9 minute read
Navia Robinson
from Nyota Issue 11
Interview by Carol Wright Photos by Jeff Vespa Styling by Manny Colon Hair by Preston Wada At Opus Beauty using Kevin Murphy Makeup by Paul Blanch at Opus Beauty using Hourglass Cosmetics
Navia Robinson
How did you get into acting? I used to ask my parents all the time when I was really young if I could do acting classes and I would watch tv and movies and I knew that’s always what I wanted to do and so at first my parents were kind of timid about it because they didn’t know if I was going to change my mind every week but then I kind of stuck with it and my parents put me into acting classes. So I have them to thank for being able to pursue my career and they put me into classes and from there it kind of just kicked off and I developed a real passion for what I did and one thing led to another I got an agent and “well” you know the rest.
What was the audition process like for Raven’s Home? There were a lot of steps in the process. I first did a self-tape in Atlanta which is really where I live, but we travel back and forth between Atlanta and LA, but yea I did a self-tape in Atlanta, that got sent into LA and then I did another call back in Atlanta. From there I got sent out to California and I had a few screen tests and then I did two reads with other characters. It was a lot of steps, but I got the role.
What do you like to do when you’re not working? I typically like to catch up on some rest, but other than that I’m somebody who can’t stay at home for one day without feeling unproductive so I’ll get school work done, I’ll go out and maybe meet up with some friends, have ice-cream with some friends or go to different little places around LA. I like going to Melrose, The Grove or places like that that are kind of good for shopping but they also have activities. I hate feeling unproductive.
How has working on a Disney show changed your life? I think a big part is not being able to spend as much time with my family in Atlanta as before. We still facetime and talk every day but that’s definitely something that I miss. We’re weighing out our options, seeing what’s going to work best for our family as the seasons continue but I think that’s definitely the biggest change. Also, switching from public school to homeschooling has been a big shift but I’ve definitely enjoyed it because I get to work with my other castmates as if we are like a class in a regular school which is super cool. So I think pretty much every aspect of my life shifted in a different way, but overall my family and I have figured out a way to make everything function together and I’m very thankful for the fact that my parents and my brothers are so flexible and work with what I do.
Can you relate to your character Nia? I definitely can. I think Nia’s very independent and very self-sufficient in a way. She’s intelligent and is always the one to come up with the solution to the problem which I think is similar to myself in real life. There are certain things that I think are different between me and Nia, for example, Nia is sometimes nervous and she’s not comfortable with going up to people and speaking her mind to people depending on who they are. For me, I think I’m a person who is always willing to stand up for what I believe in, and I think Nia is too but she has trouble expressing that. Where as me personally, I don’t. I love to stand up for what I believe in. I think it’s so important to use your voice when you know what you’re talking about and what subject.
What is it like working with Raven Symone and Anneliese van der Pol? Do they give you advice on set? Of course, they even will have little sessions with me and the rest of the cast with how to develop our acting skills and how to get better because we really are learning on the job. We come in with an understanding of acting but we keep on building every single week and I see that growth when I watch episodes from the first season and seeing some cuts of the episodes from the second season. I can see the growth and that is largely from what they taught us, and I’m so appreciative of that. They teach us how to be natural when we’re acting and still being on Disney they try to keep it entertaining for a younger and older audience which is such an important skill so I think after the show is done hopefully years from now. I’ll have come out with a lot of experience and knowledge and be able to go further in my career.
Raven’s Home debuted at the number 1 live-action cable TV series premiere in two years in its target demographic. How did it feel receiving that news and what has it been like gaining and interacting with fans of the show? With every show you’re taking a risk and taking a gamble to see if it’s actually successful and so I think everyone’s always a little nervous no matter how great you think your show is gonna be, sometimes it doesn’t get the attention that you hope for. When it panned out that it was really successful we were all just so excited and we realized that our hard work had paid off and that we were doing something good for those who were watching. Maybe we were making them laugh and I think that just filled us with so much joy. Every time I think of those who support me, and my followers it makes me happy that maybe I bring them joy by posting a picture and it makes them smile. Regardless of how many followers any of us have, I think we really just value how we can possibly help people or make their day and things like that.
