Daily Inspiration: Meet Hillary Hawkins

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hillary Hawkins.

Hi Hillary, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I remember when I was just a little thing looking at the television from all angles, trying to figure out HOW I COULD GET IN THERE!!! I wanted to be INSIDE the television!!! My mom sent me to a modeling school, Barbizon, and it was there, at the graduation that a manager came up to me and asked, “Would you like to be an actress?” I was so EXCITED, like “YES!!! YES!!!” So I begged my mommy to let me be an actress and by the grace of God she said YES! I started as a child actor doing commercials, industrials, a music video and had a blast performing musical theater at Crossroads Theater in New Brunswick and acting and singing on Nickelodeon!

Then, my parents made me go to college, Smith College, so I did a double major in Spanish and Creative Writing. While at Smith, I was able to also study at Mt. Holyoke and Amherst College. I studied film production and Jazz Voice at Amherst and took lots of writing courses at Smith and also took a writing course at Mt. Holyoke. So even though my parents made me go to college and I’m not sure I’ve fully gotten over it lol (cause I really wanted to fly back out to LA and ACT!!!), the good news is that it was while I was in college that I wrote “Stuck For A Reason.” Thanks to my Uncle, who recently passed, I found out about a TV show called “African American Short Films.” My uncle encouraged me to submit my short “Stuck For A Reason” and glory to God, it was selected! It ended up on ABC, CBS, NBC & FOX and now is on Amazon!

I would like to thank Larry Rosen, the director, Tyrell Jason the DP; actors Adrian Arthur (Tupac from “Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le”; Jerome in “Stuck for A Reason”) and Julia Yoler (Beverly in “Stuck for A Reason”) and the whole entire Hillary Hawkins Production team as well as Lisha Rigney, Frank Badami & everyone over at BadamiTV! And I guess my parents too because if it weren’t for them making me further my education, who knows if I would have become the WRITER I am today! Shout out to Andrea Hairston! I learned a lot from Andrea Hairston while at Smith, I feel like she really helped me to grow as a writer. Thankful for all her classes and all the notes she would give me on my scripts while I was in school to help me make them better. Now, I am the creator of a new series ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE and I also get to act in it with a super-talented cast of actors that I love! Visit: https://www.hillaryhawkins.com/actorsanonymoushotline to watch the show and check us out on IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27800719/

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been a smooth road. It’s been a struggle. As a child actor, I experienced some challenges because of my skin color and the way I talk.

My skin color has not been easy firstly because there just weren’t as many opportunities for me as there were for the white girls I went to school with. I remember being over at my friend’s house and her saying she couldn’t hang late cause she had an audition in the morning. We both had the same agent and she was surprised I didn’t have that audition. Then she looked at the character breakdowns and NONE of them called for a black girl. My friend commented she didn’t understand why they couldn’t make one of the girls black.

Then when opportunities did start coming around for a “black girl”, I wasn’t light enough. They really wanted the “Halle Berry” type… Please watch episode 9 of ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE “Light Skin Dark Skin Asian Persuasion” to understand https://youtu.be/wWIPwa4gMIA

On top of all that, they took issue with the way I talk. I guess I didn’t quite fit the mold of their preconceived notion of what a black person is supposed to sound like because I’m educated and speak proper English. Check out my book “The Whitest Black Girl You Ever Met” to understand. But I am an actor so I know how to play into the stereotypes of what the industry feels or felt a “black girl” should be like but back in the day, they wanted “the real thing”, as if the way I talk and how I was raised makes me less of the “real thing?” I don’t know. Please read the book to understand. It’s short, just ten pages, and it ranked #1 New Release on Amazon in 15 Minute Biography & Memoir Short Reads. https://www.amazon.com/Whitest-Black-Girl-You-Ever-ebook/dp/B0BLKZDQ9N/. Also, feel free to watch the upcoming August 1, 2023 episode of Actors Anonymous Hotline: “The Whitest Black Girl You Ever Met (Part 1) to further understand…: https://youtu.be/_vnltXmxHuU https://youtu.be/y6NsFlNbkFw

Thankfully, a part finally came along where I could just be me! I landed the lead role of Tiffany Warren on “In the House” starring LL Cool J & Alfonso Ribeiro. I would be playing the role of Debbie Allen’s daughter. I had the contract and everything! But because I was a minor at the time, it was going to take some time to process as the courts had to approve the execution of the contract… Before we could even get to the courts, would you believe they took the contract away and gave it to someone else? That’s show business for ya! Still kind of cool that I had the part, even though I never got a chance to work with the rest of the cast. Hopefully, I will still be able to someday. Anyway, shout out to Casting Director Jaki Brown-Karman! I will always remember her and am so thankful for her and the opportunity! Shout out to my childhood managers Elissa Leeds of Reel Talent Management and Shirley Grant Management and all the awesome agents. I was just a kid at the time. I was a REAL KID!!!! Then they decided to give the role to a grown woman. Oh well. C’est la vie. No shade, congrats to her. On the bright side, now I’m the “grown-up” playing lots of kid roles! LoL And I love it!

I think the entertainment industry is like comedy and tragedy for real. On the one hand, some of the best moments in my life are because of acting! Like when I got to be the Host of Nick Jr.! That was my DREAM COME TRUE JOB!!!! Thank you to my agent Barbara Coleman over at Innovative Artists, casting director Melissa Chusid, director Jonathan Judge, assistant director Jeremy Slutskin, make-up artist Sherri Berman Laurence, producers Adrienne Torrisi, Kevin Weist, Holly Gregory, Hilary Wolk, & the whole Nickelodeon team!!! Can’t wait to see what my next big break will be!

