Today we’d like to introduce you to Adilah Barnes.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I began as an actor when I was in high school. I was sixteen years old and I was in Upward Bound, a three-summer college preparatory program at Cal State Chico. We had a choice of two electives and I chose Drama. For the three summers I was in that program, I took drama classes. My very first play that summer was playing the Queen in A.A. Milnes play The Ugly Duckling.
Fast forward over 50 years. My award-winning acting career has spanned work on stage, film, TV, commercials, and voiceovers. Some of my more notable film credits include the award-winning Erin Brockovich, Murder by Numbers, Iron-Jawed Angels, and Little John. My TV credits include NCIS, Shameless, The Middle, Harry’s Law, and six seasons on the top-rated ABC series Roseanne. I have also extensively toured my own one-woman play, I AM THAT I AM: WOMAN, BLACK, which has toured 40 states and three continents including the U.S/Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. I am also an educator, having taught students from kindergarten to seniors. I have taught workshops and private sessions from beginning actors to celebrities. Some of my more well-known clients include Benjamin Bratt, Toni Braxton, Chris Brown, Florence LaRue, and Freda Payne. As a writer, I am a published author. My book On My Own Terms: One Actor’s Journey has the distinction of being named Essence Magazine’s #3 paperback behind President Obama’s two books in June 2009.
I also founded the Writer’s Well, an international literary retreat for women in Georgia. Writers have come as far away as Ghana, Puerto Rico, and throughout the United States, representing such genres as autobiographies, solo plays, screenplays, children’s pictorial books, and academic writings. As a producer, I co-founded the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival in 1993. In our 27-year history, we have produced well over 600 solo artists from around the globe, including those from France, England, the Netherlands, Russia, Australia, India, South Africa, Brazil, and Canada. We have also served over 3,000 youth in the L.A. Unified School District. Our outreach efforts have included programming for seniors, at-risk youth, ex-offender women, homeless, and low-income artists. We have also offered writing workshops that develop new works and, in some cases, have been presented on our main stage. I also developed my online talk show Adilah for Rainbow Soul, part of BlakeRadio.com. This program focused on interviews with celebrities, most of whom I had personal relationships with, allowing for a trust and comfort in our interviews.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Because I began as an actor at age sixteen playing the character of the Queen in a colorblind-casted production, I began believing I could play any role, regardless of ethnicity. My husband was Anglo with brown hair, our daughter was blonde with blue eyes, and her suitor was chocolate-brown. We were cast based on talent. Given that, I have never felt limited in the kinds of roles I could play. In fact, some were written for other ethnicities, but I was cast instead. My road has not been totally smooth, yet I have been blessed to have a career that has had less challenges than for some actors. At the same time, I have had to sometimes fight to make sure that how I portrayed African American women was positive and now as a veteran actor, roles may be less plentiful, but I still reserve the right to choose roles that I want. Given that, I have sometimes passed on roles that I felt were not right for me or that I felt may have been seen as negative cultural portrayals. On two occasions, I could have been fired for standing up for my beliefs but prevailed in both cases.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I particularly specialize in my roles as an actor, producer and author. In terms of stage, I am most proud of my one-woman show I AM THAT I AM: WOMAN, BLACK for a number of reasons. It is my contribution to keeping black history alive by portraying seven historical figures through time. They include Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Neale Hurston, Lorraine Hansberry, Angela Davis, and Maya Angelou. This labor of love has touched hearts and spirits in venues that include theatres, colleges/universities, festivals, museums, galleries, juvenile halls, and more. I would like to think that what sets me apart from many artists is my multi-disciplined career, demonstrated passion and commitment to women’s voices, and a career of longevity of over 50 years. I also have been able to make a living as an artist that has even allowed me as a solo artist to buy my home.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success as doing what one loves regardless of monetary gain. I also define success as leaving an indelible mark that will always be remembered, no matter the field. Finally, I define success by the personal satisfaction and accomplishments that one garners from the work that has been shared, transported, and touched others.
Pricing:
- On My Own Terms Book – $19.99 My book On My Own Terms: One Actor’s Journey is available on Amazon and Barnes&Noble.com. Autographed copies may also be purchased directly at http://dev.adilahbarnes.com/.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: http://adilahbarnes.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adilah_barnes/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adilah.barnes
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/adilah_barnes?lang=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcOYOXVz0RmitZw7N8FdKow
- Other: IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0055481/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1445861.Adilah_Barnes
Amazon Author: www.amazon.com/author/adilahbarnes
Writer’s Well: http://writerswellga.ipower.com/index.html
Image Credits
Photographers include Larry Coleman Photography and Unique Thomas.