Silk top: Hottie + Lord Skirt: Silvana Tedesco Belt: Nadine Merabi Shoes: Chuck Taylor
What’s your favorite on set memory? There are a lot. One of my favorites was when we were filming a scene I want to say in the second episode when I was having this whole internal thing about the privacy that I had and I wanted to express to my mom that I needed privacy and it was basically this whole scene where she had a bra and she was showing it to everyone in the house like how cute it was and it was mine. It was really fun to film thatbecause I just wanted to laugh. That is one of the only scenes where I broke a few times during filming because it was just so hilarious what Raven and Anneliese were doing that entire time. I had a line at the end of the scene after they did all the whipping around of the bra, just being crazy putting it on their heads and I was going strong I really was, but I couldn’t get it out. I really couldn’t. I just tried to say it and I burst into laughter and I fell into Raven’s lap and continued laughing and it was just one of those moments where I was like, this is what we want when we’re filming something like this as a cast. This is the moment we want to experience together and it just felt really good.
During your time on Being Mary Jane, what did you learn from that experience and what is something that Gabrielle Union taught you that you brought over to “Raven’s Home”? I think that all of the castmates off of “Being Mary Jane” taught me to be mature. I was always a really mature young person, but working there made me even more mature and made me even more confident in my acting skills. I think all the castmates taught me that it was important to have a bond off-screen with each other rather than just on-screen because that chemistry definitely shines through and so being able to talk with these adults and hold conversations with them has definitely helped me and helped me learn and develop as an actor. I think what a lot of people don’t realize is even though on a Disney show it’s really fun and what you see on screen is just jokes and laughter, when you’re filming you do have to maintain an amount of focus while still having fun. You have to zero in on what you’re supposed to be doing, and having worked on a set like “Being Mary Jane” before doing the Disney show definitely helped me learn that. That’s where I got my acting roots and I’m forever thankful for that. I learned so much there.
You also had a role in the popular Netflix series Free Rein. What was it like filming that and what are some of your favorite memories from that experience?
Well, a lot of actors, especially kid actors don’t get to travel outside of the country that they’re born in to film something and me being able to do that was such an incredible blessing. Getting to see a different side of the world. There’s so much of the world that’s undiscovered to me and I was so excited to get to go over there, and also bringing my family over there was amazing and my brothers getting to see this place that they’d never seen before. That was definitely the best part. Being able to experience a new country no matter how similar it is to America it was still different and I got to learn a lot while being there just about a different side of the world, and their culture in a way. Their humor is different, which surprisingly enough I think I learned on the show a lot about British humor and I think I could definitely act it if I wanted to and an accent too which will help in my acting career. Also, horseback riding on the show. In the first season, I don’t horseback ride but you’ll have to watch the second season to see if I do on screen, but I got to learn which was amazing. I got to learn with one of the best coaching families in the UK so that was so cool and I wouldn’t have probably learned if I hadn’t had gotten that job. It’s such an awesome skill to have too. I can put that on my resume as one of my experiences which is super cool.
Jacket: Lotuz Pink Ruffles: Baruni Shorts: Mossimo Earrings: Kat Ong Ring: Jewelry Bar
51Blue dress: Patty Ang Shoes: Chuck Taylor
Sheer top: Lotuz Dress: Nadine Merabi Earrings: Jewelry Bar Shoes: Chuck Taylor
Who are other actors you hope to work with in the future? I’d love to work with other really successful kid actors out there like the actors off of “Stranger Things” or Marsai off of “Black-ish”. I think they’re so incredibly talented and I think it’s so cool when kids collaborate and make something amazing since we’re the future generation. I think it’s awesome that we have unity for what’s to come. Outside of that though I’d love to work with Meryl Streep and Viola Davis. I’ve always loved them and found them as such inspirations in my acting, and I hope to be to their level one day and I would love to work with them and learn from them.
You also sing, do you hope to pursue music in the near future? I think acting for me will always take priority over anything, but I definitely love to experiment in singing because it is something that I’ve always been interested in as well as acting and modeling, so I’d definitely love to eventually to maybe do some covers and experiment with that a little bit and see where that takes me. I don’t know as of right now but I for sure would like to try out doing some things with singing.
What advice do you have for young, aspiring actors? I would say continue practicing which is so important because if you don’t maintain things that you’ve learned you lose them. In acting, I think that’s really important because every day when I was in acting classes I would go home and I would practice and I would try out new monologues which is also a really great strategy. Go to your favorite show. If you go online and search for a script you can typically find one, print it out and then practice. See how you can add different inflections and different layers to the script and kind of dissect it and analyze it and you’ll along the way learn a lot of new acting techniques and strategies. That’s very important. That’s something that Raven and Anneliese have taught us, and I think it’s very useful if you’re gonna pursue a career in acting.
