I don’t know what it is exactly that makes Mara Hall so downright loveable. Really, I don’t know. What I do know, is that after speaking with her, I am convinced this dynamic actress, music teacher, producer, new mother, and champion for spreading awareness for living well with diabetes is my new best friend.
Here’s what I learned about my new “bestie” — Mara Hall. She’s best known for her comedic roles and has a very hefty body of work which includes portraying Nurse Kathleen on “Grey’s Anatomy” and numerous guest-starring roles that include “Scandal “(ABC) and “The Quad”(BET), supporting role in “A Question of Faith” (Silver Lining Entertainment), to name a few.
Mara made her national TV debut on the hit show “Dance Your Ass Off” as one of the contestants on Oxygen’s reality dance/weight-loss competition series. In 2015, Mara launched her social media movement and lifestyle show, “I Got Something To Say” #IGSTS, that empowers audiences through laughter.
Mara is also passionate about health, fashion, and beauty and loves to connect with fellow beauty queens across the U.S. and globally. The Detroit native now calls Atlanta home because she’s causing all kinds of trouble on the new drama “Ambitions” on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
If you’ve not found the new show—yet—you are in for a treat. “Ambitions” is created by Jamey Giddens and produced by Will Packer and is a multigenerational family saga that explores love, power, and politics in Atlanta. It centers around lawyer Stephanie (Robin Givens), Carlisle, the wife of Atlanta Mayor Evan Lancaster, and her rivalry with Amara Hughes (Essence Atkins), a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office who has just arrived in Atlanta with her husband, Titus. Stephanie and Amara used to be best friends who find themselves combatants in both their personal and professional lives. Stephanie’s ambitious husband, Evan Lancaster, dreams of being Georgia’s first African-American governor and will do anything to get there. Amara’s husband, Titus, is the in-house counsel for a big pharmaceutical company fighting a class-action suit brought by Stephanie’s powerful family. Mara Hall plays Darcia Lancaster.
Here is what Mara Hall had to share about living her very best life and working for OWN’s “Ambitions” and living with Type 2 diabetes.
LOS ANGELES SENTINEL: Mara Hall. Mara, Mara, Mara you are a piece of work on OWN’s new show “Ambitions” — a great villain, by the way — in your own words, describe the show and your character, please.
MARA HALL: (laughing) Well, “Ambitions” is a nighttime soap opera that explores the lives of two families in Atlanta, Georgia. I play Darcia Lancaster, one of the Lancasters’ relatives who comes into town amidst a lot of chaos within the family
LAS: Yeassss, Darcia is perfect for “Ambitions” one of the reasons I love the show.
MH: Thank you. The show also explores so much of Atlanta’s social life that’s filled with seduction, debauchery, treachery, and wonderful storylines.
LAS: Describe your character, Darcia.
MH: My character is strong — sometimes nice, sometimes nasty. There will be sauciness, lust, lies, and sex.
LAS: Are you in the writers’ room?
MH: (laughing) No.
LAS: It sounds like you should be?
MH: From your lips to God’s ears.
LAS: Ok, let’s speak it into the universe.
MH: Amen.
LAS: Mara Hall, stepping into the writer’s room of OWN’s “Ambitions” to give her ideas on more sex, more lies, more intrigue and more … drum roll please, more ambition.
MH: You’re funny.
LAS: I know. I’ve heard great things from creatives working on OWN’s shows. Tell me you’re experience, please.
MH: You know, I’ve had a very positive experience working with the network [OWN]. One thing, when I initially got the original role that I was for, I was seven months pregnant.
LAS: No?
MH: Yes. The OWN network, Lion’s Gate and Will Packer productions were very compassionate of me being a working mother, or soon to be working mother slash, actress, while I was pregnant. They were very, very supportive of me at the time.
LAS: That’s what’s up. I love hearing this it’s unusual but refreshing. Sorry, keep going.
MH: They supported me the whole way through my delivering my daughter, they were an amazing team.
LAS: Mommie, shout out to your daughter. What is her name?
MH: (laughing) Marley Nicole Hall-Bryson and she’s eleven months. She will be a year on January 5th.
LAS: Acting is a very competitive world. What keeps you motivated?
MH: It’s the impact that I have on people when I am entertaining. I know that I have something special by the way people respond to me when; I’m on stage, film, on camera. It’s how I make them feel. If I didn’t have that certain je ne sais quoi, I would have left acting a long time ago because my real passion is music.
LAS: Music?
MH: I’m a certified music teacher and I’ve taught elementary up to collegiate, instrumental-band, and that is my real passion.
LAS: Amazing.
LAS: What’s next for you in television and film?
MH: Well, I finished my first short film called “Juicy Ladies” which I produced and it’s inspired by my life.
LAS: Great title and what is “Juicy Ladies” about?
MH: Well, as I shared, it’s inspired by my life as a Type 2 Diabetic. It will air on Aspire TV in February 2020 and in collaboration with that I will also have a campaign to spread the good news on how to fight and live a healthy life with diabetes as an African-American woman and to promote positivity through the community through this short film [“Juicy Ladies”].
LAS: This is God’s work, Mara Hall.
MH: I was diagnosed with the disease almost 20 years ago. It impacts more than 25 million Americans and my brother passed away from Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), he went into a coma because he had diabetes and didn’t know it. That’s when it got real for me.
LAS: As I said, “Juicy Ladies” is an important work. It was a pleasure speaking and laughing with you. Lets’ do this again, in February, to dig into this film and talk about living with Type 2 Diabetes! Sound good?
MH: It does. Happy Holidays.
LAS: And to you, Mara Hall. Happy 2020.
Twitter – Mara Hall (@Mara_Hall)
http://www.oprah.com/app/ambitions-cast.htm
