#Erica tazel tv

“The power and the strength of the leadership that we have in our community and in our families in particular that’s something that is not to be denied,” Tazel added. There is some version of that that could have happened in that time, whether he was sold, hung, or in our case, sent to another country and I wanted to pay homage to that.”įor viewers, Tazel hopes that all the women seen in the film-from Kunta Kinte’s mother, Binta onto Belle who is Kunta’s wife, and Kizzy, their daughter and finally Matilda-that no matter what, matriarchy has been responsible for making the world go ‘round. “In many ways Matilda is the ancestral throwback of the single mother who has to keep the kids educated and formed for example if the father gets incarcerated, or if he dies or if he is killed by gun violence. That part of the narrative is something Tazel was conscious of throughout filming-how the horrors of the past influenced the terrors of the present and in the same yet different ways echo that Black Lives do indeed Matter.

She at least tries to keep that family together and how many stories do we have of that today?” “There’s this woman, Matilda, who singlehandedly raises this family, mostly of boys, who become men and she has to keep that family together. “I was extremely nervous about remaking something this iconic,” the actress shared. Tazel channeled the life and legacy of Matilda, the wife of Chicken George and it’s one she said changed her own life in more ways than one. The New ‘Roots’ Trailer Will Leave You Stunned (and Absolutely Wanting More)

#Erica tazel tv

That’s what life became for actress Erica Tazel when she stepped into the character for the upcoming remake of the iconic TV production.

That’s what life was like for Matilda, a character in Alex Haley’s 1977 slave narrative, Roots. When the fate of children was perhaps the same thing, and the darkest fears of mothers were realized. When fathers were sold or worse at the hands of the masters. from NYU's Graduate Acting Program.Single Black Mothers–they are a testament to the strength and resilience of the Black community.īut imagine what life was like for Black mothers hundreds of years ago, when families were torn apart in the midst of slavery. In 2007, she garnered awards from the NAACP Theatre Award for Best Lead Female and LA Drama Critics Circle Nomination for Lead Performance for her performance in I Have Before Me A Remarkable Document Given To Me By a Young Lady From Rwanda. Her extensive list of regional theatre projects in which she has performed are Tranced, Macbeth, I Have Before Me A Remarkable Document Given To Me By A Young Lady From Rwanda, The Exonerated, Much Ado About Nothing, Four Crumbs From The Table Of Joy and The Love Of Three Oranges. Tazel has made quite a few appearances off-Broadway in Playwrights Horizon's Juvenilia, Royal Shakespeare Company Cymbeline, and New York Shakespeare Festival A Winter's Tale.

She has an engaging list of television credits with guest starring roles on Emmy and Golden Globe Award winning shows such as The Office, ER, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Sex & The City, Life, Heartland, Bones and Firefly a recurring role on Jericho and Third Watch and she took a guest leading position on Without A Trace. Hailing from Dallas, Texas, Erica Tazel has made an impression on her Hollywood peers establishing herself as a notable and versatile actor.