i've definitely
been guilty of like trying to be
what i felt like was expected of me
[Applause]
hey i'm cara patterson and i play
jessica baxter on the disney plus series
turner and hooch and i am brandon j
mclaren i play xavier wilson on the same
disney plus series turner and hooch i'm
uh really excited to
have a discussion about uh being black
artists and professionals and creators
and all our shared experiences so uh
yeah let's uh let's go ahead let's do it
so cara how did you um get started in
acting i always loved it as a child um
but my mom was she was a single parent
and i wasn't able to be exposed to it
much she wasn't able to put me in all
the classes and do all that stuff so i
didn't really get a chance to
really explore it until high school i
was really kind of thinking it was a
hobby because i didn't really feel brave
enough to say
i wanted to really be an actor i was
just like this is my hobby it's
something i'll do on the side it was
really some teachers that took me under
their wing and really gave me the
courage to go at it full force and i've
been doing it ever since
what about you i actually started out
doing commercials my mom uh i was 12 and
my mom uh there was an ad on the radio
saying that needed ethnic kids to uh to
audition for commercials so my mom came
home one day and she's like yo i heard
this out on the radio do you wanna um
you wanna audition for commercials and i
was like yeah sure i do understand uh
like when you say
it does take courage to be able to tell
people
like hey like i want to do this as a
profession and i don't know if there's
like it like
i don't know like i know like my both my
parents are immigrants too so it was
really hard for them to kind of
understand that like
you know oh yeah you know like that was
definitely a part of like me like taking
longer to sort of admit to myself and
everybody else that i want to do this
you know as a job my mom is from
trinidad and my dad's from grenada and i
know that they really wanted
to afford their children the
opportunities that they felt that they
didn't have um
and so i think that's also maybe the
reason why they were so kind of hesitant
about me going into acting they were
just scared and they wanted they just
wanted you know security for their kid i
think um yeah absolutely have you ever
had to change anything about yourself uh
to get a role i had to learn how to be
myself because there was a difference
between how the industry saw me versus
how i saw myself i've definitely
been guilty of like trying to be what i
felt like was expected of me and
but i don't think that i got very far
doing that it doesn't go well and when
i'm like listen this is my
interpretation of this character this is
what i bring to it and really embrace my
authenticity that's when i've been
rewarded the most
what about you have you ever felt like
you needed to
i mean you know i
for me like often times like my my
dreads have been an issue i've
definitely not gotten rolled because
i've refused to cut my hair they're like
well sorry like well i'm not cutting it
you know um but i think that's getting
better and sometimes that means staying
not saying no to things you know they
mean that you're not necessarily
comfortable with it it's so funny you
bring up hair because that has been a
big issue as far as um in a big topic
among black actresses as far as like the
hair that we bring to a role because of
my type when if a character was listed
as
beautiful or classy or elegant that i
couldn't wear my natural curly hair i
was like straightening my hair at first
so that was a part of when i was
referencing you know those times when i
was trying to be what people expected of
me over time as it as it went on i just
realized like why can't my natural hair
be considered beautiful and classy and
why am i stressing myself out i can't be
my full self and it puts a lot of the
focus on the external and just you know
really nitpicking myself and we get so
much rejection we just have to really be
vigilant about
not adding on to it and rejecting myself
before i even
you know get started
yeah there you go you you have like you
never know what they're looking for
right you can never like
and it's like it's such an exercise in
futility trying to figure out what they
want because a lot of times they don't
even know what they want until they see
it exactly and even being rewarded by
getting the job with my natural hair
then there's the hurdle of
the industry needs to catch up to that
yeah i i don't have anxiety going to a
set because there would never be like
somebody who knows how to like cut my
hair i'd always have to bring in my own
person listen or like go like
on my own time to like my own bar it's
like guys like i shouldn't have to like
like i should be
and what's not here is when you see
white co-stars and they're able to just
sip their coffee and get into character
and just like they're not and i'm in the
mirror well my homegirl on facetime help
me with my wig because this woman don't
know how to do my leave out right you
know
so brandon when it comes to acting how
important is it to have passion for the
craft
i just love acting i like like looking
into somebody's eyes and being truthful
like i like the process i like reading
um i like learning about the character
and those are the things i think that
that
like uh prop you up
not be working right when you're in
between jobs when you're you know you've
done a billion auditions and nobody's
biting what gets you through those times
or is is if you just actually love
acting um so yeah really important if
you had one piece of advice like
piggybacking what i just said for young
and upcoming actors and actresses of
color what would it be
well i think just like what we've been
saying is number one is to own who you
are
and to speak up i was so grateful to
just
get an opportunity that i would just
take anything
and a lot of times you know it's so hard
to get these jobs and then you get there
and sometimes you get there and you see
like oh
there's some of the same
microaggressions that happen like
at the office job or at my side job
waiting tables and like favoritism and
bias happens and like and i'm still
experiencing some of that and i like and
you think that is everything when you're
doing your passion that everything's
gonna be roses once you all i gotta do
is start working but like i know you can
be grateful and you can still speak up
for yourself
what stories centered around people of
color in film and tv
do you feel like you aren't seeing i
wouldn't mind seeing sort of more like
more like the celebration of of us and
and uh
and like accomplishment type stories
instead of diving into sort of the uh
the trauma
what about you i feel like more people
need to tell their stories if that were
to happen we wouldn't get the same types
of stories all the nuances and all the
beautiful things that happen
you know as a person of color as a black
person because the resilience is
important not just the
the trauma the bounce back we got to see
the bounce back
i feel like my
job and the reason why i
do this with my life is to create a body
of work that i feel like are telling
uplifting and positive stories um about
the black experience and about that and
i specifically am intentional about
telling stories that shine a positive
light on black women yeah i try to just
do my part to create something that i
can be proud of and that hopefully my
family and kids and grandkids will be
proud of do you think about legacy what
do you think about you know i never had
before until recently you know i'll go
to these cons and i think i was like the
second black power ranger like the
leader of the rangers and i go to these
cons these little black kids will be
like hey man like you know i watched you
when i was nine and i didn't i never
seen like a black people like a black
person in a leadership role and then i
saw you as a red ranger
and so i've always kind of carried that
on too it's like i want to be i want i
want to like open people's eyes up who
look like me like hey like i can also
exist in those spaces there's room for
me there too that's important for me
representation is so important and
that's a big reason why i was so excited
that they wrote the pregnant my
pregnancy
i would hope that it would be inspiring
to other
black women and other black actresses
that your life doesn't have to stop so i
think people need to see those images
and say like whoa it is possible
um if he can do it i can do it you know
so
awesome to connect with you today i am
so glad that we had this opportunity to
share our experiences together thank you
for joining me
absolutely thanks for joining us on
disney plus voices catch turner and
hooch now streaming on disney plus
[Music]
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