so energizing and soul affirming to do this work with these people.

Let’s talk about “Soul” for a moment, which features an almost all-African American voice cast. Is this a breakthrough?

“Soul” just felt very natural to me. Of course, I look forward to a time when it’s so natural to everyone that this question need not be asked.

You are one of the main voices as the mother in “Soul” who insists her son follow his dreams. Are you this kind of cheerleader in real life?

This is how I look at it : Just because you push someone to follow his or her dreams doesn’t mean you’re not giving them a gut check at the same time. People have dreams, but they might be a little leery of following them for more practical reasons. Or some of us don’t trust in inner inspiration. I feel sometimes it’s a real gut check to tell someone to be bold enough to believe in their dreams. Believing is the first step, and then you get into the doing to make that dream come true.

Did you ever have anyone tell you to find a new dream?

At the end of my freshman year of college, we had a speech teacher who was well intentioned. One day, she addressed the class and said, “You know, you really should think of another vocation. There is no room for the negro in the theater.” She was serious. When I went that summer to work in New York,

I knew there was room for me and a whole lot of other people.

What’s next?

I’m looking to direct. And I’m constantly asking myself: What can you do that you haven’t done in life? Those kinds of questions are like seeds. You have to constantly plant your seeds in your soil.

‘ People have dreams, but they might be a little leery of following them for more practical reasons. Or some of us don’t trust in inner inspiration. … Believing is the first step, and then you get into the doing to make that dream come true. ’

Elijah Nouvelage The Associated Press Emmy and Tony winner Phylicia Rashad, 72, says she was 11 when she realized that acting was “what I want to do with my life.”