Tina Lifford has cemented her more than 40-year acting career on the small screen with cultural hits including OWN’s "Queen Sugar," Fox’s "South Central," and the Temptations miniseries. From a young age, performing onstage was Lifford’s calling.
“I knew that I wanted to be an actress when I was in the second grade,” Lifford said. “So every time that I was in a drama class, I excelled, and I felt like I was in my happy place.”
The published author and playwright credits her longevity in the film and television industry to prioritizing her mental wellness, which started early in her career. In recent years, the Illinois native launched her well-being initiative, the Inner Fitness Project, to help others thrive in their lives. Lifford is bringing that message of practicing inner fitness to St. Louis with her this week for a two-day event as she headlines the Own Your Now Wellness Experience.
Ahead of Lifford’s appearance, St. Louis Public Radio’s Marissanne Lewis-Thompson spoke with Lifford about her career, mental wellness and the Inner Fitness Project.
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
Marissanne Lewis-Thompson: You are widely known for playing Aunt Vi in OWN’s "Queen Sugar" and Fox's "South Central," but you were also in the legendary Temptations miniseries as Otis Williams' mother, Hazel. You also played East St. Louis native and Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee in "Run for the Dream: The Gail Devers Story." What do you remember about those roles?
Tina Lifford: I remember with regards to the Gail Devers Story that working with director Neema Barnette was one of my first and most enjoyable experiences. It was really a great way for me to be in the spirit of acting having started in theater myself and working with someone whose sensibility was a perfect match for me. It was very early in my career. And I didn't have to audition for that role. That was exciting. [Regarding] the Temptations, all these years later, and I'm talking decades, right, people still stop me on the street and talk to me about Mama Haze. I think that that miniseries is one of the most successful miniseries on record. It was profoundly successful. It's not that everybody has seen it, they've seen it more than once. I know people who stop me and say "I watch it every time it comes on television." And I'm still getting residuals from that. So it was a phenomenon for sure.
Lewis-Thompson: How do you go about choosing roles that maintain your integrity?
Lifford: That's what I lead with. When I am sent an audition or an offer, the first question is is this a fit for me? And "me" is the person, Tina Lifford. If it is a fit for me and what I want to lend my energy to then it will be a yes. Then I have to see if the character is a character that I can bring something meaningful to. If I can breathe life into this character and have her live in a way that shares something meaningful to the project, which means we're going to be sharing something meaningful to the lives of our viewers, then I'm all in. But if I can't answer those two questions, then I'm out.
Lewis-Thompson: You’ve been in the entertainment industry for more than 40 years. But mental wellness has always been intricately woven throughout your career. Why?
Lifford: I believe that our lives in an odd way are perfectly designed. Everything that comes to our plate if we endeavor to use it for our good, use it to grow and expand, then it will wind up being a gift even if it started off as a challenge, a problem, or what someone might refer to as the worst thing that's ever happened in their life. For me, I wanted to be an actress in the second grade. And then in the fifth grade I had trauma onstage where I froze so completely that after I don't know how many minutes, my teacher had to finally come to center stage, pick me up and carry me off. I didn't realize that experience bored itself inside of me. But when I was in the process of creating my career decades later, it got triggered in an audition and then it required me delving deep into myself to understand my reactions when it came to auditions. That work introduced me to myself in very meaningful, profound and enlightening ways.
Lewis-Thompson: You've also been working to help other people realize that for themselves. What exactly is the Inner Fitness Project?
Lifford: As I spent more quality time with myself, meaning time where I was being curious about my thoughts, my feelings, and beliefs as opposed to running from myself, I started to realize that I was experiencing a greater sense of internal well-being. I wasn't as afraid of life and feeling like something or someone would need to save me like I felt on that stage. And the more that that freedom started happening inside of me, I knew that this information could be as universal and well understood and practiced for our internal fitness the way we exercise and take care of our bodies with physical fitness.
Lewis-Thompson: What advice would you give other Black women about prioritizing their inner fitness?
Lifford: Run to a safe community where you can come to know yourself, because we have culturally both the African American culture as well as the American culture have taught us so many misconceptions that are driving our lives. We are here performing life instead of living it. We are prioritizing achievements and stepping over our well-being. We are taught to win but not how to be whole. There is so much true Black girl magic within our beings, but that true ownership of self has to be the core of that magic. So that we don't just show up in the world achieving and looking good, but that our hearts and souls are attended to first and foremost by ourselves.
Lewis-Thompson: You will be headlining the Own Your Now Wellness Experience. What can people expect?
Lifford: I am expecting to have a good time. And to have a lot of chuckles and fun and at the same time be offering a space that elevates and feels good and that you can walk away from that space with a little bit more of yourself.
The two-day ticketed Own Your Now Wellness Experience with Tina Lifford is Sept. 11-12.
