Kiki Layne Is in Her Feelings
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[ GENERATION NEXT ] KiKiAN INGENUE ONLayne TRACK TO BEING AN ICON On our set, as she sways to Drake’s ode to a girl with whom she shares a name, it’s o bvious that KiKi Layne is in her feelings. As she should be. Her journey exemplifies the wonder of what can happen within a year's time. She admits it was while preparing for exploded on the scene, I a chemistry read with If Beale Street hadn’t really seen so much Could Talk costar Stephan James— of myself in anyone,” she who’d already been cast as Fonny, reflects. “That’s when I the lifelong love of her character, realized that I could work Tish—that she dove into James on this level too.” Baldwin’s classic novel, upon which Later this year, she will her debut film is based. To say that the appear in the big-screen fictional couple’s bond is unbreak- able is an under- statement. “I knew I’VE LEARNED TO TAP INTO MY the film would be OWN VULNERABILITY, TO TRUST something special MYSELF MORE AND TO KNOW THAT because of James WHAT I’M BRINGING IS ENOUGH. Baldwin and [direc- tor] Barry Jenkins,” she says, “but when I read the book, I realized that I had adaptation of another l iterary never seen a Black love story told classic, Richard Wright’s like this.” Native Son. But at the moment, As a little girl in Cincinnati, Layne, she’s still basking in the glow now 27, told her mother that she of Beale Street. “When I came wanted to “sing, act and perform.” By to the project, I saw strength in age 7, she was studying acting at being able to do everything school; later she continued honing yourself,” she says. “But her craft at DePaul University. Her because so much of Tish’s ambition was to follow Will Smith’s strength comes from vulnera- trajectory. “His career has so much bility and her commitment to Hair, Larry Sims using Flawless/ variety, which is what I’m looking love and being loved, I learned Forward Artists. forward to in my career,” she explains. to tap into my own vulnerabili- Makeup, Rebekah She has also been inspired by the ty. I also learned to trust myself Aladdin. Manicure, Whitney Gibson work of Angela Bassett and, more more and to know that what I’m using Essie/TMG. recently, Lupita Nyong’o. “Until Lupita bringing is enough.” » 58 ESSENCE.COM FEBRUARY 2019.