Alfre Woodard on staying power, Obama and more

ShareThis

Alfre Woodard was talking on the phone while driving herself to the NBC lot for a day of shooting "My Own Worst Enemy." She plays the head of a covert government operation in the series, which premieres Oct. 13. Looking at her resume, Woodard hasn't had a down year since she started acting more than 30 years ago. Her last TV gig was "Desperate Housewives" two years ago, and she has two movies out this fall, "The Family That Preys" (now playing) and "American Violet," which screens next Sunday at the Mill Valley Film Festival, in San Rafael, Calif., in conjunction with a tribute to her.Q: To what do you attribute your staying power in this fickle business?A: Besides a lot of good fortune, I think it's because I trained for four years at the acting conservatory at Boston University, so I was prepared for whatever came up. I made decisions based on what would help me grow, not only as an artist but as a human being. I wasn't trying to become famous or rich. In terms of genre, I was willing to go anywhere. So I have done back-to-back stage, small stage, TV, street theater, commercials, cable and lots of indies.Q: There are more opportunities for black actors now than when you started out. Have you benefited from this?A: It hasn't meant anything in terms of my career. I am still being turned down the vast majority of time because the people hiring aren't waiting for an African-American woman. You know, African-Americans were working 20 or 30 years ago on black exploitation films. Just because (a few) actors have gotten Oscars, it does not reflect on the industry at large. You might see more faces of color walking through "ER." But when you think of how absolutely diverse every aspect of our lives are now, the screen does not reflect that in terms of people of color being in the middle of the frame.Q: You've won four Emmys, two Screen Actor Guild awards and one Golden Globe and been nominated for an Oscar. With all that, does a film-festival tribute still have meaning?A: Oh God, yes. Like 99.999 percent of an actor's life is rejection. That is true for Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. One of the requirements of being an actor is that you've got to be able to live with rejection. So when smart and tasteful people want to give you an award, of course it means a whole lot. It is really sweet and wonderful.Q: You were at the Democratic National Convention. Are you a Barack Obama supporter?A: The day that Senator Obama announced, I came on board. I have been one of his national surrogates since then. I go wherever I'm asked to go by the campaign. It has been an amazing journey.Q: Does Obama ever ask you what's good at the movies or on TV?A: No. We talk about politics and we talk about our children.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)