This interview is part of “Pivotal,” a Q&A series where we highlight the defining moments that have shaped a star’s career — from breakthrough roles to game-changing milestones to epic moments that catapult them into the spotlight.
One thing about Lynn Whitfield: she’s not new to this; she’s true to this.
The 72-year-old Hollywood veteran may have just joined the latest seasons of Lena Waithe’s ever-expanding South Side of Chicago street drama, “The Chi,” playing the elegant yet intimidating, old-money grande dame Alicia. But Whitfield has been a staple in the acting world for quite some time now, adding more and more memorable roles to her repertoire with every gig she nabs.
From her Emmy-winning turn as Josephine Baker to playing a woman scorned by Martin Lawrence in “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate” to her numerous unforgettable matriarchal roles in “Greenleaf,” “Eve’s Bayou,” “Madea’s Family Reunion,” “The Cheetah Girls” and more, Whitfield has mastered the art of playing strong, complex (and rich!) Black women onscreen. Her part in “The Chi” is no different, although it is a villainous persona we rarely see from her.
For the past two seasons, Whitfield, who went from recurring guest star to series regular, has been stirring up all sorts of turmoil in “The Chi,” becoming the city’s latest terror after her son, Rob (Iman Shumpert), was gunned down in the street by one of her many enemies. Her quest to find her son’s killer and avenge his death set much of Season 7’s events in motion, but ultimately led to her untimely demise.
Still, Whitfield is confident that Alicia (and her unconventional, affluent lifestyle) has left a lasting impression on viewers that sets her apart from others who have come and gone from “The Chi.”
“A woman ready to go to bat and go to battle for what she wants, to avenge what happened to her and her family, I think that you haven’t seen that so much from women on the show,” said Whitfield, “that they actually act it out and go for it.”
Going for it is what Whitfield has built much of her career on. Not just accepting the roles that Hollywood offered after her television debut in the ’80s police procedural “Hill Street Blues,” but striving for leads that have put her in the center of focus time and time again — right where she belongs.
It’s a feat Whitfield doesn’t take lightly. She’s proud to have set a trend of portraying leading characters she believes mirror the world she knows. No matter how big or small a role was — and very seldom does Whitfield play it small — each one has been pivotal to her storied success.
“Everything about this career is a stepping stone,” Whitfield emphasized. “The continuum of the work is why I’ve been in it so long, and I still love it.”
Few actors can claim a career marked by consistent roles in dozens of exceptional projects since the very beginning. But then again, there aren’t many quite like Whitfield, who sees her steady ascension as clear confirmation that she was always destined for this work.
“It’s a validation that what I thought I wanted to do at five years old, I was right. That I could do it,” she said. “Sometimes in this business, you can doubt whether you’re appreciated or not… But [the fact] that I’m continuing to do [the work], I don’t have a lot of time to think about it. To look back on things, because I’m looking forward.”
For “Pivotal,” Whitfield spoke about her long-lasting Hollywood career, the reward of bringing bold, multifaceted women to life onscreen and the iconic movie role that made her dating life a bit of a challenge.
You’ve been acting longer than I’ve been alive, and I mean that as a compliment, because what an achievement to still be active and working in this industry after so many years. What’s the secret to having a long-standing career like yours?
I don’t know. I really still enjoy doing it. I enjoy telling stories. I enjoy interpreting characters. I try to keep the work a little bit fresh, so that I don’t become a caricature of Lynn Whitfield acting, but each character is important and nuanced on its own. So, I think my love of the work is one thing. It’s just a blessing that can’t be explained. I mean, I think the good forces of God are on my side, too, and that something will come along. It might take several years, but something good comes.
The role you have on “The Chi” is one of those good things. You play a pretty dynamic character, Alicia. She’s a mother, grieving the loss of her son, and she’s also a bit of a villain this season. What do you enjoy most about playing her?
I enjoy jumping into a psyche that is not my own, because I don’t live by codes of the street. I don’t resolve my pain with vengeance. And I’m a terrible shot with a gun [laughs]. So, none of that is me. But I very much enjoy experiencing the parts of Alicia that are not like me.
Take me back to the beginning of your career. You started acting back in the ’80s in “Hill Street Blues.”
Yeah. That was my first real television recurring role.
Is that the part that seemed like a pivotal point in your acting career, or did that come a little later?
I think the pivotal role in my acting career was Josephine Baker. But everything is a stepping stone, and everything about this career is a stepping stone. The continuum of the work is why I’ve been in it so long, and I still love it.
“The Josephine Baker Story” earned you your first Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress In A Miniseries or Special. You were the second Black woman to ever win in that category after Cicely Tyson.
That’s right, you’re doing your research.
What did that historical accomplishment mean to you at the time?
