Indigo Tongues features Adepero Oduye who recently played the riveting role of Eliza, along side Chiwetel Ejifor, Brad Pitt and Lupita Nyong’o in the Oscar winning film 12 Years a Slave met up with Indigo Tongues for an exhilarating interview.
Adepero Oduye, is one of the outstanding breakthrough actresses of the last decade. Her career includes an outstanding body of work in Film, Stage and TV. Her stellar debut lead role as Alike in Pariah, earned her several awards and nominations including The African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Breakthorugh Performance and the NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture(nominated). Her role in 12 Years a Slave earned her a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. She made her Broadway debut in The Trip to Bountiful, a production that has won several theater awards including a Tony Award for Best Actress by Cicely Tyson.
Adepero the third of seven children is a graduate from Cornell University and lives in New York City.
About the interview
I was thinking of who the subject for my next interview would be and one day on the platform of the A train at Jay Street in Brooklyn, I saw Adepero walk right by me (one of the beauties of NYC living….bumped into Dr Oz my first week in the city.) I had seen Pariah and I knew she would be a perfect guest on the series. Once again “the planets aligned” as they have since I started producing this series and it happened. A young Nigerian friend of mine was attending the Ake Festival in Abeokuta, Nigeria and told me that Adepero would be attending. I asked her to make a connection on my behalf and before I knew it, I was speaking to Adepero via email and coordinating an Indigo Tongues interview.
One can only but admire this young lady. Her tenacity, grace, contagious smile and the stream of good vibrations just seemed to radiate effortlessly from her. She has a depth to her that was refereshing and heartfelt at the same time. Adepero has been involved in projects that many actors/actreses would only dream of and still remains pleasant, humble and respectful. We talked about many things, she shared stories about working in an industry that still grapples with Women and in particaular women that look like her.
A very down to earth and pleasant conversationalist, we sat down to some Nigeria food – Jollof rice (Cy’s super recipe) and Dodo (her favorite) got down to the nitty gritty and had so many moments of belly laughs.
Please enjoy, share and leave us a comment.
Interview Date: February 9th 2014
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Credits
Producer & Director: Mojisola Sonoiki
Co-Producer: Cy Nakpodia, Kunbi Tinuoye
Editors: Oluwaseun Sonoiki, Gerald K. Barclay
Director of Photography: Gerald K. Barclay
“B” Camera Operator:Daty Kaba
Indigo Tongues Logo: Blugge Design Studio
Social Media Manager: Tosin Taiwo
Music Credit:
So Beautiful – Asa (Source: SoulNeoSoul Youtube channel)
Going to My Roots -Lamont Dozier (Source: Youtube)
We Live in Brooklyn – Roy Ayers (Source:Youtube)
Ecclesiastes Free My Heart – Me’Shell Ndegeocello
Black Girl – Shelly Nicola Blackbushe
Additional Footage:
12 Years A Slave trailer clip (Source: Fox Searchlight Youtube Channel)
Pariah trailer clip (Source: Making Of Youtube Channel)
The Door trailer clip (Source: MiuMiu Youtube Channel)
Trip to Bountiful (Source: Bountiful Broadway Youtube Channel)
Photos:
Adepero Stage & 12 Years a Slave shoots (Source: Provided by Adepero)
Steel Magnolia Image (Source: Kaykispeaks.com)
Steve McQueen Images (Source:Cinemablend.com)