-Jalyn Hall, welcome to "The Tonight Show."
-Thank you, thank you. -I'm happy to meet you.
I'm happy to get to know you. I'm happy you're here.
-Oh, not as much as I am.
I will tell everybody right now,
I am so nervous to be in all of your acquaintance.
-Oh, my -- Don't be nervous. You...
[ Cheers and applause ]
We're happy you're here. Congratulations.
You got nominated for two NAACP Image Awards for "Till."
[ Cheers and applause ] -Yeah.
Two.
The cast was also nominated.
Last night, you were at the Critics' Choice Awards,
so thank you for flying all the way over back here.
-Of course. -Come on.
You just turned 16, you said,
and you had a red-carpet birthday party.
-Yes.
-Now, I've never heard of this idea, but I think it's genius.
-Thank you.
-There it is, there, and there's a giant poster of your name.
-Yes. -Now, who thought of this?
Whose idea was this?
-Well, initially, I did have a vision.
But I wish I could say that I did it all myself,
but that was the work of
my beautiful and super-talented mother.
-Aww. [ Cheers and applause ]
You do have a beautiful, super-talented --
-Thank you. -I met your mom backstage.
-Yes. -Is mom here?
Is mom in the audience? -Yes.
-There's mom right there. Hey, mom!
[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪
Look at him. Come on.
We were talking backstage of how proud she is of you.
-Yes. -And she should be.
When you're not working, I hear that you're a big gamer.
I hear that you're a sports fan. You make music.
-Yes, yes, yes. All of the above.
-Yeah. Were you thinking about going into
a different career besides acting?
-Oh, man.
I definitely have some, like, thoughts about it,
but, if anything, I feel like acting is
a really good outlet to do a
bunch of the things that you love.
Like you said, sports.
I'm actually starring in the show "The Crossover"
coming to Disney on April 4th and the next day on Disney+.
[ Cheers and applause ] And it's about basketball.
And I get to play basketball.
And I'm really excited about that,
because I got to fall in love with the sport all over again.
-I'm terrible at basketball.
-R-- No! -I tried so hard.
I tried so hard. I really tried. I just had nothing.
I mean, it was just embarrassing.
Terrible. -I don't believe that.
Come on. Look how athletic he is.
[ Crowd cheering ]
-Look at what a great actor he is.
Unbelievable.
Oh, you know what we've got to talk about?
This just got announced, that you're going to play
young Martin Luther King Jr.
-Yes. [ Cheers and applause ]
-What a great day to have you on.
-Thank you, thank you.
-You've got to be excited about this.
-Yes, very excited.
-Martin Luther King and Emmett Till.
I mean, these are very important people.
-Yes. Going in this trajectory has been an honor for me,
because there have been a multitude of people
who have interpreted these roles and did amazing jobs.
So there's kind of that -- you know, that standard to be set.
But I welcome that challenge with open arms,
because I feel like you can never get enough of interpreting
these people who helped shape our world,
especially Emmett Till and Martin Luther King.
So I'm in love with what I'm doing right now.
-You're going to crush it, bud. I saw "Till," and...
[ Cheers and applause ] ...everybody's amazing.
-Thank you. -Everybody's amazing in that.
We had Whoopi Goldberg on the show,
and she's one of the producers.
-I've always labeled myself as a very, like, outgoing person.
I love to make conversation.
But when it's Whoopi Goldberg, you're like,
how do you start a conversation?
But long story short, I really got to talk to her,
and she is super-hilarious.
She's herself 100% of the time. -Oh, yeah.
-But one day, when we were filming, I was like,
"Can you really -- Can you meet my mother?"
Because I knew if I was nervous,
my mom was beyond nervous, right?
So, I bring my mom over.
And my mom's like, "Oh, my God, that's Whoopi Goldberg."
She has this, like, super-huge smile on her face.
And she walks up to her and she bows at Whoopi Goldberg.
Right in the middle of set.
They're setting up the next shot.
She's like...
I'm like, "Do your thing." I mean...
-That's it. Bow to Whoopi Goldberg.
That's exactly right. Come on, why not?
It's Whoopi. -Yeah.
-She's an icon.
-But she's so humble and so nice.
-She's the best. -Yeah.
-And Danielle Deadwyler, who plays Emmett's mother --
she's going to be here tomorrow night.
Anything that I should -- that happened with her
that I should ask her about on set or off set?
-Oh, man.
Well, of course I know you're going to ask her about
what a great actor she is, but you should also ask her
about what a great singer she is.
She will not admit it, but she has the voice of an angel,
and I really hope that you guys encourage her to sing for you.
-Really? Alright.
Alright, we'll try that. -Yeah.
-We'll just do it.
I won't even put it in the questions.
I'm just gonna ask her to sing.
How do we get into this?
How do we set this up, "Till"?
-It has been in the works way longer than me.
Mamie Till-Mobley really wanted this movie
to be made herself in 1955.
And she had multiple deals, but it always fell through.
And I know for sure, for over 30 years,
Keith Beauchamp has been trying to do the same thing.
And it's just now coming into fruition.
And I am so, so thankful to be a part of that conversation
and to be a part of this movement and this message.
And there's this scene in the movie
where Mamie tells Emmett to be small.
And I think to myself, the limitations put on
a 14-year-old boy to be small is really heartbreaking,
you know, because what we want to be in this day and age,
we want to be our full selves.
We want to be amazing. We want to be stars.
And it was -- It really stuck with me, what she said.
So I vow from now on, as a black boy in America,
as anyone should, no matter your race, is never be small.
Shine your light like this guy right here, huh?
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I'm not gonna be small, right?
-Never be small. -No.
You're fantastic in this movie. -Thank you.
-Everyone should go see this movie.
Everyone's performance is great. Here's a clip.
Here's Jalyn Hall in "Till." Take a look at this.
-When you get down there -- -Oh, not again, Mama.
I've already been to Mississippi.
-Only one time before,
and you started a fight with another little boy.
-He was p-picking on me.
-You're in the right to stand up for yourself,
but that's not what I'm talking about.
Well...
they have a different set of rules for Negroes down there.
Are you listening?
-Yes.
-You have to be extra careful with white people.
You can't risk looking at them the wrong way.
-I know.
-Bo...
be small down there.
-Like this?
-[ Laughs ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Jalyn Hall.
"Till" is on digital and on demand
and available on Blu-ray tomorrow.
We'll be right back with a performance from Sudan Archives.
Stick around, everybody.