For Tarra Denise Jackson every performance is an opportunity to dig into uncomfortable truths. “I believe art should always be a protest” she says. “Whether it’s challenging societal failures or resisting personal limitation,” she believes art should agitate.
Right now, Jackson is in a season of protest. Through the roles she chooses the stories she tells, and the risks she takes, she is protesting fear itself.
A Howard University graduate with a degree in political science and English, Jackson was on track for law school, deeply embedded in the world of institutions and policies at the Department of Justice. But something felt off.
“I thought I had wasted time,” she admits. “But studying social science gave me an understanding of what makes people and systems tick. It helped me realize that I wasn’t meant to be a conduit for institutions, I was meant to be a conduit for people.”
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That realization hit hard. In 2015, she walked away from government work and into the unknown — New York, and a relentless pursuit of the craft.
She immersed herself in background work, not for screen time, but to learn. She watched directors command a set, observed how actors moved within a space, and studied the rhythm of production.
“That training gave me a foundation. You don’t use the same tools to put up a painting that you would to build a chair,” she says. “With every role, I’m finding new tools to use.”
December 2017. Four suitcases. No plan. No safety net. Just God and the certainty that she had to be in Los Angeles.
“I had been building a solid foundation in New York, training with The Barrow Group and working on some incredible projects, but LA was calling. It was time to expand, take risks, and bet on myself,” she says
“I needed air. I needed space. I needed something different,” Tarra declares.
Within a week, she secured a job in commercial construction, helping build the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. She continued contract work with the American Black Film Festival while navigating auditions and landing representation. But the balance between survival and artistry proved a challenge.
“I got distracted,” she admits. “I thought I needed to secure something fast, and I ended up in a job that drained my creative energy.”
Eventually, she recalibrated, finding a way to sustain herself without sacrificing her craft.
“When you’re always focused on survival, you can’t fully give yourself to a role,” she says. “Once I positioned myself to handle my needs, I could release my characters in a way that allowed them to breathe.”
Jackson’s resume spans film and television, from working on “The Get Down” to starring in a sci-fi horror short where she played a robot house manager. Each role is an opportunity to stretch herself, to explore, to uncover.
But now, she’s taking control.
Her latest project, “The Checklist,” is a film she’s producing and starring in, alongside a powerhouse team of women-led creatives.
“I’m done waiting to tell other people’s stories,” she says. “This is mine.”
Slated for production in March, the film is set to hit the festival circuit later this year. For Jackson, it’s both a challenge and a revelation—stepping behind the camera, shaping a narrative, and seeing a vision through from concept to completion.
“Fear means I’m stepping into something worthwhile,” she says. “And when I feel that tinge of fear, I move anyway.”
