Oct. 8, 2007

Tasha Talks

Tasha Smith is no newcomer to Hollywood. The 36-year-old Camden, N.J., native has been a working talent in Tinseltown since she was 18 years old, first as a stand-up comic and then as an actress. "I was a comedy whore for about seven or eight years," Smith laughed, as we ate a late-night dinner at Clyde's at Gallery Place in Washington, D.C.

With more than a decade of acting experience under her belt, Smith has finally become one of Hollywood's ones to watch, with impressive turns in recent films like 'ATL,' 'Daddy's Little Girls' and the upcoming 'Why Did I Get Married.' During our candid conversation, Smith talked about her drug addiction, fear of dogs, Tyler Perry, being a former atheist, among other things.

Her mentor Charles Dutton: "[We] had a mutual friend that passed away named Maxine and she was a hairstylist. Maxine had always told me how wonderful he was. I was so excited to meet him. Our upbringings were a lot alike…I just didn't make it to jail. We just took to one another and he treated me like a little sister. When he would go out of town, he would let me watch his house. It was funny because I would just walk through his house and dream. He had a steam room. I was from Camden and I had never seen a house that fabulous before in my life that a Black man owned. It was just a blessing and encouraging. It inspired me to continue my purpose because Charles would tell me a lot about his story: about his life growing up, his time in jail and how he had this dream to act and how he went after that passion with everything that was inside of him. I always said if I look at people I want to be like, I have to understand what they did. My motto was whatever he did, that's what I need to do. He studied; he was in school; he was focused; he was passionate; he was consistent and he was disciplined about his dream and his desire to be an actor. I felt like I needed to take that and be focused … about what I wanted to do. It just inspired me to keep integrity and character, and understand the ministry of the arts."

Her fear of dogs: "I was bitten by a dog. I was chased down by a dog, and I have knees scarred from being chased down by dogs. People look at my knees and say, 'Were you in a war?' I say, 'Yeah, I've been running from dogs.' People won't put their dogs on a leash. When I was a kid, between 5 and 11, I lived in California and there were these people on my block who used to let their dogs run out to use the bathroom. I feel like your dog is not a person. You don't know how the dog is going to respond in a certain situation. You have a kid like me who saw this dog and was scared of the dog. Then the dog is chasing me down and I'm trying to get the dog away from me because I was afraid and didn't know the dog. Before you know it, I'm in the situation where I'm being attacked. Did that person know that their dog was going to respond like that? No!

Keep your dogs on a leash! It makes me sick! I hate when I go to parks and people walk their dogs without a leash. Especially when they're Pit Bulls and Rottweilers. They think, 'Oh my dog is cool.' I don't know your freaking Pit Bull! I don't want to go walking through the park and you have your Pit Bull hanging out without a leash. I want to call the dog police. I wish there was a dog police because I would have it programmed into my cell phone."

Her acting school: "I had done a lot of different guest spots in TV movies and stuff, but a lot of people didn't remember that stuff because it was character work. During that time I started my own acting studio called T.S.A.W., which is the Tasha Smith Actors Workshop. I fell in love with teaching these inner-city youths to help them pursue their passion in the arts. I always said that I wish somebody like me would have come up to me when I was young to help develop me and my passion and mentor me through the process. I started T.S.A.W for that purpose. Then it turned into this bigger thing. Now, I'm teaching famous actors and actresses throughout Hollywood and my school has become one of the top African-American -- not just African-American -- acting schools in Hollywood. I have hundreds of students that have worked with me who are still studying with me and going on to pursue the arts and doing a wonderful job. Tyra Banks being a friend of mine … thought it would be a good fit for what she was doing on her show 'America's Next Top Model,' so that's how I came on there. I was thinking, 'I've been in this industry for all this time and people are just noticing me now as the acting teacher." I don't want them to think that I'm not the actor anymore. Tyler Perry had come to visit my studio a number of times and he discovered Lance Gross, one of the actors on his show, 'House of Payne, who is also in his new film called 'Meet the Browns.' That was a blessing [for him] to come to see Lance, and give him a job. He kept his word and this kid's life has changed just from him coming to my studio."

Meeting Tyler Perry: "Tyra Banks and Tyler Perry were very good friends and she would always tell him, 'You gotta meet my best friend … She's so talented.' He had never seen 'The Corner' or 'Boston Common' or 'ATL.' It was like he was only familiar with the Gabrielle Unions and the Vivica Foxes of our industry. I met him at the 'Madea's Family Reunion' premiere. He invited me to come with Tyra so that we could meet. Then, another day he came to my acting studio. At that time, he told me that he felt like I could make the voice of this character that he was working on come alive. When I read the character and saw that it was a crazy drug dealer, I was like, 'Why do you think I can make her come alive? She's crazy and she's a drug dealer.' He just felt that from my technique and how I felt about the craft and what my process was, that it could be a great fit."

On once being an atheist: "I was depressed and high on cocaine and feeling like I wanted to kill myself. I felt like I need to make a change. I remember I challenged God. I said if you're real, then I need you to do this, this and this. I told a friend … when I called myself challenging God, God was really drawing me in. He was saying it was time for this Tasha to come out of this dark place and that's what his grace ended up doing to my life. During this time, I wasn't working, working, but I was doing my comedy. I think that the anger, the rejection and the disappointment of Christianity in people that I saw who seemed to be very religious kind of drove me away. I don't even know looking back if it was something that I really believed. I hoped that there was a God, but I think that my disappointment caused me to say it can't be 'cause if you folks who claim to know Jesus are acting like that, it can't be true."

Being Christian in Hollywood: "To your own self you must be true. If you're strong enough in the foundation of who you are, all you can do is be who you are in the environment that you're in. You shouldn't change based on your environment. It's just who I am. I'm not trying to do this or that. My name is Tasha, I'm from Camden, N.J. and I'm a Christian. What's the big deal? You have some people who are from certain places who are Muslim or Buddhists and they are who they are. Why can't I just be who I am? I'm not trying to hurt nobody; I'm just trying to be at peace."

'Why Did I Get Married' opens Oct. 12. Also look for Smith in syndicated radio host Russ Parr's sophomore film, 'Something Like a Business,' opposite Kevin Hart, Kym Whitley, David Allen Grier and Chris Spencer.

Can't Say Names ...

This singer has given new meaning to the Brian McKnight classic song, "Still in Love." Said crooner has a new album in stores now, but one track in particular is an ode to his ex-wife. The somber song talks the love he once had and how he misses her so. The only problem is that it's been more than a decade since the two were last together and the ex-wife has since remarried.