We got the chance to chat with the famed actress now featured on the hit Starz original series Survivor’s Remorse, the one & only Tichina Arnold
The Source: Congratulations on Survivor’s Remorse, can you give us a sneak peek of what happens on the next episode?
Tichina Arnold: Oh thank you. For my congratulations, I’m happy that it’s a great show. What’s going to happen in the next episode, it will be about a sick little boy, who’s last dying wish is to meet my son Cam Calloway, who’s played by Jessie T. Usher and it’s a pretty funny episode. It’s going to guest starring Dawnn Lewis you might remember her from A Different World. It’s a really really funny episode. Sad but funny,it has sad parts but funny sad parts kind of hard to explain. But it’s a really really funny one.
Do you & your character Cassie share any similarities to each other?
T.A.: Yeah. You know with any role that I play I try to bring some type of reality to it because I insert myself in it or parts of myself or parts of people that I know or characteristics of people that I know. It allows me to be a little more believable with the character. So, yeah it does have parts of me, Cassie has a lot of my mother, and Cassie has one of my friends his name is Greg & I have a lot of his mother’s attributes as well.
What is it like working with Mike Epps on the show and having LeBron James as executive producer?
T.A.: Oh I love it. I mean first of all Mike Epps is hysterical. I love Mike Epps because you never know what’s going to come out of that man’s mouth ever. So having him, this is the first time we worked together so it was really really fun and you know, he’s just brilliant when it comes to comedy so it was really really great having him on the show. Of course having LeBron James as your boss is a plus because LeBron is a good guy on top of a man that knows how to run his business and I think that this is a great idea that he & Maverick Carter had you know along with Mike O’Malley because it deals with the reality of what a lot of sports figures go through you know. The show is not about just the game of basketball but it’s about the life that surrounds the game of basketball & the people that surrounds it as well. So, we have a family that had nothing & now my son is a star player, and now we have everything we ever wanted but that comes with the disadvantages so it’s a good show.
What advice have you given to fellow co-stars Teyonah Parris & Jessie T. Usher since they are newcomers to the industry?
T.A.: Have fun number one, believe in what you’re doing. I always given them advice. I’m like mama Cassie for real (laughs) but I always speak from experience and you know with things & different issues comes up or they have questions I try to answer it but I only answer from my own experience. I never talk what I don’t, I only talk what I do know, what I’ve been through. So you know, it’s definitely a great time working with them because having them in the set with that wonderful new energy around is also awesome to work with cause I’m not working with shady people, you’re just working. Ronreaco, he’s been around, Teyonah Parris, she’s been around. So everybody has their own experience in show business and we all just kind of bringing it together & having a great time doing it. We all get along praise GOD (laughs), we all like each other, we genuinely like each other, we genuinely talk to each other on text messages & you know we do group text, and we really treat each other with compassion, friendship, love, and that’s the same way it is on the set.
Have things been solved between you & French Montana?
T.A.: Right now, it’s not something that needs to be solved between he & I. I just merely expressed my feelings on him posting a picture of me, it wasn’t nothing personal. I think when it’s all said & done, I think there’s a great disconnect with two different worlds of two different genres of people. I use my social media for positivety, I use my social media to help other people, to also push my career & push myself, you know show personal things about myself & share personal things with my fans. If somebody doesn’t want to do that, that ‘s fine with me but I’m from a different age group and a different era of time where I feel that social media should be used for positively and not for negatively. I mean we have a lot of fun, I’m the first one to laugh at pictures of myself, if it’s funny, I’m going to laugh but certain things need to be address and a lot of people don’t address them so I’m not one of those people that post things & hide behind my computer. I’m not that type at all, even with this whole issue of people having their naked photos out there and I’m like, “if you don’t want a naked photo out there of yourself don’t take one”. So once you put it out there in cyberspace it’s gone you have no more control over it. So we all have to mindful & respectful of others that’s all.
It has been over 20 years since Martin premiered, what are some of your fondest memories while on the show?
T.A.: Oh, everything. We had so many wonderful memories off camera. A lot of funny things happened off camera and I think that the whole cast of ‘Martin”, we didn’t know what we had back then, I mean, we literally will just coming to work to laugh everybody we were coming to work just to crack on each other & make jokes, flat out fool of each other there and even with the crew. The crew had a great time & we all just had a great time doing ‘Martin’. We don’t know that we would have such an impact on the industry & on the whole genre of people that really till this day still watch it. I’m like, “GOD it’s been over 20 years and you guys still watching it.” It’s always wonderful to be able to do a body of work & people still enjoy it so the fact that people still think of ‘Martin’ years & years later, still be able to enjoy it and laugh as if it was taped yesterday I mean it speaks louder than words that we did our jobs, we did our job right. You know, we had a good time doing it. So it’s always wonderful to make an impact and bring a smile to people faces.
Do you ever still keep in contact with them?
T.A.: Yeah, we all keep in contact with each other. We sure do. I mean not as often probably as we should because within each show, you know when you get older you’re not as close to the same people that you grew up with. We all have our own families, we all live in different areas of the United States. So you know we still talk, I was just with Tommy [Strawn] & Carl in Atlanta. Carl [Anthony Payne] did an event, he did an actor’s workshop for kids and it was really really cool watching the kids & they were doing improv & stuff. We all support each other whenever we can & however we can.
If they were to revive Martin, would you join the show?
T.A.: Of course yeah, that’s a no brainer. But you know if Martin is never revived you know what it’s all good and sometimes it’s better to end up on top.
-Matia (@ms_hip_hop)