I'm forgetting my own resume.
When you're living your own real life,
you're not thinking about,
"Oh, I've done all of these movies."
I'm Nia Long, and I've been in the business
for over 30 years,
and here's what I've learned.
I had my first acting class,
and the teacher asked us to be snowballs,
and I was like, "Okay, this is not my idea of
acting."
And then I met a woman named Betty Bridges
who really changed my life.
She is the mother of Todd Bridges.
She was my manager for many years.
She had an acting school
that really catered towards Black, young actors,
and she has had so much success over the years.
And she gave me confidence,
she taught me how to find the conflict in a scene,
how to break a script down,
how to create a character,
how to go in and audition.
And when I started in the industry,
you had to go in dressed like the character.
You couldn't read your script,
you needed to be off-book.
And it was so terrifying for me,
because as a young actor,
I just felt like,
"I'm going into yet another room to be judged."
And it took me a really long time
to book my first job.
And it actually happened
when I was close to just giving up.
It was called Buried Alive, I think.
We shot in South Africa, I was 17 years old.
We had this crazy
party guy director
who barely spoke any English.
He was from France and he was so much fun,
but I was like, "Are we really making a movie
or are we just partying?"
And I remember,
there was a shower scene,
and they shot it on my 18th birthday
so that it wouldn't be considered child pornography.
I said, "I don't care what the other girls are doing,
Nia Long is gonna have a big, white towel
so you can only shoot from here up."
That was my first experience with speaking up for myself
and protecting my body.
At 18, I was still that chick that was not afraid to say no.
We were kids,
we were kids in a candy store making a movie.
John Singleton was fresh out of film school.
The first day on set, he knew what he wanted,
he had a shot list,
he just made it so comfortable to be authentic.
I never thought
I'd be crying in front of a female.
You can cry in front of me.
Because the story,
and his point of view, was so truthful.
And Laurence Fishburne was a thespian, you know.
He had done Broadway, he had been in big films,
he had been doing it since he was kid,
and really kinda took me under his wing
with some of the emotional scenes
that weren't necessarily shot in sequence.
He just said, "That was a good take,
but you can do it better."
And he whispered in my ear, he goes, "Be hysterical."
And I was like, "I don't really know
what being hysterical is," but I did it.
Something just happened to Rick!
I don't know, he just got shot!
Something happened to Rick!
Now, Brandi, I want you to try and calm down
and I want you to go home, you hear me?
- You hear me? - Yes.
All of that feels like
it was yesterday.
And those track suits are back in style now.
Hair, makeup, and wardrobe,
I am meticulous about those three things
because you have to be comfortable in front of the camera
so that you're not thinking about how you look.
We all have our insecurities.
Actors have to overcome those issues
to actually bring out a different part of themselves,
which could be completely opposite to who they really are.
Jordan Armstrong has way more confidence than Nia Long.
My hormones
are raging out of control,
I'm emotional, I'm horny,
and I don't wanna hear about no goddamn peas.
Fuck you, good night.
If I am the instrument
to express the art,
then I have to be solid and strong
because I need to be able
to tap into different parts of myself,
and some parts I don't know yet.
Half-hour live audience
is the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced.
You know that if you mess up,
that whole section has to be redone.
The thing about film is if you make a mistake,
you can freestyle,
and I do that a lot.
My momma is in Vegas
with her boyfriend.
So y'all just parlaying up in here, huh?
- Oh shit, party over here - Uh-uh, uh-uh.
What?
Buh-bye.
You trippin'.
I'm outta here, anyway.
Peace out.
I think
some of the best performances
either happen out of improv
or on your way home when you're redoing your lines
going, "Dang it, I should've said it like this."
I was on NCIS for a season,
and that was just not for me.
Everyone there was lovely, the cast was great.
LL Cool J was like my biggest–I can't,
saying his whole name is weird, Todd, Smith.
Todd was amazing, the cast was great,
but the technical dialogue was so foreign to me.
And I realized, I learned something about myself
and about my craft,
which is, there has to be something at stake emotionally
for me to remember what I have to say.
And that genre, that world, was so foreign to me,
and I was thrown into chunks and chunks of dialogue
and I just started to question my ability.
Because if I didn't leave that set every day
knowing that those hours that I spent
away from my children were building my career
or making me feel good about myself,
then it wasn't worth it for me.
Malcolm made sure that we all got together
and we watched the first Best Man as a cast.
It was fun.
It's like getting together with your family.
I remember one night, though,
I probably shouldn't be telling this story, but I will.
We had a dinner scene,
and I hate dinner scenes more than anything
because you have to get everyone's coverage,
so you're literally at a table
drinking the same sip at the same line.
If Sanaa's character says,
"Hey Jordan, can you pass me that bottle of champagne?"
I've now passed the bottle, like, 25 times.
So we all decided that we were gonna all have a shot
before we start this scene,
because, how else are you gonna get through it?
And at one point, I just remember
Malcolm looked at us and he was like,
"What the fuck is going on with all of you guys?"
We were like bad children. We still are.
But we got through it.
And nobody knew, but now the secret is out the bag.
I'm sure I'm gonna be in big trouble for this,
but whatever, at this point, who cares?
My hope is that this film
becomes like a little cult classic
and that, you know, people from the '90s
who grew up watching Omar and I
can go, "Oh my God, they're in a movie together,
I wanna see this!
And it's a thriller, and I've never seen Nia and Omar
in a thriller together!"
So I'm hoping that that's the excitement
that we get with this film.
David, hi.
- How ya doing? - I'm good.
You two know each other.
Yeah, we actually went to college together.
Yeah.
It's been a long time, huh?
Sure has, 20 years.
You look like it's been 20 minutes.
I've always loved Omar,
and we grew up in this business.
He's like a brother to me,
and we see things the same.
It's like, you know when
you can talk shorthand with someone?
That's what I have with Omar,
and I needed that for Fatal Affair.
I knew that since this was my first time producing,
I wanted to be surrounded by actors
that were great actors
who I knew would have my back,
who know me as Nia, not as the actress,
but just who know me as who I am in my daily life.
Working with your family,
it doesn't feel like work.
Here are my acting rules to live by:
Know your lines.
Prepare, prepare, prepare,
and just be honest. Ask for what you need.
There could be that one word
that just does not come out of your mouth properly.
I've learned to just say,
"Can we change this to a different word,
because the S's are not coming out,
and I don't wanna be thinking about it before I say it
because then it's gonna sound fake."
If you have a criticism, or you have a concern,
voice that with at least three possible solutions,
so that you're just not the complainer,
that you actually are coming to enhance the project
and to voice your opinion in an effort
to make the moment feel more real for you.
It really starts with honesty, right?
Just be honest.