Checking in with
JASMINE DAVIS
For Jasmine Davis, her breakthrough role as transgender hairstylist Imani in “The Chi” has proven to be therapeutic.
The trans actress often uses the Method – an acting technique that requires the actor to immerse oneself in their character’s mindset and motivations – to create a character. So she will often fall back on experiences from her own past to inform behavior on screen, which also means reliving and working through a lot of pain.
But she has a coping mechanism for that.
“It’s actually embracing it and learning how to manage it,” explains Davis, who like her character is a South Side Chicago native, “and that’s when I took this character on knowing that there are going to be some things that I’m going to be triggered by being here . ... So to do it in a very healthy way, I know that I have to let these triggers affect me but how can I manage it in a healthy way? And so I learned to do that through my acting coaches and my therapy, it’s like managing it, accepting it. How are you going to manage it? You know, make sure you’re aware of this. How does it make you feel?”
In Season 4, which premieres Sunday, May 23, on Showtime (and Crave 1 in Canada), Imani’s world expands as she opens her own shop and interacts with more of the community on Chicago’s South Side. At home, she’s settled into domestic life with boyfriend Trig (Luke James), and together they’re now raising Jake (Michael Epps), of whom they became guardians in Season 3.
“People don’t get to see these type of relationships and families on TV,” Davis says. “You know, even though they exist in real life, we don’t really get to see a transgender woman with a guy who is heterosexual raising a kid, going to school and Imani’s stepping into the mother role and trying to help nurture and mother this kid to get him on the right path.”
Full name: Jasmine Cree Davis
Birth date: April 8, 1991
Birthplace: Chicago
Education: Studied to be a nursing assistant at Parkland College in Illinois; an alum of Second City in Chicago
Family ties: Raised by a single mother along with five siblings; single with no children
TV credits: “L.A.’s Finest,” “Downward Doug” (short)
Movie credits: “Deviants” (TV movie; 2018); “The Downside of Bliss” (forthcoming)
Favorite book: “It was an old one called ‘The Four Agreements.’ ... I try to reread it every year. My first therapist gave me that and I was like, ‘What is this book about?’ It took me like a few years’ time to understand the concept of the four agreements. The other book, I would say, is ‘The Secret.’ Learning about manifestation and learning that I was a manifester, that a lot of the things in my life that I manifest. So I would say, ‘The Secret.’ And this new book that I’m reading from Caroline Leif, it’s called ‘Mind Management.’ Learning more about your brain and your mind, how it’s different, how to manage your mental health because I’m all about mental health, especially after 2020. So I would say right now, those three are my favorite books.”
Favorite movie: “I would say my favorite movies ... are ‘Harlem Nights,’ ‘The Neverending Story’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ And ‘Scarface’ with Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino. I went to see Michelle Pfeiffer forever after watching that movie (laughs).”
Favorite musical artist: “When it comes to rap ... I will say Drake, J Cole, Logic, Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj. Taylor Swift – I’m a big Taylor Swift fan ... . Mariah Carey, love her; Whitney Houston, Shakira ... Britney Spears (and) Billie Eilish.”