My Mom Shares Her Hollywood Stories For Mother’s Day

This might sound cliché, however I owe all my success in life to my bold mom, the girl who did not hesitate to boost me on her personal and all the time pushed me to succeed in for the celebrities — even when life made it exhausting to.

Growing up, I by no means understood pals who’d say they needed to grow to be a physician or lawyer as a result of their dad and mom mentioned so, or as a result of it was the sensible factor to do for monetary stability. That was by no means my actuality. My mom all the time assured me that I could possibly be something I wished to be — simply so long as it made me joyful. Even whereas juggling the powerful obligations of being a single father or mother, she adopted her personal recommendation and pursued being a background actor in Hollywood, briefly. All as a result of she envisioned she may and acted on it.

She might not comprehend it, however that dedication is the primary purpose why she’s one among my greatest inspirations.

My mom, Angela McKnight, who hails from our hometown of Baltimore, graduated from Morgan State University in 1993 with a bachelor’s diploma in social work. She later grew to become a case employee and medical social employee, amongst different issues within the healthcare discipline. Not precisely the profession path you’d predict for an aspiring actor, however she tells me that at 35 years previous, virtually 5 years after I used to be born, she determined that she “wanted to try something different.”

“It was something that I just happened upon,” she says of pursuing performing, including that she as soon as took up drama courses. “I wanted to try something new. I felt like I was at a crossroads in my life. But with me trying to pursue acting and working as an extra in a lot of films, [as a mom], I didn’t have the flexibility that I needed so I didn’t travel. Around the time that I was doing it, films were coming to town, so I would work on those, or I’d go out and try to get an opportunity to work on them.”

In May 2002, an performing alternative got here to Baltimore — a movie which might later grow to be often called Chris Rock’s directorial debut, “Head of State.” And, as my mother has often informed me all through my life, I helped her safe it. “I went to a casting call, and the one they had at [Security Square] Mall, I remember going with you,” she explains. “I didn’t have a babysitter, so I took you along. And when we got there, the line was out the door; it was so long. I thought, ‘You know what, there’s no way I can make you stand in this line because I’m trying to do this.’ And just as I was going to walk away, one of the production assistants comes over — because you start to whine — and he tells us to go to the front of the line and get my picture taken.”

Image Source: Angela McKnight

After my mother did so — with me posing proper subsequent to her off-camera — she went as much as a casting director who informed her, “We’ll see you on set.” Fast ahead to that summer season, she formally labored on her first main movement image as a background actor. She’d later go on to work as an additional in different movies like “Ladder 49,” “The Invasion,” “Shooter,” and “Live Free or Die Hard,” which featured massive names like Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis, Daniel Craig, John Travolta, and Mark Wahlberg, to call just a few. She additionally starred in TV exhibits like HBO’s “The Wire” and “We Own This City,” in addition to Netflix’s “House of Cards.”

Needless to say, my mother has lived a life. One that is impressed me to stay simply as fearless and decided as she has. Though she took an extended hiatus between 2007 and her most up-to-date performing credit (2013 and 2022) to proceed her profession in healthcare and, after all, elevate me, she says she would not have any regrets about not pursuing performing past her handful of background roles.

“I just loved being in the setting, in the atmosphere. I never really got discouraged because it seemed like I would always have an opportunity to get a little part,” she shares. “If I wanted it bad enough, I would’ve gone further with it, but I just didn’t. As a single parent, my primary thing was making sure my kid was taken care of right.”

My mom all the time dared to dream — and nonetheless does — even when her circumstances as a single mother did not make area for it. I could not be extra happy with the instance she’s set for me in my very own pursuits, and I’d say she’s equally happy with how they’ve turned out. “Now I’m being interviewed by my daughter, who is a celebrity journalist,” she beams proudly.

Read forward for extra about a few of her true Hollywood tales as an additional.