Philadelphia High School for Girls alum Erika Alexander will not have anyone tell her what to do with her hair
After playing a foster child, a prostitute, and a slave, the 'American Fiction' star knew she had to break out.
The new film American Fiction, from Emmy-winning Watchmen writer Cord Jefferson, which hits theaters Dec. 22, is exquisitely funny and searingly honest. Frustrated with a publishing industry that prioritizes stereotypical and racist books about Black people, Black novelist Thelonious “Monk” Ellison plays a prank that backfires spectacularly: He writes the drivel that publishers want, and it becomes an instant success. Jeffrey Wright has received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Ellison.
Philly-raised actor Erika Alexander — best known for her role as the maverick lawyer Maxine Shaw in Living Single (1993) — plays Ellison’s love interest, Coraline. We caught up with Alexander recently to discuss why she said yes to American Fiction, the lasting legacy of Maxine Shaw, and how her acting career began in Philadelphia.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Why did you want to work on ‘American Fiction’?
Cord Jefferson invited me to play this role. That said, I also knew that Jeffrey Wright was going to be the lead. Let’s just be real and honest. He’s like the Death Star. He’s got a tractor beam, he focuses it, and suddenly, things just get pulled in. He’s really a powerful actor that I’ve always admired. But before this film was American Fiction, the title was F— [named after Ellison’s novel title of choice]. When they told me [it was Jefferson’s directorial debut], you’ll play [Wright’s] girlfriend Coraline, and the name of the movie is F— I said, “I’m in. I don’t need to read nothing.” I’m dead serious. And then I read it and [Jefferson] wrote a script that makes you laugh out loud. So it was a confluence of things, and also me, you know, wanting to live out another dream ...
... To be close to Jeffrey Wright.
... For the culture.
The film provides a damning indictment of the ignorance and exploitation of Black stories and Black creatives in the publishing industry and Hollywood. I’m wondering if you could speak to having seen that dynamic play out in your own career.
What we’re talking about is capitalism. It plays out in every aspect of life. America is driven by boxes and stereotypes. For African Americans, it has been very difficult to shake the idea of being enslaved in America, and then being part of the huge American portfolio that is culture, and having made a ton of it themselves, to suddenly be boxed in or be victims of their own success.
I was found in the Freedom Theatre, a basement on Broad Street, and got a chance to be part of the independent film My Little Girl. I played a foster child and was very happy to, but then I played a prostitute and a slave. I had to find ways to break out of that.
Coraline is a lawyer, the same job held by your beloved character Maxine Shaw on Living Single. They’re both direct women who take little nonsense from the men around them. Where did some of those characteristics originate?
Maxine Shaw was written by Yvette Lee Bowser, who had developed a world with a series of different women in it. Maxine Shaw also comes from where I started. Look at Whoopi Goldberg in Jumpin’ Jack Flash, you see Maxine Shaw’s hairstyle. You’re also seeing people like Cicely Tyson, who breathed life into me, and told me, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you what to do with your hair.” And I have yet to do that. She was giving me armor.
Did your experiences in Philly inform Max, too?
I went to Philadelphia High School for Girls and had some of the best instructors in Philadelphia. You can see that in [Maxine Shaw’s ambition], the idea that I needed to be successful. Finally, that weird walk I had. I could never walk. I went to Black glamour modeling school in Philadelphia. I was going to Leeds [middle school] and they gave me a little pin for phys ed. [When] I walked across the stage to get it, my mom was horrified. “You look like you just got off a horse!” And she sent me to Black glamour modeling school.
Oh my God.
I know! Like I was gonna be a model. It didn’t work. But you can see that little walk in Maxine Shaw.
Do you come back to Philly often?
I come back to Philly quite often. My brother’s a Philadelphia police officer, my sister-in-law is a cardiac nurse. My sister Carolyn is a social worker. My nieces are [in the local singing trio] Little Big Sister. Philly’s a fantastic place.
“American Fiction” opens in theaters on Dec. 22.