Ready for more
Thriller continues Marsha Stephanie Blake’s stellar run of standout roles
Marsha Stephanie Blake logs onto the Zoom call looking like a million bucks. It’s noon on a weekday in December, and the “I’m Your Woman” actor is calling from New York, where among other things she has celebrated virtual movie premieres, attended protests, sewn masks for essential workers, campaigned to get out the vote and filmed a Netflix show inside her home during the pandemic.
In such an unprecedented time, multitasking has been a big part of Blake’s life. “I was getting all dressed up because I have to tape an audition,” she explained with a laugh. “Normally, just to talk to you, I would not look like this. I would look like I’m in remote school all day long, with a first grader!”
Among her recent stellar supporting turns, Blake’s performance as Teri in Amazon’s 1970sset crime thriller “I’m Your Woman” stands tall. In her nearly two decade career, the last few years in particular have seen the character actor flourishing on film and TV screens in indelible roles such as Rosemary in 2019’s “Luce”; opposite Viola Davis on “How to Get Away With Murder”; and as
Linda McCray, the devoted mother of wrongfully accused Antron McCray in “When They See Us,” for which she was Emmy-nominated.
With director Julia Hart’s “I’m Your Woman,” Blake embraced a character who’d already been through the ringer and come out stronger by the time she enters the picture.
This interview with Blake has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: We haven’t seen a lot of women like Teri in the movies. She’s fierce and capable, she has a tender side, and she carries such a quiet power.
A: I loved the character of Teri for so many reasons, and a big part of it was that I often have played women in the middle of a traumatic event. And a lot of what I’m going through are very intense, emotive, emotional, quite heartbreaking things. And what I loved about Teri was that we were meeting her after that trauma, and she was now helping someone else navigate that. I loved her strength and her silence. She doesn’t speak a lot. She’s a still waters run deep kind of woman, and I loved that about her.
Q: What did it add to your performance to have input into, say, how Teri might dress?
A: These choices are not ones you’re always a part of as an actor. There have been times where no one asked me; I was a mannequin, and they put clothes on me. With “I’m Your Woman” costume designer Natalie O’Brien, we had a conversation — I did the same thing with my hair and makeup people — and usually no one talks to me, but this was people calling me saying, “What do you want? What do you like? What don’t you like?” I felt so empowered. Natalie helped me craft an idea of Teri: Even though she has this wall, her wardrobe was conveying a warmth that maybe she herself was trying to hide or resist.
She has these incredible trench coats that also convey her strength and her confidence … (O’Brien) dressed me in the scenes that I had to feel power and confidence, and I definitely felt that. It would be me throwing my hands into a trench coat, and I’d be like, “Yes. Let’s go.”
Q: You filmed car chases and nighttime stunts on this film, and on the opposite end of the difficulty spectrum, some of your co-stars were actual babies. What was life on set like?
A: In one scene, we had to eat peas over and over again, and whenever you have food and babies and you have to eat real food over and over again, it can get a little bit tricky, because no matter how good the food tastes, by the 20th take you’re like, “I will never eat peas again for the rest of my life.” But we were all in it together. And
Julia herself is such an amazing artist, but she’s also such a mom that she was always concerned about how we were feeling.
She was always like, “Are you guys OK? I’m going to eat some of these peas to make you feel better.”
Maybe it was because of the babies on set, but everybody brought their good energy. I could bring my kids to the set, and I didn’t feel weird about it because Julia was like, “Bring the kids!” …
There was one union African American makeup artist in
Pittsburgh where the film was shot. One! And Julia got her for me. And in the hair department, we have gone through Black women coming forth and saying, “Can somebody please address this hair problem that we have to deal with on set when it comes to our hair.” … And Julia said, “You don’t have to change your locs. I found someone who did research and found locs in the ’70s.” It was such a relief to hear a director say, “Come as you are.” Just to hear someone be like, “You’re fine, your hair is beautiful, we found someone who is excited to work on your hair with you and do whatever you want to do.” That’s a big deal.
Q: You’ve given incredible performances in projects such as “When They See Us” and “Luce,” to name a few. Have these characters felt particularly meaningful to you?
A: I love the difference between Rosemary in “Luce” and Linda McCray in “When They See Us” because while I have all of them in me, they are not me. Maybe a bit of
Linda McCray, that mama bear, is more who I am. Maybe a little bit of Teri. But Rosemary? I don’t feel like that’s me. However, there but for the grace of God, right? Because it could just take an incident for that to become me. An incident, a break, a physical or emotional trauma, anything. So I always think that as much as I feel like those characters are different from who I am, they are a part of me. They are me.
Rosemary is one of the few roles that I can watch myself in without wincing because she doesn’t look like how I outwardly present myself to the world. … It’s harder for me to watch myself in “How to Get Away With Murder” … because “Murder” is so much closer to how I am as a person.
People keep asking me, “What do you want to do next?” Listen, I amhappy with what I was doing. If anything I want to write more and maybe get more into the behind the scenes stuff — producing, writing, maybe directing down the line. But I was pretty happy with mywork. And this is hindsight, right, because in the moment I’m never happy! In the moment I amstressed out, I feel like I have to work harder and try harder and do more. But as a whole, I amhappy. I just want to do more.