Kym Whitley scored her first movie role by being different — and ridiculously funny.
The Ohio native had been in the favored play “Beauty Shop” and a couple of commercials. But when she auditioned for the a part of Suga in “Next Friday,” she knew comedy was her calling.
“I went into the audition and … I used to be hungry for it. I checked out the room and I saw all women that didn’t appear like me,” Kym told me on this week’s “Renaissance Man.”
“They were thin and young, in shape. I mean, I used to be young then, but I used to be not the dimensions [they were] considering of [for the character] Suga,” she said. “I used to be like, ‘Well, that’s going to be tough.’ So, I remember keeping my coat on. I didn’t want them to see me. I had a bit dress on. I wasn’t confident.”
But her comedy chops superseded whatever expectations that they had for the part.
“I went in to the audition and Ice Cube was in there. And I cut a idiot. And I remember Ice Cube busting out laughing and hitting the ground,” Kym said. “That was after I was like, ‘Oh, OK, buddy, I can do that.’ So I feel that was the start of really saying, ‘I need to be within the comedy lane.’”
Greater than 20 years on, she’s been in quite a few TV shows and movies, including Monena in “The Automotive Pool Lane” episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” She also starred in “My Wife & Kids” and “2 Broke Girls,” to call a couple of. Now, she’s in “Act Your Age” on Bounce TV, which is an edgier version of “Golden Girls” starring black actresses. And Kym and her friend, Sherri Shepherd, have taken their podcast, “Two Funny Mamas,” on the road.
Kym learned to perform at home, where she and her brothers often placed on shows for his or her parents.
She said, “I’m not even the funny one within the family. My brothers must have been out here, and so they say it to my face. But they desired to change into architects like my dad.” Her father had a firm and so they were expected to enter the family business.
“I used to be the one girl. So I used to be like, ‘Oh, I feel I’ll go pursue this,’” said Kym, who got her degree and headed to Hollywood, California. As an alternative of tending bar like so many struggling actors, she became a teacher in Compton.
“I absolutely loved teaching in Compton … Those kids needed the love. They needed someone to point out them the best way. And I used to be their teacher, but I became their friend. So, it was hard to transition out of teaching into working,” she said. “Like I began getting commercials. And I remember the principals that used to come back because they used to call me the overall. I won’t inform you why, but they’d say, ‘Hey, we want you at this school. Come on, General, you bought to come back back.’ And I used to be like, ‘I got a Pringles business.’”
There have been also dark days. She said her apartment was destroyed within the 1992 earthquake and he or she needed to live in her automotive. Kym also had a food stamp card, which she has kept.
“And I take a look at it and say, ‘Wow, you had a food stamp card,’” she said. “And I remember going up in the road and being embarrassed and thankful at the identical time, but I needed to eat.”
Even together with her impressive résumé, she still has her eyes on an Emmy and an Oscar. But Kym has many sources of happiness that don’t come from a statue. For instance: “It was once basketball players and football players,” she said with fun. “But I’ve gotten older and I even have a son. His name is Joshua. He’s 12 years old now, and he has brought me joy from Day One. Heartache. But joy.”
And, after all, there’s touring with Sherri — and there’s nothing like working with friends.
“If we went on the road for just work, why do it? Because we each are being profitable within the industry,” she said. “But to associate with your best friend and to bring joy to other people, that’s what brings me joy.”
Detroit native Jalen Rose is a member of the University of Michigan’s iconoclastic Fab Five, who shook up the faculty hoops world within the early ’90s. He played 13 seasons within the NBA before transitioning right into a media personality. Rose is an analyst for “NBA Countdown” and “Get Up,” and co-host of “Jalen & Jacoby.” He executive-produced “The Fab Five” for ESPN’s “30 for 30” series, is the writer of the best-selling book “Got To Give the People What They Want,” a fashion tastemaker and co-founded the Jalen Rose Leadership Academy, a public charter school in his hometown.