Oh my gosh. It was so appreciated. I was very excited at that point. I had been acting and doing fairly good projects, but it’s just so rare that a woman is at the center of almost every frame of a show. And I just was so grateful to be involved, to test my dancing skills and my aging acting [skills] — to age up to her at the end of her life. That was the challenge. Learning all the dances, making all the plans of how to manage the art of this woman, like getting from point A to point B, and have it be believable.
Only a handful of Black women have won in that category since you. Do you think progress has been made in Hollywood?
Yes. Progress has been made. I mean, I’m in a show that Lena Waithe, a Black woman, created with a majority Black cast and many, many women directors; young Black women who have directed many of the episodes.
Your acting résumé is full of memorable roles — Roz in “Eve’s Bayou,” Brandi in “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate,” Lady Mae in “Greenleaf,” etc. Which one do people talk about the most?
Isn’t it funny? I think it’s “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.” That is the most viewed and also has the most replays, both by streaming and people just putting it up on their computer. That’s definitely one of the more popular movies that I’ve done.
And it’s arguably one of the most classic movies, too. The premise still resonates because it’s a timeless topic. Everyone can relate.
Yeah. There are so many people who get disappointed in love and for many reasons, in committed relationships of all kinds. I felt like “Thin Line,” and Brandi Webb in particular, what she needed, what she never got, is very interesting to explore and take a look at. I didn’t know it was gonna be a classic like it is, but I knew that I was gonna put the work in, hoping it would be.
Did that role impact you personally? Like, did it change your perspective in any way, or did you take anything from that role that—
Oh my God, it made anybody who was considering dating me terrified, like shaking in their boots. I could just be having a nice dinner, and somebody would go, “But are you like that lady you played in ‘Thin Line’”?
Is that a question people ask a lot with your roles in general?
Yeah. I play these complex women who just don’t take any stuff. They don’t suffer fools gladly. And it’s a blessing that I get to play them, but it’s not good for your dating life. It makes me, Lynn Whitfield, have to walk on some kind of tightrope sometimes.
Really?
Well, to let people know that [those characters] are just people, human beings, too. It’s like joining this cast of “The Chi” or just going to work with people. You have to make a concerted effort to let them know that you’re not that person.
So many of the characters you’ve played, Alicia included, have something in common: they’re flawed, strong-willed, and deeply complex Black women. A lot of times, they’re also wealthy.
And that’s so fun to play. Oh, it makes it so much more fun.
Why are you so drawn to these kinds of leading characters?
Well, first of all, they’re leading. So that’s one thing. And second, most of my friends are complex. They have things that they have been through and will continue to go through. I don’t know very many people who are just happy all the time, or don’t care that they control their own environment, or don’t care if they’re betrayed. I mean, who does that? So, those women are just mirrors to what I think a lot of the world is really like.
It must also be freeing to be able to portray these characters. Like, if you’re not able to explore certain dynamics in real life, you get to do so onscreen.
Oh, it’s always good to. It’s a kind of experiential, vicarious living because I get to experience it through another human being’s instincts. And I get to act it out without being held accountable for anything other than creating truthful moments and representing them well.
Is that what attracted you to playing Alicia in “The Chi”? Were you already a fan of the show before this role came about?
Yes, I did watch the show. Fortunately, I’ve been working so much myself, six seasons of “Greenleaf” and all that. You’ve got to stick with it to keep up with all the characters, and now I know them all like the back of my hand. When I first joined the cast, I was like, “What do you mean I had a second brother? It wasn’t just the one brother who got killed? Well, where is he?” So, just catching up on all the characters, all the stories, knowing Douda’s entire history. All of that. I had to go back and look at it in a different way because now I’m in the thing, so I needed more information.
What personal reward do you get from playing Alicia that you haven’t gotten from other characters?
Well, here’s the thing. Careers are ongoing. It doesn’t stop. It’s like the waves of the ocean, the way it goes out and it comes back in. So, at this point in my life, it’s just very validating to be embraced in a show that has established itself and to work with actors who’ve built characters that people have already come to love. For me to be accepted in that and given a place to create within an already established, successful show, if I’m so blessed that that ever happens again to me, I mean, it’s just such an honor, and it’s a fun place to be.
What I get as somebody who loves telling stories, who is a thespian, is what I enjoy and what I’ve been purposed to do. It’s the continuum that makes me so happy. And icing on the cake is that I joined the show when it won one of its first awards [an NAACP Image Award]. So all that is just validating. Girl, it’s validating that I still got something going on.
Are you looking forward to doing anything else in your career, or do you think you’ve done it all?
Oh, absolutely not. I just came back from South Africa doing a thriller with Malcolm D. Lee. I was there for two and a half months.
I don’t think you’ve seen me in a romantic comedy. I don’t think you’ve seen me do lots of comedic work. I don’t think you’ve seen me be a superhero of any sort or an intergalactic kind of [thing] — but I would like her to be badass if I do get to do it. There are so many things to do still. Look at all the stories I haven’t been in.
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.