But it gets kind of depressing that I was on TV literally EVERYDAY and then what. Then who wants you. Then you wait and wait and wait for someone to book you and the rejection, I can’t take it. It hurts a lot. So I decided to start creating my own projects and creating opportunities for other actors who just need a chance, an opportunity, someone to BELIEVE in them and say YOU CAN DO IT! (“You Can Do It” is the name of a song I wrote by the way, it’s on my album “Let’s Imagine A World of Love” available on Amazon, iTunes / Apple Music, Pandora etc. And here’s the music video: https://youtu.be/QzHJe44VnkM and here’s an article on that: https://www.nickalive.net/2018/01/former-nickelodeon-and-nick-jr-star.html?m=0) Anyway, because I’m an actor, I know what it feels like. One of my missions in creating ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE is to offer COMPASSION and tender love and care to actors because actors need love too… No one said the entertainment industry would be easy, but I feel like actors could use an extra dose of love… I love actors and am thankful for the actors that seem to love me! I think the fact that we’re all coming together to work on ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE will hopefully do a lot of good for all of us involved and all who watch the show, even if it’s as simple as putting a smile on someone’s face. These actors make me laugh, I hope they make you laugh too.

But getting back to the struggles, I confess there were other struggles I faced not only as a person of color but as a female. But we’ll save that for another article at another time when I’m in another state of mind.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Right now, I am most proud of ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE. This is the first time in my life I’ve created and produced a FULL SERIES! We just had the mid-season finale on May 1st https://youtu.be/wHiY_is71jE and are returning on June 1st @ 1pm PST with more ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE! https://youtu.be/BvE3-mHlnJw Every month we have a new episode on the 1st of the month at 1pm PST! I’m proud of all the actors that are bringing these characters that were once just words on a page to life! We have a strong and highly diverse cast and I just love them!

Aside from that, I am a voice actor. That’s my bread and butter. I perform voiceovers in various accents and languages for TV, Film, Radio and more. Lately, I’ve been working on cartoons and commercials. I love working on cartoons. They’re fun! And commercials are so quick and easy to do; I love it! www.HillaryHawkins.com/Accents is where you can hear some of my voice-over work in English and if you explore the Voice Over Artist tab you can hear me speak in different languages.

I believe it is my knack for languages and my strong ability to speak in different accents that set me apart from other voice talents, as well as the fact that I am able to do kid voices including little girl voices and kid boy voices with ease. I’m the voice of the little girl in the UNICEF video “The Drivers of Violence Affecting Children” and the voice of the little boy’s Miles and Eddie in the Metro Los Angeles animated videos online! I am the voice of Rachel in a really cool animated series by Believe Limited called “Stop The Bleeding!” as well as the voice of Amal in Genndy Tartakovsky’s “Primal” (Cartoon Network Studios). I worked as an ADR Celebrity Voice Match for Tyler Perry’s “Acrimony” and have worked as an ADR Voice Actor for a variety of TV Shows such as “The Chi” by Lena Waithe, “Black Lightning” created by Salim Akil, Marvel’s “Luke Cage” created by Cheo Hodari Coker & more! My versatility and of course, GOD’S GRACE keeps me working… And the best part is, I’m making a living off of DIRECT OFFERS as a Voice-Over Artist! That’s right! GLORY TO GOD! They just offered me the part! THANK YOU! GOD IS GOOD!!! Check out my book “How To Become A Voice-Over Artist Spiritual Keys To Success” if you would like to embark on a voice-over career. https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Voice-Over-Artist-ebook/dp/B07CYJCC7V

I LOVE my voice-over career! I get to play sooooooooooo many more characters as a Voice Actor than I was ever able to play as an on-camera actress because as a voice actress, it doesn’t matter what you look like, it boils down to talent and I thank God for my talents! One minute I’m doing a voice-over with a Caribbean Accent, the next minute an African Accent, the next minute, I’m saying something in Swahili, and then back to Spanish. And I’ve got really cool agents over at VOX (shout out to Tom Lawless and Micaela Hicks!!) who get me. They understand how diverse I am and I appreciate it. Now I’m incorporating foreign languages including Brazilian Portuguese into ACTORS ANONYMOUS HOTLINE on-camera, so watch out! I plan to spread love all over the world!!!!!!! And guess what? I also speak English fluently! LOL

While as a child actor, I was probably best known for my work on Nickelodeon, I hope to now be known as SUNNY LOVE, here to make every day sunny and full of LOVE! www.HillaryHawkins.com/ActorsAnonymousHotline

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Oh yes! I am a big fan of self-help books, specifically SPIRITUAL self-help books. I have been blessed to be able to narrate numerous spiritual self-development audiobooks. They help me and I hope they help lots of people. Anyone who would like to hear can type in “HILLARY HAWKINS” at www.Audible.com and www.audiobooks.com and they should pop up! Some notable audiobooks include “Oprah”, “Your Word Is Your Wand” & “The Game of Life and How To Play It” by Florence Scovel Shinn, “At Your Command”, “Out of This World” & “Feeling Is The Secret” by Nevil Goddard; “Creative Mind” & “Creative Mind and Success” by Ernest Holmes, “As A Woman Thinketh” and so much more! https://www.hillaryhawkins.com/audiobooks-audible-spiritual-selfhelp.html Also narrated several books of the Bible! www.HillaryHawkins.com/Audiobible

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hillaryhawkins.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hillaryhawkins/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/hillahawk
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/hillaryhawkinslove